The Doctor is in?
- Publication: The Des Moines Register
- Date: 2006-03-10
- Author: Kyle Munson
- Page: 1E
- Language: English
LIFE SO FAR
Viewers vote on which 'Dr. Who' shows will air on IPTV
Kyle Munson
Both "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" took a shot and failed. Now another sci-fi franchise is trying to reinvent itself for today's adults.
Admit it: George Lucas jumped the shark with Jar-Jar Binks, when he decided to tailor his latest "Star Wars" trilogy to the kiddies and infuse the movies with more special effects than soul.
At first, "Star Trek" managed a comeback on the shoulders of Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard), but petered out with lame spinoffs.
Enter "Doctor Who," a uniquely British sci-fi TV series that premiered the day after Kennedy's assassination in 1963, before Denny Crane — I mean James T. Kirk —began boldly going anywhere. Before Lucas got a grip on the Force.
"Doctor Who" ran through 1989 and followed the adventures of the Doctor, an alien with two hearts who travels throughout time and space and is able to "regenerate" his body and thereby smooth the transition between lead actors.
A 1996 "Who" TV movie stirred fresh interest. But it was last year's full-fledged revival of "Who" by the BBC as a snarkier, flashier series starring A-list actor Christopher Eccleston (the ninth incarnation of the Doctor) that delivered the show to the mainstream. It drew as much as 44 percent of the viewing audience in Britain.
"Per capita, it's the equivalent of 'Friends' over here," said Lars Pearson, who should know. The Des Moines-based sci-fi publisher (Mad Norwegian Press) has eight "Who" reference guides in print and more on the way.
The new "Who" — set to premiere March 17 in the States on the Sci Fi Channel — is produced by the creator of another trendy Brit hit, "Queer as Folk," and features pop star Billie Piper as the Doctor's sexy human sidekick.
The new "Who" has been tweaked for the post-"Pulp Fiction" crowd, with snappy dialogue drenched in sardonic wit and peppered with pop culture references.
"You can kind of see the influences of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' in there," Pearson said. "There's all these people with a huge interest in the new show that basically wouldn't touch the old one with a 10-foot pole."
"It's kind of become England's hottest property again," agreed Steve Martin — not the famous comedian, but a 27-year-old in Des Moines who embarked on vacation last November to Wales just to attend a "Who" convention.
"I think in a way it kind of transcends geekdom," he said. "You take 'Star Trek' fans, 'Star Wars' fans, they're very' niche. But a lot of 'Doctor Who' fans kind of like everything. We're the neutral party in sci-fi fandom. We're not gonna beat you over the head.... You have to let someone discover it in their own way."
Like so many Americans in the 1970s and '80s, Martin, while growing up in suburban Chicago, fell in love with "Who" in syndication on public television.
Today, Iowa Public Television is one of only four stations in the nation to still air the original and campier "Who" series. A local fan club of "Whovians" again will staff the phones for IPTV late Saturday when "Who" takes its turn to spur donations during the station's ritual pledge drive. Pearson will co-host.
IPTV also is letting viewers vote on which actor's "Who" episodes will air next year — a rigged system in which each dollar buys a vote. (You know, sort of the way we really elect Congress and the president.)
You might be greeted by Jeremy Bement, 35, who's: A) manager of Mayhem Collectibles in Des Moines; B) vice president of the local "Who" fan club, Universal Network of Iowan Timelords; and C) by his account, "probably the biggest 'Doctor Who' fan in Des Moines."
Here's how Bement usually explains the cult of "Who": "It's a TV show that has no boundaries."
True, it's hard to trump time travel as a flexible plot device. Just think: Our beloved "West Wing" could continue with Abe Lincoln.
Others, like Martin, appreciate the Doctor's off-kilter persona —not your typical Type-A action hero who charges forward with guns blazing. Among the annals of English fiction, the Doctor smacks more of Sherlock Holmes than James Bond.
"So many other sci-fi series are military-based, war driven, shooting each other and blowing each other away," Martin said. The Doctor, however, "refuses to even hold a gun."
True confessions: Yours truly was one of those public TV-fed Whovians as a kid. I long ago dropped "Who" in favor of more socially acceptable obsessions, such as rock 'n' roll. But the two episodes of the revamped show that I've seen have me contemplating a dip back into the Whoniverse.
For my sake, I hope Steve Martin is right. I hope "Doctor Who" really does transcend geekdom. I wouldn't be caught dead brandishing a plastic lightsaber or sporting Spock ears.
This column is written by Erin Crawford and Kyle Munson with their eye on the offbeat and the everyday.
'Whovians' meet
See the old "Doctor Who": 11 p.m. Saturday on Iowa Public Television
See the new "Doctor Who": 8 p.m. March 17 on the Sci Fi Channel
Meet "Whovians" in person: "Exiled in Iowa 14: 7 Years of the Universal Network of Iowan Timelords," is an Iowa fan fest from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 15 at the Urbandale Public Library, 3520 86th St. Meet Whovians online: www.gallifreyone.com, http://tachyontv.typepad.com/
Caption: New team: Christopher Eccleston, right, snared the role of the latest Doctor Who, and is paired with Billie Piper.
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.: Munson, Kyle (2006-03-10). The Doctor is in?. The Des Moines Register p. 1E.
- MLA 7th ed.: Munson, Kyle. "The Doctor is in?." The Des Moines Register [add city] 2006-03-10, 1E. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Munson, Kyle. "The Doctor is in?." The Des Moines Register, edition, sec., 2006-03-10
- Turabian: Munson, Kyle. "The Doctor is in?." The Des Moines Register, 2006-03-10, section, 1E edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=The Doctor is in? | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_Doctor_is_in%3F | work=The Des Moines Register | pages=1E | date=2006-03-10 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=23 March 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=The Doctor is in? | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/The_Doctor_is_in%3F | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=23 March 2025}}</ref>
