Doctor Who's Tragical History TourDoctor Who's Tragical History Tour
  • Nu-Who
    • Ncuti Gatwa
    • Jodie Whittaker
    • Peter Capaldi
    • Matt Smith
    • David Tennant
    • Christopher Eccleston
  • Tweeners
    • John Hurt
    • Paul McGann
    • The Master List
    • Regeneration X
    • The Mystery Guest
    • The Hand of Fear
  • Colo(u)r
    • Sylvester McCoy
    • Colin Baker
    • Peter Davison
    • Tom Baker
    • Jon Pertwee
  • Monochrome
    • Patrick Troughton
    • William Hartnell
  • Tour du Jour
    • On This Day
    • The House of Holmes
    • 50 for 50
    • The Randomizer
    • THT Rand-o-pix of the Day
    • The Feast of Steven
    • Tour Notz
    • The Watcher
    • Contact the Tour
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Doctor Who's Tragical History Tour
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  • Nu-Who
    1. Ncuti Gatwa
    2. Jodie Whittaker
    3. Peter Capaldi
    4. Matt Smith
    5. David Tennant
    6. Christopher Eccleston
    7. View All

    Who Told You There Wouldn’t Be Any Math?

    December 5, 2022

    The Next-iest of Doctors

    May 29, 2022

    Svelte 16

    May 8, 2022

    Who Told You There Wouldn’t Be Any Math?

    December 5, 2022

    B-Bye Bradley

    October 6, 2022

    Svelte 16

    May 8, 2022

    Now You Sea Devil, No You Don’t

    April 24, 2022

    E-Spaced

    August 4, 2023

    Svelte 16

    May 8, 2022

    The Dark Jacket Dimension

    November 13, 2021

    Bad Hair Month

    September 9, 2021

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    E-Spaced

    August 4, 2023

    Who Told You There Wouldn’t Be Any Math?

    December 5, 2022

    The Wedding of SMW

    August 27, 2022

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    Who Told You There Wouldn’t Be Any Math?

    December 5, 2022

    The Next-iest of Doctors

    May 29, 2022

    The Dark Jacket Dimension

    November 13, 2021

    The (W)hole Ruth

    January 31, 2020

    Ten Days Till the Tenthiversary of the Tenting of the Tenth

    December 22, 2019

    The Last ‘Last Christmas’ Specials Rankings #3

    December 24, 2018

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Prelude

    September 8, 2023

    Destiny of the Costume Closet

    September 1, 2023
  • Tweeners
    1. John Hurt
    2. Paul McGann
    3. The Master List
    4. Regeneration X
    5. The Mystery Guest
    6. The Hand of Fear
    7. View All

    Hurt So Good: A Doctor and His Umbrella

    April 27, 2023

    Who Told You There Wouldn’t Be Any Math?

    December 5, 2022

    Svelte 16

    May 8, 2022

    Ten’ll Get You Five

    September 4, 2020

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    McGann Before McGann

    May 26, 2023

    … And All That Yaz

    November 16, 2022

    Fivey at Forty: The First Companion Death of 1982

    March 16, 2022

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Prelude

    September 8, 2023

    Destiny of the Costume Closet

    September 1, 2023

    Ghost Re-Write

    November 16, 2021

    The (W)hole Ruth

    January 31, 2020

    Dup-topia

    January 29, 2020

    The Glue Guy

    June 24, 2018

    Doctor on Doctor ACTION!

    November 19, 2017

    The Wheel in Cheese

    August 10, 2014

    The Hurt Locker

    May 25, 2013

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Prelude

    September 8, 2023

    Destiny of the Costume Closet

    September 1, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Prelude

    September 8, 2023

    Destiny of the Costume Closet

    September 1, 2023
  • Colo(u)r
    1. Sylvester McCoy
    2. Colin Baker
    3. Peter Davison
    4. Tom Baker
    5. Jon Pertwee
    6. View All

    A Studio Film (or rather a film in the studio)

    June 9, 2023

    … And All That Yaz

    November 16, 2022

    Fivey at Forty: The First Companion Death of 1982

    March 16, 2022

    Roomba With a Prenumbra

    March 1, 2022

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    Hurt So Good: A Doctor and His Umbrella

    April 27, 2023

    … And All That Yaz

    November 16, 2022

    B-Bye Bradley

    October 6, 2022

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    The Inevitable Adric

    July 14, 2023

    The Box(ing) Day of Delights

    December 26, 2022

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    Destiny of the Costume Closet

    September 1, 2023

    The Inevitable Adric

    July 14, 2023

    Hurt So Good: A Doctor and His Umbrella

    April 27, 2023

    McGann Before McGann

    May 26, 2023

    The Warrior Before Time

    May 19, 2023

    Purple Shag Carpet

    May 11, 2023

    Hurt So Good: A Doctor and His Umbrella

    April 27, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Prelude

    September 8, 2023

    Destiny of the Costume Closet

    September 1, 2023
  • Monochrome
    1. Patrick Troughton
    2. William Hartnell
    3. View All

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    When Patrick (almost) Met Ian

    August 25, 2023

    When Patrick Met Verity

    August 11, 2023

    More For Letts

    July 25, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    When Patrick Met Verity

    August 11, 2023

    The TARDIS whirled on it’s way again…

    December 23, 2022

    Invasion of The Invasion

    December 17, 2022

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (54→49)

    September 20, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (60→55)

    September 15, 2023

    60 for 60 — The Prelude

    September 8, 2023

    Destiny of the Costume Closet

    September 1, 2023
  • Tour du Jour
    • On This Day
    • The House of Holmes
    • 50 for 50
    • The Randomizer
    • THT Rand-o-pix of the Day
    • The Feast of Steven
    • Tour Notz
    • The Watcher
    • Contact the Tour
Doctor Who's Tragical History TourDoctor Who's Tragical History Tour
Tour Updates

Silver Oasis

By -- DSWMay 13, 202103 Mins Read
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Busy times here at THT Towers, one which will continue for awhile at least and which in turn has meant limited time maintaining the Tour.  But there’s an anniversary tomorrow (as of this writing) that simply cannot go unremarked upon.

On May 14 1996, the only officially sanctioned Doctor Who between December 1989 and March 2005 (and here we exclude for the purposes of this argument 2003’s “Scream of the Shalka” for all the pedants out there) aired as a BBC-Fox co-production when Paul McGann became the 8th Doctor in what many either call the TVM or The Enemy Within.  We’re now 25 years since the TVM first aired.  How did that happen?

For anyone who lived as a Doctor Who fan through the period between Survival and the TVM and all of the denial-ism born out of desperation which in turn led to resignation that Doctor Who would ever come back, the news that it was, albeit not as a pure BBC product but rather as this odd admixture or hybrid that it felt was needed to progress the show into the 90’s, was met at the time with equal measures of curiosity and skepticism.  All of the fans were going to watch the show, that was a given, but perhaps they would be doing so with arms-folded and standing behind-the-couch instead of hiding behind-the-sofa as they did as children.

The 1996 TVM was not meant just for kids by necessity.  As a one-off back-door pilot it had to hit and go for as large a family audience as they could manage.  But the other thing which inadvertently held long-term fans at a distance was the clearly-in-evidence copious quntities of money lavished on this production.  This was not the cozy stitched-together version of the program as we had come to know it as, but rather had big sets and name actors and effects and orchestral music.  If the TVM was going to fail, as it ultimately did, it wasn’t going to be for lack of trying.

But whereas the size of scale might have been a lot of adjust to, in so many ways the smaller details were gotten right.  From the unnecessary, and possibly dangerous from a larger audience point-of-view, decision, one which apparently was a hard-fought battle to put in and keep in, of having Sylvester McCoy there to do the hand-off right down to McGann’s casting.

Aside from keeping the flickering embers of Doctor Who alive, the lasting feeling many regard the TVM with is ‘big’.  This is what lasts in the memory, an answer to what Doctor Who could be with more funding and perhaps more imagination, and that was the feeling which managed to hold all the way to March 2005 and from there to the present day.  Whereas RTD managed the difficult trick of having Doctor Who feel ‘cozy’ all the while holding a sense of scale and ‘big-ness,’ the most important attribute Doctor Who now has, which started back in 1996, is a feeling of solidarity.  And that’s big.


In terms of the Tour doing what the Tour does, we mark this 25th Anniversary of the TVM with a nice little bump of McGann ‘Who Not Who!’ images.

Short Hops:
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    The Vancouver Experiment
  • Rust Bunnies
    Rust Bunnies
  • The Gags All Here
    The Gags All Here
Tour Updates Paul McGann Sylvester McCoy The Enemy WIthin
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On This Day in Doctor Who History
  • September 22
    • 1979: Destiny of the Daleks [4]
    • 2012: The Power of Three
  • September 23
    • 1978: The Ribos Operation [4]
    • 1967: The Tomb of the Cybermen [4]
  • September 24
    • 1977: The Horror of Fang Rock [4]
    • 1966: The Smugglers [3]
    • 2011: Closing Time
  • September 25
    • 1976: The Masque of Mandragora [4]
    • 1965: Galaxy 4 [3-- [Air Lock]
  • September 26
    • 2015: The Witch's Familiar
  • September 27
    • 2014: The Caretaker
    • 1975: Planet of Evil [1]
    • 1980: Meglos [1]
    • 1986: The Mysterious Planet [4]
    • 1989: Battlefield [4]
  • September 28
    • 1968: The Mind Robber [3]

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By -- DSWApril 14, 2006 Roundel Roundabouts 1 Min Read

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