Dr. Who on the road in Maine
- Publication: Morning Sentinel
- Date: 1986-08-15
- Author: Laura Bischoff
- Page: 19
- Language: English
SOUTH PORTLAND — Fans came from everywhere to the Maine Mall parking lot Wednesday and Thursday to see the Doctor Who U.S.A. Tour exhibit.
The animated road show featuring characters from the PBS program "Doctor Who" drew roughly 800 people in the first six hours, said exhibit manager Dan Sheehy.
The people shelling out $2 for adults and $1 for children to walk through the trailer with figures from the 23-year-old program were true "Doctor Who" fanatics.
Tammey Cote, 28, of Scarborough, went through the exhibit 20 times and spent close to $100 on souveniers and Doctor Who paraphernalia. "I started watching it 14 years ago," she said. She called herself a "superfan."
Cote, who was decked out in a Doctor Who T-shirt and cap with a piece of wilted celery pinned to it, said she like the exhibit and was planning to return.
Three 11-year-old fans enthusiastically described the Doctor Who newsletter they produce every other week for 50 readers at North Yarmouth Memorial School. The newsletter explains the show's basis, gives "Doctor Who" scheduling and background on the actors who have played the doctor and provides Doctor Who trivia, puzzles and contests, said Justin Maxwell of North Yarmouth.
C. Matthew Olson, a banker from Brunswick, said he can "catch just about every episode with the help of a VCR." Olson describes the show as escapist with subtle humor. "I really don't think they take themselves seriously," he said of the show's writers. "I think the plots are surprisingly good considering it's a science fiction monster sort of thing," he added.
Certainly the show, which is shown by 180 PBS stations, attracts viewers from all walks of life. "It's a very strange phenomenon. The fans run all ages and all socioeconomic classes," said Sheehy, who said he is not a fan.
Sheehy has been traveling with the exhibit since early May and tie has seen the fans: physics professors, children and even a federal judge from Fairbanks, Alaska.
Inside the 48-foot trailer, monster-type characters are set behind mirrored glass and are brought to life through various special effects. Cote was disappointed, though, that the exhibit did not feature any of the seven actors who have played the doctor in the show's 23 years.
The show is to be at the Bangor Mall this weekend.
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- APA 6th ed.: Bischoff, Laura (1986-08-15). Dr. Who on the road in Maine. Morning Sentinel p. 19.
- MLA 7th ed.: Bischoff, Laura. "Dr. Who on the road in Maine." Morning Sentinel [add city] 1986-08-15, 19. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Bischoff, Laura. "Dr. Who on the road in Maine." Morning Sentinel, edition, sec., 1986-08-15
- Turabian: Bischoff, Laura. "Dr. Who on the road in Maine." Morning Sentinel, 1986-08-15, section, 19 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Dr. Who on the road in Maine | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr._Who_on_the_road_in_Maine | work=Morning Sentinel | pages=19 | date=1986-08-15 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=24 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Dr. Who on the road in Maine | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Dr._Who_on_the_road_in_Maine | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=24 March 2025}}</ref>
