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Posted: |
Aug 12, 2016 - 12:02 PM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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Peter Davison's dryly witty and oh-so British-humored autobiography, Is There Life Outside the Box: An Actor Despairs is to be published October 6, 2016.
Peter Davison's autobiography will be published in the UK on 6th October 2016
Is There Life Outside the Box?: An Actor Despairs: Amazon.co.uk: Peter Davison, Andy Merriman.
His fans have spoken, but despite their requests, Peter Davison has gone ahead and written his autobiography anyway. It wasn't the book they tried to stop it was more like the book they didn't want him to start. An aspiring singer-songwriter, once dubbed Woking's answer to Bob Dylan (by his mum, who once heard a Bob Dylan song), Peter actually penned a hit for Dave Clarke (still awaiting royalties) but soon swapped a life on the pub circuit to tread the boards.
From colonial roots - his dad was Guyanese and his mother was born in India - the family settled in Surrey where Peter's academic achievements were unspectacular he even managed to fail CSE woodwork, eliciting a lament from his astonished teacher ( All you have to do is recognise wood! ).
Despite this, Peter has secured his place in science fiction history, becoming the fifth Doctor Who, despite nearly turning down the role. The Time Lord connection continued with the marriage of his daughter Georgia to Dr Who number ten, David Tennant.
The artist formerly known as Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett has starred in a number of television series includingLove for Lydia,A Very Peculiar Practice,At Home with the BraithwaitesandThe Last Detectiveand became a national treasure for having his arm up a cow in his role as Tristan Farnon inAll Creatures Great and Small. He was also in a Michael Winner movie...
He made his first stage appearance with an amateur dramatic company, but The Byfleet Players loss is now the West End s gain as he now has a number of musicals to his name, including Legally Blonde,Chicago and Spamalot. Most recently he starred in the box office record breaking Gypsy where he rubbed shoulders backstage with Dames Meryl Streep, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench all asking him for directions to Imelda Staunton's dressing room.
One thing is for sure: of all the British screen and stage actors of the last fifty years, Peter Davison is certainly one of them and, within these pages, intrepid readers will at last have the dubious honour of sharing in his life and times as he despairs over whether there truly ever can be life outside the box.
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I wish Black Orchid was available. The less "sci-fi"-ey (Forgive me, Harlan.), the better. And, yes, Tegan was smokin' even with the flight attendant uniform.
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Well, I am pretty surprised to see Time-Flight is considered one of the best on Moonie's list! It is pretty well regarded as a dud by most fans. Caves of Androzani is considered by many fans not only the best Davison but one of the best ever. Penned by the great Bob Holmes and I remember thinking that Davison had become The Doctor at last!.....on his last story. Doh!
It has to be followed by Earthshock surely. The return of the Cybermen was highly regarded at the time. After that:
Mawdryn Undead
Enlightenment
The Five Doctors
Kinda
Resurrection of the Daleks in no particular order.
But yeah, Tegan had three main outfits. One per season (as previously said, not counting the costume ball in Black Orchid and Enlightenment).) Her middle year was a boob tube and shorts.
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Not keen on Kinda and Resurrection. I much prefer Snakedance. Kinda's cheap look just derails it.
Whereas Snakedance's more conventional style does the same for me. There's something more stylish about Kinda's production that makes it more surreal. Much of this by all accounts is troubles in studio. But Peter Grimwade's direction makes it for me. Special mention too for the performances the guest cast.
Best there's no mention of the snake.....
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I'm working my way through classic Doctor Who, and just finished Peter Davison's final story.
Yet again I find myself at odds with the general consensus! Widely considered to be the best classic Who story, I come away feeling so down and depressed that I rate it one of my *least* favorite stories. This has been a trend for me since the beginning; the stories which receive great praise often leave me cold.
Maybe it's because I'm in the US and I just don't "get it"? Am I alone in this phenomena? If you enjoy this story, I'm curious to know what aspects draw you in?
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There is nothing overrated about The Caves of Androzani. After three years of old Davo being a bit 'thin' we finally get one of great Who writers giving him a character. As soon as he walks out onto the desert of Androzani his words sound RIGHT. The whole dialogue between him and Peri suddenly sounds like the real thing.
And then the story has exactly the right amount of grit and threat. Then we get the most heroic turn from Davison as he carries Peri to the Tardis etc. And then a pretty good regeneration. It all just works.
This is why many of us love it so much. I remember meeting a fellow fan in Sheffield bus station, to set off for the great first ever official Who convention of 1983 at Longleat, who ran over to me and simply stated that there might as well be Ceefax (leave that for others to explain USA friends) letters all over the screen saying C L A S S I C!!!
So there you are. It is without doubt THE very best, not of Davison's years, but possibly of all Who.
As you might have guessed, I'm a fan.
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As you might have guessed, I'm a fan.
 Indeed, but it's exactly what I was looking for! Maybe I should balance my comments:
The story has some really strong and surprising moments. Understandably the stakes are necessarily greater, after all regeneration stories are tragic by nature. This story is a huge departure from anything seen previously; uncharacteristically dark and veristically violent--no ray guns or snake monsters here, just humans doing to each other what humans do so well. Jek's portrayal was excellent, the most truly terrifying villain the Doctor had encountered thus far. The real sense of danger and his sexual tension toward Peri was deeply uncomfortable and shocking.
Davison's sacrifice is indeed powerful, and his final actions solidly give the character a dimension he had previously held only by his beliefs. Colin Baker's reveal was perfect for his take on the character. Although it seemed to me a bit too flippant for what had just transpired, it was a much needed pick-up after such a dire situation. (The very next story, The Twin Dilemma, returns to the realm of the familiar and the contrast is quite stark.)
I think it was that the the deep darkness and violence--the grit and threat--came out of left field, injecting real danger into a typically lighthearted series. I tend to avoid shows with modern realism in violence, preferring to escape from what I can see on the news 24/7. But the story is strong and works as intended, and I might have enjoyed it more were it divorced from the safe, familiar world of Doctor Who.
Other observations: I feel like there was an unusual abundance of innuendo in the framing and blocking... It seems everyone gets to grab Peri by the face  Peter Davison is absolutely right, his regeneration scene was upstaged by his co-star! And yes, that was a darn good cliffhanger!
Anyways, I was a little concerned to post my question and I hope I haven't offended anyone!
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