Reign of Turner (1988-1996)
wrritten and directed by Steve Hill, Robert Warnock, and Jennifer Adams
notes | reviews
Notes
all page content taken from Steve Hill's site, shillpages
The Federation, masters of the art of Doctor Who parody videos, began work on the ambitious THE REIGN OF TURNER way back in 1987. Principal photography was completed in 1989. Conceived as a serial in three 30-minute parts, the final running time was over two hours. The three-part version has been shown at several conventions, including Visions.
The makers of the film let the project rest for a while, retaining a
desire to re-edit a movie format version with a running time of just over
an hour. Well, the planets aligned in just the right way in December 1995,
and we started re-editing from the 18 hours of footage. After completion,
the movie had its premiere extravaganza at November 1996's Visions
96 convention in Chicago. The movie had three showings, each attended by 8
to 10 people. The first showing was good, keeping the viewers laughing,
and the third showing was a wild success with constant, exuberant laughter
and one gentleman who kept falling off his chair because he was laughing
so hard.
The movie version has been shown twice at Gallifrey, as well as once at Chicago TARDIS. You can of course get a copy for yourself!
Reviews
Scott Alan Woodard
I have seen a lot of fan produced video and film projects. A lot! I've sat through countless pseudo-serious attempts at well-known series such as Star Trek and of course Doctor Who, and I've endured my share of parodies. Frequently brimming with in-jokes and sly cross-program references, most of what I have seen can be described as potentially humorous, but nothing has ever crossed the line into raucous comedy.
Nothing, that is, until recently when I was introduced to Chicago's
Federation (or as it exists now, ex-Federation) These productions (from
the mid to late eighties) are true classics in every sense of the word.
The jokes are timeless (though timely in regards to the characters and
situations portrayed) and for a fan of Doctor Who, there is
material here that will have you wetting 'em with laughter!
I particularly enjoyed The Reign Of Turner. Originally produced in 1989, this 83-minute epic presents us with a fictionalized account of life behind-the-scenes of Doctor Who under the reign of John Nathan-Turner (from 1977 to the "present"). The scary thing here is one gets the sense that there may be more truth to these gags than one would initially think!
The video opens with an irate Colin Baker (Uncannily portrayed by Steven Hill (I'd swear these two were separated at birth!)) rushing into his dressing room where he discovers a note from "The Watcher" and a series of cardboard bins containing video tapes from Tom Baker, Peter Davison and himself. He begins reviewing the cassettes (starting with Tom) and what follows are hilarious parodies of known and well-known situations and exchanges from the show's past.
Tom Baker is revealed to be a raving egotist who finds that everyone
else on screen with him routinely detracts from the focus of the program,
himself (of course). A fiery temper also highlights this segment as he
childishly gives up attempts to assemble the Key To Time and storms
off-camera kicking chairs in the process. In the parody of "The
Androids of Tara," the planet is revealed to be "...one huge
plantation." (Get it, Tara, Gone With The Wind???) The
"Stones of Blood" are shown to be over-zealous pet rocks! And
the eventual union between Lalla Ward and Tom Baker results in their
presentation to JN-T of a possible nineteenth season to be entitled
"Heart To Heart To Heart To Heart" with a rather faithful parody
of the title sequence to Hart To Hart! This "disgraceful"
presentation inspires JN-T to begin his savage routine of firing members
of the cast, in this case, both Tom and Lalla.
Next we are shown a quiet and exceedingly polite Peter Davison (Robert
Warnock) who sees the demise of all his companions, all the direct result
of their somehow setting off JN-T and subsequent elimination from the
program. There are parodies of several stories here ranging from
"Four To Doomsday" (where one of the Urbankans is gloriously
portrayed by an inflatable frog toy) to "Resurrection Of The Daleks"
where Rula Lenska (bizarrely played by Steven Hill) hawks hair products to
the camera, to (of course) "Caves Of Androzani" where the
regeneration happens revealing the 6th Doctor whose response to a
stuttering Peri's inquiries about his identity are, "Lunch my dear.
And it seems not a moment too soon." Great stuff.
Colin's era is reflected by a terrific parody of the desert illusion
scene in "Vengeance On Varos" where (instead of water) Peri's
ghostly image taunts him with a plate of doughnuts (doughnuts are
regularly featured throughout the video). We see comical versions of
scenes from "The Two Doctors" (where the Doctor and Peri are
searching for the "Rabbit of Seville" (cue the Warner Bros.
cartoon!) to Trial Of A Timelord where, during the mind transference of
Kiv into Peri, the characters present transform into The Young Ones (for
those who might not remember, the actor who portrayed Kiv was also the
same actor who portrayed pseudo-suave college boy, Mike).
Between all these parodies of past adventures are scenes behind-the-camera. One of my personal favorites is when Maurice Colbourne (Lytton, played by Dennis Kytasaari), while sitting in the BBC canteen, destroys the comic book he has been perusing only to the angered tones of JN-T who rushes into scene informing the actor that he has destroyed the only copy of the script! Explanation reveals that the title of the episode they are about to shoot is not "Attack of The Cybermen" but "Attack Of The Spiderman!"
There are constant gags about doughnuts, scenes of life at home with Peter Davison and a very whiny and demanding Sandra Dickinson (Jennifer Kelley) and more unprovoked firings by JN-T. In short, this is genius! I expected very little from this tape initially, but boy, was I surprised. On the down side, the tape does suffer from the things that plague most amateur productions: an occasional shaky camera, muffled audio, poor framing of imagery, etc., but the script more than makes up for these forgivable mistakes.
One other thing that I really enjoyed about this tape (and most of the videos produced by the Federation) is Robert Warnock's excellent score (here, completely redone as of 1995!) Most of the music is extremely effective, though in some scenes it has been dubbed a bit too loud sadly drowning out some truly funny lines.
I highly recommend The Reign Of Turner for fans of Doctor Who, science fiction and damn good comedy.
Keith Bradbury
The Reign of Turner (*** out of ****)
Colin "Bayker" returns in a fit of anger after dealings with producer John "Naythan-Turner," convinced that the "Dictator of Who" is intent on ruining the series. Colin is surprised to find a bin of video tapes nestled beneath his table, along with a note that reads, "To help you in your fight with John Naythan-Turner. Tapes from the Matrix. Wait, watch, and learn. Your destiny lies in these bins. The Watcher." The tapes contain excerpts of the various stories produced during Naythan-Turner's reign as producer.
This video is parody, pure and simple, containing much that works, as well as much that doesn't. Steven Hill's portrayal of Mr. Baker is so exceptional, you may actually forget he is NOT Colin! Jennifer Kelley does a great job playing most of the female companions, but truly shines as Tegan (especially in the parody sequence of Logopolis, episode one). Most of the Davison and Colin Baker episode parodies work exceptionally well, although several of the Tom Baker parodies fall flat. Perhaps more disappointing are the "behind-the-scenes" quarrels with Turner. Nestled within these great parodies is a feeling of bitterness at Mr. Turner, which may take itself a little too seriously at times. Nevertheless, you will find much to enjoy in this tape. Add to that a great-looking cover, and you'll want this one in your collection. Oh, by the way, great TARDIS, guys! Loved the sets. To get this tape, visit The Federation.
Selina T. Lock
Yep, shill, it's even being seen by us Brits now, well 2 of us at least thanks to Kathy sending us it over (Cheers Kathy).
So what did I think of it? Well, I thought bits of it were great but I'm afraid some bits I didn't get, is any of it referring to American fandom type stuff that we might not get?
(See Michael's review for a little about how relevant it is/was to fandom. --ed.)
Steve Hill is superb as Colin Baker, looks and sounds like him :-) even the accent! Which is what is a bit lacking in the others, perhaps being so noticeable because Shill sounds good, and possibly more noticeable to me as I'm from the UK. I see you all have a thing about Doughnuts, ermm or rather donuts as I'm told they're a bit different to British doughnuts. We also tend to eat many doughnuts while filming, usually the all night shoots urrggh.
I loved the Hart to Hart bit, brilliant, and I found it amusing that many of the female roles were played by the same lass (Jennifer Kelley) as I'm assured that in earlier days that happened in our productions too :-) something about fandom in the eighties/early nineties I guess.
Anyway, I can recommend that much of this tape is amusing.
Cheers
Selina