Father Time: "Set Visit" was a short story released on the BBC Cult website on 15 January 2001[1] to coincide with the release of BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Father Time - it depicted a "what if..." scenario about if the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures were actually television stories, broadcast on BBC One. It was referred to as an "introduction" to Father Time on the novel's respective page on the BBC Cult website.[1]
- You may wish to consult
Father Time (disambiguation)for other, similarly-named pages.
No author was credited to the short story, however from its inclusion on Lance Parkin's page on the BBC Cult website, it is likely that he wrote it.[2] As this story, a "what if", was more of a fictional depiction of reality as opposed to any explicit attempt to portray events taking place in the Doctor Who multiverse, the Wiki currently treats this story as an invalid source.
Summary
If the book was a movie, this is what it would be like...[2]
Plot
A person talks to Paul McGann, who comments on the filming of a scene set in Winter in July. Today, the BBC are filming a car chase sequence on a winding road a few miles out from Buxton, Derbyshire, which is doubling for the fictional town of Greyfrith. McGann professed that he has little to do, despite actually have a lot to film. A crew of three-four special effects people set up the scene for filming. McGann and Minnie Driver are going to be in a car chase, however the entity that will be chasing them, Mr. Gibson, will be a CG addition. The person knows little about what is being filmed. The person observes how "Deborah"'s Ford Cortina is being packed with explosives. The person then takes the opportunity to speak to scriptwriter Lance Parkin.
The person is taken aback by the number of people working on just filming this one scene, and Parkin agrees, noting that while he is a writer, it's not his job to bring everything to life, which, he thinks is a good thing, as he gives an example of the car chase sequence: how it can be two-dimensional on paper, but given life through stylised cinematography, editing, and music. Parkin then asserted that "Doctor Who could not work in any other medium."
The person then talks to a costume designer, who explains the choices of the costumes of the Doctor, Deborah, and Mr. Gibson. From the costumes, the era of the Father Time's setting is the 1980s.
Characters
Referenced only
"Fictional characters"
Worldbuilding
- McGann drinks coffee.
- "Greyfrith" is one of the main locations for Father Time, which is part of the 2001 season of Doctor Who, the fifth year of McGann in the role.
- The special effects people only add a little fake snow to the scene. The rest will be added to the Pennine hill farms using CG.
- Pryotechic experts suggest that Father Time will feature lots of explosions.
- The person said that William Goldman once said "one's first visit to a film set is one of the most exciting experiences of your life, but the second is one of the most boring."
- Seemingly, most Doctor Who stories have car chases by the 2001 season, a staple of the series that Parkin finds hard to believe was once shunned by fans in McGann's first story, though he also remembers how those same fans were upset over the Doctor kissing someone.
- The Doctor's new costume has a "New Romantic look", that of which looks very "Vivienne Westwood" despite not including eyeshadow or warpaint.
- The costume for the character Deborah is more "dowdy", an effect achieved through using unflattering jumpers and corduroy trousers.
- The costume designer doesn't reveal anything about Mr. Gibson's costume, however.
- Father Time is set in the 1980s, eighty years after Doctor Who and the Burning, which sometime around 1999. The stories prior to Father Time developed the Doctor's isolation, and now, Father Time begins to develop a family, namely as a father. Though this doesn't appear to be in the first episode of the serial.
- Father Time will be broadcast on BBC1 on 15 January. The novelisation will be released concurrently, being priced at £5.99.
Notes
- Despite the story establishing that Father Time is a serial, not unlike the stories in the original era of Doctor Who, the synopsis for the story on Paul Cornell's page refers to it as a movie.