I’ve written lately about meeting Doctor Who actors (and some production personnel) at conventions in the decades of old, but in addition to the likes of Colin Baker and Sarah Sutton and Elisabeth Sladen, I wanted to mention some other notable Doctor Who personalities that I’ve met, who never actually worked on the main show at all.
(Daily Doctor Who #131)
John Peel is the author of several Doctor Who books, comics and short stories. He wrote a few reference books that I haven’t read. My main exposure to him was as the writer of some of the last classic-series novelizations that were ever produced–The Power of the Daleks and The Evil of the Daleks–which were long delayed compared to other novelizations because of issue with rights.
Because these were both looked as being “special releases” of a sort, they ended up being longer than Target’s standard novelizations, and thus a bit more substantial. I don’t remember much about them specifically, except that I enjoyed them. Actually, I know for sure I read The Power of the Daleks–I am only 85% sure I read Evil as well.
I met John Peel at the same convention that I saw lots of other neat people–Visions ’93, in Chicago, which was my last hurrah for Doctor Who conventions. He signed my autograph book.
I don’t have my copies of his Dalek novels here with me (I might not own them anymore at all), but I don’t think I bought them at that event and so they are unlikely to bear his autograph.
I’ve also already mentioned Jean-Marc recently, but he wrote several Doctor Who reference works, including the original Doctor Who Programme Guide (volumes 1 & 2), which were significantly influential in getting me into Doctor Who in the first place.
They also wrote The Terrestrial Index and The Universal Databank, the latter of which I bought at Visions ’93, where I met both he and his wife Randy (who seems to have been his uncredited co-writer).
I got their autographs in my autograph book, where they are actually my first two signatures in my book from that convention–apparently I was building up my strength to the more “celebrated guests.”
But they were the only people who drew really cool little cartoons to go with their names, especially Jean-Marc.
I’d read the heck out of a Doctor Who spinoff about Time Cat, I think. They also signed my copy of The Universal Databank.
The little Target logo turned into a Cyberman is cute.
Later, I picked up The Nth Doctor, which is a description of a whole variety of failed attempts to revive the show, some of which eventually became the 1996 TV movie.
It was apparent that all those unproduced versions sounded like much more elaborate and expensive stories than what we eventually saw on TV.
We are almost at the end of these Doctor Who-related convention posts. Almost, but not quite.
Blue Towel Productions 