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gallifreyanhotfive · 19 days

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What Stories Are About the Academy Era? A Guide

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Context:

Stories set in the Academy Era/Otherwise Early Days are sparse to say the least (even Divided Loyalties only shows you the Academy through a dream), but you can actually piece together a pretty decent chunk of the Doctor’s early life (while it still remaining very mysterious) using the Expanded Universe. I've done a lot of infodumping in my time, so I'll do my best here by typing up my personal reference guide to this era. Anyway:

Theta Sigma and his friends would attempt to climb Mount Cadon. At the peak, you could apparently see all of time, but they never got to the top because of hallucinogenic snow. While attempting such a climb, Vansell broke his leg, and Theta Sigma fixed it with a time bubble he made from a sonic wrench and some twine. (Audio: Devil in the Mist)

Theta Sigma and Koschei traveled into the past of Gallifrey in search of Valdemar. Theta was horrified by the power that Valdemar represented, but Koschei was intrigued. (Novel: Tomb of Valdemar)

Theta Sigma time-locked his dorm room so thoroughly that even centuries after he graduated they hadn't managed to undo it. (Audio: Time in Office)

Theta Sigma also once used the food machine to get mercury for his own science projects and in doing so almost caused his professor to regenerate. (Audio: Time in Office)

At some point, Theta Sigma and Koschei traveled to the planet Machasma and used sonic agitation to get them out of trouble. (Audio: Darkness and Light)

Theta Sigma, Koschei, and three others were part of a band called the Gallifrey Academy Hot Five (see: my username). Theta Sigma played the perigosto sticks, and Koschei played the drums. (Novel: Deadly Reunion)

Millennia came from a wealthy family and was gifted in temporal engineering. She and Rallon had a "thing" for each other (wink wink) (Novel: Divided Loyalties)

Theta Sigma once made High Tutor Albrecht regenerate in an incident involving a perigosto stick and a temporal feedback loop. He was reprimanded by Borusa for this. (Novel: The Time Lord Letters)

Koschei was obsessed with the Necronomicon. (Short story: The Nameless City)

Runcible was the hall monitor at the Academy and regularly got into conflicts with the Deca because it was his job to make sure students were in bed after dark. They have mutual hatred of each other. (Novel: Divided Loyalties)

Indeed, the Master would one day stab him in the back and kill him. (Television: The Deadly Assassin)

Drax built a skimmer and would sometimes use it to take Jelpax home because they lived close to each other. (Novel: Divided Loyalties)

Theta Sigma attended Ushas's 94th birthday party. (Novel: The Death of Art)

Theta Sigma engineered a dangerous bacteria that rendered all multicellular life that came in contact with it comatose. This was a huge scandal on Gallifrey, and the Academy thoroughly hushed it up and had all samples destroyed. However, Ushas kept a sample and would one day use it in a scheme as the Rani. (Audio: Planet of the Rani)

Koschei taught Theta Sigma hypnosis. He'd also hypnotize others a lot because he thought it was amusing. (Novel: The Dark Path)

Mortimus once asked Ushas out but was so thoroughly rejected that he thought she wasn't interested in dating at all. Unbeknownst to him, Ushas later had a relationship with Magnus. (Novel: Divided Loyalties)

Theta Sigma and Koschei were bullied by Torvic. Theta was eventually forced to kill Torvic to save Koschei's life, but when Death came to offer Theta to be their disciple, he had Koschei take his place. He forgot about this deal and lived for centuries under the impression that their places had been swapped and that it had been Koschei to kill Torvic. (Audio: Master)

Despite this, he apparently drew pictures of Torvic in his diary. (Short story: The Three Paths)

Theta Sigma was also bullied by Anzor at the Academy. Anzor would use a galvanizer to make Theta do his navigational homework. He also turned another student named Cheevah into a crystal and threw him off a bell tower. (Audio/Novel: Mission to Magnus)

Koschei was in charge of organizing the end of term parties, but the Eighth Doctor recalled that they weren’t good. (Comic: The Glorious Dead)

Theta Sigma and Koschei would sneak out of the Capitol and go drinking with the Shobogans. (Novel: The Eight Doctors)

Theta Sigma was given an avatroid named Badger as a young child to act as his friend, protector, and tutor. He apparently gives bone crushing hugs. (Novel: Lungbarrow)

Theta Sigma did not have a good relationship with most of the House of Lungbarrow. Indeed, his first memory is of Satthralope smacking him so hard he could not walk afterwards. (Audio/Novel: Cold Fusion)

Satthralope would also let the drudges attack Theta if he refused to come to dinner. Drudges are basically servants of the Houses, about two and a half meters tall, and strong enough to hold a fully grown Time Lord in one arm. (Novel: Lungbarrow)

One time, those at the House of Lungbarrow wanted Theta Sigma to return home for Otherstide and even sent Badger to collect him. Theta refused, so they contacted his professor Delox, who proceeded to expel him from her classroom after chastising him on his family in front of the entire class. After this, Theta appeared to exhibit many of the signs I associate with a nervous breakdown. Distressed, Theta came up with an idea that would prove he wasn't what they all said he was - he would go after the Toymaker. (Novel: Divided Loyalties)

Millennia and Rallon were the only two to join him on this trip, the rest of the Deca thinking them mad. They stole a Type 18 TARDIS, and after making it to the Toyroom, Rallon's body was basically immediately taken over by the Toymaker. The Toymaker had Theta play a game of Capture the Flag. He turned Millennia into one of his dolls, and Theta returned to Gallifrey, the only survivor. (Novel: Divided Loyalties)

Because of these events, Theta was put on trial. The only two to attend this trial to support Theta were Jelpax and Magnus. Vansell showed up but only to reveal that he had been working with the CIA, having been tasked with watching Theta. Koschei and Ushas had been off working on a research project at the time. (Novel: Divided Loyalties)

While Theta, Rallon, and Millennia were gone, Mortimus ran away from Gallifrey, which made many think he had gone with them, and eventually also ended up in the Toyroom. (Novel: Divided Loyalties) Other accounts suggest Mortimus left Gallifrey later, so perhaps he returned after this trip.

Theta Sigma was on the same zero-grav hyperball team as Padrac, who he called "Paddy." (Audio: The Eleven)

Theta and Koschei's "kindergarten spat" apparently almost destroyed the planet. During this time, Theta used to call Koschei "Scabby Knees." (Audio: Blood of the Time Lords)

Theta Sigma had no friends in his very early life. Instead of creating imaginary friends, he had an imaginary enemy called Mandrake. Mandrake was actually a dead lizard he pinned to an engine part that Theta would defeat using a stick. (Audio: The Widow's Assassin)

There was a Hermit who lived behind the House of Lungbarrow on the mountain. Theta Sigma once went to him, depressed and full of despair, and the Hermit showed him hope in yellow flowers. (Television: The Time Monster)

Shimmerlings live in the time vortex, but after a storm, they were stranded on Gallifrey and dying. A very young Theta Sigma saw the Hermit throwing them into the Untempered Schism to save them. Theta asked him what was the point because he wouldn't be able to save them all before they died, and the Hermit taught him the value in saving who he could, despite not being able to save everyone. (Audio: Crossed Lines)

Theta Sigma was the Time Tot Hide And Seek Champion for 42 years in a row, which apparently drove Ushas nuts. (Comic: Weapons of Past Destruction)

When Maris - a retired CIA agent - was hired to find out where Theta Sigma, now probably the Doctor, had run off to in the TARDIS, Ushas and Koschei kidnapped her, interrogated her in an attempt to find where the Doctor had gone, and eventually almost killed her when she knew nothing (she was extracted from the situation before she could be murdered). (Short story: Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir)

After graduating, Magnus rose quickly in Time Lord society, which Borusa felt threatened by. Borusa had the CIA manufacture evidence implicating Magnus in treason, leading to him fleeing Gallifrey and becoming a renegade. (Novel: Timewyrm: Exodus)

Koschei befriended a professor at the Academy named Salyavin because he wanted access to the restricted libraries. He wanted to find The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey, an act which was illegal. Salyavin took the blame for this, was sent to Shada, and stole the book (since he was condemned anyway, he might as well). (Short story: The Legacy of Gallifrey)

Theta Sigma and Ruath, another student at the Academy who was obsessed with vampires, once electrified Borusa's perigosto stick. (Novel: Goth Opera)

After the Academy, Koschei attended a ritual with Theta Sigma and Susan, then likely called Arkytior, in Arcadia. Here, he gave her a toy, which was actually a communication node that he planned to use to find Theta and her if they ever left Gallifrey. (Audio: The Toy)

According to one account, Koschei led students at the Academy in a coup against Lord President Pundat the Third and tried to convince Theta Sigma to join. Pundat died of stress soon after the revolt and was replaced with Chancellor Slann. There was a second coup, but they were overheard by the authorities trying to yet again convince Theta to help. After each coup, there were bloody reprisals against the students, but Theta, who was not involved, had his memory wiped. Koschei assassinated Slann, but the students weren't ready for another go. He ended up fleeing Gallifrey. (Short story: Birth of a Renegade) There are, however, many other accounts of him fleeing Gallifrey.

Koschei and a "friend" were locked in a bathroom of a bar in the Tower by the Time Lords after a prank gone wrong. The two fought, and the friend left Koschei behind in the Tower, where he remained locked in for centuries. (Short story: Rebel Rebel)

Theta called Vansell "Nosebung" and continued to do so for centuries. (Audio: Neverland)

Theta Sigma came in fourth place in the Time Lord Academy Sprint Championship. (Comic: Space in Dimension Relative in Time)

Theta Sigma fed a snapping wart fowl to Valyes's summer project, and Valyes still holds a grudge over this. (Audio: The Next Life)

Flubbles are koala-like animals with six legs. Theta Sigma used to keep one under his bed at the Academy as an illegal pet. He almost got caught when she went into heat and started performing her mating call. (Novel: Island of Death)

Theta Sigma used to chase tafelshrews - a species almost like rodents - through the snow of Mount Cadon. (Short story: The Three Paths)

By some accounts, Theta Sigma was loomed, and by some, he had parents. In a version where he had parents, his father and Mr. Saldaamir were once working in the House and were therefore ignoring Theta. Because of this, Theta, at this point a small child, caught a cobblemouse and set it loose in the House, interrupting their plans. (Novel: Unnatural History)

A cousin of Theta's - Glospin - used to bully him quite a lot. He once claimed to find evidence in the Loom pointing to the fact that Theta did not belong in the House of Lungbarrow. If this was believed, Theta Sigma would have been executed. This caused the two to have a physical altercation. (Novel: Lungbarrow)

During this fight, Glospin got a genetic sample from Theta, allowing him to force a regeneration into a Theta lookalike. Then, Glospin murdered Quences, the Kithriarch of the House of Lungbarrow (basically the head of the family), before regenerating again, thus framing Theta for the murder. This was because Glospin wanted to become the next Kithriarch instead of Theta, but because of this, the House of Lungbarrow buried themself (the Houses are sentient, did I mention that?) for centuries. (Novel: Lungbarrow)

Despite doting on Theta (and Theta generally being his favorite), Quences had been convinced by Satthralope to disown him when he announced he didn't want to be a Lord Cardinal. (Novel: Lungbarrow)

Some of Theta's cousins include Quences, Satthralope, Glospin, Innocet, Arkhew, Owis, Salpash, Luton, Rynde, Jobiska, Maljamin, Farg, Celesia, Chovor, DeRoosifa, and Almund. (Novel: Lungbarrow)

Grandfather Paradox was also of the House of Lungbarrow from the same generation as Theta, but of course, he never actually existed. (Novel: Christmas on a Rational Planet)

Pandad VII issued a Burn Edict on Braxiatel, but Braxiatel killed his would be assassin. As punishment, Braxiatel was forced to take up the mantle of Lord Burner for some time, the personal assassin for Lord President Pandad VII. He was ordered to erase an old man and his granddaughter (wink wink) who were fleeing Gallifrey from history but refused to do so and let them go free. That very same day, Pandad died when a power relay that was in his office overloaded, but an inquiry led by Braxiatel found that this was an accident. Just an accident. Nothing shady going on here. (Audio: Disassembled)

Magnus tried to drain the Artron energy from a giant sphere from the time vortex. Theta Sigma opposed him and used the gun of a member of the Chancellery Guard to stop him from draining the energy because he had learned that the energy was alive. This set the energy free. Magnus never forgave him for this, and their friendship ended. (Comic: Flashback)

Theta Sigma had a great aunt lived in a house high in the mountains. She would sing him lullabies. The Eighth Doctor said she was "terrible." (Audio: Together in Eclectic Dreams)

Anyhow, I'm spent, so I'll post this now. Might add on some more later lmaoooo

Don't forget to check out the next part in the reblogs!

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doctornolonger · 11 months

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Did you know the BBC wanted a young Doctor spin-off, but the Doctor Who production office shut it down, so all the ideas for it became the CBBC show Leonardo?

or,

You want a Deca spinoff? We’ve had one all along!!

It’s well-known that CBBC had planned a young Doctor spin-off before they commissioned The Sarah Jane Adventures. As RTD put it in The Inside Story (2006), “Children’s BBC approached us. They wanted to do a drama based around the idea of a young Doctor Who, but I said no to that. Somehow the idea of a fourteen-year-old Doctor, on Gallifrey inventing sonic screwdrivers, takes away from the mystery and intrigue of who he is and where he came from. So instead I suggested doing a series with Sarah Jane Smith, because she'd been so popular in School Reunion.”

But is it possible that CBBC didn’t throw out the idea, and “a fourteen-year-old Doctor on Gallifrey inventing sonic screwdrivers” became “a fourteen-year-old Leondardo da Vinci in 15th century Florence inventing new futuristic technologies”? Many thanks to my friend Poseidome for pointing me to this connection, which came from the same rumorhound who told me about the Dalek rights situation and abortive BritBox reshoot plans:

Leonardo is what the young Doctor spin off was going to be. “Fantastico!” as his catchphrase. The series would follow the Doctor, Master, Rani, and friends uncovering a conspiracy within the Academy and Time Lord society. The Doctor and the eventual renegades at the heart of it all. The Doctor’s ideas being stolen, his future has been foreseen, Time Lords trying to stop it, etc. All that kind of stuff. There’s even a Borusa stand-in played by Alistair McGowan!

(More under the cut…)

The cast I believe would have been the same, along with the budget, filming locations and costumes. Just adapted to be more sci-fi. CGI shots of Gallifrey, actual futuristic technology, classic monster cameos, that kind of thing.

Most if not all the ideas for the young Doctor series are in the Leonardo trailer still, as they kept 99% of the concept. The independent company tasked with adapting it had already done all the development before the idea got canned. Storylines, scripts, characters, costume ideas, locations, sets. If you watch the first series, the story arc and scripts should still be clear what they originally were, so it sort of still is, in a weird way, a bit of Doctor Who media.

I think it would have been really popular. I believe it would have broadcast in a gap year, or between split seasons. Similar to what they later did with Class, but instead of late teens, it was for the Sarah Jane Adventures demographic.

I’ve not seen the second series, but my understanding is its a lot more it’s own thing, as by then they’d had time to redevelop it outside of being a reworked young Doctor show. Hence why series 1 is the way it is, and series 2 tonally different.

I’ve done some digging to try to verify this rumour, including reaching out to one of the series 1 writers, but I haven’t found anything definitive yet. I rather doubt that development had gone as far as costumes, sets, etc., given how early in the process RTD seems to have shot it down, but it’s certainly true that the cast list matches perfectly. Plagiarising freely from the Leonardo Wiki:

Jonathan Bailey (Psi from “Time Heist”!) as Leonardo da Vinci, a young apprentice who loves painting, inventing, and creating new things. As the BBC Press Office put it, “He’s not just a genius; he’s an unstoppable, free-thinking creative force who’s always ten steps ahead of the rest.” Obviously the Doctor.

Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Tomaso/Lisa (of “Mona” fame), a girl who lives disguised as a male apprentice at Verrocchio’s workshop in Florence. According to the rumorhound, this would have been the Rani – although she also sounds a bit like Alanir …

Akemnji Ndifornyen as Niccolò Machiavelli or “Mac”, the number one man when it come to fraud or theft. He has a network of urchin spies and cut-purses throughout the city, and he likes money-making schemes and mingling with the rich and famous. Leo sometimes has to get him out of trouble. Obviously the Master.

Colin Ryan as Lorenzo de’ Medici, a wealthy boy largely bored of his life of luxury who enjoys sneaking away to join his friends. He is anxious to please his father, whom he greatly admires. The Monk, perhaps?

Alistair McGowan as Piero de’ Medici, an ambitious man and cousin to the Duke of Florence. He keeps a close eye on all happenings in Florence, and he heads a mysterious secret society. Borusa.

James Cunningham as Andrea del Verrocchio, Leo and Tom’s strict maestro. Leonardo is very loyal to him. The Doctor’s mentor Azmael, or an original character?

In light of this, I could totally believe that the blueprint of the young Doctor series was reused for Leonardo. If true, the transposition of the characters from Gallifrey to late 15th century Florence was frankly inspired. TIL Machiavelli and da Vinci were actually contemporaries!

(Incidentally, one of the script editors of Leonardo, Nina Métivier, also played a role in some of my favorite stories from the Chibnall era: she edited “The Woman Who Fell to Earth” and “It Takes You Away” in Doctor Who series 11, and of course she wrote “Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” in series 12.)

This wouldn’t be the first time that planned Doctor Who stories have been repurposed for other series: Wizards vs. Aliens (2012–2014) was made by the same creative team and played in the same timeslot as The Sarah Jane Adventures, and at least one episode was based on a SJA script that had gone unproduced after Elisabeth Sladen’s untimely death; some Dirk Gently and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy stories had their roots in Douglas Adams’ rejected or unproduced Fourth Doctor pitches; and quite a few rejected Wilderness Era book and audio proposals eventually found homes outside Who, such as the Sixth Doctor pitch Smoking Mirror, which ultimately became into the Faction Paradox novel Against Nature.

But unlike those cases, where we know the character dynamics of the Doctor and their companion or Sarah Jane’s friends so we can spot their analogues in the new contexts, this young Doctor series is an attempt to do something new. Maybe we can spot the young Doctor and Master [edit: or can we?!], but we’ve never seen their friendship anything like this before – and as for the Monk being an impressionable kid trying to impress his father? It’s completely new.

We don’t have anything to compare Leonardo against: its existence is literally the only surviving hint of CBBC’s vision for the young Doctor and friends. And what a compelling hint it is!

#WhoCU #doctor who #young doctor #leonardo #the deca #gallifrey #deca #time lords #koschei #cbbc #bbc #first doctor #the doctor #the master #the rani #the monk #borusa #azmael #effortpost

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