View source for Dr. Who Fans Bring Tour to Tulsa

{{article
| publication = Tulsa World
| file = 1987-10-29 Tulsa World.jpg
| px = 450
| height = 
| width = 
| date = 1987-10-29
| author = John Wooley  
| pages = C12
| language = English 
| type = 
| description = 
| categories = Celebration & Tour
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| moreDates = 
| text = 
Event: The "Doctor Who" Celebration and Tour

Dates and Times: Saturday, 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.

Place: Kensington Galleria, 7130 S. Lewis Ave.

Admission: $2


This January, Lionheart Television — the American arm of the British Broadcasting Corp. —launched a tour designed to promote the science-fiction program "Dr. Who," which is probably the BBC's most successful program ever in the American market. (Premiering on American public television in 1977, the 24-year-old show is now seen in the U.S. on more than 180 PBS stations. Those stations include Tulsa's [[broadwcast:KOED|KOED]], Channel 11, where it is broadcast Friday and Saturday at 10 p.m.)

The tour's focal point is a 48-foot exhibition trailer filled with . special effects animation, props and costumes from the show, and other exhibits. It will set up in Tulsa in the Kensington Galleria parking lot.

"'I think we're lucky," says Steven Overfield. "It looked like it wasn't going to come at all."

Overfield is "lord president" of the Gallifreyan Legacy, a Tulsa-based "Doctor Who" club. And, he says, if not for the members of that club and of another Tulsa science-fiction club, Fandom International, the tour might have bypassed Oklahoma altogether.

"BBC-Lionheart actually brings the trailer through under ;the auspices of the Public Broadcasting System in each state, but [[broadwcast:OETA|OETA]] (the Oklahoma Educational Televison Authority) didn't want to have anything to do with it," says Overfield. "They had some kind of policy to the effect .that they were not able to involve themselves in special activities —something like that.

"We contacted Brian Sloman, the BBC representative, and told him, that we understood OETA wasn't interested in doing that, but we wanted to see it come to Tulsa, and wanted to know if (here was anything we could do"

There was. After OETA decided not to release names of their subscribers for a mailing advertising the tour, the club members put together a list of "Doctor Who" and science-fiction fans in a four-state area — "about 3,000 names," says Overfield — and mailed out the information. Then, they found a place for the trailer to set up.

Overfield says, the group is expecting at least 1,000 Oklahomans — as well as fans from Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas — to visit the exhibit during its time In Tulsa.

"This is the only place in the "state it'll be," he points out. "Originally, it was supposed to come through Oklahoma City and 'Tulsa, but because the OETA 'wasn't interested, it didn't stop in .Oklahoma City at all. The reason it's stopping here is because of the .activity of the club."

The trailer, called "an experience theater on wheels" in press information, features an exhibition of monsters and villains from the show, as well as a TARDIS (Doctor Who's time-traveling craft, in the shape of an old English police call box), a mock-up of the ship's control panel and "an illusion of space."

Fans of the program will recognize such creatures as the Daleks, the [[broadwcast:Full Circle|Marshmen]] and the [[broadwcast:Robots of Death|Robots of Death]], all of whom are featured in the exhibition.

"There are a lot of the monsters from the show, which kind of ties in with Halloween," says Over-field. A costume contest is also scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m., with prizes of "Doctor Who" merchandise given.

A variety of "Dr. Who" items will be on sale, and members of the Gallifreyan Legacy and Fan-dom International will also be on hand to talk about their organizations.

The Gallifreyan Legacy currently has "around 12 to 15 dues-paying, voting members, with others joining us for some of the fun," says Overfield. That may not seem like many, but it illustrates the old maxim about what a few committed people can do.

Says Overfield, "We were very interested in getting it here, and we knew the fans were interested in getting It here. And, we didn't know any other way to do it but to do it ourselves."


Caption: One of the characters from the "Doctor Who" TV show will appear in Tulsa this weekend.

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