The Doctor is in (The Age)
- Publication: The Age
- Date: 2003-09-06
- Author: Peter Barrett
- Page: A2, p. 4
- Language: English
Forty years on, Doctor Who, the free spirit of science fiction, is returning to our screens and may be about to win a new generation of fans, writes Peter Barrett.
Once the most feared creatures in the universe, the Daleks, are about to return to planet Earth after a long holiday. This time around, though they are more likely to provoke giggles than shrieks of horror.
The world's longest-running science fiction series, Doctor Who re-materialises in its entirety on Australian television from September 15 - and it's a great opportunity to recall the days when "special effects" meant a bloke in an upside-down rubbish bin shouting "Exterminate! Exterminate!" from a disused quarry.
Peter Nicholls, academic and co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (Orbit), thinks the bulk of viewers tuning in at 6pm Mondays to Thursdays will be squarely after a nostalgia fix. Nevertheless, the program's enduring and eccentric appeal, a mix of Britishness and anarchism, may net a new generation of viewers. "What I liked about Doctor Who was that it was un-American. Star Trek always looked as if it was produced by the military industrial complex; a sort of corporate program. The people behaved in a fairly trained, military manner, Group discipline was important. Doctor Who was always about a free spirit. It was funnier, more charming, more relaxed and, I have to say, for younger children."
Doubtless those "younger children" will remember watching terrified from behind the sofa as Daleks, Cybermen and a host of other (often green and slimey) monsters assaulted them from week to week via their television screens.
Nicholls praises the freshness of the series and for starting off a whole sequence of science fiction satire in England, influencing writers such as the late Douglas Adams, who went on to create The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
"(Adams) was weened as a scriptwriter in the '70s on Doctor Who. The whole political satire that features a lot in Doctor Who, and even much more in Hitchhiker's Guide ... is a kind of almost nihilist or anarchist view of life I thought was enormously refreshing."
Beyond the low-budget props is the series' commitment to creating drama and suspense. It first aired in England on November 23, 1963, the day after US president John F. Kennedy was shot. Episode one, An Unearthly Child, was simply listed in the Radio Times as "an adventure in space and time", with William Hartnell playing the lead role of the Doctor. Later it was revealed that this character called the Doctor was a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who had two hearts and an ability to bypass his own respiratory system.
Hartnell's grandfather version of the Doctor got around in a blue police box called the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), which was paradoxically much larger inside than outside. When Hartnell decided to call it quits in 1966, writers struck upon the idea to give the Doctor the ability to regenerate, and Patrick Troughton took over.
Eight actors have played the Doctor, with Withnail And I stars Paul McGann the eighth, in a 1996 telemovie, and Richard E. Grant due to appear in an animated series.
Tom Baker is by far the most popular Doctor Who. With his wide-brimmed hat, ridiculously long scarf (a freelance knitter didn't realise she didn't have to use all the wool the BBC supplied) and never-ending supply of jellybabies, Baker combined wit and idiocy excellently during his long stint as the Doctor from 1974 to 1981.
As popular as Baker was, it was the monsters of the series that most of us will remember. Early in the first series the Doctor encountered the Daleks, a race of evil mutants who lived inside robot-like shells, intent on universal domination. They were played by actors sitting inside pedal-powered pepper-pot-like structures operating levers. Along with the Cybermen and the Master (a Time Lord turned bad), the Daleks and their arresting staccato voices are among the most popular and best remembered of the Doctor's adversaries.
Sian O'Neale, a lifelong Doctor Who fan and editor of science fiction magazine Strange Matter, nominates The Talons Of Weng-Chiang as his favourite adventure: the Doctor (Tom Baker) investigates a floating corpse in the Thames River and must battle giant rats and an evil Chinese magician in order to stop a time-travelling war criminal from feeding on the life force of young girls.
"It mixes gothic horror with period Doctor Who, it's set in the Victorian era, it's a strong Sherlock Holmes story, it's very well-written by Robert Holmes, one of the best writers of the show. It's a six-parter (and) certainly sustains its length," O'Neale says.
His other all-time favourite is The Tomb Of The Cybermen, an early episode starring the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton.
"It was one of the episodes the BBC wiped from the archives and was later found again in 1992. It's a remarkable story about humans surviving a very difficult situation in total isolation, up against a terrible enemy. It was classic science fiction."
Peter Rosace, president of the Doctor Who Club of Victoria, hopes the ABC's decision to repeat the entire series from the beginning (minus some early episodes that have been destroyed) will regenerate his club's membership base.
"All those people that did enjoy the show on Channel Two (ABC) are rapt to know that it's back on Two," he says. "And that's where it should be!"
Even if you are not old enough to remember the Doctor the first time around, or just ignored him, the series return (replete with shonky aliens and extraterrestrial landscapes that all look a bit like London) should at least provide a few laughs.
Doctor Who will screen at 6pm on the ABC Monday to Thursday, starting September 15 with the first episode, An Unearthly Child.
GRAPHIC: Ten photos: Lalla Ward, who played Princess Astra, with K9; Louise Jameson as Leela. Janet Fielding as Tegan; Matthew Waterhouse, who played Adric; Paul McGann; Tom Baker; William Hartnell; Patrick Troughton; Jon Pertwee.
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- APA 6th ed.: Barrett, Peter (2003-09-06). The Doctor is in (The Age). The Age p. A2, p. 4.
- MLA 7th ed.: Barrett, Peter. "The Doctor is in (The Age)." The Age [add city] 2003-09-06, A2, p. 4. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Barrett, Peter. "The Doctor is in (The Age)." The Age, edition, sec., 2003-09-06
- Turabian: Barrett, Peter. "The Doctor is in (The Age)." The Age, 2003-09-06, section, A2, p. 4 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=The Doctor is in (The Age) | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_Doctor_is_in_(The_Age) | work=The Age | pages=A2, p. 4 | date=2003-09-06 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=23 April 2024 }}</ref>
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