UPDATE + Vote for the next Mr TARDIS Editorial (Patreon)

Hey, folks! Starting today, there's a new perk to the Mr TARDIS Patreon! Patrons will now be able to vote for upcoming topics and edited videos for the YouTube Channel!

Just a couple of clarifications before we get to the vote itself. The Hartnell-era review marathon is starting to approach the endgame with just 4 reviews to go ('The Gunfighters' to 'The Smugglers'). There's some general clear-up after that, but as I'm preparing those projects I'm wanting to tackle some smaller topics before we get to the show's 60th anniversary.

For this particular vote, production will start as soon as the Hartnell marathon is complete, so you and any potential new Patrons have plenty of time to cast a vote. The losing topic (and indeed other topics down the line) won't be thrown away, but rather be moved to a future poll where it'll get another chance. Over the past few months I've been collating a list of topics (editorials, lists, explainers and more) which Patrons will be able to regularly vote on.

For this first vote, we're keeping it simple. Two options, based on showrunner re-invention;

The Doctor Who companion; by the early-2000s the public consensus on the Doctor's "assistant" was the pretty, hapless, screaming woman who would hobble down corridors in impractical footwear. Whether or not this was reality didn't really matter to non-fans as we can see numerous parodies from Lenny Henry to Steven Moffat poking fun at the Doctor's relationship with the human race. With Russell T. Davies returning to the show, now seems like a good time to take a look at how a showrunner obsessed with reality television modernised the role through the casting of Billie Piper and truly making the companion the co-lead. What separates Rose from her predecessors? Why is it so important for the 3rd act of 'Rose' to take place at Westminster Bridge and the London Eye? What does her departure say about the way RTD views growing up in Modern Britain? And, perhaps most importantly, was she actually kidnapped by a Northerner?

Flux and the Weeping Angels; Chris Chibnall has many critics regarding his era of Doctor Who. However, there has become a (begrudging) consensus that his handling of Classic-Era villains was a consistent high-point. From witty and macabre Dalek-dialogue, the evolution of Cybermen through Ashad and the Sontaran's conquest of the Crimean War Chibnall was able to breath a new lease of life to villains over half-a-century old. However, it's how he handled a revived-series icon in the Weeping Angels where he does his most drastic re-contextualisation. Steven Moffat, while a political writer (obviously), tended to refrain from this subtext regarding his fairy-tale creations; Shadows that eat, robots who smash clocks and a TERF cult-leader with obstructed vision due to her eyepatch (okay, I'm being facetious with that last one). Let me explain how Chris Chibnall and Maxine Alderton's take on Moffat's most enduring villainous creation with the Weeping Angels actually elevated them into a scarier and more pernicious threat; from their allegiance to the Time Lords (along with the Judoon, another modern-era creation) to Professor Jericho's comparison to Bergen-Belsen, to such an extent that even expanded media like Big Finish is following their lead.

There's the pitches. Get voting and thank you so much for your continued support!

Deadline; September 8th 2023.