What If? (feature)

What If? was a piece of fiction with a collection of accompanying images. It depicted a "what if?", almost unbound situation, showing what a potential Eighth Doctor may have done.

While some illustrations were completely in-universe the feature itself was completely meta-fictional. In the same vain as The Thief of Sherwood. The world this takes place is very similar to that of Deadline.

The images were printed in Doctor Who Magazine and the main image was illustrated by Phil Bevan. It depicted Richard Griffiths as a possible Doctor. Tying into the fact Griffiths was considered for the role after McCoy departed.

This feature uses a blend of planned content for the future of Doctor Who and completely made up stuff. The main image doesn’t depict a scene from a planned unproduced story, but instead shows a view into new story named The Last of the Daleks.

This feature is followed by a non-fiction piece called “27 Up”. Some illustrations of “What If?” are placed on those pages. Those illustrations are covered here, but the non fiction article is not.

Synopsis
Having survived Survival, Doctor Who’s fortunes took an upward turn in the early nineties. Here Dave Owen refreshes our memories of those great days…

The Last of the Daleks
The Eighth Doctor and companion Kate are surrounded by Daleks.

Feature
Dave Owen tells readers how close Doctor Who came to cancellation and the show was lucky to continue airing until the 30th anniversary. The latest two season defined the series and without them the show may have been cancelled after Survival with viewers left wanting more as well as audiences being deprived of the crucial story The Last of the Daleks: Part One which the Eighth Doctor and Kate find themselves surrounded by Daleks.

Michael Checkland and John Birt are business minded BBC executives who are seen as what is wrong with British broadcasting in the nineties by corporation employees and rival broadcasters. Yet it was cost politics that persuaded Jonathan Powell to continue Doctor Who for one more year. Even though it was performing poorly to the likes of Coronation Street and cost lost to make, the series paid for itself with merchandise and overseas sales.

Season 27 captured the public’s imagination, but its roots can be found in the failures and successes of the previous two years. The production team realised the Doctor and young female companion was a winning formula, as well as the design of the sets in stories set in the past bringing out the best in the BBC and exploring the dark side of human nature is a safe option without being compared to blockbuster science-fiction films.

Ben Aaronovitch’s three part Earth Aid became the norm with more stories being action based space operas in the Douglas Adams mould. This story’s pre-title sequence got the series’ fourth decade off to a memorable start. Featuring space pirates, the theme of events being in motion before the Doctor got there (with the Doctor having built Stonehenge to send a message) and a data vampire. There were apparently too many themes to fit into three parts.

The insectoid Metaraxi, made by Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel for the unmade version of The Ultimate Adventure, made their debut and their military honour was mocked in a Monty Python way.

Illustration
Julia Sawalha as Kate Tollinger at her Hammersmith Park photocall.

The Other Eighth Doctor
An in character shot depicting Richard Griffiths as the Doctor.

New Companion Kate
An in character shot Julia Sawalha as Kate sitting her safecracking exam.

Title sequence
The Eighth Doctor is depicted in his title sequence.

Magazine
The Eighth Doctor graces the cover of Doctor Who Magazine.

Network
The VHS cover of Network starring Richard Griffiths as the Doctor and Kate O'Mara as the Rani.

In-universe

 * Eighth Doctor
 * Kate Tollinger
 * The Daleks
 * The Rani

Meta-fictional

 * Dave Owen
 * Michael Checkland
 * John Birt
 * Jonathan Powell
 * Ben Aaronovitch
 * Douglas Adams
 * Andrew Cartmel
 * Julia Sawalha

Continuity
Another Eighth Doctor also exists. (TV: Doctor Who)