Sam's Doctor Who Report
By Sam / Spinebreakers Crew
It says quite a lot about my level of Doctor Who knowledge that I knew most of the authors of this new series of books’ names and previous Doctor Who book titles.
Authors in attendance included Stephen “Vanishing Point” Cole, Trevor “Wishing Well” Baxendale, and Justin Richards, whose ‘Doctor Who – The Legend Continues’ is like a Bible to me; whether this above passage makes me seem like someone with great memory or just someone slightly sad is up to you. All of the above, and many more, were there to discuss ‘the Darksmith Legacy’, a new epic set of books, set to be released in ten parts due to the short amount of Doctor Who TV stories there will be next year.
So I arrived, fashionably late of course, (well actually the coach I was on broke down, but fashionably late just sounds so much better!) armed with my best notebook, and got ready to get the low-down on the ‘Legacy.
I have to admit something. Before I got to the press conference for these books last Thursday I was quite anxious about them. The last time we Whovians (yes that is the right term for ‘Who fans, by the way) had a ‘Who story comprised of 10-or-more episodes was ‘Trial Of A Time Lord’ and that, I’m sad to say, was a bit of a mess. Fourteen episodes of ‘80s garishness and confusing plot arcs which seemed to add to much less than the sum of its parts.
But, post-conference, I am happy to say that all my worries have been pretty much alleviated. After helping myself to a mandatory canapé or two, I cornered the aforementioned Justin Richards, editor of the BBC Tenth Doctor books and overseer of this project to ask him a few questions. He gave me a few hints I feel I should be able to share. Firstly, the first book, The Dust Of Ages, which I have read – one of only about twenty people to do so, (I’m in the middle of reviewing for you lucky Spinebreakers readers) is set on the Moon; yes, that Moon!
Also, spoiler fans, I can reveal all stories will feature the Tenth Doctor, and some will feature a new female companion who, according to the tie-in website’s main designer, is “not all she seems…” But before you all fill the message boards with the words ‘she’s the Rani!’
I have been assured that the set of books will feature no returning characters from new or classic ‘Who. Instead the main bad guy seems to be Mordane, a rather Terminator-like figure who graces the cover of the second book, The Graves of Mordane, and seems to reside underground on the Moon, at least according the website demo that I managed to have a play around with (I liked it very much; one of the planets is brain shaped on the website – speculation ahoy!) After getting a sufficient amount of juicy titbits I felt I couldn’t repress it any longer – I HAD TO SEE THE DAVROS PART OF THE DOCTOR WHO EXHIBIT!
So off I ran, almost squealing with fanboy excitement, whilst the ‘serious’, professional journalists got to work. After a few more inner-fanboy moments: meeting Nicholas Briggs (voice of the Daleks nonetheless), and various other writers and getting them to sign various memorabilia for me amongst others things, I left them to it, for I knew I had what I came for. So in one hand, I had my camera full of Davros pictures, and in the other I had perhaps my two favourite ever gifts – a goody bag and a proof copy of the first book, which has the words EMBARGOED written in big letters on the cover.
But this was not even close to the best part of the night. That was the feeling that for at least one night I could say, in a very happy voice, “I am a journalist!”, and it is this feeling I most remember from that night.