5th Doctor (Time Crash)
Although it's an outstanding figure and a fantastic sculpt, the Werewolf is one of those white elephants in my Doctor Who collection. A monster that appeared once and is hard to reuse. At the time I bought the figure in an effort to complete my collection, something that I've given up on now the range has grown so big- concentrating now only on figures that I can use on the AFT. This story required a savage, brutal and unstoppable monster. The werewolves suited the bill but it could as easily have been the Future Predator from Primeval. I have only one Werewolf figure, multiplied here by the wonders of photoshop.
The 5th Doctor is the Time Crash with celery version which was released as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive with all proceeds going to Children In Need. I missed out on getting the set but a very friendly person sent me one in return for a donation to the charity. I would like to say a BIG thank you to that very generous and thoughtful chap who will remain anonymous to protect his identity. You know who you are.
Werewolf

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Episode one aired on 23 October with part 2 following on 23 November 2008.
The story was without cover or a behind the scenes feature until 23 Feb due to other commitments getting in the way.

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The title went through several changes including
TOUCHDOWN ON DENEB
(which I think was used in an annual...)

THE DENEB DIVERSION

THE DENEB DECOY
DIVERSION TO DENEB
DECOY TO DENEB
The last one obviously was chosen with the planet's name changed to Denebola.
Without any companion figures to accompany the 5th Doctor, the function of this story was to separate his from his companions and establish him travelling alone- something he never did on TV.
In the original draft storyline, the Doctor was to lead the Werewolf fleet to several planets, dispatching werewolves as he goes. The first planet Quinnus 5 was mentioned in The Edge of Destruction as somewhere the first Doctor and Susan nearly lost the TARDIS. The next planet would have been called Abydon.
In early draft, the Doctor was to displace the TARDIS early on and then use a tracking device to try and find it. At one point he drops the device and clambers down a mountain to get it only to have it destroyed by the werewolves.
When the Werewolves force the TARDIS back to Earth, the Doctor interferes with his co-ordinate selector to steer them to a black hole. The effect would leave him unable to navigate straight back to Little Hodcombe.
The ending would have seen the armada plunged into a black hole where it is crushed. This was contrary to the Doctor's pacifist nature so it was changed to a wormhole that simply sends them to another part of the galaxy. You'll notice also that he doesn't kill any of the werewolves chasing him.
During the LONG wait for the classic figures, I put together this photoshop mock up (right) as an inspiration.

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The jungle setting for Denebola uses a variety of plastic foliage. The backdrop is a woodland photo, the floor is a green 'grass' sheet from a model shop. There is a garland of plastic leaves, several tropical flowers and some fish tank plants. It's dressed with green and brown foliage. The woods near Little Hodcombe use the same backdrop and floor but with paper tree trunks.

A lack of spaceships in my collection means that the werewolf fleet use the same ship as the Slitheen plunged into the Thames with a fake pig pilot.

The signal device is from Spy Kids.


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The shot of the Doctor flinging acid rain at the Werewolf was bolstered during the edit to add more acid.
Something lost in the edit is the shot of the werewolves carrying the gun that the Doctor picks up from them.
A big thank you goes to Aaron Vanderkley who provided the classic series titles for this story.
Music comes from The Awakening by Peter Howell.

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Decoy To Denebola takes place just after The Awakening in Season 21. The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are taking a break in Little Hodcombe, the setting for The Awakening where they have come to visit Tegan's grandfather. Technically ofcourse, the Doctor is not alone as Kamelion is still somewhere in the TARDIS.
The HADS (Hostile Action Displacement System) was seen in The Krotons. It's a setting whereby the TARDIS removes itself from an immediate threat and rematerialises nearby.

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