Last week, I talked about continuity, and I did mean the sci-fi fan definition of the word. ("Continuity" usually means making sure Amy's hair is up or down depending on when in the episode this shot takes place. In fanspeak it means desperately trying to reconcile contradictory events in a programme that isn't even trying in that respect.) And, while I thought last night's episode "The Beast Below" was a number of nice ideas that didn't quite gel into a good story, its interesting premise was based on a piece of
Doctor Who history in the manner that I recommended in my last post. The 1975 story
The Ark in Space (12.2) introduced all the solar flared ravaging the Earth business. "The Beast Below" doesn't even require you to know
The Ark in Space exists, but it draws on an idea that warranted further exploration.
Anyway, this week, another buzzword: "canon". In fanspeak (I keep wanting to type "fansqueak") "canon" means "did it really happen?" When I was growing up, the continued adventures of the Doctor (No. 8) were told in books (BBC), audio plays (Big Finish), and comics (Doctor Who Magazine). Each of these contradicted the other two (and sometimes didn't, which made it even more confusing), so you kind of had to decide which one was real - or "canon". There were some fans who hated the TV movie so much they declared it apocryphal, and therefore there was no Eighth Doctor at all. All that could be definitely agreed upon as canonical were
