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“An Unearthly Child” is the name of the first episode of Doctor Who ever. In those early years they still operated as serials but each episode would have it’s own name. It wasn’t until a few years into the show that all the serial parts would share a name. For example, “An Unearthly Child” is now considered the name of the first four episodes of the first serial, with the other episodes titled “The Cave Of Skulls”, “The Forest Of Fear”, and “The Firemaker” respectively. However, the working name was apparently “The Tribe Of Gum”, named after one of the characters whose name became Kal in the final version of the serial. In modern Doctor Who all you have are one-shot episodes with one multiparter per “series” (what they call seasons in the UK at least now) and a running subplot through the season.
Because we can’t have nice things, the four episodes have entered the crazy world of rights issues. Upset at perceived past wrongs by the BBC toward his late father, the son of the episode’s writer, Anthony Coburn, is keeping the serial from joining the classic Who shows from airing on the BBC’s “iPlayer” website, which they announced they would start doing in November.
Now in the name of full disclosure, I am a fan of the classic show, less so the new show even before the recent shenanigans because it never had the same charm as the original for me. I’m also not in the UK so the only way I can see it as an American is with a VPN, a BritBox subscription, or the various Classic Doctor Who livestream channels that don’t seem to show the same episode. I checked earlier. Two services were showing “The Pirate Planet”, but one had “Snakedance” and the other “The Androids Of Tara”. I could use YouTube, Amazon, or Vudu but all three require you to rent an episode rather than stream free with ads. I do, however, own the episode on DVD so I can watch it whenever I want. My point is my dog in this fight is very small. And considering who my favorite Companion is, robotic.
So where’s the controversy, why and how can Stef Coburn keeps his dad’s episode from being part of the BBC’s new project I can’t see anyway, and who’s in the right? Let’s examine.
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“Wait, come back! We’re the GOOD ones!”
The New Warriors #1
Marvel Comics (July, 1990)
“From The Ground Up!”
CONCEPT: Tom DeFalco & Ron Frienz
WRITER: Fabian Nicieza
PENCILER: Mark Bagley
INKER: Al Williamson
COLORIST: Michael Rockwitz
LETTERER: Michael Heisler
EDITOR: Danny Fingeroth
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Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
PART 3: KnightsEnd
Last time, Bruce finally confronted the supposedly killing Batman, and we finally got to see him kill someone, or not save them and letting them die which according to Christopher Nolan isn’t the same thing. I however am not Christopher Nolan.
Each of the parts have had an interesting image transition through the books. While not featuring illustrations (which would have been odd given this is a novelization of a comic book storyline), each chapter starts with a different Batman symbol. In part one an inverse color set of the classic Batman logo slowly overtakes the usual symbol, black bat on white becoming a white bat on black. You can see a variation of it on the cover, only it’s Jean Paul’s Arzelized Batman colors taking over. It probably should have been Jean Paul’s bat symbol given that part two just has that at the start of every chapter, with no change.
Part three is having Jean Paul’s symbol cracking like glass, with shards falling off. Eventually it will be the original bat but I think this isn’t done right. Part two should have had the altered symbol slowly replaced with Jean Paul’s symbol, demonstrating how Jean Paul was taking over the role. However, we don’t see a lot of that. Jean Paul was barely in it as the focus was on Bruce’s mission. Now it’s cracking early while Jean Paul still seems to be up for the mantle while Bruce has been shown to not be ready yet. The symbolism is rather disconnected from events, which is a shame. Now, let’s see how Bruce handles Jean Paul’s latest not-Batman action.
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“When I find out who took our TV…”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13
Mirage Publishing (February, 1988)
“The People’s Choice”
WRITER/ARTIST: Michael Dooney
LETTERER: Steve Lavigne
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Some minor trivia fixes. “Beam me up, Scotty” was never said in that way in the original or animated series. It’s one of those expressions that came up to create a reference people got, possibly from some joke on TV that caught on. The other is that the transporter was created because they didn’t have the shuttlecraft model ready, or so I’ve heard, so they came up with teleportation, which Star Trek wasn’t even the first science fiction story to use, to get everyone to the planet. The reduced cost was just a benefit, though shuttles would be used throughout the franchise.
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