The Initial Idea...

When it was announced in 2003 that Doctor Who was finally coming back, I though to myself;

"What if, instead of making a New Series... they were to remake the Old Series?"
Instead of Christopher Eccleston visiting Henrik`s and Platform One, what if Geoffrey Bayldon appeared in Totters` Lane and whisked us all off to Skaro?

Think about it, those old black & white Hartnell & Troughton serials remade in colour with updated effects and all the padding removed. I thought it`d be fun to have a bash at rewriting the scripts just to see how it might turn out. That`s what this is all about.

All the William Hartnell & Patrick Troughton episodes have been transcribed and can be found at the Transcripts Project website. I`ve used these as the basis for the versions I`ll be posting here.

This is really just a bit of fun for my own personal pleasure and enjoyment, please don`t take it too seriously. If you`re going to email critical comments, please keep them constructive or don`t bother, ok?

Why Retcon Doctor Who?

The furthest back I can remember watching Doctor Who on original transmission is "The Sea Devils". I never missed an episode until Part Three of "Paradise Towers" when I decided to stay down the pub instead.

One of the things that differentiates a Fan from a Regular Viewer is that, for Fans, our interest continues when the programme ends, extends beyond what we`ve just seen on screen. We tend to think about what it would be like if it was real and not just fiction. As a result we pay more attention than the Regular Viewer and notice inconsistencies and contradictions that they miss. Their interest stops with the End Credits. Ours doesn`t. That`s why you`re here at a Doctor Who Website!

We also have a unifying mentality when it comes to the show; we want to view everything from William Hartnell to David Tennant as being part of one continuous linear narrative thread. When something happens on screen that doesn`t accord with that unifying view, we spot what others miss.

Doctor Who RetConning :

Personally, that continuous narrative thread begins to fray for me round about "Horror Of Fang Rock". It always used to irritate me when Tom threw the scarf over his shoulder as he starts to do here. A small intrusion into the "reality" of what I was watching that grew and grew over the years until that night when I decided to stay down the pub instead of watching a bloke with a question-mark tanktop pretending to be the Doctor in a show that used to be Doctor Who...

So sorry but for me, there is no continuous thread from Hartnell to Tennant and it`s not one long story, there are too many inconsistencies and contradictions for that. To my eyes, TV Doctor Who falls into seven Eras that are so distinct from each other as to be completely different versions of the same thing.

1) "An Unearthly Child" to "The War Games"
2) "Spearhead from Space" to "The Talons of Weng-Chiang"
3) "Horror of Fang Rock" to "The Horns of Nimon"
4) "The Leisure Hive" to "Trial of A Timelord"
5) "Time And The Rani" to "Survival"
6) "Enemy Within"
7) "Rose" to ...?

Here I will initially be retconning Era 1 [Hartnell/Troughton]. The intention is to try and iron out the inconsistencies between on era and another. For instance, I love the way RTD uses the Sonic Screwdriver in NewWho. OK, it `s a bit of a magic wand sometimes but hey, I like it. So here Hartnell gets a sonic from "The Daleks" onwards and he and Pat use it just like Eccleston/Tennant. Hurray!

Retcon Rationale

Now we all know that the constant changes of cast and production crew are what help to keep the show fresh and maintain it`s longevity. Equally, there is no reason why the creativity of those who make the programme should be constrained by something someone else did 40 years ago that only a few thousand people know or care about. That said, it seems obvious to me that there is a "right" and a "wrong" way to do Doctor Who.

Letts/Dicks - Yes
Hinchcliffe/Holmes - Yes
RTD - Yes!
JNT - No!
Cartmel Masterplan - NO!NO!NO!

Part of the rationale behind "Doctor Who 2" is that, wonderful though The Outpost Gallifrey "Canon-Keeper`s Guide To Dr Who" is, I don`t have the time or inclination to sign up for The Continuity Police. I don`t tangle myself up in knots trying to reconcile the irreconcilable. If there`s a continuity problem with three different versions of the destruction of Atlantis than save yourself some time & energy and retcon it away! Works for me...

Retcon Rules

Ok, so we`re going to retcon/rewrite the scripts for "Classic Who". We`re going to need some ground rules.

First of all, we`re going to do half-hours [like "The Sarah Jane Adventures"] instead of the current 45 minute duration of "New Who" simply `cos it`s easier. Like Tegan, if it stops being fun then I think what`s the point.

Secondly, let`s pretend we`re doing this for transmission. How many episodes should constitute a Season? I reckon 24 or 26 max. Now, given that we`re Retconning Hartell & Troughton, that inevitably means some stories are going to have a reduced episode count and some aren`t going to feature at all [can you really think of a retcon that would improve "The Underwater Menace"?]. So for Hartnell`s first Season of 8 stories across 44 episodes from "An Unearthly Child" to "Prisoners of Conciergerie", there are going to be some casualties. Sorry, but I don`t intend to simply retcon every single story, that`s not what this is about.

Thirdly, given that we`ll have "unused" scripts lying around, we can drop an unused story from season 1 into season 2 if we like, there a loads of examples of this in OldWho history. However, we can only bring a story forward by one year. So no season 3 stories in season 1.

Fourthly, we`ll work through both Hartnell & Troughton at the same time, one season at a time. By that I mean we`ll do Hartnell Season 1 before we do Hartnell Season 2. Again this is meant to be fun so alternating between Hartnell & Troughton scripts will hopefully help to stop it becoming a chore.

Fifthly, we`ll stick to three seasons each for Doctors 1 & 2.

At the moment I`ve no plans to do other Doctors. With Pertwee or early Tom Baker especially there`s very little that I can see that needs changing [unlike middle/late Tom Baker all the way through to McCoy & McGann, where I would change almost everything!]. For the moment let`s keep it simple and see how we get on. I like the idea and the challenge of this, to redo Hartnell & Troughton as if they were being done today, but again I need to emphasise this is only for fun. And if it ain`t fun, it` won`t end up getting done!

The Ultimate RetCon?

Easy.

Go straight from "The Hand of Fear" to "Rose" and forget everything inbetween!

Click on the TARDIS to continue :