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An Interview With ‘Ninth Doctor’ Writer Cavan Scott

An Interview With ‘Ninth Doctor’ Writer Cavan Scott

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Recently, Sound on Sight was given the opportunity to ask comic writer Cavan Scott a few questions about his upcoming Ninth Doctor comic series with Titan Comics. Cavan Scott is the co-author of the bestselling book Doctor Who: Who-Ology as well as the Titan series Penguins of Madagascar.

Tori Michel for Sound on Sight: Obviously from your website, you’re a massive Whovian. Who is your favorite Doctor? Companion? Villain?

Cavan Scott: Favourite Doctor? Well, that has to be the Doctor of my childhood – Tom Baker! Favourite Companion? Too difficult to choose – I’m very fond of Sarah Jane (who isn’t?) but Romana,Tegan, Ace and Martha feature high on my list as well. Oh, and of course, K9! Favourite Villain? Well,there’s the Daleks, but I’m a big fan of the Zygons… and the Master. So, a Zygon pretending to be the Master and working with the Daleks, then.

SOS: Having written Doctor Who material in the past, what is the most difficult part of writing a particular Doctor in comic form?

CS: Doctor Who translates to comics very easily, which is why there have been successful comics strips for decades. As always, it’s all about getting the incarnation’s voice right. The Doctors are all the same man, but they certainly don’t all sound the same. What sounds right for the Sixth Doctor doesn’t sound right for the Eleventh and so on.

SOS: What is the easiest part of writing Doctor Who material?

CS: Smiling! I have to pinch myself every day that I’m being allowed to play with these characters. I’ve been writing Doctor Who professionally for 15 years now, and I never take it for granted. It’s a real privilege and such, such fun.

SOS: If you could send the Doctor and Rose on any adventure you wanted to, what would it entail and to where (and when!) would they travel?

CS: Well, if I told you that, I’d be blowing all my future plans wouldn’t I? One of the things I knew I wanted to do with this mini-series was to send the Ninth Doctor off to space, because we didn’t see enough of that on the TV. And artist Blair Shedd has absolutely risen to the challenge. His first splash spread of issue one is simply beautiful and sets the stall with how ‘cosmic’ we’re hoping the mini-series will be.

SOS: If you could put any other companion with the Ninth Doctor, who would it be and why?

CS: Donna! Imagine the fireworks! That would be something to see, wouldn’t it? She wouldn’t let him get away with anything! Of course, you’d have to wonder if anything would actually get done what with all the bickering.

SOS: What would your ideal mash-up of the Doctor and your other comic characters be? Personally, I’d love to see Nine with one of the Penguins of Madagascar. It wouldn’t be the first time pairing the Doctor with a penguin! (I’m a Frobisher fan, if you can’t tell!)

CS: Who doesn’t love Frobisher? I was such a big fan of those Sixth Doctor comics strips. Well, I write for a British children’s comic called the Beano and I would love to script the Dalek Invasion of Beanotown. I’m not sure if the infernal pepper-pots would be more scared of the Doctor or Dennis the Menace and the Bash Street Kids? With Minnie the Minx as the new companion! Mayhem! And apologies for my American readers who may have never heard of the Beano, but it was just as a big a part of my childhood as Doctor Who. A weekly comic, chock-a-block with naughty children and anarchic slapstick humour. In fact, as we find out in “The Angels Take Manhattan”, the Doctor reads the Beano too!

Titan Comics’ Ninth Doctor #1 is on comic store shelves today, April

1st, 2015. Written by Cavan Scott, Art by Blair Shedd.

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