| Memoirs of a felllow Whovian: Hello, and well met! Thank you for taking an interest in what I consider to be the best sci-fi programme in the world. My purpose here is to deliver an account on the influence that Doctor Who has had on my life, and others around me, up to the present, 2001. There are many, many Doctor Who sites out there that offer a different approach. Many of them chronicle the adventures by show, season, and era. I hope however, to offer a fresh insight to a wonderful show, that helped make me the person I am years later. My inner most thoughts on the subject are now for your eyes to see. Please read on. I am going to post this page as is, that is, as you see it. It may be many, many pages in length or just a few scribbly words mixed with some images. Just like the Doctor, This journey goes on and on.... One of the most influential television series ever made, Doctor Who is considered by many the best of sci-fi. Originally airing November 23, 1963, the Journey's that the Doctor has taken has mystified and enthralled millions of viewers in its 26 years on tv. Originally it was meant to be aired November 22, 1963, but history had a sad, dark play on that. That was the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The BBC had planned on airing it, and was all set until the terrible news came out of Dallas. I imagine as the world was in shock for many days, and weeks following the incident, that the next day production at the BBC was running a little staggered and tired from the previous day. Its a wonder that Doctor Who made it to air at all. But thankfully it did. The first episode, originally titled,'The Tribe of Gum', changed before airing to the more popular 'An Unearthly Child', made its debut, at 6:30 pm that cold November evening. Created by Canadian born Sydney Newman, famous for another record breaking show, Hockey Night In Canada. The show wasn't quite an over night success. The BBC actually had plans for scrapping the show, after its few episodes aired. But once again, as fate would have it, something would soon happen to change all of that. The second show in the series, The Daleks, would change televison history forever. Created by Terry Nation, The Daleks would soon become a household name. Driving the show itself to immediate success. Parents the nation over would either be complaining about hearing: "EXTERMINATE!!" from thier children, or else they would be saying it themselves. Some people referred to the Daleks as Salt and Pepper shakers. Whatever they were, one thing was clear: They were a hit, and so too was the Doctor. Suddenly, a show that sat on deaths door a day before, had become the most talked about show in England. The show originally meant for younger audiences, had suddenly reached a much older audience. Some of whom are still fans. One thing that stands out and makes Doctor Who different from other series, is the lack of a big budget. While most popular american sci-fi for the most part had thousands of dollar spent per episode, the Doctor made his weekly travels on only a few hundred pounds per episode! This aspect of the show although well known, was not one of its selling points. But still fans flocked to watch it, almost entranced by the Doctor and his latest exploits... I first started to watch Doctor Who in 1979. Ironically that was the year that it first came on television in my viewing area, WXXI, PBS Rochester NY. I was a Canadian lad dreaming of flying through space, and visitng other planets. Doctor Who was just the ticket. The Doctor travelled in a cool blue box. I actually tried to build myself a Tardis out of an old refrigerator box, painted blue with all the windows and doors cut out. I felt like the luckiest kids on the block, having my own personal Tardis. Later I would even build my own K9. I took a remote control car, and built an elaborate cardboard box that sat on top of the car. Thinking back, it looked amazing! It worked pretty good too. It had an antennae out of an old radio, or was it a fairly new radio that went mysteriously missing? hehehe. I would drive my little K9 all over the place. All my friends wanted to have a turn driving it. So at the very least, I might have had an influence on other kids to watch or get into Doctor Who. I remember quite fondly, answering my buddies questions about the Doctor. I think some of them tuned in. Little did anyone know how big of a fan I had become. Or did they? They knew. I made sure of it. Later on, I can remember rushing home every saturday night so that I could watch. Most of my friends thought I was crazy. More than once I left a party because I just couldn't miss an episode. This would go on all though my teens, right up until the summer of 1987, the year my parents bought a VCR. That changed everything! Now I could tape the episodes and watch them at a later time. Allowing me to socialize like other "normal" teens! The VCR however, was eventually responsible for the show to be discontinued on WXXI. The problem was that as more and more people had VCR's, the need to support the PBS for Doctor Who was diminishing. Less and less people were financially supporting their favourite sci-fi show. In 1992, WXXI pulled the plug on the weekly reruns. Most people had all the aired episodes on tape...a sad ending to Doctor Who on public television. This was three years after the plug was pulled by the BBC. It was bound to happen. Ok, so enough about me and what drove me to watch this great show. I suppose I should give some reference material for Doctor Who. Over the next few pages and on the various links supplied, I will attempt to provide some of this information. Of course when I first thought about doing this, the idea seemed relatively easy, until I actually started it. Thanks to my good friend and Webmaster over at http://www.drwho-online.com , who was gracious enough to allow me to use some of his material, I was able to put together some of these mountainous tasks. Hats off to the hard work done by Dave the Webmaster over there, and I urge you all to visit his amazing site... Oh ya, and tell em' Greatsky sent ya...that wouldn't hurt. :) Humbly yours, Greatsky Next.> |
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