Hartnell-era Marathon: Endgame (UPDATE) (Patreon)

Hello, folks!

Just a quick update as we head into Autumn and ever-closer to 'Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary.

There's only a few reviews left of the William Hartnell marathon; 'The War Machines' and 'The Smugglers' with a few post-marathon videos to come as well.

Production is well under-way for 'The War Machines' review with it being recorded and in the early stages of editing. However, I'm afraid that the video will miss the YouTube scheduled date of October 14th. I was hoping to have it finished by now, but over the past few days me and my wife have been pre-occupied with trying to get treatment for our cat Theo (pictured) on top of me coming to the end of a freelance media-industry job.

Don't worry too much as he's been to the vets today and given a diet of special food + paste, but it did delay my reviews by a couple of days. It unfortunately coincided with a time where me and my wife are heading away for a few days and then the day after I come back I'm booked on another freelance job for 2 weeks. Even if the video was ready for tomorrow, BBC/YouTube Content ID claims and disputes will take several weeks to process.

So in short, I apologise for the delay in the final two reviews of the Hartnell-marathon. My review of 'The Smugglers' will definitely also need some extra time to put together as well so I can give a substantial and worthy epilogue to William Hartnell and the First Doctor as a character (since I've already reviewed 'The Tenth Planet' for Cybercember back in 2020).

The next step after that is to take a bit of time away from black-and-white 'Doctor Who' and work on that video essay that you folks voted for a few weeks ago! We'll be talking about how Russell T. Davies re-invented the "companion" role in 2005's 'Doctor Who' revival! I've got a lot to say about that and thanks for getting involved in choosing the topic!

After that, we'll be very close to the 60th anniversary so it'll be all-hands-on-deck to get reviews done of 'The Star Beast', 'Wild Blue Yonder' and 'The Giggle'. But around those reviews I'm wanting to try and re-review 'The Daleks', 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth', 'The Chase' and 'The Daleks Master Plan' and insert them into full Season-compilation reviews of Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of Classic 'Doctor Who' (since a lot of people seem to really like the lengthy, compilation videos) and release these around December/January. The plan would eventually be to also do the same to 'The Tenth Planet' and bolt on the epilogue at the end of 'The Smugglers' review to that instead so it makes chronological sense, but that's definitely a while down the road. I also need to find time for my review of 'An Adventure in Space and Time'. It might be nice to have it done and ready for November.

After that, I think to mix things up we won't be picking up with the rest of Classic Who for the marathon, but instead going to Series 2 of the revival (and maybe Series 3 if I'm feeling spicy). This will depend on Series 14 release dates and how busy I am in early 2024. Basically, the UK media industry is absolutely [redacted]. Strikes in America play a role, but inflation and the cost of living was already causing production companies to shut their doors and have commissioners running for the hills *months* before strike-action was even being considered in the States. These are political issues that require political solutions but our government's current strategy amounts to...

*checks notes*

...putting their fingers in their ears, yelling "La la la, we can't hear you!" until the next general election.

So we'll see where we are. It's because of this tumultuous time in the UK TV and Film industry that I'm massively appreciative of my platform and that I have generous Patrons such as yourselves helping to keep the lights on here (and make sure Theo can have his vet bills paid). I know so many people who have been forced to leave the industry either during Covid (where media freelancers received no Government help) and now with the drought of work brought on by the government-mandated cost of living crisis, but I've been able to cling on and persevere because of the additional income from my MrTARDIS Platform.

Your support, as always, is hugely appreciated.

No livestream next week due to the aforementioned time away and then work, so I'll speak to you folks soon!

Allons-y!
- MrTARDIS