The Dark Dimension (unproduced TV story)
The Dark Dimension, written by fan scholar Adrian Rigelsford, was a planned direct-to-video film commissioned by BBC Enterprises that was to have been released in 1993 to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of Doctor Who.
Initial production
Cancellation
The Dark Dimension (later known as Lost in the Dark Dimension[1]) ran into obstacles which prevented it from being produced.
Some of the actors, particularly Jon Pertwee and Colin Baker, were not pleased that their roles were so small (the script featured the Fourth Doctor prominently while the others had small scenes). [2]
The main cancellation of the project fell to a miscalculation in the cost of the program. A large sum of money had not been added to both the cost and revenue of the project — that of the cost of putting the show on the air. When the calculations were corrected, it became clear that it was no longer viable to produce the film financially.
Attempts were made afterward to lighten the cost of the film by cutting key scenes and restructuring the film entirely - but these eventually fell through. Some minor elements of the scripts - such as characters not being able to be visible because of being in another level of time — were later used in the television story Dimensions in Time.
The story
Far in the future of Earth, most humans have been wiped out. The Earth is left in ruins, the only people left on the planet being a resistance group which has been trying to hunt the creature that has done this to the planet. The group is searching an area, and their leader, Summerfield, suddenly finds a body. It is the Seventh Doctor — murdered by the creature. The Doctor is given a funeral which Summerfield finds fitting, as they are sent floating into sea and lit aflame. With the Doctor gone, Summerfield tells the others that they have to finish what the Doctor started on their own.
The story would have centred on an older version of the Fourth Doctor, the Brigadier and Ace with shorter appearances by the other surviving Doctors, though in more minor roles. Classic monsters would have included the Cybermen, Daleks, the Ice Warriors and the Yeti.
The central idea to the story was that of the alteration of time by an evil creature so that the Fourth Doctor would have died instead of regenerating after falling from the Pharos Project (as seen in Logopolis). In doing so, the creature created a "Dark Dimension". The Doctor had to revert back the timeline before he and his future incarnations were erased from time by the effect.
The production would have also featured "Summerfield", who would have been the Seventh Doctor's companion Bernice Summerfield from the New Adventures book series.
Furthermore Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's son Alexander Stewart would have an appearance in the film. In the alternative timeline he would have been the boyfriend of Ace. The couple would have had several children. In the later restored timeline Alexander would have died in 1979 at the age of ten.
Monsters
Along with the inclusion of almost all the classic monsters, many of them were to be redesigned or feature totally new developments of the original design.
- "'The Cybermen were not like any we've ever seen before,' says Rigelsford. 'There was a specific Cyberman who was being made by the people at Henson's Creature Workshop. The guy who designed it was Chris Fitzgerald . It had holes in its knuckles and there was a point where it held up its hand, made a fist, and six-inch blades shot out of its knuckles! It was like Wolverine out of the X-Men comics; Cyberrine!'"[1]
The Daleks also were to have featured a redesign featuring a new special weapons Dalek. A design of the supposed Dalek was passed amoung fans for years afterwards and multiple fan recreations have been a result. Despite this, this was not the official redesign, which has not been released to the public.
- "'The Daleks were going to have laser-guns that were going to be done with computer animation so the laser bolts would be in 3-D rather than just going 'Zap!' with a blue line. The bolts were going to be like spears coming out in 3-D.'"[1]
Characters
- Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee
- Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker
- Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
- Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker
- Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
- Ace - Sophie Aldred
- Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
- Summerfield
- Alexander Stewart
- Prof. Oliver Hawkspur
Production
Graeme Harper was scheduled to direct the story.
- "About three weeks worth of test filming was done including model and titles effects, and some location filming was also undertaken. 'We were going to go down to Shepperton film studios,' says Rigelsford, 'and have it shot on film on one of the largest sound-stages on Shepperton.'"[1]
Further development
Adrian Rigelsford wrote a book entitled The Making of the Dark Dimension which contained scripts and concept drawings. However, it repeatedly ran into release problems and has never been published.[1] The Dark Dimension and its production were briefly mentioned in Rigelsford's own Classic Who: The Harper Classics.
External links
- Short Synopsis taken from The Nth Doctor of The Dark Dimension
- NZDWFC - TSV 44: "Inside the Dark Dimension" by Jon Preddle
