Skip to main content

The Regeneration Game (Director's Cut)

"Hello, I..." [SOUNDS OF RANTING]

Doctor Who, the 13th Doctor – Episode 1. “Invasion of the Manbabies”. Starring Jodie Whittaker. 

CONFIDENTIAL – NOT TO BE RELEASED. 

Scene 1 - Interior, TARDIS. 

Doctor: Wow, this regeneration business is rough, but I feel like a new man!

Assistant: Woman. Doctor: Eh? (Looks down) Crikey, I wasn’t expecting THIS!

Assistant: Really? Everybody else was.

Doctor: Didn’t you get killed off at the end of the last series, by the way? Cybermen or something similar?

Assistant: No, that was the gay one. I’m the androgynous, gender-fluid one.

Doctor: Strange, I don’t remember you. You know you’re... green, right? And have antennae? 

Assistant: Of course, and they’re not antennae. (The Assistant winks with one of their three eyes.)

Doctor: Crikey! (pause) I think I might use that as a catchphrase.

Assistant: It’s not as good as “Geronimo” or “Alonsee”.

Doctor: Do you have a name, then?

Assistant: Yes, it’s Dactar. Dactar Woo.

Doctor: Great – I can’t see any problem with that at all.

(The TARDIS alarm starts chiming ominously, and everything looks a bit shaky whilst the Doctor and Dactar cling on to the console.)

Doctor: Well, this is rather exciting! I think we’re crashing! CRIKEY!

Assistant: See? “Geronimo” would have been better...

Scene 2 – On a beach, exterior shot of TARDIS as door opens and the Doctor and Dactar stumble out.

Dactar: Wh... where are we?

Doctor: (looking at the wrong end of the sonic screwdriver) We seem to be in a place called Broadchurch. I wonder if we’ll know anyone here?

Dactar: Pretty sure that’s a definite, to be honest.

(Sounds of an angry mob approaching.)

Doctor: This doesn’t look good. I haven’t even had time to change – these Y-fronts are bloody uncomfortable. Who are these people anyway?

Dactar: Oh, no – Doctor, it’s the Manbabies!

(A portly white male approaches – 50ish, balding, wearing a Star Wars T-shirt that’s one size too small, with curry stains on.)

Manbaby 1: Oi, you! We’re not pleased. Not pleased at all! You can’t be a woman!

Doctor: Easy, tiger! I sneaked a peek whilst we were crashing. It was a bit of a shock, but... let’s just say the jelly babies aren’t there anymore.

(A second male, out of breath and with a ponytail and thick glasses, waves his fist at the Doctor.)

Manbaby 2: I’ve followed you all my life! Despite the fact that I clearly have no entitlement and taking into account that I’m flying in the face of strong female role models like Wonder Woman and that one in the Star Wars Film...

Manbaby 1: Rey.

Manbaby 2: Thanks, Dave – I’ve got this... and Captain Janeaway, the fact that science fiction is turning the tide of gender stereotyping, along with the wider film and TV industry, I can only say that I feel it beholden upon me to express my deep annoyance at this switch in gender which was never even alluded to in the original...

Doctor: Is this going to take much longer? I think I can feel another regeneration coming on...

Manbaby 2: ...Gallifreyan mythology, nor has it, in fact, appeared in any of the audio versions, or the books, which just...

Manbaby 1: Uh... wasn’t the Doctor half-female in “The Sexily confused Timelord”?

Manbaby 2: By Spock’s Beard, Dave! That was FanFic! Give it a rest! We talked about this. SHE CAN’T BE THE DOCTOR!

Dactar: So let me get this straight, guys; Despite the fact that the Doctor is an alien, who is apparently immortal, and can travel through space and time in a police box that is bigger on the inside, and can recreate themselves to be someone else altogether, they can’t be a woman?

Manbaby 1 & 2 together: Exactly!

Doctor: But, Dactar here is a green alien with - how can I put this - their sexy bits on their head but no other indications of gender and that’s not a problem?

Manbaby 1: No, of course not.

(The Doctor surveys the crown of disgruntled, middle-aged men, some of whom are clutching packed lunches made by their mums.)

Doctor: Are you all insane? It’s the... hang on...

(The Doctor checks her wrist looking for a watch, then remembers the sonic screwdriver and looks in the wrong end again, momentarily blinding herself.)

Doctor: ...it’s tea-time in the early part of the 21st century, and you’re saying a Timelord has to be a bloke? You do realise that’s ridiculous, right? Are you scared of talking to women or something?

(The manbabies look at each other, the sand, the sea – anywhere but at the Doctor).

Doctor: Oh... I get it now. Crikey!

Dactar: Stop saying that. I’m The Master, by the way. BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Doctor: Now that’s just ridiculous...

End credits. Definitely no pink.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Faking it for real

As Donald “I’m really great, everybody says so” Trump is so fond of pointing out, there is a lot of fake news around nowadays. Honest. Your friends at Facebook think so too, and have recently been publishing their top tips for spotting false news – by placing them as ads in newspapers. Considering they came in for considerable criticism themselves, that’s like shouting “Squirrel!” and pointing at a tree whilst you hastily kick away the prize begonias you just trampled. To help you make sense of this (and because I’m a caring person), I thought I’d run you through their suggestions and help to explain them for you. I know. I’m lovely. 1. Be sceptical of headlines READING THIS ARTICLE WILL IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE!!! And explain that catchy headlines, or stuff all in capitals might be a bit iffy. 2. Look closely at the URL You can find out more about this at www.wowyouregullible.com if you want to understand how phony web addresses are a sure sign of dodgyness. 3. Investigate...

Going Underground

The US presidential election and Brexit must have made me more nervous than I’d realised. It seems I’ve created an underground bunker without realising I was doing it. Still – we’ve all done that at some point, right? No? Ah... In that case, the fact that I have inadvertently turned my cellar into a rudimentary survival shelter, just in case it all kicks off, demonstrates a severe case of bunker mentality. Fretting about Donald and his wall, and Hillary and her emails, clearly made me more paranoid that I thought about the possibility of WW3 kicking off. Whilst attempting to find a specific size of imperial washer the other day (turns out I’d mis-filed it in the nut cabinet – Tsk!) I was struck by what a lot of jam and chutney we have in the cellar. And I do mean a LOT. There are boxes of boiled-up sugar and fruit and more boxes of boiled up vinegar and fruit. We’re still only part way through 2015’s output too. Then there’s the plastic containers holding pasta in various for...

Is it cold? Snow way...

Lunch out? Not unless you want snow balls... I’ve got a confession to make.  Lean in a bit, because I’m going to whisper it. Bit more. Did you have curry for tea? OK, good. I’m a weather nerd. There, I said it. When I was growing up, I didn’t want to be an astronaut or a fireman – I wanted to present the weather on the TV. I was lining myself up for a career at the Met Office when, at about 18 years of age, I discovered I was allergic to studying. Anyway, despite a jam-packed and varied career over the subsequent years, I still have a fascination for the world of meteorology. I even have one of those clocks that projects the time and the external temperature onto the ceiling at night, so I can see how cold it is outside whilst lying awake worrying that I might have wasted my life and been more successful with girls if I’d been more into cars than clouds. So far this year, I’ve gazed at a chilly reading of -5C a couple of times, and been grateful for previous sensible ch...