It's Dr Who and the bright new future
- Publication: Express & Star
- Date: 2003-09-26
- Author: John Ogden
- Page:
- Language: English
Sci-fi fans the world over will be rejoicing at the news that a new series of Dr Who is being planned, JOHN OGDEN looks at the history of the man in the Tardis
THE weird and alien Beetles Sea galaxy has finally succumbed. Despite all its efforts to kill him off, Doctor Who is to return to the small screen in his ninth manifestation - though it won't be until somewhere around 2005.
It will be a long wall for the sci-fi classic's many fans but tune to hardly a problem to a Time Lord or his followers. When the sores started, way back in 1963, they would have act post holocaust adventures in 2005, so we fans of the Doctor sometimes feel kicky to have arrived this long.
It was a low Grade clone called Mikal who killed off the doctor before he was banished from the Beebee Sea and sent to the tiny planet of Chan El 4. His name is still reviled by Doctor Who fans, who immediately set up pockets of resistance throughout the colony and began their battle to get the Doctor reinstated.
Prominent among these are The Wolves Of Fenric a group based in Wolverhampton, who in 1993 organised a massive exhibition in Birmingham's Science Museum, which attracted fans from all over Britain.
There were other battlers too, for the Doctor's return a splendid museum to Llangollen, countless, books featuring new adventures, and even a few privately made videos, not to mention the ones which the BBC themselves put out, despite their apparent contempt for the programme.
But all this was on the surface, beneath there lurked a vast sea of fans who had been enthralled, delighted. and sometimes deliciously horrified by the programme, and when the BBC recently ran a poll to find out the show people would next like to see revived, Dr Who was light years ahead.
Bullet
When William Hartnell stepped out of his police box in 1963 there were few people talking about it the following day, because on the same night, November 23, President John F Kennedy died from an assassin's bullet
No-one, either young or old, could avoid being affected by that tragedy, but the Doctor had met some really retry cavemen, 100,000 years back in the past and soon tales of terrified children hiding behind the sofa began to circulate. Though the BBC heads quickly ruled that the programme should be less frightening - "no bug-eyed monsters" was the terminology used - the advent of the Daleks four weeks into the fitness was a sensation, and audience figures almost doubled for the following episode.
Since then there have been many other villainous, opponents for the Doctor and his helpers, including Silurians, Cybermen, Sea Devils, Sontarans, Mawdryn Mutants and an evil dwarf pretending to be a ventriloquist's dummy. In the most literate of adventures, The Talons Of Weng Chung, yet the Daleks will forever remain the enemy everyone thinks of when the series is mentioned.
Once I recall walking through the Manlier Centre to Wolverhampton and suddenly being confronted with one, being used as a publicity stunt by one of the stores.
I was very impressed by the genuine spasm of fear which shot through me before reason took hold again
Popularity
Like the Doctor is has tatty old Tardis, viewers following the aerial had a bumpy old ride at a became the world's longest-running science fiction TV programme, with its low-budget special effects, changes of Doctor, and varying scripts, but somehow even these added to as its popularity.
Just say 'Who was the best Dr Who?" and apart from the smart-Alecs who will reply 'Yes he was,' you will get an instant and knowledgeable debate, with Tom Baker usually getting the nod over John Pertwee and Patrick Troughton.
Likewise there are equally involved arguments about the best "companion" but for the older male fans the fur-clad Leela probably comes out ahead, while fans of the later episodes go for Sophia Aldred's Ace.
One other factor in the show's success should not be overlooked: the title sequence and theme tune, composed by Ron Grainer (who also did Steptoe and Son and The Prisoner)
In true Dr Who tradition, the actual sound was realised by Delia Derbyshire and Dick Mills of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
So here's to 2005, and a future which contains Doctor Who once again.
The eight faces of a Time Lord
1963-1966 Actor William Hartnell. Style grumpy and stem and had e quick. sliver mind. Companions. Polly and teenage granddaughter Susan Foreman, Encountered Daleks and Cybermen
1966-1989 Actor Patrick Troughton Style Quirky Scot who tootled on recorder In times of stress. Companions Zoo Harlot and The Brigadier Encountered. robot Yeti end Ice Warriors
1970-1974 Actor Jon Pertwee Style Flamboyant, action man Companions Jo Grant Sarah Jane Smith and vintage roadster Bessie. Encountered Killer shop dummies
1974-1981 Actor Tom Baker Style Aloof but with a disarming wit and bottomless pockets. Companions Robot dog K9, Harry Sullivan, Leela and Romana Encountered: Dalek master Davros
1982-1984 Actor Peter Devleon, Style Boyish charm wfth on elf of innocence Very handy with a cricket bait Companions *Mit and Rican Jovanks Encountered Ttectalorti
1984-1986 Actor Colin Baker Style. Eloquent, poetic but with violent mood swings Companions. Peri, Mel and the Brigadier Encountered renegade Time Lord Rani
1987-1996. Actor Sylvester McCoy. Style: Comic, flippant and magical but developed a dark end manipulative side Companions Ace Encountered Gods of Ragnorak
1996-2001 Actor Pau McGann Style Suave romantic with a penchant for jellybabies Companions Dr Grace Holloway and Chang Lee. Encountered: the villainous Master
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- APA 6th ed.: Ogden, John (2003-09-26). It's Dr Who and the bright new future. Express & Star .
- MLA 7th ed.: Ogden, John. "It's Dr Who and the bright new future." Express & Star [add city] 2003-09-26. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Ogden, John. "It's Dr Who and the bright new future." Express & Star, edition, sec., 2003-09-26
- Turabian: Ogden, John. "It's Dr Who and the bright new future." Express & Star, 2003-09-26, section, edition.
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