Doctor Who is 45!!!

[CalliArcale]

<p>Actually, the anniversary was last Sunday, but better late than never.&nbsp; ;-)</p><p>On November 23, 1963, the very first episode of Doctor Who aired on the BBC: "An Unearthly Child".&nbsp; Conceived by Syndney Newmann as an educational children's drama, the story initially revolved around two schoolteachers concerned about their student, Susan Foreman, who is astonishingly brilliant but suspiciously evasive about her living arrangements.&nbsp; Suspicious that she might be homeless, her teachers (Barbara and Ian) followed her home one day -- to a defunct police box stashed in a junkyard.&nbsp; But it wasn't an ordinary police box.&nbsp; It was a time-space machine called the TARDIS, operated by Susan's grandfather, a mysterious man with no name whom they came to call the Doctor.</p><p>Stories were long, usually spanning four or six 25-minute episodes, and alternated between futuristic sci-fi settings and historical ones in order to expose young viewers to a wide range of concepts, while not completely boring the parents.&nbsp; The idea was to create entertainment that the whole family could watch together, and they succeeded.&nbsp; With a Saturday afternoon timeslot, it became a routine for many families.&nbsp; The cast changed a few times through the first few years, with companions coming and going.&nbsp; The first really traumatic departure was that of Susan, originally conceived as the point of identification for children.&nbsp; But the series weathered it, and other young companions filled the same role.&nbsp; Eventually, the lead actor, William Hartnell, had to retire due to failing health; he was suffering a degenerative brain disorder which was gradually robbing him of the ability to remember lines.&nbsp; After a long and storied career, "Doctor Who" would be his final role.&nbsp; Having established the Doctor as an unspecified alien, the writers came up with the idea of having him "regenerate" into a new body, allowing them to bring Patrick Troughton on board as his replacement.&nbsp; Viewers were initially wary, but Troughton quickly established himself, wisely chosing to make the role his own rather than trying to copy Hartnell.</p><p>Shortly thereafter, the historical/futuristic format was abandoned in favor of a more freeform system.&nbsp; The viewers noticed little change, except that after "The Highlanders", there were no more pure historical stories (with the one exception of "Black Orchid" in the 1980s).&nbsp; Companions came and went.&nbsp; After the 12-episode serial "War Games", Troughton resigned, and in the next seasonthe series underwent a massive change.&nbsp; Popular character actor Jon Pertwee was hired, reluctant new companion Liz Shaw was introduced (brilliant and skeptical, Shaw was sort of a prototype for Scully on the X-Files, and probably helped inspire the character), the budget was increased (allowing more location work), the format was changed to set all stories on Earth in the very near future, and, most obviously, Doctor Who was recorded in color for the first time.</p><p>After a few seasons, the restriction to Earth became increasingly confining for script writers, and for the series' tenth anniversary, they recorded "The Three Doctors", bringing back Patrick Troughton and the increasingly frail William Hartnell, who made his last ever television appearance for this special.&nbsp; The Doctor was freed from his exile to Earth, and the series returned more to the familiar format of travelling in time and space.&nbsp; By the mid-70s, it was Pertwee's turn to leave, and Tom Baker joined the series.&nbsp; To many today, he remains the iconic Doctor, in large part because he was the first Doctor to have broad exposure outside of Britain, and particularly in North America.</p><p>Tom&nbsp; Baker's tenure lasted for seven years, the longest of any Doctor (not counting years while the series was not in production), and saw a partial return to historical fiction, though the historical episodes all had science fiction elements.&nbsp; At the end of his last season, for the first time since the Troughton years, the Doctor was again travelling with three companions.&nbsp; Baker resigned, and Peter Davison, the youngest ever to take the role, joined the cast.&nbsp; Multiple companions had become unfamiliar during the Pertwee/Baker years, but Davison had at least two companions for every story except his last one: "Caves of Androzani".&nbsp; During his tenure, the series celebrated its twentieth anniversary with another multiple-Doctor special: "The Five Doctors".&nbsp; Tom Baker was unavailable, so unused footage from the untransmitted "Shada" was used.&nbsp; William Hartnell had long since passed on, so Richard Hurndall was hired to fill his shoes, and many old companions returned as well.</p><p>After two complete seasons, and with the companion count again reduced to one attractive female, Davison passed the torch to Colin Baker, a flamboyantly-attired Doctor who was deeper than many realized, but unpopular with BBC executives, who were by this time looking for a way to retire their longest-running series.&nbsp; The budget was going up, and for one season, they experimented with forty-five minut episodes (though stories were still multi-part, usually lasting about 90 minutes total).&nbsp; After increasingly exotic location shooting (including "The Two Doctors", filmed partly in Seville and its environs), the show was cut to a shorter season length, and for the twenty-third season, an umbrella story was conceived: "The Trial of a Time Lord".&nbsp; In many ways, the series itself was on trial, and they were beset with problems, most drastically, the loss of the script editor before he could complete the script for the season's conclusion and explain to everybody just what he'd been setting up.</p><p>After the somewhat unsatisfying conclusion of Season 23, the show went on hiatus for a year.&nbsp; When it returned, Scottish vaudeville performer Sylvester McCoy was given the lead role.&nbsp; He carried the role for several seasons, including "Silver Nemesis", the show's 25th anniversary special, featuring Cybermen.&nbsp; His Doctor had a reputation for darkness, and more and more tantalizing hints of a secret past were revealed.&nbsp; Then, quite unexpectedly, the BBC comptroller stopped waiting for the series to die, and just as filming of "Ghost Light" completed, announced its cancellation.&nbsp; ("Ghost Light" was the third-to-last serial, but the last filmed, as it was entirely done in the studio.)</p><p>This was 1989.&nbsp; The series would languish for several more years, as various attempts were made to revive it.&nbsp; For the thirtieth anniversary, the BBC ran a documentary called "Thirty Years in the TARDIS", but the show was not revived.&nbsp; Then, in 1996, an American producer managed to persaude Fox to back a made-for-TV movie which he hoped could become a sort of backdoor pilot.&nbsp; Paul McGann was cast in the lead role, and Sylvester McCoy came back to enthusiastically film a handover.&nbsp; The movie received a decent but not overwhelming reaction, and the American executives were uninterested in taking the concept any further.&nbsp; (Due to weird contractual issues and Fox's complete disinterest in the property, it cannot be released on video in the US.&nbsp; But it has been available in Britain for years, and sells reasonably well.)&nbsp; The show then languished for several more years. </p><p>In 2003, Welsh producer Russell T Davies managed to persuade the BBC to give it another go, this time through BBC Wales, in a more limited format.&nbsp; It would be produced as half-seasons (sparing the production team the grueling schedule that the old series had required), with episodes of 45 minutes and with most stories being only singletons.&nbsp; Christopher Eccleston was cast in the lead role.&nbsp; The new series was wildly successful, although Eccleston ended up only staying for one season.&nbsp; Upon his departure, Scottish actor David Tennant took the role, and the series continued its newfound popularity.&nbsp; Spinoff series emerged: adult series Torchwood and kiddie series The Sarah Jane Adventures, leaving Doctor Who as the family series that everybody could watch together.&nbsp; During Tennant's time, the series acheived a new milestone: not only is it hte oldest still-running sci-fi series (Star Trek having started four years later), but it now has more episodes than any other sci-fi series ever -- even if you don't count Torchwood or Sarah Jane in Doctor Who's total, but do count every flavor of Star Trek towards the Trekkie total. </p><p>Today, at 45, the series is still going strong.&nbsp; There will be a change in format for 2009 (four two-hour specials), but in 2010, it will be back as a regular series -- but with a new Doctor.&nbsp; Who will the new Doctor be?&nbsp; Time will tell -- with the TARDIS, it always does.&nbsp; ;-) </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

<p>Great article. I was just chatting yesterday with someone about how Doctor Who has changed over the years. Growing up, I started with the tail end of Troughton, Pertwee and of course Tom Baker. In those days, the special effects were sometimes really lousy (looking back now) but they compensated with really sharp story lines and they still managed to be so scary. I used to have nightmares about cybermats for instance. I think the newer series keep that strong commitment to good plot lines and screenplay&nbsp; - so with the improvements in special effects it had to be a winner. Long live Doctor Who!</p><p>(Just three months to go on my PhD in case anyone wondered what happened to me)</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[dragon04]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Great article. I was just chatting yesterday with someone about how Doctor Who has changed over the years. Growing up, I started with the tail end of Troughton, Pertwee and of course Tom Baker. In those days, the special effects were sometimes really lousy (looking back now) but they compensated with really sharp story lines and they still managed to be so scary. I used to have nightmares about cybermats for instance. I think the newer series keep that strong commitment to good plot lines and screenplay&nbsp; - so with the improvements in special effects it had to be a winner. Long live Doctor Who!(Just three months to go on my PhD in case anyone wondered what happened to me) <br /> Posted by jmilsom</DIV></p><p>The special effects were downright AWFUL, and not very special at all, but that was okay. Lousy effects were part of the charm, I think. It's really hard to believe that I've been watching The Doctor for over 30 years now, and he's just as magnificent now as he was then.</p><p>When I was a kid, the PBS station in Pittsburgh carried The Doctor on Saturday nights. I wish there had been BBC America or SciFi back in the early 1970's. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>