Fallen Angel - one episode

 

INSPIRATION

I wanted a Moffatesque season finale. Having built up the Dalek assault on the dream dimension, I wanted to take the story in  completely different direction to find an unexpected way of resolving it.

The original draft of the final episode took it even further with the Doctor arriving in a mystical setting, meeting odd characters that represented the various people Angel had met on her travels in the TARDIS. It would also have included flying dragons. Angel's subconscious self was represented by a castle that the Doctor and his new friends would have to storm. Only once inside would the Doctor realise he's inside Angel's mind, not in the dream dimension proper.

Having virtually destroyed the TARDIS interior at the top of the episode, I toyed with the idea of the TARDIS reforming with the RTD era control room. This would basically wipe my previous 8th Doctor AFT stories from history (since they're set later than this in the 8th Doctor's timeline) so I decided against it. Just as well, since this predated The Day Of The Doctor which established the War Doctor and his version of the TARDIS interior!

For a long time, the episode was untitled. One title I considered was Out Of Your Mind but I thought this might give too much away. The idea of a fall angel getting redemption was much more appropriate.

CAST

8th Doctor - 11 Doctors boxset

Angel 0 Hermione Grainger (Deathly Hallows)

Dalek Strategist - From Day of the Daleks

Dalek Drones - From Remembrance of the Daleks

Dalek Scientist - From Death To The Daleks

Dalek Supreme - From Remembrance of the Daleks

Dream Person 1 - Claudia (Primeval)

Dream Person 2 - Connor (Primeval)

Dream Person 3 - Abby (Primeval)

SHOOTING

The Skaro scenes were shot on 5th Dec 2010 at the same time as the other Skaro scenes for stories 1 and 4. The TARDIS scenes were shot backwards, beginning with the Doctor and Angel leaving in the TARDIS and ending with the TARDIS interior being destroyed. They were done on 7th Jan 2011.

The Windsor street scenes were filmed weeks later. A pick-up shot of the Doctor and Angel in Angel's memory gallery was taken on 8th March 2011. At the same time a new ending was written and filmed.

EDITS

The images for this final episode were completed on 8th March 2011 with lettering following soon after.

As with many stories in the season, more dialogue was added during the editing to flesh out the stories and characters' motivations. That included a change to the ending.

The original ending was set in the TARDIS and would see the Doctor and Angel ride off into the time vortex. I changed it partly to give a more emotional ending and party to finish on a clean slate while still allowing Angel to return.

Most of the images in Angel's memory gallery were taken from the opening episode of the series before Angel was a duplicate but some images were specially taken. There's a hidden image of Angel standing next to the 11th Doctor. A red herring? Or a glimpse of something we've yet to see? Honest answer: it was a little easter egg but has no meaning and doesn't refer to any planned stories at all.

CONTINUITY

Although not explicitly states in any of the stories, I place the Dalek parts of this series around 3011 - a thousand years from the time the story was made. The Doctor's reference to the Daleks being a renewed threat in a thousand years' time is a reference to The Dalek Masterplan, set in 4000AD.

TRANSMISSION

This finale was originally posted on 30th April 2011 topping off a ten week run of 8th Doctor stories at a time when AFT was a regular monthly thing. It was well received enough that I was planning a second series for the following year but it never happened.

It was re-published online on 28th October 2023.

NEXT TIME

I haven't had time to make an all-original anniversary special so we'll have to make do with the one I made for the 50th. Over the next FIVE WEEKS.

The Nightmare Legacy part three

 

INSPIRATION

It was always the plan that the Daleks would top and tail the series with Angel being the link. In reusing the Daleks again I had to come up with something new to do with them in order to justify it.
I was reminded of many films where World War II Nazis are shown looking into the occult in order to win the war. This was something the Daleks have never done before - admitting that there are things beyond their comprehension that could be harnessed in their ongoing war- but it's something touched on in Story One where the Daleks are experimenting with human fear.
The crux of this story of course, is the revelation in part two that the real Angel was murdered by the Daleks in the first episode of this series and the Doctor has been travelling with a Dalek duplicate all this time. Whether or not she'll be redeemed... well you'll have to tune in next week.
It was always my intention that Angel would turn out to be a pawn of the Daleks. In the original storylines, the Doctor escapes with a component for the Daleks' latest machine but the Supreme is unconcerned since the component needs to be charged with artron energy in order to work. It would transpire that the component was the Doctor's new companion.
One of the original titles for the story was The Nightmare Gate.

CAST

8th Doctor - 11 Doctors boxset
Angel - Hermione Grainger (Deathly Hallows)
Psychoghasts - Dementor (Harry Potter)
Dalek Strategist - From Day of the Daleks
Dalek Drones - from Remembrance of the Daleks
Dalek Scientist- from Death To The Daleks
Dalek Supreme - From Remembrance of the Daleks
Nox Guard - Silurian Scorpion from Primeval

Under my new Dalek colour schemes (see Fear of the Daleks) this story sees the debut of the gold Dalek Strategist.

SHOOTING

The Planet Nox uses silver crepe paper as it's floor with walls of black and brown crepe paper. The rocks are made of foam filler sprayed with grey rock paint. Halloween cobwebs are added to give the planet a misty look. 
The scenes on Skaro and the Dalek ship use sets based on City of the Daleks and were shot back to back with scenes for Fear of the Daleks.

The Nocturus model is made of sculpy and treated in photoshop to give it a stoney and veiny texture

EDITS

During the editing it became apparent that a lot was happening very quickly so I slowed the pace and made it three episodes instead of just the original two, though some miscalculation led to an extra page for part two
The 'money shot' of the Doctor watching the Daleks gather round the Nocturus entrance was done twice, the first image really not cutting the mustard. The second image uses the Dalek city from The Daleks as its background.

TRANSMISSION

Part one was posted on 8th April, part two on 16th April and part three on 23rd April- the same day as The Impossible Astronaut, the opening story of series 6 on TV. Had I given it more thought, I would have started the series two weeks earlier so the final episodes weren't over-shadowed by real Who.

Every episode in the series so far has ended with a taster of the next part. I decided to forego that this week so as not to spoil the final episode.

The story was re-presented weekly from 7th to 21st October 2023.

CONTINUITY

Although not stated on screen, this story is set in the year 3011 as is its predecessor Fear of the Daleks.

The Nightmare Legacy - part two

 

The Nightmare Legacy part one

 

Play Time - part two

 

INSPIRATION

As with Story 2, this was me thinking about creepy, gothic horror. There is something very creepy about Victorian playrooms and I threw every kind of nasty scare I could.

I think Emily is one of the best villains I've created for the AFT. She has no morals at all, not because she's actually evil, but because she's selfish and has never been taught better. Coupled with the limitless power at her disposal she's a monster that you can't reason with, you can only placate her and hope to beat her in other ways.

One early idea was that the Doctor and Angel put Emily's book prison in a library where it is stolen by an enemy of the Doctor's who is collecting his recent enemies in order to unleash them on mass in the finale. It's no spoiler to say that isn't going to happen. But I wouldn't rule out a return for Emily at some point in the future.

The story I think owes a fair amount to the DWM comic strip Evening's Empire where a teenager harnesses the power of a crashed spaceship. It was by no means intentional but that excellent story was no doubt an influence.

The nursery rhyme that Emily recites in part one is a genuine Victorian children's poem.

CAST

8th Doctor - 11 Doctors boxset

Angel - Hermione Grainger (Deathly Hallows)

Emily - Eleanor Lamb (Bioshock 2)

Dad - The Master Regenerated

Boy - Empty Child (body) Harry Potter, The Philosopher's Stone (Face)

Mother - Helen Cutter (Face) Gelth Zombie (Body)

SHOOTING

The attic scenes were done first on 8th November 2010 followed by the hallway where the TARDIS appears. Filming continued on the 9th November with the rest of the scenes in the house. The final shots of the TARDIS interior were done along with all the other TARDIS scenes for the series on 7th Jan 2011.

EDITS

The first storyline had the Doctor in part two chased by animated toys but I wanted something more horrific so I decided that Emily would turn him into a teddy bear.

This story required a hefty amount of photoshop to achieve the various scares. Almost every frame has something going on. It was the first story to be completed.

In retrospect, I could have come up with something better for the Antarans themselves but the point was that they are tiny, almost microscopic.

Unlike most of the other stories this series, this didn't need any additional dialogue to be added during the edit. The script was pretty much right from the beginning.

You may recognise the Antaran ship. It was previously the Godmaker machine from Godmaker.

TRANSMISSION

Part one was posted on 26th March 2011 with part two following on 2 April continuing the weekly series of Saturday updates.

It was essential for anyone reading the story that Emily should be portrayed as the sweet innocent so I deliberately avoided showing her doing anything bad in the teaser images. Additionally I didn't want to spoil any of the horror elements either.

The title was originally Play Time but changed to The Whispering Walls to take the emphasis off
Emily. But during the edit I realised that Play Time was the perfect title and had to stay.

It was republished on 23/30 Sept 2023.

CONTINUITY

No exact date is given for the story but it's certainly Victorian.

The Doctor mentions the plains of enchanted song, a destination he promised to Sarah Jane in 2010's White Christmas.

Play Time - part one

 

Puppet of Fear - part two

INSPIRATION

Storylining for this adventure began in early September 2011.
The inspiration was to take something scary and let it run amock. I find clowns and puppets very creepy and this series was about tapping into that kind of horror. I did a lot of research into the story of Punch and Judy and came up with the idea of misinformed puppet that believes it has to play out the story, albeit in a loose form.
The museum setting was a relatively late addition to the storyline which saw Mr Punch draining his victims of blood in a desolate urban setting. Other ideas were setting it in a derelict fun fair and having Mr Punch steal souls or futures, a nearby hospital containing children who have been in comas for thirty years.
To simplify the story, and to give us at least one 'modern day' setting, I decided upon the museum.
By tying the plot more closely to the Punch & Judy story, the other characters presented themselves.
One of the enemies Punch encounters and actually fails to see off is a crocodile, hence the Doctor's use of a croc in the museum

CAST

The 8th Doctor - 11 Doctors Boxset
Angel - Hermione Grainger (Deathly Hallows)
The Curator - Repainted Professor Yana
Boy - Draco Malfoy (Order of the Phoenix)
Teacher - (Spy Kids 2)
Judith - Jenny Lewis (Primeval)

Roger - James Lester (Primeval)
Dave - Custom (Lester body/ Cutter head)
Mr Punch - Toby Zed

School party - Ron, George & Fred Weaseley and Neville Longbottom (Order of the Phoenix)

The titular puppet is a head made of sculpy on a Toby Zed body with a black cloak.
The curator figure was originally created to play the Time Lord Daedelus in the original draft of the 10th Doctor finale that eventually became Godmaker.

SHOOTING

This story was shot first since the museum was pretty much one set with walls that could be shifted and redressed for different areas of the museum. Some sets were required for day time and night time shoots such as the Punch and Judy exhibit and the main hallway.

Among the many artefacts are accessories from the Indiana Jones figures including the chalice that Judith attempts to steal (the fake Holy Grail) and Mola Ram's sinister skull goblet. Among the animals in the 'neolithic' section are King Kong, Penguins from Batman Returns and Dodos from Primeval. A mummy from Pyramids of Mars can also be seen in the main hall with his generator loops and a Micronaut Pharos sarcophagus.
The final scenes to be filmed were the TARDIS interiors (7th Jan) which used the same interior as the Doctor's TARDIS with the column replaced by an orange tube and the addition of the consoles previously used in the Master's TARDIS in The Gift of the Benevolence.

EDITS

This was the third story to complete editing.
A lot of dialogue was added and changed in the edit. Originally it was Angel's choice to come to the library with the Doctor bemoaning her choice.
The Doctor's ad-libs on the first page of part 2 were all added in the edit.
It was also intended that Mr Punch got a bit more physical with the Doctor as he tries to free Mr Ellison but that was cut due to space.

The final scene also had a rewrite to establish a little of the Doctor's history for Angel's benefit and to give this new TARDIS team a reason d'être, a mission statement: to fight monsters. And they don't come more monstrous than next week's... 

TRANSMISSION

Punch and Judy shows take their roots from the Italian commedia dell'arte (literally comedy of craft). One of the proposed titles was Commedia Della Morte- comedy of death.

Part One was posted on 12th March 2011 with part two following a week later on 19th March. The Punch puppet was kept under wraps for all publicity material, appearing as a blur or in shadow only.

The title went through several changes beginning with Night In The Museum.
It was originally the third story in the series until it was switched with Play Time.
It was reposted on 9^th and 16^th September 2023

CONTINUITY

Yes, this is supposed to be The International Gallery that appeared in several episodes of Doctor Who, Sarah Jane and Sherlock Holmes.
We're in the 21st Century but probably in the early years, certainly before 2010.