A TV hero for the ages
- Publication: San Jose Mercury News
- Date: 1984-08-05
- Author: Eric Lach
- Page: 1B
- Language: English
Doctor Who? Fans in S.J. have answer
He wears flashy, eccentric clothes and travels effortlessly through time and space in an antique British phone booth.
Occasionally, he is called upon to save the Earth or an alien world from the clutches of the evil Daleks, the sinister Cybermen, or his old arch-enemy, The Master.
Who is he? Why, Doctor Who, of course.
It's a question that few of the 3,000 to 4,000 devoted Doctor Who fans gathering in San Jose this weekend for a Doctor Who/Science Fiction/Fantasy convention would hesitate to answer.
The convention, called Timecon '84 - because of its theme of time travel and held at the San Jose Convention Center, also will be host to a minifestival on "Dark Shadows," the popular 1960s television show.
But the real emphasis of the convention, according to Steve Mann, the convention chairman, is on Doctor Who, the title character in a long-running BBC television program.
And Doctor Who fans were clearly in force Saturday, many sporting long multicolored scarves like their hero's. For his fans, Doctor Who is just as thrilling as Indiana Jones and just as exciting as the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
He started out as an irascible, absentminded old man running away from his planet, but each actor who has taken the part has changed the character so that it no longer seems important to anyone why Doctor Who travels.
"It's great entertainment," said 24- year-old Lorenia Butler, a San Jose resident. "It's got a little of everything."
The show is now in production for its 22th season in Britain and is just beginning to build a following in America. It can be seen locally on KTEH Channel 54 at 7:30 weeknights.
Chad Roark, vice president of the Doctor Who Fan Club of America, said that during the show's long run, the Doctor (he is never actually called "Doctor Who" in the show) has not only flitted all over the universe, but back and forth in history as well.
In his journeys, the Doctor has had more than a hundred different companions. The Doctor himself has been played by six actors, according to Roark, who attributed the show's popularity in part to its flexible format.
The story can take place anywhere in time or space, so things are never tied down," he said. "The show is continually changing and never gets stagnated."
Roark said that because more television stations on the East Coast carry Doctor Who, the character is more popular there.
Of his organization's 25,000 members, only about a thousand are in California, he said.
During showings of old episodes and around exhibits Saturday, fans met, admired each others' costumes and exchanged information about their hero.
At one question-and-answer session with the show's current producer, several hundred fans loudly booed when they were told that K-9, the Doctor's faithful robot dog, would never again appear in the show.
"We've just reached too high a level of sophistication for that sort of thing," said producer John Nathan-Turner.
But for some fans, the charm of the show lies in its humor, which apparently is sometimes inadvertent
"It's not supposed to be a comedy show, but the way they do it sometimes makes it that way," said Carl McKinney, 15, of San Jose. "It's the humor and seriousness combined that I'm really attracted to. You'll never find anything like it on American TV."
One of Saturday's big attractions was an appearance by John Pertwee, the series' third Doctor Who, who answered questions and signed several hundred autographs.
During the questioning period, the audience cheered and clapped wildly when Pertwee said he would gladly resume his former role.
Dave Simons was one of several dozen vendors selling Doctor Who memorabilia in an exhibition hall where science fiction books, still photographs and T-shirts also were offered for sale.
Simons, 29, said his hottest item was the 1985 Doctor Who Calendar, priced at $7.95. His stock of 50 calendars was snatched up in less than eight hours Friday, the first day of the convention.
Doctor Who key chains at $8 also were moving, he said.
"All and all, I'm rather pleased," concluded Simons, a Florida resident who made the trip to San Jose especially for the convention. "It was definitely worth the trip out here."
Captions:
Peter Lee, 17, left, gets an autograph from a former Doctor Who, John Pertwee
An evil Dalek (robot) arrives for the convention's costume contest with Kevin Karvonen inside
SIGNS OF DEVOTION - Doctor Who fans like to buy buttons and pin them to their Doctor Who-like scarves.
Spelling correction: Jon Pertwee
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Lach, Eric (1984-08-05). A TV hero for the ages. San Jose Mercury News p. 1B.
- MLA 7th ed.: Lach, Eric. "A TV hero for the ages." San Jose Mercury News [add city] 1984-08-05, 1B. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Lach, Eric. "A TV hero for the ages." San Jose Mercury News, edition, sec., 1984-08-05
- Turabian: Lach, Eric. "A TV hero for the ages." San Jose Mercury News, 1984-08-05, section, 1B edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=A TV hero for the ages | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/A_TV_hero_for_the_ages | work=San Jose Mercury News | pages=1B | date=1984-08-05 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=A TV hero for the ages | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/A_TV_hero_for_the_ages | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 March 2025}}</ref>
