Uh-oh, the Angels fans have got the TARDIS!
I remember hearing about this fan film, oh, ages ago. It was definitely after “The timeless children” had aired, because of the similar titles. And I think there was a bit of Jo Martin in the trailer released around that time. And I do like some Fugitive Doctor.
During our current Who gap year, I’m low key curious how this is going to turn out. If nothing else it looks better than a fan production has any right to. The story remains to be seen, but… well, the last official season finale set a low bar.
There are more trailers at the same YT channel, and more information about the project here. For a TL;DR, read on:
So, basically writer/director Stuart Humphries does a lot of vintage and historical photo restoration professionally. And he’s a Whovian, so obviously he’s made fan colourisation of B/W Who photos and video sequences, too. And fan films compositing bits of different episodes and eras together.
Not that this is a one-man job: there are volunteer VFX and SFX artists, composers, voice actors — as well as some key extras from yore making special appearances. If you watch the trailers you’ll see what I mean. The credits list goes on and on.
“The timeless Doctors” is described as a massive reworking of Humphries’ previous fan film, “The ten Doctors”. First it was supposed to be a feature length film released online for the show’s 60th anniversary. Since then it’s been delayed, ballooned to 2½ hours’ runtime and will apparently come out in four parts sometime this year.
<details class=“spoiler”><summary>Anyone else cautiously excited for the return of</summary>
the Morbius Doctors?
</details>
Honestly, I’ve never paid attention to fan productions, so I didn’t even know this thing existed, but you’re right about one thing - if nothing else, it looks gorgeous.
I find it wild that they can use actual footage from the shows to promote this thing. Is this just the BBC being less litigious?
AFAIK the BBC looks the other way as long as there is no profit motive. After all, there has been a lot of fan works keeping interest in the show alive during fallow years.
[Edit: Not to mention fandom sound recordings and recreations of lost episodes. Before the authorised animations, those were the only way to experience the serials the BBC junked.]
They also seem to have lifted footage from Foundation to have Terrence Mann appear as Rassilon, which just might be a legal snag. But I’m not going to alert Apple’s rights department if you won’t.
Follow-up re: BBC policy. Found this FAQ page that I assume has current information on the broadcaster’s demands for fan-produced work.
Are fans allowed to create Doctor Who fiction, artwork, videos and performances?
The BBC welcomes and encourages people to use Doctor Who as inspiration for their own original creative works and loves that the brand has so many engaged and passionate fans.
The BBC has no objection to fans creating and publishing their own Doctor Who inspired fiction, artwork, videos, performances or other content, but requests that these:
- Take inspiration from Doctor Who, but do not copy a substantial part of the Doctor Who TV programmes or other official Doctor Who content such as scripts, books, magazines, artwork or photography.
- Avoid use of the official Doctor Who or BBC logos.
- Are not presented in a way as to suggest or confuse viewers into believing that the fan creations are ‘official’ Doctor Who content, or are endorsed by or associated with the BBC, and – where possible – add a clear and visible disclaimer stating that the content is fan-made and un-official, and are the work of an individual or individuals and not an organisation or company.
Why are these restrictions in place?
The BBC have put these measures in place to ensure that Doctor Who’s image, storylines and values are protected so that audiences can enjoy a consistent experience of the brand and its universe and protects the works of the many different creatives who have worked on the show.
In addition, the making of Doctor Who is funded with support from BBC Studios, who invests a percentage of the revenue it makes from commercial opportunities back into the BBC. Consequently, individuals that seek to make money from the brand without permission put at risk the commercial opportunities open to BBC Studios and, ultimately, the future investment into Doctor Who.
That’s pretty permissive overall - I like it.
This production does toe the specific line of “do not copy a substantial part of the Doctor Who TV programmes or other official Doctor Who content such as […] photography.”
But again, it’s being used in a transformative way to create a new context, so it is in a gray area in terms of general IP law, where the threshold of originality supercedes derivation.
reluctantly lowers the phone
That stage direction goes very well with your Rayner profile pic, tbh 🤣
