Season 33 - 1996-97
The reigns of the show were passed onto Producer Stephen Garwood and Script Editor Colin Brake who decided to make the show a lot like Doctor Who's American Rival: Star Trek.Due to Garwood and Brake making the show like Star Trek the show's popularity grew immensely with Griffiths' incarnation rivalling Pertwee and Baker, however Griffiths had announced his departure after the conclusion of Season 31 and the Eighth Doctor's final season was now in development.
Garwood and Brake now had a big question to answer: Who would play the Ninth Doctor?
Many actors were considered including Rowan Atkinson, Robert Lindsay, Ian Richardson, Tim McInnerny, Anthony Head and Richard E. Grant. But the most favoured choice was that of Irish actor Liam Cunningham who was unfortunately busy at the time, during the audition process Garwood received a letter from casting director John Hubbard who recommended the star of ITV's Heartbeat Nick Berry. Garwood at first was unsure as he felt Berry wouldn't be able to pull off the role of the Doctor, however when the audition process was over Garwood and Brake were amazed and Berry was offered the role of the Doctor to which he happily accepted.
DWM Issue 229 that "He was honoured to take the reigns of the TARDIS and he couldn't wait to start his adventures in Space and time." Many fans were happy that a younger actor was cast as the Doctor, others thought that Garwood and Brake should've stock with the older actor route which had worked well with Griffiths. The final Eighth Doctor story aired on 2nd December 1995 with 'The Fatal Rebellion' one of the Darkest regeneration stories of all time with David being killed off and the Eighth Doctor being injected with poison causing his regeneration.
With the Doctor now cast Garwood and Brake needed to create a new companion, they felt that they should have a companion from the modern day at first as fans could relate more to the companion, however Garwood decided that they need a companion from the past and they created the character of Lillian Truscott, a woman from 1940s Britain.
Garwood and Brake thought this could be unique as it would boost the show in popularity and it
would also and show that not all companions need to be from the present day. Eventually Gillian Kearney was cast in the role despite Garwood wanting Chloe Annett, but again Kearney impressed with her audition and she was cast in the part of Lillian.
With a new Doctor now cast, Garwood ordered that a new title sequence be made and a new arrangement of the theme be made. Garwood asked that a new title sequence be made and to make it 'very sci-fi' as Doctor Who was competing with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, the titles consist of a clock floating in space before it explodes and flies into the vortex where we get the main cast names and Berry’s portrait before the logo appears whilst we get a few shots of Earth.
A new theme tune was composed by Roger Bolton, who gave a new take on the theme, and was much more different to the Mark Ayres theme.
from the pillars around the console. The exterior of the TARDIS was also changed as the colour was changed to a darker blue colour ,
the lantern on the top of the TARDIS was made thicker and the 'Police Public Call Box' sign had a new and bold font.
The new series was heavily promoted by the BBC with trailers and a front page on the radio times, the series was seen as a big deal as the BBC, Garwood and Brake knew that if the success of the show was to continue it had to be promoted as much as possible and it was important that Berry's first season was a success and therefore it had to have much attention and promotion. It also needed to compete with the Star Trek franchise as both Deep Space Nine and Voyager both aired around the same time and Doctor Who had to compete with those shows and The X Files as it was seen as the only show at the BBC, and Britain, that could compete with American Sci-Fi shows.
Night of The Master
By Colin Brake
Aired: 7th September - 28th September
This story would be the post regeneration story for Nick Berry as the Doctor and the first story for Gillian Kearney as Lillian Truscott.
The story would start with Lillian walking down as street as air raid sirens start going off as she sees the TARDIS crash land and the Doctor fall out and Lillian taking him home, she would then make him a cup of tea and after he’s woken up they would get to know each other a little more.
Whilst this is going on, a string of murders begin to take place and we would later learn that it’s the Master, played by Anthony Ainley, we would learn he is dying due to the cheetah virus and he had built a machine called ‘The Extractor’ and he would take the Doctor’s remaining
regenerations and Lillian’s life to restore his body, however Gillian escapes as the Master is draining her and the Doctor’s lives and she saves the Doctor by turning off the power in the Master’s TARDIS and they would use the Extractor to drain the power of the Master’s TARDIS, and the Master supposedly dies when a German bomb drops on a factory railing where his TARDIS was and his part of the railing collapses and causes him to fall into the fire below, in the end Lillian becomes the Doctor’s new companion.
The English Way of Death
By Gareth Roberts
Aired: 5th October - 19th October
Wanting to return some library books before they become overdue, the Doctor becomes aware of a temporal rift leading to Earth in 1930 which results in the Doctor learning about Zodaal, a criminal from a distant planet, who has imprinted his mind onto a cloud of radium who’s intending on destroying Earth to chanel the power of it’s destruction so he can imprint himself permanently onto a new host. However the Doctor is able to force his ship to take off after sabotaging Zodaal’s equipment with his host committing suicide leaving Zodaal to drift through space.
The Time Ravagers
By Nicholas Briggs
Aired: 26th October - 9th November
This story would see the TARDIS landing on the planet Temperos, home of the Temperon, they discover the Daleks are on this planet as well. We learn that the Daleks want to take the
Temperon’s DNA into themselves to gain the Temperon’s abilities, in the end the Daleks age to death and die.
This story would be significant as it’s the first story where Nicholas Briggs starts to voice for the Daleks.
The Long Game
16th November - 30th November
By Russell T Davies
This story would see the Doctor and Lillian land on Satellite 5 in the year 200, 000 where they found the Empire had been manipulated into remaining secluded from the wider universe. Captured by the Editor, the Doctor and Lillian find that the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy
Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe is controlling the human race from Satellite Five by manipulating information. Thanks to Cathica Santini Khadeni, one of the workers who learned of the truth, the satellite's heat was rerouted, sending heat to the Jagrafess's control room, freeing the Doctor and Lillian and killing the Jagrafess and the Editor.
Life’s End
7th December - 14th December
By Paul Cornell
This story would see the Doctor and Lillian land on Farkas where they discover the president of the planet is terminally ill, however an alien race who are known as the Gortons offer to cure Holdar but the Doctor knows who they are and what they are up to and tries to stop them. Lillian however tries to convince the Doctor that maybe they have changed and tries to suggest that maybe they’re good now, but it turns out the Doctor was right and eventually he stops the Gortons and lets Holdar rest.
World On Fire
21st December
By Mark Gatiss
This story sees the Doctor and Lillian land on Torvos IX and they discover the city is ruled by a gang known as the Crimson Raiders and they’re in a gang war with the Emerald Cobras, the Doctor and Lillian are captured by the raiders and taken to see the leader Vladek. The story then becomes an escape story as the Doctor and Lillian try to get back to the TARDIS which they do but Vladek forces his way in, the Doctor dematerialises but then he opens the TARDIS doors which sucks Vladek out of the TARDIS.
The Pit
28th December - 4th January
By Steven Moffat
The story would focus on the Doctor and Lillian landing on Varda where they discover the inhabitants to be in fear of a pit which has just recently appeared, the Doctor eventually goes down to the bottom where he discovers that the pit was created by the Tractators from Season
21’s Frontios. The Tractators want to use the planet as a breeding ground for their race but this is stopped when he destroys the Tractators base which saves the planet.
Vampire Science
11th January - 1st February
By Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum
This story would see the return of the great vampires last seen in Season 18’s State of Decay, the story would see the Doctor and Lillian arrive in San Francisco and would see a group of vampires being spotted on Earth as some of them want to life on Earth and co-exist with them
whilst the other half want to cause chaos, the Doctor doesn’t trust any of them so he tries to stop them, including the ones who want peace. The story is also a character piece for the Doctor and Lillian as it looks into their relationship.
And that concludes Season 33 of Doctor Who, a pretty good season on the whole and would’ve set up the new era very well, before we go a massive thank you to Our Holy Leader Sylvester McCoy who helped me with the Night of The Master story, the next season is Season 34 of Doctor Who until then thank you for watching and goodbye.
Thank You To:
Our Holy Leader Sylvester McCoy
Opticalspectre
Conbow
Knottyorchid
DonNeutron
Toffa
The Name's Jim
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