Fan Boy
Lord Vader’s enthusiasm for Star Trek gets the better of him when he meets Mavic Chen and the Supreme Dalek from Doctor Who. Again, I give you another example of my vintage tastes with this unapologetic inclusion of sci-fi obscuriana. For those completely in the dark on classic Doctor Who, Mavic Chen was the equivalent of the United Nations Secretary General for the Earth / Solar System in the 41st Century. Art pictured on the right by Rick Lundeen.
Unfortunately, like all politicians he is plotting to take absolute power and establish a dictatorship with the help of the Daleks. Remember when Donald Trump was outed as being an ally of the Daleks recently? No? It will happen.
The Daleks are angry green blobs that ride around inside pepperpot-shaped tanks and have conquered most of the universe, as well as developing crude time travel technology. They are lovably one-track and evil, and absolutely the most predictably treacherous allies since the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.
The specific episodes of Doctor Who that we’re drawing on here are The Daleks’ Master Plan, a 12 part epic from late 1965, staring William Hartnell as the First Doctor. Like all Who from that era, the sets wobble, the costumes are kitsch, every scene is shot with a single take, and the target audience is early evening family viewing. However, The Daleks’ Master Plan pushes the boundaries with some very dark moments and violence. It also has one episode of complete comedy which was produced for Christmas Day and allows itself to step outside of continuity and tone for a bit of a laugh. Otherwise, this is quite an epic and a lot of fun.
However, if you like taking your sci-fi really seriously, and have zero time for cheesy vintage classics, then don’t come complaining to me that it was crap. I warned you. I love the Daleks’ Master Plan and most black & white era Doctor Who (with the exception of the Myth Makers, the Massacre, and the Gunfighters). Like Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon newspaper strips, Doctor Who has an escapist charm to it.
As many of you know, the BMS train is heading towards its final destination with the impending conclusion of Return of the Jedi. There are no concrete plans for BMS to continue beyond the Original Trilogy anymore. This is due to the limitations of my health and the need to produce work that we can actually sell and make a profit from in some way as opposed to this continuing fan material that is current form BMS.
What you see, with this current scene featuring sci-fi cameos is part of my love letter to the sci-fi and fantasy that mean something to me. We’ll be back to Han Solo and the Tiderium Shuttle scene soon enough, but if you don’t like the current digression from movie then try to look at it this way, I’m potentially introducing you to some obscure stuff that you might find interesting and decide to check out for yourselves. You might find something new to enjoy along the way. 🙂
Hey, you could always go see the $120 million dollar budget Fantastic Four reboot instead of reading BMS.
@-_,-@
May the Forciness be with you!
Also, no complaining about recons. Man/woman up and watch Doctor Who from the beginning.
Alas…The Daleks’ Master Plan is missing nine of the twelve episodes, so I’ve never had the opportunity to see it. I’ve watched quite a lot of the First Doctor’s episodes, though. I wish I could get my hands on the novelization, though, if there is one. I have the novelizations of several of the episodes already 🙂
“Remember when Donald Trump was outed as being an ally of the Daleks recently?”
To be fair to the Daleks, I think there are limits even to their evil. (or desperation, I guess. Trump is more Dr Evil in his bumbling attempts at being offensive and destructive, less Dr Doom.)
I always want to watch classic Doctor Who, unfortunately I’m compelled to watch it sequentially, from first episode to last.
When I started out with Doctor Who in 1986, you watched whatever stories were available. The whole series wasn’t finally released until the 2000s. Early classic Who in particular does not have much continuity between stories and nearly all stories stand alone beautifully. You have no excuses. Just do it!
Oh, and I know several people who felt they had to start from the beginning and were put off by the quirks of the black and white era. For people new to Doctor Who I recommend starting with Tom Baker’s stories “The Ark in Space”, “Sontaran Experiment”, “Genesis of the Daleks”, “Revenge of the Cybermen”, etc…
I’m the same; I really like to watch things starting from A and ending with Z. So classic who is a bit of a challenge. (And it can be hard to find and figure out what goes where in the timeline).
Trust me. Classic Who DOES NOT REQUIRE to be watched sequentially. Just trust me. I grew up with it out of order. 90% of classic Who is stand alone adventures. Start with Tom Baker’s earliest stories, and if it interests you after Genesis of the Daleks, then carry on and delve into it at your own leisure. You have no excuses!
In fact, the storyline is largely out of order, even getting into the new series. Not to mention the fact that each time you get a new Doctor or a new show runner, the tone of the series changes drastically.
Exactly. People tend to think of Doctor Who in terms of any other television show. But there are almost no shows that have run for so many decades and evolved so many times in that period. You can genuinely jump in at any point and jump around watching various classics from various Doctors. But if you’re brand new to classic Who I always recommend starting with Tom Baker’s stories from seasons 12, 13 and 14. If you like stuff like Pyramids of Mars and Robots of Death, then it will be enough for you to explore further on your own wherever in continuity you like. As for black and white era Doctor Who, if you enjoy classic Twilight Zone, then you should have a good time. If not, then you should probably stick to color and the New Series of Doctor Who.
Who?
Knock knock.
really…?? I should go watch FF?? … you jipping us, man?? maybe when its showing as a free screensaver for windows 12 …
hang on…..wait a minute…. ITS A TRAP!!!
I agree with you about The Gunfighters. Just an awful episode. New Hampshire Public Television was still airing Doctor Who in the 90s, when I was in High School. They showed it Saturday afternoons around 1pm, so I would get home from fencing, get a shower and throw together some lunch, then spend my afternoon traveling through time and space. They actually did show them in sequential order too, so it worked out really nicely. Though I will say, it was a very long afternoon when they aired Patrick Troughton’s final story, The War Games, in its entirety.
I have vented about the Donald Tosh, John While era of the show on my personal blog. I won’t get started here, but man it made me angry to see their lack of respect for what Doctor Who was.
http://www.rodhannah.com/?p=782
The comments section was closed a couple strips back where you asked if the audience would continue with your webcomic (i’m assuming a name change when it’s original characters and stories) if you evolved into telling original stories with original characters. As long as it stays sci-fi, I will continue to read BMS/new-name as long as its published
The name doesn’t need to change. It’s not like colored milk was invented by Star Wars, or a trademark.
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact? Damn, that is some impressive history nerd namedropping. Bra-vo.
I gotta say, as much as I despise Donald Trump on every possible level (Not getting political; he’s just a despicable piece of excrement masquerading as a human being. If the Democratic party was in as big a shambles as the GOP right now he might just as well be running as a “progressive.”), if he had a Dalek running mate I would absolutely vote for him. I mean, come on. Although, come to think of it, whoever he does end up with as a running mate when he’s a third party candidate may very well be even more hysterically insane than a Dalek…