My afternoon with Tom Baker

Ah, memories. Specifically, in this case, my memory of meeting Tom Baker up in Auckland. Back in 1997, Tom Baker came to New Zealand to make advertisements, such as this one, this one and this one. And also to talk to NZ fans.

I went up by train (won't be doing that again!), stayed with me cousin, brought a ton of stuff, went and had an afternoon, and finally caught the train back. Phew! At the time, for me, that was a fairly major mission, but I had to go see an ACTUAL DOCTOR! Heady stuff, got him to sign the script for Shada (which I had brought with me) with a special "To Jamas the first from Tom Baker the fourth" (my name being rather unusual, certainly he had never heard it before), the Telos script for Talons (which I had brought that day, and even shook his hand!!! (Cool!) Not to mention getting to meet other DW fans.

And all this was brought back by working on TSV #50, in particular the articles on Tom's visit, mainly the transcript... which is not complete (in that there were bits deliberately left out). I do have the tape, but hopefully there might be a special DVD release some time. On the other hand, when they cut to the audience, I'm right there, in the middle of the screen, sprawled out... not a sight for any eyes...

Alden comments on other stuff, Paul will detail his views... and might be candid about Tom's visit. I gather it might not be all wonderful from his perspective, behind-the-scenes never being as pretty as what is out front, but I really enjoyed my time and consider that memory as one of the better ones...

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