D.G. Valdron
What is a Pirate’s History? It’s the unofficial,unauthorized story of the overlooked corners of the Who Universe. It’s the unauthorized history of the unauthorized productions, and the role of fans and fan works. This is a collection of articles and reviews of Doctor Who fan films, including the earliest Super8 home movie efforts beginning in the 60s all the way up to 1979’s feature length Ocean in the Sky, to the explosion of fan productions with the introduction of the video-camcorder in the 80s. It’s the chronicle of the first woman Doctor, Barbara Benedetti, who starred as the Doctor through four half hour adventures beginning in 1985. There’s the BBC’s failed attempt to cancel the series in 1984, and their successful effort in 1989 and the impact on the community. Finally, with Doctor Who off the air, there is an explosion of fan films through the 90s, with some of them, including the Timebase and Bedlam series, and productions such as Regenesis, Phase 4, the Millennium Trap, Spectre from the Past, Resurrection of Evil, Time and Again approaching the level of the BBC show.Subsequent volumes explore the issues that lead to a hundred classic episodes being lost, as well as loopholes that allowed fans to save almost all of these episodes as audio tapes, and to eventually create their own reconstructions, copyright loopholes that allowed the use of Who monsters and characters in private productions, the failure of BBC audio efforts and the success of fan audio such as the Audio-Visuals, and eventually full circle with the Big Finish Audio Universe. We delve into the Doctor Who stage plays, explore the world of Who animations - official and unofficial, the recreation of lost or abandoned serials, new waves of stories and storytellers that have kept the show alive, and a universe of fan production.
