I've had a bit of a Dr. Who evening tonight. First I listened to the Lost Episodes radio programme and was amazed to learn that 108 TV episodes are still missing even after the BBC and fans have scoured the world! Incredibly all the episodes' audio were taped by fans at the time using reel-to-reel recorders and microphones. The pictures are lost and it would seem forever. Or?
At 6.40 pm tonight UK Television history was made by Dr.Who in this series' final episode 'the End of Time'. The 10th Doctor 'died' and regenerated into the 11th! BBC1 pulled out all the stops to make it an unforgettable episode and the end of David Tennant's tenure will stay with me for a long time. Great Sci Fi is always an strong alloy of grief and glory and this was no exception - he really didn't want to go. I have to honest and admit that I've been a fairweather Who fan, dipping in and out since I was old enough to watch it in the early 1960's. It's been a constant companion but there were many series I haven't seen at all over the last 40 odd years and the show's merchandise didn't feature much at all under my childhood Christmas trees and I'm unsure why really. The Doctors I remember most vividly are the John Pertwee and Tom Baker incarnations. Two stand-out storylines were the Curse of Peladon and the Sea Devils. In fact I watched the Peladon episodes just the other week as I have them on VHS. The Boar-God monster Peladon has haunted my dreams since the day I clapped eyes on him stalking the passages of his vast mountain stronghold in the early 1970's. I have a faint memory of the Paul McGann 1996 Christmas special but it was its revival in 2005 (was it really a 16 year gap?) that got me hooked again. Although I haven't seen every episode since by a long chalk, I've been an ardent fan and Dr. Who remains one of only two TV programmes since 1990 to keep me in and plan around. The other were the early series of the X-Files (Tooms, Gargoyles etc).
The Who re-birth began with a brilliant new writer/producer Russell T. Davies, a Ninth Doctor played by the charismatic northern actor Christoper Eccleston (I'm from the North of England so it struck a chord immediately) and in a stroke of genius petit national babe Billy Piper was cast as the new gorgeous assistant Billy. I loved Ecclestone's brash northern Who and Davies' storylines were inspired Sci Fi. If Ecclestone was brilliant, David Tennant's 10th Doctor from series 2 was genius. His relationship with Billy was fascinating and emotional and the inevitable final parting for them, with the Doctor and Billy seperated forever, was profoundly moving. Other masterstrokes have included casting megastar Kylie Minogue and national treasure Bernard Cribbins. The show's nadir were the John Barrowman and Catherine Tate episodes but these were minor blips in an otherwise highpoint for modern British TV over the past 5 years. I'm already excited about Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor and can't wait for it to start this Spring. It's what we pay the UK TV Licence for!
I agree with you re. the whole nostalgia thing, and I too think both Ecclestone and Tennant did a good job (with the new budgets they aught too!), but I have serious missgivings with the way the BBC have gone about it all, with our money.
ReplyDeleteThey refused to listen to all the fans who kept calling for Dr. Who to return, and then when they did decide to bring him back, shat on the one company who had helped keep him in the public eye for all those years. Not only that but the new DW is produced by BBC Wales, the off-shoot (Torchwood) is set/based in Wales and the company they shat on was er...Welsh.
That company being Dapol. Now Character Options (the new licence holder)is suposedly British, but has a logo similar enough to Bandai to raise an eyebrow, talks in it's very limited 'About Us' of originally being an importer of 3rd party products and now pays it's licence fee to the private, profit makeing, shareholder paying 'BBC World'.
Dapol's licence was taken back before the news of the new DW broke, but too close to the relaunch to be mistaken for coincidence. Dapol would have produced in the UK, Ch.Op. have their stuff made in China. If Dapol had benifited from the major hype now generated by the BBC for the new DW, a lot of jobs would have been created in Wales, where jobs are scarce, instead of abroad?
It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, and with the BBC providing endless free publicity for Auctioning4U as it was going bust, and now - James May's 4 hour free commercial for the Hornby group (Airfix, Scalextric, Hornby and Meccano) you have to ask how the BBC gets away with it and what it needs a TV Licence fee for when it's become so commercial.
Not to mention the fact that May's toy fair (Flagged by the BBC) featured the Toy Collector, Christian Braun's resurected Auctioning4U avatar! Lose £4M of other peoples money yet carry on trading? Nice trick...easy trick with a national broadcaster and long-haired motoring jornalist on your side!
Some interesting comments, Jeff, but also some inaccuracies.
ReplyDeleteBBC Worldwide is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC so no private shareholders (yet) while Meccano is French-owned and unconnected to Hornby.
As for Dr Who, politically correct rubbish for kids I say. ;-)
Sean
Good points about the BBC, Jeff.I think it's about time a full investigation was made into just how the licence fee is spent, and how much of it they really need.
ReplyDeleteAs for Dr. Who, I have to say I have pretty-much detested the Russell T Davis years. Maybe it's my age - after all, I grew up in a time when TV programmes were required to actually have stories. NuWho episodes are more a series of stances than a plot; plus there's all the box-ticking and RTD's personal agenda.
But clearly it has pleased a lot of people, so maybe it's just me :)
Now, with RTD and his baggage out of the way, I am hoping for better things. For those who don't know, Stephen Moffat wrote the amazing "Press Gang", so there is now real potential for good things to come!
I know where Jeff is comming from...
ReplyDeleteCommercial Websites, 'Dave' with TV ad's, adsense, 'BBC' stations around the world...3 launched in Hong Kong resently...
If all this marketing, ad-links and commercial TV is generating money which the BBC wouldn't have had before BBCWorldwide, why does the licence fee keep going up, why can't we get Channel 5 in West Berkshire, why is digital no better at preventing interferance of C4 and C5 during high wind OR cold weather (if it's cold and windy we're two channels down here! and no rebate!!), still this is for Sci-fi...not TV!
As to Dr.Who, THE Doctor, that's who! I hate the fact that every episode is based firmly on earth, they have tied themselves in knots with the story-lines, especially if you include Torchwood in the euvre (spell please!) and mucked about with thinks that prior to 1997 were written in stone?
Occasional watcher, but not a fan.
Oh, and the buy a whole - out of scale - vehicle to get one figure...sucks!
Either the BBC (with its licencees) is a 'peoples' company, designed to improve our lives through the disemination of Information, Education & Entertainment OR it's an off-shoot of the whole global Bisto/Hasbro/Pepsico capitalist marketing universe, but; It can't be both!
And a Happy New Year to you too! Revolution!!!