Christopher Priest scripts
Nicholas Stanton
know with any certainty any plot details of Sealed Orders and/or The Enemy
Within?
Nicholas Smale
"SEALED ORDERS addressed an omission that cropped up in DOCTOR WHO
stories: the central characters ride around in a time machine but use it
simply as a sort of taxi, travelling from one studio-bound story to
another - the curse of low-budget TV. My story was a time-paradox
extravaganza, with the TARDIS creating endless complications by going
backwards and forwards in time - once even materialising inside itself.
In one scene, I recall, there were five Doctors on-screen at once, all
with consistent plot-lines to follow: this happened, of course, five
times at different points in the story, [so] you saw the scene from the
viewpoint of a 'different' Doctor each time."
"THE ENEMY WITHIN was structurally much simpler, but contained what I
thought was an interesting psychological argument. The BBC was always
getting letters from viewers speculating about how the TARDIS was
powered. I decided to answer that, dispensing with all the cheapo sonic
screwdrivers, dimensional warps, etc, and suggested that the TARDIS was
powered by fear. In other words, somewhere within its multi-dimensional
spaces lurked the one creature in the universe that struck mortal terror
into the Doctor. The story was about his journey into phobia, a descent
into inner hell, to confront this enemy."
Christopher Priest, interviewed in Dreamwatch #58
--
Nick Smale <http://www.smale.demon.co.uk>
Manchester, UK
Mike Dennis
Nicholas Stanton <anne...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7kiqiu$r87$1...@gxsn.com...
> Sorry, this is probably a very old chestnut but I'm new here. Does anyone
> know with any certainty any plot details of Sealed Orders and/or The Enemy
> Within?
>
IIRC, the latest issue of Dreamwatch contains an interview
with Priest which touches on his 'nearly' Who contributions.
Can't lay hands on my copy at the moment though, or
remember exactly what it said.
But I've got a feeling this issue is on still on sale for another
week.
Hope that helps
Regards
Mike
Colin Brockhurst
<anne...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote:
>Sorry, this is probably a very old chestnut but I'm new here. Does anyone
>know with any certainty any plot details of Sealed Orders and/or The Enemy
>Within?
Christopher Priest interviewed by Dave Langford for SFX 5 (?):
---
Chris, you're regarded as one of the more `literary' authors working
in or near sf, but the editor of SFX was morbidly fascinated by your
brush with Doctor Who and asked specially about this: can you bear to
tell the story?
"I'll take on almost any writing job, provided it sounds interesting.
Doctor Who was like that. The programme is a challenge to a writer: a
tiny budget, a more or less fixed cast of characters, a fairly
inflexible storyline ... and millions of fans who'll beat the shit out
of you if you overlook a crucial fact mentioned in an undertone by a
minor character in the second part of a story first transmitted in
1968...."
But you still bravely did a script.
"I wrote two scripts, not one. The first was while Douglas Adams was
script editor, before the Hitchhiker books burst on the world. Douglas
rang me up one day and said the producer felt the show was drifting
away from the heartland of sf, and wanted some `real' sf writers
involved. I went in and met Douglas, and he commissioned a four-parter
called Sealed Orders. I wrote this, and it was accepted but never
produced. This was because of upheavals in the show while I was
writing. Douglas Adams pissed off to become rich and famous, the
producer also moved on, and by the time I delivered my story the
`brief' (the background story) had changed."
And what about script number two?
"The BBC commissioned a second story called The Enemy Within, because
of the first going wrong. Again it was written and paid for, but once
again upheavals in the BBC wreaked havoc. They inflicted a total of
three different script editors on me, who all mucked around with the
story and demanded different things ... and the new producer turned
out to be an appalling little [word obscured by microphone noise, and
triumphant seagull cries], who was more interested in being a media
star than actually working with a lowly writer like me. It all led
inevitably to a bust-up. I grabbed a parachute and took a header
through the nearest emergency hatch."
---
Read The Prestige or The Affirmation or his latest, The Extremes - I'm
sure they're much more interesting! He really is a superb writer.
Colin
--
Circus website: http://www.cbrockhurst.freeserve.co.uk
(updated 16/5/99)
Nicholas Stanton
Colin Brockhurst <co...@cbrockhurst.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:376d40db...@news.freeserve.net...
> Christopher Priest interviewed by Dave Langford for SFX 5 (?):
> script editor, before the Hitchhiker books burst on the world. Douglas
> rang me up one day and said the producer felt the show was drifting
> away from the heartland of sf, and wanted some `real' sf writers
> involved. I went in and met Douglas, and he commissioned a four-parter
> called Sealed Orders. I wrote this, and it was accepted but never
> produced. This was because of upheavals in the show while I was
> writing. Douglas Adams pissed off to become rich and famous, the
> producer also moved on, and by the time I delivered my story the
> `brief' (the background story) had changed."
Hmmmm. Rather different from a Christopher H Bidmead interview I remember
from DWM in the mid-80s ...
>
> Read The Prestige or The Affirmation or his latest, The Extremes - I'm
> sure they're much more interesting! He really is a superb writer.
Read 'em all except The Extremes - not quite sure he lived up to his billing
as one of the Best Young Writers in the early 80s (in such company as Barnes
and Rushdie IIRC). He's also ghosted autobiographies of Sally Guinnell and
Helen Sharman. In addition to the titles you mention I'd recommend A Dream
of Wessex and The Glamour. Two collections of short stories Real Time World
and An Infinite Summer are also worth checking out. If Adams really did
commission him then it's criminal that we ended up with Nimon or Meglos
instead.
--
Nick
anne...@globalnet.co.uk
DarkRideUK
like the instant I realised what 'the prestige' was, ages before he goes out of
his way to explain.
William
Richard Bignell
>Sorry, this is probably a very old chestnut but I'm new here. Does anyone
>know with any certainty any plot details of Sealed Orders and/or The Enemy
>Within?
Back in 1990, I contacted Christopher about his two DW scripts, to
see if he would let me write and article on them for DWM. He declined
the offer, but explained that, even after 10 years he was deeply angry
about the way he was treated. However, he did provide some back-
ground to the situation. He said:
"I was originally approached by the programme back in 1979, when
Douglas Adams was working as script-editor. At the time, what they
said they wanted was a "real" science-fiction writer to make up for
what they felt was a shaky record on this. I liked Douglas, and I liked
the producer. We had an amicable meeting, but afterwards I came
to the conclusion that Doctor Who wasn't really my cup of tea.
"In 1980 I was approached again, this time by Chris Bidmead, who
had taken over as script-editor. John Nathan Turner was the new
producer. After another friendly meeting, but with some misgivings,
I sent in an outline for a story called Sealed Orders. This was
commissioned, rather to my surprise. The story was intended to
write Romana out of the series. The plot involved a time paradox,
the hopping back and forth in time producing multiple variants of
the TARDIS, and a spare Doctor, one of whom got killed. Unfortunately,
while I was writing the scripts the production team changed the brief
(which is to say, the background story was altered), and because
Sealed Orders was specific to the old background story, it became
unusable and was dropped.
"To make up for this, Turner offered me a second chance at a 4-part
story. Because of what happened with the earlier story, I took careful
note of the background, and made regular checks with him that
nothing was being changed. The new story was called The Enemy Within.
The main story dealt with the "secret" of what actually powered the
TARDIS (the Doctor's suppressed fear of a ghastly being hidden
deep within the structure), while the background story was again written
around the removal of one of the characters, this time Adric. Soon
after I started work Chris Bidmead left the show; another script-editor
took over, and after a few weeks he too was replaced, by Eric Saward.
Throughout this period I made several visits to the office. As I wrote
each instalment I delivered it, and waited for confirmation from the
producer that the script was acceptable before going onto the next.
"A long delay followed the delivery of the final episode. Assuming that
the scripts had been accepted, I started trying to find out, through my
agent, why the money had not been paid. One day, Turner rang up and
asked when I would be visiting the office, so that we could discuss the
"rewrite". As this was the first I'd heard of it, I said I had assumed the
scripts had been accepted. Turner then broke out in what I can only
describe as an extraordinary display of petulance, with foul language
and insults freely mixed. It was a thoroughly unpleasant and unprofessional
display of bad temper. He claimed that the scripts were unusable, that
he had said so all along, that without a rewrite they were unacceptable,
and that therefore he was going to reject them. No money would be paid.
"To cut a long story short, I discovered from the BBC contract that
Turner had breached the agreement by not requesting rewrites within
a certain number of days after delivery. The BBC still refused to pay,
as the producer's decision, they said, is final. I contacted the Writer's
Guild, and they took up my case. Although I detest litigation, I felt so
wronged that I was prepared to sue the BBC if necessary, and made
my position clear. Fortunately it did not come to this, because the
BBC finally paid up. As a result I was prepared to let the matter rest.
A couple of years later, however, it sprang briefly into life again.
Word reached me that someone in the Doctor Who office had been
bad-mouthing me and my scripts, claiming that they had been unusable
and badly written. As this was hearsay I could do nothing about it. But
then a fan of the programme called Benedict Callum wrote to the show
and asked whey they didn't use "real" science-fiction writers. He put
forward several names, mine amongst them. Here is Eric Saward's
reply, complete with his radical approach to spelling:
"Dear Benedict Callum,
Thank you for your letter. The names of writers you quoat are
novalists. Infact one of them attempted to write a 'Doctor Who'
script with disasterous results. That is why we do not use
novalists."
A copy of this letter reached me via a slightly circuitous route, with
a note saying: "Is this you?" The combination of this letter, and the
rumours that my name was being linked, convinced me that it was
time this professional libel was nipped in the bud.
I wrote to Turner's boss (David Reid) and made it clear that I
considered this to be defamation. Still anxious to avoid litigation,
I said that a written apology from Turner and Eric Saward, plus an
acknowledgement in writing by the BBC that my version of events
was correct, would close the matter. After a short delay I was sent
both.
If the phonecall from Turner in 1981 was (and remains) the single
most unpleasant conversation of my life, then his grovelling letter
of apology is probably the one that caused the loudest cries of you
and triumph."
Suffice to say that it wasn't all happiness and light in the DW
production office back in the early 80's...
Richard Bignell
Colin Brockhurst
<anne...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>Colin Brockhurst <co...@cbrockhurst.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:376d40db...@news.freeserve.net...
>>
>> Read The Prestige or The Affirmation or his latest, The Extremes - I'm
>> sure they're much more interesting! He really is a superb writer.
>Read 'em all except The Extremes - not quite sure he lived up to his billing
>as one of the Best Young Writers in the early 80s (in such company as Barnes
>and Rushdie IIRC).
Oh, certainly he does. He gets better and better - it's just a shame
it takes him so long to write a book these days!
> He's also ghosted autobiographies of Sally Guinnell and
>Helen Sharman. In addition to the titles you mention I'd recommend A Dream
>of Wessex and The Glamour.
A Dream of Wessex - the proto virtual reality novel. While we're about
it, Inverted World is excellent science fiction too, and The Space
Machine's a fine Wells pastiche - sort of.
>Two collections of short stories Real Time World
>and An Infinite Summer are also worth checking out. If Adams really did
>commission him then it's criminal that we ended up with Nimon or Meglos
>instead.
*Three* collections of short stories - his Dream Archipelago stories
have been collected, and released this month with one new story.
Nicholas Stanton
That's interesting. You're quite right to point to Inverted World which is
a fantastic sci-fi novel. I'm less keen on The Space Machine. I stick by
my views I'm afraid - I thought his Hilda Murrell/crop circle novel (title
forgotten) was poor and The Prestige is - let's be honest - a bit of a
cheat. I've often wondered whether one of his short stories in Real Time
World (?Sentence in Binary Code) wasn't the inspiration for the Matrix in
Deadly Assassin.
--
Nick
anne...@globalnet.co.uk
Nicholas Stanton
Richard Bignell <ric...@bignell23.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7kmdfu$jk6$1...@news5.svr.pol.co.uk...
Michael J. Montoure
>Back in 1990, I contacted Christopher about his two DW scripts, to
>see if he would let me write and article on them for DWM [...]
>The plot [for Sealed Orders] involved a time paradox,
>the hopping back and forth in time producing multiple variants of
>the TARDIS, and a spare Doctor, one of whom got killed.
>[...] The new story was called The Enemy Within.
>The main story dealt with the "secret" of what actually powered the
>TARDIS (the Doctor's suppressed fear of a ghastly being hidden
>deep within the structure),
Ummm .... Hmmmm.
Nothing against Christopher Priest, mind you, and
I certainly can't condone how he was mistreated by
the BBC, but:
Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
a bit, well, crap?
If this is what having a "real science fiction writer"
would have done for DW, I'm glad we had fake ones like
Chris Bidmead.
--
______________________ ____________________________________________________
Michael Montoure \ Now at BLOODLETTERS - The Crawlspace: Art, fiction,
www.bloodletters.com \ design, and personal obsessions * Clive Barker FAQ
montoure@bloodletters \ Goblin Markets: Searchable horror fiction markets
Jonathan Dennis
Michael J. Montoure wrote:
> Nothing against Christopher Priest, mind you, and
> I certainly can't condone how he was mistreated by
> the BBC, but:
>
> Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
> a bit, well, crap?
>
Yes, particularly the TARDIS being powered by fear. If either if these were
written up as book proposals, they wouldn't have made it past the first reading.
There's an idea. What serials that actually made it to the air do you think would
be rejected by Steve Cole?
Jonathan W. Dennis
Faction Paradox-They're here. They're not here. Get used to it.
Colin Brockhurst
wrote:
>"Richard Bignell" <ric...@bignell23.freeserve.co.uk> writes:
>
> >Back in 1990, I contacted Christopher about his two DW scripts, to
> >see if he would let me write and article on them for DWM [...]
>
> >The plot [for Sealed Orders] involved a time paradox,
> >the hopping back and forth in time producing multiple variants of
> >the TARDIS, and a spare Doctor, one of whom got killed.
>
> >[...] The new story was called The Enemy Within.
> >The main story dealt with the "secret" of what actually powered the
> >TARDIS (the Doctor's suppressed fear of a ghastly being hidden
> >deep within the structure),
>
> Ummm .... Hmmmm.
>
> Nothing against Christopher Priest, mind you, and
> I certainly can't condone how he was mistreated by
> the BBC, but:
>
> Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
> a bit, well, crap?
>
> If this is what having a "real science fiction writer"
> would have done for DW, I'm glad we had fake ones like
> Chris Bidmead.
They'd have made *great* books, though ...
I think Chris Priest's only experience of scriptwriting (at the time -
he's adapted a couple of his books since) was an episode of 'Into the
Labyrinth', so it's understandable that some of his ideas may have
proven unrealisable on TV. His 70s novels and stories in particular
are packed with mind-blowing ideas (especially Inverted World), but
the characters and dialogue are less important. His writing's much
more balanced now, I reckon.
R.J. Smith
Jonathan Dennis <jon_d...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Michael J. Montoure wrote:
>> Nothing against Christopher Priest, mind you, and
>> I certainly can't condone how he was mistreated by
>> the BBC, but:
>> Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
>> a bit, well, crap?
>Yes, particularly the TARDIS being powered by fear.
That's right, everyone knows it's powered by the octopus.
- Robert Smith?
William December Starr
mont...@serv.net (Michael J. Montoure) said:
>> The plot [for Sealed Orders] involved a time paradox, the hopping
>> back and forth in time producing multiple variants of the TARDIS,
>> and a spare Doctor, one of whom got killed.
>>
>> [...] The new story was called The Enemy Within. The main story
>> dealt with the "secret" of what actually powered the TARDIS (the
>> Doctor's suppressed fear of a ghastly being hidden deep within the
>> structure),
>
> Ummm .... Hmmmm.
>
> Nothing against Christopher Priest, mind you, and
> I certainly can't condone how he was mistreated by
> the BBC, but:
>
> Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
> a bit, well, crap?
The first one sounds like it could have been pretty good, actually.
(Not necessarily _would_ have been, mind you, but _could_ have been.)
The second one, well, urk.
-- William December Starr <wds...@crl.com>
Nyctolops
Smith) wrote:
>In article <37700ED5...@hotmail.com>,
>Jonathan Dennis <jon_d...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Michael J. Montoure wrote:
>
>>> Nothing against Christopher Priest, mind you, and
>>> I certainly can't condone how he was mistreated by
>>> the BBC, but:
>
>>> Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
>>> a bit, well, crap?
>
>>Yes, particularly the TARDIS being powered by fear.
>
>That's right, everyone knows it's powered by the octopus.
An octopus? What happened to the Christmas squid?
Nyctolops
rec.arts.drwho General Information FAQ
http://nitro9.earth.uni.edu/doctor/FAQ/faq_1.txt
Quotefile nominations to radwqu...@geocities.com
Nicholas Smale
> Ummm .... Hmmmm.
>
> Nothing against Christopher Priest, mind you, and I certainly can't
> condone how he was mistreated by the BBC, but:
>
> Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound a bit, well, crap?
Lots of Doctor Who stories sound rubbish when you boil them down to a
brief synopsis ("Plastic aliens try to take over the world using shop
window dummies", "The Loch Ness monster attacks London").
It's not the story that counts, but the detail of how its told - and I
have sufficient confidence in Christopher Priest's abilities to believe
that he would have done wonders with both these ideas.
Nicholas Stanton
William December Starr <wds...@crl.com> wrote in message
news:7kpjrk$4...@crl2.crl.com...> >> The plot [for Sealed Orders] involved a time paradox, the hopping
> >> back and forth in time producing multiple variants of the TARDIS,
> >> and a spare Doctor, one of whom got killed.
> >>
> >
> > a bit, well, crap?
>
> (Not necessarily _would_ have been, mind you, but _could_ have been.)
>
that was shown 5 times could have been an all-time highlight or an all-time
low ...
Nicholas Stanton
R.J. Smith <smit...@mcmail.cis.McMaster.CA> wrote in message
news:7kp74k$8...@mcmail.cis.McMaster.CA...
>
> >> Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
> >> a bit, well, crap?
>
>
> That's right, everyone knows it's powered by the octopus.
Perhaps it's a really scary octopus. You know ... like Kroll ...
--
Nick
anne...@globalnet.co.uk
Will Cameron
Starr) wrote:
>In article <7kov1d$ak0$0...@199.201.191.2>,
>mont...@serv.net (Michael J. Montoure) said:
>
>>> The plot [for Sealed Orders] involved a time paradox, the hopping
>>> back and forth in time producing multiple variants of the TARDIS,
>>> and a spare Doctor, one of whom got killed.
>>>
>>> [...] The new story was called The Enemy Within. The main story
>>> dealt with the "secret" of what actually powered the TARDIS (the
>>> Doctor's suppressed fear of a ghastly being hidden deep within the
>>> structure),
>>
>> Ummm .... Hmmmm.
>>
>> Nothing against Christopher Priest, mind you, and
>> I certainly can't condone how he was mistreated by
>> the BBC, but:
>>
>> Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
>> a bit, well, crap?
>
>The first one sounds like it could have been pretty good, actually.
>(Not necessarily _would_ have been, mind you, but _could_ have been.)
>
>The second one, well, urk.
I'm sure it would have been edited or slightly rewritten in some
way.Probably would have wound up as a Tardis Invaded story ala cats
Cradle...
- Will.
"All those with Psychokinesis, raise my hand." - The Doctor
----
Will Cameron
wcam...@tiac.net
To Respond Via E-Mail, Please Remove The Word AMSPAY.
from my E-Mail Address.
Nicholas Stanton
Michael J. Montoure <mont...@serv.net> wrote in message
news:7kov1d$ak0$0...@199.201.191.2...
> If this is what having a "real science fiction writer"
> would have done for DW, I'm glad we had fake ones like
> Chris Bidmead.
>
doctor stories ....
Graham Nelson
<URL:mailto:ni...@smale.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Lots of Doctor Who stories sound rubbish when you boil them down to a
> brief synopsis ("Plastic aliens try to take over the world using shop
Well, quite. I mean, "After a visit to the technological marvels
of Heathrow, Concorde makes an emergency landing in primeval
England, where pulsating jelly-monsters have teamed up with the
Master!" sounds like a perfectly terrible idea, and yet...
--
Graham Nelson | gra...@gnelson.demon.co.uk | Oxford, United Kingdom
Daniel O'Mahony
> On 22 Jun 1999 21:26:05 GMT, mont...@serv.net (Michael J. Montoure)
> wrote:
>
> > Does anyone else think that these story ideas sound
> > a bit, well, crap?
> >
> > If this is what having a "real science fiction writer"
> > would have done for DW, I'm glad we had fake ones like
> > Chris Bidmead.
>
> They'd have made *great* books, though ...
>
> I think Chris Priest's only experience of scriptwriting (at the time -
> he's adapted a couple of his books since) was an episode of 'Into the
> Labyrinth', so it's understandable that some of his ideas may have
> proven unrealisable on TV.
I'm not sure they're that ambitious - or rather they're not any grander or
more elaborate than some of the ideas that actually made it into broadcast
stories before, during and after this time. From what I know of his stories
the only really unlikely aspect would have been the multiple Doctors in
'Sealed Orders' and I don't doubt that someone at video effects would have
given it a whirl on Quantel. It's not like he wanted 96,000 slavering cat
people in a Wembley-sized arena...
I really don't understand Michael's criticism that Priest's ideas sound
'crap' (interesting resonance with a certain actor's description of Doctor
Who's production ethos during this period of the show's life). They sound
an awful lot more interesting than a lot of the drekk that fortunately got
rejected ("the Master provokes a war between two hostile planets armed with
superweapons!") or unfortunately got made ("the Master steals a Concorde as
part of his plan to gain the immense powers of a dead alien super-race!" -
and these are just examples from one of the more *creative* periods of
Doctor Who's life!)
What strikes me as unusual is that they're actually about the Doctor - and
the TARDIS and the whole concept of time travel - rather than adventure
stories in which the Doctor just happens to play a starring role, as per
usual. The outcome may well have been awful but as ideas they're pretty
exciting - innovative even. Though I suspect that 'The Enemy Within' would
have had a few less gun-battles than 'Earthshock' ("hostile aliens try to
disrupt a peace conference by blowing it up with a big bomb but end up
killing the dinosaurs instead!"), leading to inevitable disappointment from
certain quarters of the audience...!
The books idea sounds great though. I doubt Priest would be interested -
and he certainly seems to have had a nightmarish time at the hands of the
production team so I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to relive the
experience - but we can dream. Actually, the description of 'Sealed Orders'
reminds me of the seamlessly integrated multiple Dominique Pinons in 'The
City of Lost Children' or Michael Keatons in 'Multiplicity' - so I vote
that Priest gets to write the Doctor Who screenplay... assuming I pass on
the option of course!