Doctor Who: The Cancelled Years

Series 2 of The Jo Jones Chronicles would’ve starred Katy Manning, Tyger Drew-Honey, Rukku Nahar & Percelle Ascott in their second season as Jo & Jon Jones, Yasmin Garcia & Rhys Lynch

Little to nothing changed between seasons, so we can quickly jump into the episodes

THE PHOENIX CHAMPION

WRITTEN BY: Phil Ford
DIRECTED BY: Adrian McDowall

The story would’ve been about this new TV show for teens named The Phoenix Champion. The story sees teenagers attempting to claim the title of Phoenix Champion by competing against others in a series of obstacle & parkour courses (essentially something similar to Total Wipeout or Ninja Warrior).

We see that both Jon & Rhys have entered the competition, with the 2 of them hoping to share the title by the end. However, something sinister is happening, as Jo has detected strange signals from the studio where the show is filmed, as well as multiple reports about the winners of the show vanishing not long after their TV appearance. It turns out that the whole show is a front for a race of aliens known as the Ascins. The Ascins brainwash the winners of the TV show into serving them & transport them into space, where they plan to use the teens to help them fight in their war against their enemies, the Oxad.

Eventually however, Jo, along with help from Cliff & Yasmin, are able to defeat the Ascins & return the teens to Earth by teaming up with the Oxads & forcing the Ascins to surrender.

THE GLOVE OF THE UNQRAIL

WRITTEN BY: Scott Handcock
DIRECTED BY: Joss Agnew

The story begins with Jon & Rhys helping Jo & Cliff clear out the attic. While searching through an old chest of memorabilia, Rhys finds a cool looking leather glove, which seems to take his interest. He asks Cliff if he can keep it &, not thinking much of it, says yes.

Rhys takes the glove home & tries it on, and to his surprise, he comes to realise that the glove grants him the ability to order people to do as they wished. We then see him taking full advantage of this new power, as begins to use the glove on people without them realising. We then see Jo & Cliff moving everything back into the attic, now that it's been cleaned. Jo notices the chest of memorabilia & shows it off to Jon & Yasmin, explaining that it’s full of things she collected while travelling with the Doctor. She then notices that the glove is missing & is somewhat concerned. She asks Cliff, Jo & Yasmin if they’ve seen it, with Cliff revealing that he allowed Rhys to keep it, much to Jo’s horror.

It turns out that each time the glove is used, it slightly changes the wearer mentally. It also begins to fuse with the user’s flesh & slowly transforms the user into an Unqrail, a human-like alien covered in green veins.

The story sees Jo, Cliff & her friends trying to find Rhys before it’s too late. We see Rhys using the glove to his full advantage, as he uses it to slow down his friends as the Unqrail begins to take over. Eventually however, Rhys is saved when everyone forces him to remember who he was, which causes the memories to reassert his identity & return him back to normal, with the glove slipping from his hand & shrinking into nothing but a very tiny rubber ball.

PRAXEUS

WRITTEN BY: Pete McTighe
DIRECTED BY: Joss Agnew

This would be an adaptation of the Doctor Who story from our own universe. Naturally, there would be some changes to the story, such as the removal of the Doctor & TARDIS from the story & the story being set in the UK. Other than that though, this would’ve followed the same essential beats as the story from our own universe

THE MEMORY CHEATS

WRITTEN BY: Lisa McMullin
DIRECTED BY: Adrian McDowall

The story would’ve been about a race of physic aliens known as the Jriens arriving on Earth & creating a perception filter around themselves, making them appear as random humans, as well as deceiving the brains of Jo, Cliff, Jon, Yasmin & Rhys into believing they’re either friends of family & that they’ve always been there, while also implanting false memories.

The story begins with the Jriens simply acting the part of friends & family. However, when Jo discovers a small meteor in a nearby field, which she knows contained Jriens, she warns everyone about them, and they attempt to find the imposters & neutralise them. However, with everyone’s memories all blurred, no one can be sure as to who is a friend & who is an enemy.

Eventually however, the Jriens are discovered & defeated after Jon realises that the Jriens never appears in memories which involve alien invasions or adventures, just regular day-to-day memories. So the Jriens are discovered, captured by UNIT & neutralised.

THE LOST CHILD

WRITTEN BY: Phil Ford
DIRECTED BY: Daniel O'Hara

The story begins with Rhys & Jon having lunch in school, with Rhys telling Jon about this big fight his parents had last night. This causes Jon to wonder about who his parents are, as we come to learn that he never knew his parents, as they apparently died in an accident. Then cut to later that night, where we see Jon lying in bed & wondering about who his parents might’ve been.

The following day, there’s a knock at Jo’s front door. Jo answers the door to find 2 human looking people with red & white tanned skin. Jo politely asks who they are & the 2 people ask to see their son. Smash cut on Jo, as she looks in shock & drops her cup of tea. We then see Jo & Jon sitting down with the 2 people, who we learn are named Raynee & Gryth, who introduce themselves to Jon as his parents.

Raynee & Gryth explain to Jon that he isn’t really a human but actually a Baiman, from the planet Brossland. They explain that 18 years ago, their planet was under attack from an alien invasion. Fearing for the safety of Jon, who was no older than 1 at the time, they requested that he be put into a stasis pod & shot off into space, with the pod programmed to lock onto a random planet, in hopes that someone will give him a good life. We then get a flashback to the year 2001, where we see Jo investigating a crash cite, only to find a stasis pod containing Jo. & so, after speaking with Cliff that night, they agreed to look after Jon & treat him as a grandson, in hopes of giving him a normal life.

Raynee & Gryth then go on to say that the war on Brossland ended shortly after & ever since then, the 2 deeply regretted sending Jon away. However, we then learn that Baiman are connected telepathically via family bloodlines, and so when Jon dreamt of parents the previous night, Raynee & Gryth sensed his location. They then ask Jon to return home to Brossland with them. They apologise for abandoning him, but now it’s time for him to return to his proper home, amongst his proper people. Jon is initially unsure about the idea, but Jo is able to talk him around on the idea, saying that Raynee & Gryth are his proper parents & that he should give them a chance.

We then have a very emotional scene of Jon boarding his parents' space shuttle, as Jo, Cliff, Rhys & Yasmin wave goodbye to Jon, who waves back. Jo then gifts Jon with a universal radio, saying if he ever needs her, he can speak to her through it. The shuttle doors close & the ship takes off. However, now that they’re away from Jo & Cliff, Raynee & Gryth appear to act a lot more stricter to Jon, saying that his name is now Chrystuf & that he must forget about his past (though for the sake of clarity, i’ll still refer to him as Jon). We then see the ship land on Brossland, and before long, things take a turn for the worst for Jon.

We see Jon being taken to Raynee & Gryth’s house, which we see to be a posh mansion. We see Jon living his new life on Brossland, however we see that Raynee & Gryth treat him somewhat cruelly. However, things take a turn for the darker when Jon starts to attend School. During break, he discovers a book about the planet's history & learns the truth about why Raynee & Gryth sent him away.

It turns out that their story about the war was a lie. In fact there has never been any major war on Brossland. When Jon returns home, he confronts Raynee & Gryth about them lying & asks them if there was no war, why did they send him away. Raynee then bluntly reveals that they actively chose to send him away, as they found him too much to deal with, as well as costing them a fortune. Suddenly, Gryth holds down Jon by the shoulders & Raynee begins to hypnotise Jon into becoming their own personal servant. The hypnosis works & Jon is put to work instantly.

Back on Earth, we see Jo still upset by the loss of Jon. Wishing to talk to Jon, she decides to contact him via radio. Then back on Brossland, we see the radio bleeping & vibrating in Jon’s pocket, which eventually causes him to snap out of the hypnosis. Jon activates the radio & screams for help, as he attempts to run away, with Raynee & Gryth chasing after him. Jon attempts to escape in Raynee & Gryth’s space shuttle, however he’s captured by Gryth, who smashes the radio & throws Jon in a prison cell in the mansion’s basement.

Back on Earth, we see Jo distressed by the situation. She needs to get to Brossland, but has no way of doing so. She paces up & down & thinks to herself for a minute, before she has a lightbulb moment. She pulls out her phone & dials someone. She puts the phone to her ear & the phone goes to voicemail, before she says “Doctor, it’s me, Jo. I need your help. They’ve taken my Son. Please call me back as soon as you can”. She then hangs up the call & the second she does, the TARDIS begins to materialise around her, and she finds herself standing in the control room. Jo calls out for the Doctor, before we see the Fifteenth Doctor pop her head around the console saying “you called?”

Jo comments on the Doctor’s new regeneration, before explaining the situation to her. The Doctor agrees to take her to Brossland, before she pulls down the main dematerialisation lever as the TARDIS travels to Brossland. Then back on Brossland, we see Jon using his knowledge of breaking open locks he learnt from Jo to break out of his prison cell, he then sneaks upstairs & tries to sneak past Raynee & Gryth. This fails, with Raynee noticing him & another chase Perseus. We see Raynee & Gryth chasing after Jon outside, before the TARDIS lands right in front of Jon as he bursts into the console room. He instantly runs into the arms of Jo, before the Doctor walks past them & steps outside to confront Raynee & Gryth. She gives them a big speech, essentially telling them that they’re horrible people & that they’ll never see Jon again. Raynee & Gryth begin crying & apologising, demanding that they return Jon to them, however the Doctor ignores them, closes the TARDIS doors & dematerialises.

Finally, we end the episode with the Doctor dropping Jo & Jon back on Earth, where Jo apologises to Jon for lying about his parents & his backstory. Jon accepts her apology, saying that although they may not be from the same family or species, he considers her & Cliff his real parents.

NEW MARS

WRITTEN BY: Phil Ford
DIRECTED BY: Daniel O'Hara

The story begins with Jo watching the TV, before an urgent news report flashes onto the TV. The report reveals that an advanced tech factory has been raided, with everyone inside now dead. The report cuts to CCTV footage where, to Jo's horror, she finds that the people who raided the factory were Ice Warriors.

We then see Jo working with Nicholas Lethbridge-Stewart to find out why the Ice Warriors are on Earth & what they're planning. They're eventually able to track down & imprison a single Ice Warrior. Using sound frequencies as a form of torture, they're able to get information out of the Ice Warrior. It reveals that he & his army fell to Earth thousands of years ago but were frozen & only thawed out recently thanks to the rising temperature. It reveals that the Ice Warriors are attempting to freeze Earth & turn the planet into New Mars, for a new generation of Ice Warriors to live on, while also attempting to make contact with Mars via radio frequency.

Nicholas says that the Ice Warriors haven't got the power of technology to do so, however the Ice Warrior says that they're working with a woman going by the name of "Mistress" & her technology to do so.

After this, Jo & UNIT attempt to hunt down the source of the Ice Warrior's radio frequency & track it down to an underground sewer. Jo, Jon & Nicholas enter the sewer in search of the Ice Warriors. However, the group is ambushed & captured by the Ice Warriors.

Part 1 ends with the group being imprisoned by the Ice Warriors as they begin to freeze the Earth & turn it into New Mars, before they're taken to meet with this woman going by the name of "Mistress", who reveals herself to be The Master, the old Master, played by Gina McKee.

Part 2 would then see Jo, Jon & Nicholas being rescued by Cliff, Rhys & Yasmin, before the group reunite & work together to try & stop the Master & the Ice Warriors. They initially try to reverse the Ice Warriors power, however this fails. Then, partway through the story, the Ice Warriors betray the Master by attempting to kill her.

We then see the Master being forced to work with Jo & her friends to stop the Ice Warriors. Together, with help from the Master & her friends, Jo is able to defeat the Ice Warriors by overloading the Ice Warrior's machinery, causing them to heat up & destroy both the Ice Warriors & itself.

Finally, the story ends with UNIT attempting to arrest the Master, however, as always, she escapes in her TARDIS.

That concludes Series 2 of The Jo Jones Chronicles. This was yet another smash-hit for CBBC, with this Series being considered better than the previous series.

Join me next time for Season 55 of Doctor Who

Thank you & goodbye!

(Thanks to TimeLordMaster108 for help with planning this series)

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