There Will Always Be A Place For You Know Who
- Publication: Belfast Telegraph
- Date: 1969-06-21
- Author: Brian Bell
- Page: 6
- Language: English
WHEN DR. WHO vanished into time and space this afternoon for the rest of the year, at any rate there was one less all' in the fight against dull conformity.
Copy-hungry journalists often complain that are fewer "characters" around than there used to be.
And they're right. The "Organisation man" where personality, needs and interests are tailored to the "image" of his company has not taken over in country to the extent it has in the States. But here gaining a firm foot-hold.
Will there be a place in to-morrow's world for renegade personality?
The science fiction writers don't hold out much hope. In their strange technology and the sheer size of the universe usually reduce human beings to status of ants indistinguishable.
It's happening in real life. too. Can you think of one single astronaut who might conceivably [?] for a place in the "Readers Digest" as "The most forgettable character ever met?"
Indeed, I'm quite prepared to believe that the Americans have been doing the same lot [?] time, changing names in order to lend some to the whole, bizarre enterprise.
And this is where Dr. Who comes in. Wouldn't it be reassuring to think that the 23rd century could sustain such intensely individual characters.
When a computer went awry, he didn't send for the men in white coats to fix it. He kicked it. If kicking a computer is not an assertion of mind over machines, I don't know what is.
When the Doctor clambered up a lift-shaft pursued by the dreaded creeping seaweed, or whatever the current threat to the survival of the human species happened to be, chances were that "Kilroy was here" would he scrawled on the wall of shaft. It would be nice to think of Kilroy still helm around in a couple centuries.
To some. Dr. Who might have seemed just another TV series.
But why the large number of adult addicts for what began as a children' series? Perhaps they were reassuring themselves about the future by watching this strangely-garbed quirky character and his kilted assistant taking on the worst that the future had to offer-and winning.
Sadly, Patrick Troughton and the other actors decided to quit because they had made the characters so individual that nobody else was likely to offer them parts.
If Dr. Who is re-animated next year in glorious colour as the BBC promises, let's hope that a temptation to sell the series America does not turn him into a puppet-like character in the Thunderbirds mould.
For, as TV becomes more international, the creations tend to resemble more and more the dull conformity of the 20th century man at his worst.
Perhaps the really significant thing about the memorable Dr. Who is that he wasn't supposed to be a human being anyway.
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.: Bell, Brian (1969-06-21). There Will Always Be A Place For You Know Who. Belfast Telegraph p. 6.
- MLA 7th ed.: Bell, Brian. "There Will Always Be A Place For You Know Who." Belfast Telegraph [add city] 1969-06-21, 6. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Bell, Brian. "There Will Always Be A Place For You Know Who." Belfast Telegraph, edition, sec., 1969-06-21
- Turabian: Bell, Brian. "There Will Always Be A Place For You Know Who." Belfast Telegraph, 1969-06-21, section, 6 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=There Will Always Be A Place For You Know Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/There_Will_Always_Be_A_Place_For_You_Know_Who | work=Belfast Telegraph | pages=6 | date=1969-06-21 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=26 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=There Will Always Be A Place For You Know Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/There_Will_Always_Be_A_Place_For_You_Know_Who | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=26 April 2025}}</ref>
