The New Doctor! A Doctor Who Alternate History Story

Part 11 - Vienna 1913, Production Notes - The Robot Rebellion

The week of April 21 proved to be a bad one for location shooting. There were three street scenes, with open air locations, scheduled. Outdoor shooting is difficult, there are a host of problems ranging from adequate power sources to controlling crowds, the day has its own clock, and the window of useable sunlight is usually only a few hours at best while the sun is high in the sky, towards dawns and dusk, the light becomes unreliable and the shadows get long, it becomes difficult to match the footage taken with that from midday. An outdoor shoot is at the mercy of the weather, a passing cloud can ruin a shot.

It rained the entire week.

This was an unwelcome but normal part of the uncertainties of shooting. The Production schedule was revised, some scenes were rewritten to take place indoors or on set. Scheduled indoor locations were canvassed to see which ones could be moved up and available for the week. In the end, only a day and a half of shooting was lost.

There was a bigger problem. Ian Levine wanted to change the script.

*****

April 22, 1991 - Producers Meeting

"A Robot?" Paul Bernard said.

"A Robot?" Barry Letts said.

"Yes, a Robot!" Ian Levine replied. "It came to me last night, like a bolt of inspiration."

"Last night" Bernard said, "after the scripts are written, the budgets are done, the shooting list established, the actors hired... after we've been shooting?"

"Yes, yes," Levine said excitedly, "just in time. Before we got too much further."

"Ian," Barry said gently, "we don't need a robot. The story is fine."

"The story is perfect," Paul said.

"But this will make it more perfect!" Ian replied, he looked to David Burton for support. But Burton remained silent. "You see, it's a monster, and Doctor Who ALWAYS has to have a monster!"

"A robot isn't a monster," Bernard pointed out.

"A robot is a monster!" Levine replied. "Haven't you watched the show?"

"Why do we need this," Bernard argued. "We don't. We've got Hitler and Stalin... we're full up on monsters, real historical monsters."

"That's it though," Levine persisted. "Without a monster, it's just a historical. It's not science fiction. We need a robot!"

Levine paused, to draw breath and make his case.

"Look, Monsters of Ness is okay, but it isn't anything, it's amateur. This is going to be our first real serial, this is going to be what showcases us. Vienna, 1913, is what's going to establish us with our audience, we're going to show them that we're the real thing.

"Basically, as developed, the script is essentially a historical drama. The Doctor and the Tardis are the only science fictional elements. Straight Historical serials were part of the Hartnell era, but have been abandoned in favour of more overtly sci-fi adventures. After Hartnell, historical serials had been livened up with mad science, alien life forms, other time travellers, invaders and interlopers. This is what the audience expects. Give them a straight historical, and they're just going to go 'what is this, Masterpiece Theatre?'"

Vienna, 1913, is going to be make or break for us. It needs to be bigger. It needs an overt science fiction element to dress it up."

Levine looked from one face to the other. Burton was nodding. Bernard and Letts were unconvinced.

"No," Bernard said flatly. "No way. We're in the middle of production. I'm not going to see the whole thing rewritten just to wedge an unnecessary and stupid macguffin in there. No. Its ridiculous. Its cheap and sleazy theatrics. It was unnecessary. You wanted monsters? You had Stalin, Trotsky and Hitler, no rubber or tin suited concoction was going to beat that trio."

Ian looked stubborn.

"Barry?" Bernard said.

"I agree with Paul," Lett's said. "It might have been a nice idea, but it's too late. The whole thing was budgeted, they were in the middle of the shooting schedule, the script was written. Where are we going to stick a robot in, anyway? Where are we going to get the money to build that prop/costume? And where would a robot come from anyway, this is 1913?"

"Wells and Verne were writing about robots in the 19th century," Levine persisted. "It's not unreasonable."

"It's a stupid idea," Bernard snapped.

Levine went red in the face.

"Oh yeah? Well I'm the producer, and what-"

"You're 'A' producer," Bernard corrected, "not 'the' producer."

"Fine," Levine snapped, "I'm 'a' producer, and as 'a' producer, so to hell with you. I'm insisting. We need a robot in the story. And that's final!"

David Burton held up his hands, "maybe we could slip one into the story," he said, "it doesn't have to be a big deal."

"Slip one in!" Bernard's voice was rising. "Slip one in, Jesus Christ! You have no idea how this works do you?  The answer is 'No.' And that's final!"

He stood up and walked away.

The others looked at each other awkwardly.

******

The argument went back and forth, becoming increasingly bitter. It reached the point, on April 25, where the decision was made by the rest of the production team to exclude Levine.

On April 26, Levine struck back. Staff attending the production office found it padlocked. Levine had shut the production down and froze the accounts.

Letts and Bernard went to their lawyers, a meeting was called for the Shareholders and Directors of Millenium Productions.

David Burton intervened to salvage the production, arranging a meeting at a pub. The sides made up.

Levine got his robot.