Exile Game Studio

[Andronicus]

Some of you may have noticed that Doctor Who is popular amoung these forums. Just about any post concerning the Time Lord will garner attention and a great many posts. Lets not forget Daleks!

Make no mistake. I am a big fan of the good Doctor. I love that show. But his appeal on these forums has started to baffle me. This was prompted by my Fu-Manchu post. Fu-Manchu is a major pulp figure. Historically, he's one of the very first mastermind's in literature and popular culture. He's a great villain. That, plus it's no stretch to include him in the 1930s. My results were disappointing. I thank those who did view and comment on my post, but I was expecting more.

When you think about it, saying you like Doctor Who, a 1960's based time travelling alien being, in this forum is like being on a Sherlock Holmes forum and offering stats for Chewbacca...and being well recieved.

Consequently, I am starting this thread. I want to know why people think he's such a great match for a 1930's dinosaur hunt. You might take a broader look and mention Ubiquity instead. I don't want this to be a Doctor Who love-fest. I'll readily admit I'm a huge fan. What I want is people to say is the common ground between these two apparent differing genres.

Thank you and good night.

[John Aynge]

I don't know that there is any real connection. We're almost all a bunch of geeks here, and Dr. Who is on currently. I believe that's about the sum of it. If Fu Manchu (who I just researched and learned is some how NOT in the public domain) was involved in a current T.V. show, movie, or even a book series I'm sure we'd be discussing it a lot more.

I was going to do up stats for FU MANCHU for a fanzine, but now I'm going to back off because he has legal representation. It's true...well, not really FU, but the property does. I'm not 100% sure how legal that whole situation is, but its legal enough that someone has engaged some lawyers to scare people off.

Also, I love Sherlock Holmes as well.

Oh, and as far as I'm concerned this is the worst of the new Dr. Who seasons, let's see what that powder keg sets off.
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[Prof Challenger]

For me, it's simple. It's pure pulp adventure. Sure, there's no dinos (yet), but the style of the show is wonderfully campy and total adventure.

[Prof Challenger]

[Andronicus]

It's true. In the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Moore had to simply call him the Mandarin and not use his name.

[John Aynge]

Hey, I agree. I've done my p.d. research quite a bit, but when I looked up FU, there is a group with a watch dog legal group ready to bite.

I think the whole thing sounds like scare people off, threaten lawyers, because the character appeared way before he would have recieved protection. Maybe DISNEY owns him.

Here's what I found in my research.

Over the years the question of who owned the rights to Rohmer's books and, more importantly, the character of Fu Manchu has been the most frequent question. There is now a definitive answer. Al Longden has informed us of this recent development:
Effective immediately the estate of Sax Rohmer is represented by Albert T. Longden Associates, of Bloomfield, NJ for World English rights. Additionally, the much anticipated memoir of Mr. Harry Alan Towers, Mr. Towers of London, a Life in Show Business is also being represented by the agency. You might recall that Harry is a renowned Producer in London and Hollywood with all of the Fu Manchu and Sumuru movies to his credit, including the new Fu Manchu movie, The Children of Fu Manchu due out in 2009.

The agency is obviously excited at the prospect of a renewed interest in the Fu Manchu franchise and has experience considerable interest from publishers on both sides of the Atlantic. They will also be emphasizing the considerable works of the author that are not related to the Fu Manchu series but have considerable worth for their timeless adventure, romance and mystery. Indeed many are worthy of theatrical consideration.

Al Longden, Principal
Albert T. Longden Associates
A Literary Agency
18 Bellevue Terrace
Bloomfield, NJ 07003

and this


Many people have inquired about the rights to Sax Rohmer's work and the Fu Manchu character in particular. While many of the earlier books have passed into the public domain, the character of Fu Manchu has not. The Society of Authors in Britain specifically list Rohmer's estate on their web site. The Authors League of America does not have a web site, but they are the literary representatives of the Rohmer estate in AMerica. All inquiries regarding the rights to Fu Manchu or any of Sax Rohmer's work should be directed to these organizations.

The Society of Authors
84 Drayton Gardens
London SW10 9SB
Tel: 44 (0) 20 7373 6642
Fax: 44 (0) 20 7373 5768
Email: info@societyofauthors.org

Authors League of America
234 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036

So, FU won't be appearing in the fanzine any time soon...now, the Mantra of FU...that's another story.

[Nestor]

Don't look at me. Never been a fan.

I was subjected to Dr. Who way back in my college days and I was frankly not impressed.

It's hard to believe, I know, but English is not my first language. While I'm reasonably fluent in it, I'm obviously incapable of deciphering the mushy dialects that were prevalent in the show. Half the time I was watching I was asking what the heck they were saying.

Then there were the production values. Hey, I grew up watching Lost in Space, and even that show had better special effects than what I saw in Dr. Who. I've seen better sets in old episodes of Commander Cody.

That's just my personal take on it, though. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll slip into my asbestos underwear 'cause I know I'm gonna get flamed for this.
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"I've got a degree in kicking arse and I'd have a doctorate in not giving a damn if I'd bothered to attend the ceremony."

[Linwood]

"While many of the earlier books are in the public domain, the character of Fu Manchu is not"

Wow. I guess they reason that since not ALL the properties using the character are in public domain, the character isn't either? I wonder if anyone's challenged that in court....

As for the popularity thing - it's mostly timing, I think. Not many of the Fu Manchu movies made it onto TV (I remember seeing Charlie Chan and Flash Gordon and the Basil Rathbone SH and even a little George Reeves Superman, but not one Fu Manchu movie from my youth), whereas Dr. Who was much more accessible. And if the show doesn't get on TV not many people will know about it regardless of how good it is.

It may have been cultural too - did attitudes about Communist China in the 1950s play a role in relegating FM to the dustbin?? Or maybe it was that Dr. Who was in color, while Fu Manchu (so far as I know) was B&W. Or maybe it was because FM was more adult-oriented than Dr. Who (which was considered a children's show in Britain for most of its history).

Something to think about....
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"I think a plan is just a list of things that don't get done"

[John Aynge]

I wrote the first one a quick letter, and I'll call the second group on that Fu Manchu list in the morning. The Fanzine may not have stats for Fu, we may have an investigation article instead.
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DANGER MAGNET! at WWW.DANGERMAGNET.COM is your source for a FREE Hollow Earth Expedition Electronic Magazine!

[Wolverine]

[Imajica]

Right.
*takes jacket off, rolls up sleeves, spits on hands and rubs them together*
Why Doctor Who?
It's the closest to Pulp Adventure we've got on our TV screens.
If you want dinosaurs, look to Primeval. And yes, Prof Cutter's team is in my sights for a modern Hex game. They'd be perfect.

My initial post down in the design section was my brain firing off random ideas in the early hours of the morning. In retrospect, perhaps it does belong more in the general Ubiquity section than here in the main Hex bit. I'm more than happy for it to be moved if one of the mods would be so kind. Then I can start my more general Who-thread, akin to a wonderful one over on the All Flesh Must Be Eaten forums where all of the nuWhu beasties are being statted up. I would say that Doctor Who belongs less in AFMBE than in Hex, but then your mileage may vary.

I agree with anyone who says the effects in the old Who were lamentably poor! It was pure cardboard scenery, bubble-wrap was state of the art and whoever wrote the music for the entire time John Pertwee was in the role needs it playing back to him. For ever. Endlessly repeating.

The new incarnation of Who is a lot better in that respect. Hats off to BBC Wales for pulling this one out of the bag. Shame about Torchwood, though. Yes, there are some truly awful episodes (Love and Monsters, anyone?) but there are some absolute gems.

I'll defend Who to the hilt - but I'll also agree that he belongs in the general worlds of Ubiquity forum (with a huge disclaimer that I'm a. not stepping on the BBCs, Terry Nation's or any other IP holder's toes and b. that I'm also not trying to undo Cubicle 7's work. If the BBC request, any Hex Who stuff will be removed).

But there's so much other stuff that Hex/Ubiquity could be used for! Sliders (there were dinos in there once) for one could make an interesting game. The aforementioned Primeval, with the added benefit of having all the dinos already statted out!

Sorry to have kicked the hornets nest with Who.

And whilst on the whole this might not be the strongest season of nuWho, there are still some shining gems of episodes in there that lift the entire thing. And we've got Davros yet to come!
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Just remember who’s standing in your way, remember every black day I ever stopped you and then—AND THEN—do the smart thing: let somebody else try first.

[Bretbo]

[JohnK]

Hullo, Andronicus,

While I am certainly a fan of the old Doctor Who stuff, I wouldn't say I'm all that keen on the new Who. Other than the episodes by Steve Moffat.

There's no need for me to go over the appeal of Doctor Who in these times, as others here on the thread have expressed that eloquently. That said, while I would never consider running an actual Doctor Who rpg these days (I was known to run the FASA game way back when), preferring my time travel rpgs to be harder science (as in Continuum: Roleplaying in the Yet, I will support to the death anyone who wants to run Ubiquity: Doctor Who.
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"The pterodactyl swooped down and...well, let's just say that Loren
didn't have to concern himself with the brace of rabbits any
longer." - James Farrow, explorer


JohnK
e-mail: johnk100@sympatico.ca
blog: http://jkahane.livejournal.com