Doctor Who Cuttings Archive

You Know Who

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This is a "Who's Who of Who."

To Whom are we referring? Who, of course. Doctor Who , the star of the longest-running science fiction series in the history of television.

The "Doctor Who" show was created in 1963 as a children's series, and spanned 30 years with eight actors playing the role.

And now a whole new generation of viewers will be indoctrinated into the quintessentially British Whovian world when a new "Doctor Who" movie airs on the Fox network on Tuesday (7 p.m. in Milwaukee on Channel 6).

The movie stars Paul McGann as the newest incarnation of The Doctor.

The secret to "Doctor Who's" success has been the amazing flexibility of its premise. The show followed the exploits of The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who had the ability to travel through time and space in a time machine, the TARDIS. Time Lords are long-lived and extremely intellectual.

They are not supposed to interfere with the rest of the universe, but should simply observe and act only when absolutely necessary.

But our Doctor is something of a renegade. He fled Gallifrey and traverses the galaxy with different companions, battling evil wherever he finds it. He warps in and out of time zones and places; one minute he's in the kingdom of the Aztecs, the next minute he's in contemporary London. He has time to spare.

He also does something else that's unusual, and that is "regenerate," that is come back in an entirely different form. It's a talent that proved handy each time one of the series' stars decided to leave the show to be replaced by another actor.

"Doctor Who" developed an enormously loyal fandom in England and eventually in America, where the series was shown on public television stations. The BBC simply stopped producing episodes in 1986, but Whovians kept the faith through reruns and an endless stream of Who books and merchandise.

In Milwaukee, Who fandom is led by the Milwaukee Time Lords.

"'Doctor Who' is great escapism, and it's educational. He visits everywhere from Rome to China and Marco Polo," said Ed Hochman, Time Lords president.

"Star Trek has a set of rules that are set in cement. But not The Doctor. This show has its own set of rules. Good guys can die as well as bad guys. Anything can happen."

Obviously, The Doctor is once again "In." So here are some Who facts you can use to enter his world.

Five names The Doctor uses:

"The Doctor." This is the name most people call him.

"Doctor Who." A writing team blooper had him referred to by this name in "The War Machines." It stuck.

"Merlin." Apparently, through a warp in time and dimensions, The Doctor will become Merlin, adviser to King Arthur, in a future incarnation. From the episode "Battlefield."

"Theta Sigma." This was the Doctor's nickname during his time at the Academy on Gallifrey.

"Doctor Foreman." A one-time handle, taken from the Foreman Scrap Yard, where The Doctor is encountered.

Actors who have played The Doctor: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann.

Our vote for the best Doctor: Tom Baker, who played Who the longest (seven years) and brought an element of sex appeal to the role.

Doctors who are still alive: Pertwee, Tom Baker, Davison, Colin Baker, McCoy, McGann.

Interesting jobs the actors held before becoming Who: Tom Baker, monk; Patrick Troughton, gunboat captain in World War II; Pertwee, served aboard the HMS Hood during its famous sinking in World War II; Davison, Tristan in "All Creatures Great and Small."

Who symbols. Each Doctor is noted for a special trademark. Among them: Baker's jelly babies and scarf, Troughton's bow-tie, Davison's lettuce-stalk boutonniere.

The color pattern for Tom Baker's famous enormous scarf: purple, camel, bronze, mustard, rust, gray, greenish brown (according to BBC records).

Three great enemies of The Doctor: The Daleks, The Cybermen, The Master.

Number of hearts The Doctor has: two.

The Doctor's alleged age: 953 years.

Number of lives The Doctor has: 13.

Great Doctor quotes:

"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."

"Maybe I'm getting too young for this sort of thing."

"Advance and attack! Attack and destroy! Destroy and rejoice!" the evil robot Daleks.

"I'm a very dangerous fellow when I don't know what I'm doing."

"First things first, but not necessarily in that order."

Famous Who bloopers: With BBC budgeting, the "Doctor Who" sets were so cheesy that they made those of the original tinny "Star Trek" look like the sets of "Ben Hur." Cardboard control panels and Styrofoam snow abound.

There was also little money for retakes of goofs. The result is decades of fodder for blooper-watchers. Among the best:

In "An Unearthly Child," a cameraman is seen shooting between a gap in the walls of the TARDIS.

In "The Daleks," William Hartnell refers to anti-radiation drugs as "anti-radiation gloves."

In "The Edge of Destruction," you can see the studio floor in the "white void" outside the TARDIS floor.

In "The Aztecs," there is a visible jump as a cameraman crashes into the sacrificial altar.

In "City of Death," Tom Baker throws his scarf over his shoulder and accidentally hits his companion Lalla Ward in the face.

TARDIS, The Doctor's time machine, is an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.

Doctor Who movies: Peter Cushing played The Doctor in two movies that some fans do not consider legitimate parts of the Who canon: " Doctor Who and the Daleks" and "Daleks Invasion Earth, 2150 AD."

Doctor Who Fan Club party: The Time Lords will host a "Who TV Movie" party that is open to the public. It will be held Tuesday at Shakey's restaurant, 9638 W. National, West Allis, starting at 6:30 p.m. For more information call 241-0184.

A Doctor Who fan poll revealed the five most popular episodes out of the more than 600 shot: "The War Games" with Patrick Troughton, "Genesis of the Daleks" with Tom Baker, "Pyramids of Mars" with Baker, "The Deadly Assassin" with Baker, and "The Talons of Wen-Chiang" with Baker.

Celebrities who appeared on "Doctor Who": John Cleese, Stubby Kaye, Jean Marsh, Honor Blackman.

"Doctor Who" spinoff: "K-9 and Company" was a one-hour story featuring K-9, the robot dog, a former companion of The Doctor. The pilot did not sell, but it airs occasionally as a "Doctor Who" special.

Two neat "Doctor Who" Web sites on the Internet:

Who info: http://aimservices.com/drwho/drwho.txt

Who links: http://orca.ucd.ie/Doctor(underline)Who

Places to buy "Doctor Who" merchandise:

The Turning Page, 2452 N. Murray Ave., Milwaukee. 332-9460. A store featuring Who models, books, paperbacks, videos and magazines.

Who Enterprises, a monthly flier featuring merchandise, books, magazines and audios from "Doctor Who" and other sci fi shows. Write P.O. Box 399 Station R, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4G 4C3. Flier is $8 a year.

Caption: Photos color 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Caption: Among Doctor Who 's "regenerated" forms are those played by Tom Baker (large photo) and (from top) William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison and Paul McGann. (Photos from " Doctor Who : A Celebration," by Peter Haining, W.H. Allen publisher, 1983).

Section: Cue & Jump

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.: Loohauis, Jackie (1996-05-13). You Know Who. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel p. sec. E, p. 1.
  • MLA 7th ed.: Loohauis, Jackie. "You Know Who." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [add city] 1996-05-13, sec. E, p. 1. Print.
  • Chicago 15th ed.: Loohauis, Jackie. "You Know Who." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, edition, sec., 1996-05-13
  • Turabian: Loohauis, Jackie. "You Know Who." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1996-05-13, section, sec. E, p. 1 edition.
  • Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=You Know Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/You_Know_Who | work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | pages=sec. E, p. 1 | date=1996-05-13 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=21 November 2024 }}</ref>
  • Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=You Know Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/You_Know_Who | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=21 November 2024}}</ref>


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