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What are your memories of the first time you saw the stories making up season 18? A couple of years ago I put finger to keyboard and wrote mine down (see here and here for season 18). What do you remember about the first time you saw them - be it on video, on UKG, on DVD or even on transmission?
What do you think of when you hear the name Meglos? Where were you when you saw Tom Baker regenerate into Peter Davison? How old were you when Doctor Who suddenly changed into this 80s show?
Since I've done my thoughts on seeing the series for the first time in my 30 years of a Fan thread, I'll do them as I saw them again, as there are a few intersting stories to tell...
The Leisure Hive
Somewhere towards the end of 1990 my Dad was in one of his better moods and he'd bought me a copy of The Bookseller, with the aim of getting hold of some of the books I wanted for my collection. Instead of that, the one ad that hit me was one advertising rare Doctor Who stories on video for a price.
I sent off for a list and a week or so later received it, witht he promise that I could have just about any story I wanted for the flat fee of £10 each.
I decided I could afford 2, so got Mum to write me a cheque. Now i just had to decide which two to go for. Shada was selected first, on the basis that it might be my only chance to ever see whatever was filmed of it.
The second choice was more difficult. I could have whichever story I liked. How do you choose? There were loads I'd dreamed of seeing, but without thinking about it, I found myself writing down The Leisure Hive. The letter was posted. I hoped it wasn't a scam.
A fortnight later, while I was on work experience, the tapes arrived. I watched The Leisure Hive first, and was delighted to see (through the fuzz) that my memories of it were really strong, and lots of images I remembered were absolutely spot on. I got a huge shiver down my spine at the end of part 1 and this was possibly my undying love for the story was cemented.
Seeing Shada in B&W with the slow teleprinted text wasn't nearly as exciting.
Si xx
The first time I got to watch season 18 was... well, when it went out in 1980 & 1981, so I don't have any specific anecdotes because almost all episodes were watched around Saturday teatime.
Except for... Meglos part 2, when we tuned into Buck Rogers instead, for the first and last time. Tracking it back, I never had the VHS, never had a pirated version, so the first time I saw Meglos part 2 would have been on a UK Gold rerun. According to the date written on the back of the tape I used to record parts 3 & 4 (I've long since lost the first two episodes - just call me Pamela Nash) it was 31st August 2002.
We very nearly missed Warrior's Gate part 2 as well - our Sunday School 'Christmas' party was always sometime in January, and usually on a Saturday afternoon meaning we'd miss Doctor Who! Power of the Kroll part 4 went that way, and whatever episode was on a year before that, and Horns of Nimon part... 3 I think. For some reason we managed to get home just in time for WG part 2 - my memory is that we got back home and into the sitting room just as the opening titles were finishing, but that may be my imagination trying to make my past more dramatic than it really was!!
I can wax a lot more nostalgic about getting to see the stories again for the first time on video though - Logopolis was first, bought from John Fitton and watched again & again (particularly part 4) by bruv & me in 92 (maybe 93?) in our little flat.
The Leisure Hive Zel bought me for a wedding present, in March 97. And similarly she got me the E-Space set at Christmas that year.
And Traken, with its bizarrely bad cover, I picked up at John Menzies in about 95/96 when I was on a lunchbreak from exams, mooching around Barnstaple. I picked up Hancock's Last Hour and a Quarter at the same time, and probably Truly, Madly, Deeply.
Meglos
My first ever video of Meglos was a dire old thing. I bought it from my second fan source of videos, a guy called Craig in Liverpool, in the miserable summer of 1992. The copy was wretched, absolutely wretched. The picture rolled, the colour flicked between colour and black and white, the audio was a hiss.
I, of course, loved it.
Si xx