There was speculation this week that Peter Jackson might direct an episode of Dr Who, here in New Zealand. And you can help make it happen by lobbying the producers.
Apparently Jackson has been a fan for ages. Probably saw the same episodes I did, way back when; they were all shown in New Zealand. Indeed, some of the ‘lost episodes’ surfaced here – and a friend of mine recovered some of the censored clips.
To me this show is the sci-fi equivalent of Coronation Street. Apart from a hiatus in the 1990s, it’s been around as long, and it’s got the same status in its genre. For a long time it was typical BBC; great acting, great scripts, and miniscule production budgets which gave the ’60’s and ’70’s era show a kind of cardboard, painted yoghurt-pot charm.
Outside hard-core fans, I believe it’s only really broken into the US market in the last year or two. Same great acting, same great scripts with that wonderful blend of whimsy and tongue-in-cheek ‘science’. And now, top-notch effects.
Question. Does anybody in the US know Dr Who from its earlier years? And if you’re from the UK, did you watch it in the Troughton, Pertwee and Baker days, with those painted Daleks wobbling along under pedal power, in a universe where every alien world was Winspit Quarry and Cybermen had but to take London to conquer the world?
And has anybody seen the Viz parody? Dr Poo. Classic Who. Classic Viz, with all that this implies. Be warned. Here’s a link.
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2012
Matthew Wright 
I never watched it because it terrified me. Always a sissy.
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I had to hide behind the couch along with my sister (and, I suspect, a whole generation of British, Aussie and Kiwi kids…)
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Good, not just me, then.
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Remember it when I was a kid and hated it, terrifying. What intrigued me, was many years later when i was in my second year at university, our Econometric lecturer rescheduled our classes around episodes of Dr Who, such a big fan he was. He was weird and somewhat terrifying (but very intelligent) too. 🙂
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Weird, intelligent and somewhat terrifying…sounds like a Time Lord to me 🙂 I suppose econometricians do time-travel, in a way, because of lags in data…Stir in a dose of Bayesian regression to cure the statistical patchiness and you’ll probably create a TARDIS 🙂
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And add a coffee cup that he continued to sip an unidentified beverage from during a 2 hour lecture et Voila! 🙂
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I LOVE THE DOC! Sorry hope I didn’t make you go deaf. I grew up watching him and I think i must have watched every episode, I liked Tom Baker the best. I think because he was the one I saw most or remembered, I must have been busy crawling around the floor when my dad watched it.
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Tom Baker was the definitive Doctor for me.
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Ditto
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I watched it in NZ as a teenager. Never hid behind the couch though, but we didn’t have TV until I was about 14 – a bit past the couch hiding age, I guess.
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I think I was about 8, we had a black-and-white TV, so I guess it was more the active imagination problem than anything actually realistic on screen! Later watched it as a teenager, in colour (Tom Baker era), by which time a certain sense of cynicism towards the special effects had emerged, and those yetis really did look like an actor in a badly fitting sheepskin suit.
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