The Twin Dilemma

] [cite web
url= http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/6s.html
title= The Twin Dilemma
publisher = A Brief History of Time Travel
last = Sullivan
first = Shannon
date = 2007-08-07
accessdate = 2008-08-30]

*Anthony Steven worked very slowly on the scripts, offering many strange excuses (purportedly saying that his typewriter had literally exploded) and turning them in at a very late stage. Compounding things were the fact that the scripts were viewed as being of poor quality and too much for the show's budget by script editor Eric Saward, who was forced to rework them at great length in a very short amount of time.Fact|date=March 2007
*At least one aspect of Steven's original script featured the Jaconda and Gastropods being dropped totally early in the fourth episode without resolution to the plot, with the final battle taking place in another dimension against a being called Azlan who was controlling Mestor all along.
*The cat badge worn by the Sixth Doctor on his lapel for this story was hand-made and painted by Suzie Trevor, and purchased for the programme from a specialist badge shop in central London. For each subsequent story, the Doctor was to wear a different cat badge to symbolise that he was a "travelling cat of different walks."
*Besides being adjusted for the new Doctor, the opening credits underwent additional modifications with this episode. A prism-colour effect is added and the series logo takes on a somewhat bluish hue (which also results in it appearing slightly curved in comparison to the version introduced during Tom Baker's era). The theme music remains the same version as that introduced in 1980. Prior to this, the opening sequences of the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Doctor eras had incorporated a still photograph of the lead actor. For the Sixth Doctor opening this was changed to using two photographs - one of the Doctor with a serious expression which changes to a second image showing the Doctor smiling. This limited animation would continue with the opening sequence for the Seventh Doctor.
*Fandom often holds the serial in a very low light, being regarded as one of the very worst serials in the history of the series (indeed in "SFX" #150 new series producer Russell T. Davies cites this story as "the beginning of the end" of "Doctor Who"). A 1997 poll by "Doctor Who Magazine" ranked the serial the second worst of all time (the Children in Need special "Dimensions in Time" was ranked lowest), while a 2003 poll by fansite Outpost Gallifrey ranked it worst of all, below even "Dimensions in Time".

Outside references

Shortly before the Doctor assaults Peri in a paranoid rage, he quotes the line "One morn a peri at the gate Of Eden stood disconsolate" and asks Peri to identify its author. The answer is Thomas Moore, in his poem "Lalla Rookh".

The first two instalments of the BBV Stranger video series appear to borrow the premise of the Doctor's desire to become a hermit to atone for mistakes he has made. Since the Stranger is played by Colin Baker and his companion Miss Brown is played by Nicola Bryant, it is often viewed as a "What-If" scenario, despite the fact that the BBV production could not legally use the Doctor Who characters.

In print

Doctorwhobook
title=The Twin Dilemma
series=Target novelisations
number=13 |featuring=


writer=Eric Saward
publisher=Target Books
coverartist=Andrew Skilleter
isbn=0 491 03124 6
set_between=
pages=
date=October 1985 (hardback)
13 March 1986 (paperback)
preceding=The Time Monster
following=Galaxy 4|A novelisation of this serial, written by Saward, was published in hardback by Target Books in October 1985, and in paperback in March 1986. The cover illustration originally featured Colin Baker. This had been done without Baker's permission and was removed before publication. This adaptation is notable for Saward's convoluted attempt at explaining in detail how the regeneration process works.

Broadcast, VHS and DVD releases

*This story was released on VHS in May 1992. The tape was available exclusively through branches of Woolworths as part of a special promotion. A general release followed in February 1993.
*A Commentary with Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Kevin McNally was recorded in April 2008 for a planned DVD release in 2009.

References

External links

*BBCCDW|id=twindilemma|title=The Twin Dilemma
*Brief | id=6s | title=The Twin Dilemma
*Doctor Who RG | id=who_6s | title=The Twin Dilemma
*OG|6s|The Twin Dilemma

Reviews

*OG review | id=6s | title=The Twin Dilemma
*DWRG | id=twin | title=The Twin Dilemma
* [http://nzdwfc.tetrap.com/archive/tsv56/tbt-twindilemma.html "The Twin Dilemma"] in [http://nzdwfc.tetrap.com/ "Time Space Visualiser"]

Target novelisation

* [http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~ecl6nb/OnTarget/1986/twin/86twin.htm On Target — "The Twin Dilemma"]