From: Steve Rogerson steve.rogerson@mcr1.poptel.org.uk
Fiona also said on the canon point: "for some fairly curious reasons, mainly "...because they were done by the
BBC.""
Well yes. The 52 episodes are canon because they are the official
programmes as
done by the BBC. The radio plays fall into the same category. They mostly
even
used the same cast. That two characters changed actors is irrelevant anyway
given
that in the TV show one main character (Travis) also changed actors part
way
through.
I'd argue though that there's a few reasons to consider them noncanon, and even anticanonical. To take the change of actors point first: while Travis changed actors in the series, the actor then stayed consistent afterwards: in the case of the radio plays, Soolin apparently changes from Glynis Barber to Paula Wilcox (so far so good) but then changes *back,* since the radio plays are set in the middle of Series 4. Many people have little difficulty developing subcanonical interpretations of varying degrees of believability for Travis' change (plastic surgery? Altered reality?), but it's a bit more difficult to explain a sudden two-story transformation.
Furthermore, there is the fact that many of the characters in the plays act totally out of character. Servalan, for instance, washing dishes; Avon developing superhuman strength and publicly asserting that he likes hurting people; Vila suddenly becoming a glutton. Again, it can be argued that characters have acted out of character in the series, for instance Blake in "Voice from the Past" and Avon (debatably) in "Harvest of Kairos"; in both cases, however, the other characters do not act in the slightest bit out of character (Avon and Cally in "Voice" being actually quite well characterised), and also the fact that one character is behaving unusually is in fact a major plot point of both (and again, Avon's sudden withdrawal in "Kairos" can be said to be just a temporary reversion to the more introspective Avon of Series 1, in reaction to Tarrant's posturing for power).
Finally, there are a few minor but significant points. One being that the episode titles are totally out of keeping with the one-word titles of Series 4, when the stories are set; another being the sudden changes in explanation of the functioning of the stardrive (again, this would not be a problem except that the new explanation lasts for two stories only [and even then contradicts itself], and that sort of discontinuity is not typical of Series 4). Finally, the ship goes into hyperspace, which never happens within the show.
I actually agree with Mistral. Had Chris Boucher, with his keen eye for characterisation and continuity, been minding the store, these discrepancies wouldn't have occurred (it's also quite possible that he might have been able to talk Josette Simon and Glynis Barber into returning, too-- we'll never know). Furthermore, the plays would have been much closer to the tone of the original, and he probably wouldn't have set it in Series 4 to begin with.
IMO, one of the best moves Doctor Who ever made was involving scriptwriters/editors/actors from the series in the writing of the New Adventures. The end result tends to fit the series, but still leave room for development.
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net
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