It was 45 years ago today that the Doctor on TV was played
Posted By Kathleen David on November 23, 2008
Yes, 45 years ago one of my all time favorite shows was first aired on the Beeb. When conceived, it was suppose to be a show to teach children history but we can thank Terry Nation and the Daleks for taking us to the show we know and love now.
My first Doctor really was Tom Baker which was true for a lot of Americans. I was in my mid-teens and there was an article about Doctor Who in Starlog, which I use to read religiously. There was a side-bar about some books that were being published in the US. I found them at a drug store and bought them. I read them and so wanted to see the show. My first encounter with the show was an audio tape that was sent to us from an English family we had met the same summer I found out about Doctor Who. It was the episode “Geneses of the Daleks.” I almost wore out the tape listening to it. Later that year I went to a convention where someone (Bill Ritch) was showing Doctor Who in his hotel room. The first episode I saw was “Sunmakers” and I was hooked.
Doctor Who has been one of my touch-stones over the years. I have made many friends because of it. It has gotten me through some rough times in my life. My first published story was in a Doctor Who anthology. I have made Doctor Who puppets and given a number of them to the actors who played the Doctor over the years. My daughter loves the series. My husband is a big fan too (he ever wrote the TARDIS at Pooh Corner which was a Winnie the Pooh/Doctor Who crossover) Doctor Who has been very good to me.
Ariel’s Doctor is David Tennant. She was watching the series with us with a jaded teen eye until David became the Doctor and then she became a fan. She has watched various other actors play the role. She has giggled over the bubble wrap monsters and wobbly sets. She has become a fan.
So today we are going to watch some old school Who and new Who.
(Health update for those who are interested: It’s bronchitis that was crossing the boarder to being pneumonia. I am on all kinds of fun things to help me sort this out. I am using a Neti pot for the first time and finding that it works very well for clearing out the sinuses. I have only strangled myself once. I find that the temperature of the water is very important to my nose.)
I am so grateful that the BBC produced something as wacky as Doctor Who.
How is Ariel dealing with the news of David’s impending departure. I must admit that despite the fact that I will miss him, I’m kind of excited. I was halfway through Eccleston’s series when I learned that he’d soon be gone and that episodes had already aired in England starring that guy who played Barty Crouch Jr. I really liked Eccleston and was disappointed to find out we didn’t get to keep him, but the writing on the show was so strong that I welcomed Tennant with open arms.
This will be the first time since becoming a Who fan as a child in the seventies that I’ll actually be riding the change, and while I’m sure I will watch the Tenth Doctor regenerate with a tear in my eye, I also greatly look forward to seeing what the new regime will do with Steven Moffat at the helm.
Many experienced condolences on the bronchitis!
Have to admit, when I first learned of the Doctor, I despised the show because I really didn’t like the person who introduced me to it. Then, later, I gave it a less-hostile viewing and really liked it. Tom Baker all the way.
It was my uncle who introduced me to Who, but I can’t tell you which story was my first, because we used to watch it all the time when I was growing up. So I was probably watching on Iowa Public Television as a newborn. 🙂
The BBC has been working on putting the archives on the history of Doctor Who online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/doctorwho/
A college chum introduced me to Dr. Who/Tom Baker my freshman year, and I was hooked. He’s still my favorite, Colin Baker probably my least favorite, but I do love Tennant. I think he’s perfect, and the writing of his shows is superb. Sadly, I still cannot get my kids to watch it without death rolls and whining.
Colin Baker is a lot better on the audic cds. I think his major problem during his short reign as the Doctor was mostly due to poor scripts.
Say has anybody seen THE INFINITE QUEST. This is Tennant’s Doctor and Martha in an animated version with the voice of the villain being played by Anthony Head. A lot of fun, though the story is not as sharp as the actual series episodes.
My first “real” Doctor was probably either Peter Davison or Sylvester McCoy, depending on when you start my real entry into Whovian-ness.
I have a student at school who’s a total Tennant-Who fiend, and she has already wept a great deal about his departure. She’s a year or so younger than Ariel.
And as for Colin Baker … while I never liked him much during his run, I agree that the scripts had a lot to do with it. That, and two of the single most annoying companions in Who history.
Oh — and my sympathies on the health update. I had that sort of bronchitis/borderline pneumonia a few years ago, and it was decidedly Not Fun. I did get completely over it not too long after they’d diagnosed it properly, though, so I hope the same works for you!
TWL
I’m really not sure that I ever really had a definitive first Doctor. It never played on PBS where I was growing up so it wasn’t until the late 80s when I could get the VHS tapes that I really started watching in a major way. I think that’s why I always flip flop between Pertwee, Tom Baker and McCoy as my favorite.
I have to agree with J.Alexander on Colin Baker’s success as an audio Doctor. I never cared for him much on TV, but some of his Big Finish stories are fantastic and he does very well in them. Kathy, didn’t I read in your bio once that you did some writing for Big Finish? If I’m remembering that correctly; which stories did you contribute to or was it in one of the books that Big Finish put out?
The Infinite Quest just got released on DVD in America if anyone is interested. Haven’t seen it yet, but it’ll likely end up on my list of Who must haves just so that I can have a complete collection of Tennant’s Who.
Hope you get better soon, Kathy.
“Ah, yes, the Doctor. Wonderful chap. All of them.”- The Brigadier.
My first exposure to Doctor Who came either through an issue of Starlog which had an article about Peter Davison taking the role, or when my friend Jay and I stumbled upon episode 4 of “Pyramid of Mars” on a local UHF station (with fair to middling picture quality), and watched as the Doctor solved the riddle and freed Sarah Jane.
I think we just paused there for a few moments; I don’t recall watching the rest of the episode. I do recall that we puzzled over the riddle a bit, though in retrospect, the solution is relatively easy.
The brief exposure to “Pyramids of Mars” (the only bit of Doctor Who I saw until college) took place in the early 1980s. Likewise, the magazine was published during that period, but I don’t recall if I bought it new or in a back issue bin. I had no idea what Doctor Who was about, when we saw those scenes, if I even if I knew that’s what the show was called (Jay may have known the show’s name. Or maybe we looked it up in the TV Book).
The article about Peter Davison included photos of the previous four Doctors, but to the best of my recollection, I didn’t understand that those actors were all literally playing the same person.
Flash forward to Freshman year in college. Doctor Who was airing on the local PBS station Saturdays at 10 p.m., and I bought Peter Haining’s Doctor Who a Celebration. I believe the book purchase came first, but I no longer remember the chronology. I caught the tail end of Tom Baker’s run, followed by Peter Davison’s; and then they went back to Hartnell.
I read about regeneration in the book, and witnessed it not long after. By contrast, another friend’s first exposure to the show came via a block of Tom Baker episodes, and later a block of Pertwee stories, neither of which included any regeneration episodes. Eventually, my friend figured out that both actors were playing the same person, but didn’t witness an actual regeneration scene for some time.
I remember seeing Pertwee episodes when I was home from school. I believe this was during summer vacation, but don’t recall which summer. I’m reasonably certain I didn’t see any Pertwee episodes freshman year. Though I’m sure I did see them while at school in subsequent years.
Both the PBS stations at home and at school broadcast a story in one block, rather than broken into episodes. However, at some point when I was home from school, I discovered that a UHF station out of Canada was broadcasting each “chapter” individually. “The Visitation” was the first story I saw in that format.
By senior year, I’d seen all of the then-seven Doctors, though I only saw McCoy because a friend had taped his debut episode when he had been home in Connecticut. His adventures hadn’t yet shown up in Cincinnati. I didn’t see the rest of his adventures until after returning home following graduation.
On a related (and ironic) note, I bought a button at a convention some years before Sylvester McCoy took the part. It reads, “my favorite Doctor is the real McCoy.”
Oh, that friend from Connecticut? I once told him that Sylvester McCoy had decided to leave after one season, and was being replaced by William Russell, who’d played Ian Chesterton. He believed me, too.
Ain’t I a stinker?
Rick
P.S. He also lost a game of “The Generals” in less than five moves, by putting his flag in the front row. Oops.
I had the misfortune to watch ‘Image of the Fendahl’ when I was 3 years old. It terrified me so much I tried to burrow a hole underneath my Lounge room carpet. It wasn’t until I was 12 that I finally understood the appeal. Tom Baker’s Doctor was a reassuring and positive presence. A man of peace even in a time of war, and a positive role model for a young boy to grow up with. Right up there with Captain James T Kirk as my favourite male hero.