The two abandoned X episodes

[cwickham]

Just wondering – did we ever learn anything about the original episodes 5 & 6 of Series X that had to be thrown out when the location filming was scuppered, apart from the involvement of Kochanski?

Topic

[Moonlight]

One of them apparently had “a circus” as a location according to We’re Smegged.

[Stephen R. Fletcher]

I always assumed the “circus” thing was just Doug thinking of a location example off the top of his head and not an actual idea for an episode.

[Moonlight]

I could see that being the case, but it seems like a really bizarre thing to use as an example.

[srmcd1]

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

[McAleeCh]

Would love to hear some more info about these. Wonder if Doug’s saving the ideas for potential future use, and that’s why we haven’t heard more about them? Apart from knowing Kochanski would be back at some point during these episodes, and that one may have featured a circus of some sort as a location, we don’t really know anything solid about them.

Perhaps Kochanski would have been in some sort of GELF circus freakshow – “roll up and see the Last Human” or some such. Perhaps the circus episode would have had nothing to do with Kochanski. Or perhaps the circus location was just an example off the top of Doug’s head when filming the documentary, and not an actual location from the dropped scripts at all. I also wonder if the other dropped running thread of Lister’s robotics course would have factored into one or both of these episodes in some way – much like the Kochanski references, it was built up over a couple of the episodes but didn’t have any payoff by the end of the series.

Anyone tried asking Doug for more details on Twitter or something? I’d imagine he won’t give any if he’s hoping to use/adapt the scripts in future, but you never know – can’t hurt to ask. We might find out something interesting! = )

[(deleted)]

I assume that they would have paid off the ‘Lister bettering himself’ plot arc that disappears after Fathers & Suns.

Doug’ll say nothing yet as even if he doesn’t use the material on TV, there’s a scriptbook in them. Which is fair enough. It’s easy to imagine it being for the same reasons the movie scripts are still under lock and key. Actually, I wouldn’t be *completely* shocked if we get a Dave era scriptbook for the anniversary. Such an endeavour might fill in the gaps.

One thing I *have* wondered about the missing two-and-a-half X episodes – was Chloe Annett booked and paid off for three weeks’ work? Or did plans change earlier than that?

[Hamish]

> I assume that they would have paid off the ‘Lister bettering himself’ plot arc that disappears after Fathers & Suns.

It ended with Lemons technically. Even if reading about Shakespeare seemed an odd way to go about taking a robotics course.

[Taiwan Tony]

The way Doug’s been trying to recapture the past, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was going to be Clare Grogan.
Or Dona DiStefano in a hat.

[Author]

Replies