doctor who is so perfect for me, because it is SO hard to run out of content. oh you finished the 2005-2023 show? how about 26 seasons of classic who! oh and here’s hours upon hours of audio drama content? ah! can’t forget the 1996 movie!! did i mention the books? and the comics?? like it’s a everlasting fuel supply for my horrible horrible hyperfixation
death and the queen is the one of best series 4 episodes that never was. well, it does exist in audio form, but it’s so well made that i could practically see david tennant’s sad wet eyes in my mind’s eye. peak doctordonna comedy, peak doctor loneliness and vulnerability moments, peak strange aliens and cool pseudo-historical pseudo-mythical setting… although i believe it may have worked even better with eleven and amy (s5 roryless, obviously — she wouldn’t marry a random prince if rory was around) considering the sacrificial bride theme, the emphasis on marriage equaling death, and the fairytale atmosphere in the kingdom-that-shouldn’t-be which is a major theme during amy’s arc… eh, we can’t have everything we want. on the plus side, it definitely wouldn’t have been as funny.
and the drama!! that goodbye donna was heart(s)shattering. ten making the same mistake that he did in the sontaran stratagem; believing that no matter how close he gets to his companions, he will always be their second choice and they’ll abandon him whenever they happen to inevitably fall in love with another human. he doesn’t even let her finish talking, just assumes it’s a goodbye. grumbling in a jokey tone about the universe never giving him a break, “a chance to lick his wounds, maybe a spa day but no, giant cloud of alien death… just one more thing, so many more things”. god.
also, despite being an audio (so-called inessential material) it slots really nicely into fourteen’s character development and later conclusion — the chance to wind down finally came, after all those years, in the form of a home with donna noble. married to a man she truly loves, no ulterior motives or murderous plots. living with her best friend and beautiful, talented daughter. she got to be 1700s royalty for a few months, crown and all, but the only real kingdom worth reigning over consists of people who care about you.
Doctor: Brilliant stuff, psychic paper! Makes whoever reads it believe whatever you want them to.
Doctor: Even convinced security at an ABBA concert that Donna and I were Björn and Frida. But, eughhh…sorry. You don’t know Donna, do you? You’d have loved her.
love that for 8’s audio dramas they went “hey you know how we fucked with his head in the movie?? let’s do that again, put him through the brain trauma blender” and i EAT IT UP every time
A redesign for Doctor Who Audio Drama character, C'rizz! I really enjoy this character, but I'd be lying if I said my jaw didn't drop once I found out what he supposedly looks like dsaklfjdkslf.
Design Nerding under the cut!
I tried to put more focus on the fact that he's described as a lizard who has an exoskeleton, which I feel is such a cool combination of features that isn't utilised much in his official design.
So I decided to give him more of an inhuman snout to lean more towards the lizard aspect, but have it blend into a helmet-like structure to also give it that exoskeleton look. He also has colourful dots all over his body, which are inspired by the dots on a squid that help it camouflage.
The wiki said he wears a light blue hoodie, but I decided to turn that into a poncho with a hood instead. It felt more appropriate a creature from another species and world wouldn't be wearing a regular hoodie. Instead I imagine the imagery on his poncho to hold cultural value to him that's been lost with his people.
I wanted to give him a tail of sorts, but giving him a lizard tail easily made him feel more EARTH LIZARD than "Alien", so I ended up giving him an abdomen inspired by a mud-dauber wasp instead!
Also, I don't usually draw legs more bend and ending straight down like that, but I thought it'd be fun give C'rizz a more interesting and alien posture. It's a feature that's inspired by @myuniverseinabox's work and how they draw legs for their non-human characters! Go give them some love!
BBC handed John Peel an outline for the River of Death audio and he really did say 'fuck it, we're setting sail on the good ship SixPeri'
Spoilers:
I mean, there is no alien threat here for the doctor to be clever at. It really is just 'Six and Peri get separated from the Tardis in the past and have to pretend they're married to get help from the locals'
Followed by 'Peri gets hurt and Six helps nurse her back to health, featuring Six being worried for her as shown by (from Peri's point of view) an unusual level (for Six) of visible physical gentleness and verbal care for her feelings.
I mean, I don't ship SixPeri (they are Ten Donna coded to me in their level of 'you are my best mate/you drive me mad/when we are in sync and driving everyon else insane it's the best') but honestly this audio made me squint and go 'no, I can see it actually, valid point.'
So yes, if you like SixPeri, I think you'll get some enjoyment out of this audio. It's available on audible. Do with that what you will.