30 Years of a Fan: 2008

[Andrew Curnow]

Actually, now I come to think about it, in the very same year he spontaneously gave me the money to go up to the papershop round the corner from home to get the DWM Summery Special (for bruv) and the Blakes 7 Summer Special (for me) so maybe I'm doing him a bit of a disservice!! Sorry Dad!

[Andrew Curnow]

Oh, and to save Jonno a job... 1982 a t'Verve

(Sorry Jonno!)

[Pip Madeley]

Five Faces...

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Five Faces...

I think I can remember that newspaper article (I suspect that Si Hart has it in a scrap book somewhere)!!!

TARDIS - it's capital letters God Damn it!!!! it's an acronym therefore capital letters!!!!! - Also as they seem to have forgotten to include the word 'the' I can't help but imagine Peter Cushing when reading that last bit!!!

[SiHart]

I forgot to mention that I was one of 100 runners up in a Target Books competition in 1982 too! I won a copy of the Full Circle novelisation and a Target Books goody bag for coming up with a good reply in no less than 25 words about why I liked the Target Books so much.
I took the stuff to school on the Friday morning it arrived in the post and I had to stand up in assembly and be applauded by the whole school, which was great, even though I was still quite shy then.

We found the letter recently, when Mum and Dad cleared out their loft and I have now have it kept safely with my Target books.

Si xx

[Stephen Morgan]

The decision to place Doctor Who in a weekday slot never impressed me at all. When the first episode of Castrovalva was shown I felt it had no impact, it had lost its "Saturdayness". However, I did enjoy Castrovalva, but after all those years of Tom being The Doctor it took me quite a few stories before I began to like Davison's startlingly younger Doctor, and during one scene in Black Orchid, (he is creeping down a dark passageway) I clearlry remember thinking "he's not The Doctor, no way". I didn't like Black Orchid at all, it felt more like a Miss Marple than Doctor Who, and I kept expecting Joan Hickson to turn up.
It took the appearence of the Cybermen before I really began to like Davison's portrayal. I was on my own the evening episode one went out, and I was lying on the settee in the dark of the living room and really enjoying the episode and wondering who was behind the mysterious androids when the Cybermen appeared. I sat bolt upright and shouted "brilliant" while punching the air, and couldn't wait for the following episode, I was not disappointed, why! we even had some flashbacks, this was more like Doctor Who, then came Timeflight!!!!!!! What a comedown.

Here's the rundown of early evening shows during the first episode of Castrovalva.

5:10 Blue Peter, 5:40 The News, 6:00 local news depending on your area, 6:25 Nationwide 6:55 Doctor Who (7:45 here in Wales but I managed to watch the episode twice that evening) 7:20 The Rockford Files, 8:10 A Bright, Brand New Day ( a series about children in Northern Ireland) 9:00 The News, 9:25 Last of the Summer Wine 9:55 Police (A new fly on the wall series following Thames Valley constabulary) This series made the Radio Times cover, you'd have thought that with a new slot and a new Doctor they'd have made way for Davison on the cover.
Hardly great viewing there, where was Blankety Blank? or Paul Daniels with Odd One Out?
Tuesday's viewing was a little better with a new series of Grange Hill at 5:10 and peak viewing after Who was A Question of Sport followed by a new series of Terry and June, and Solo with Felicity Kendal (which was a repeat).
If the BBC really cared about Whos ratings at this time why move it to an early evening slot and place nothing decent around it to keep viewers glued to its main channel?

[WhiteCrowNZ]

The decision to place Doctor Who in a weekday slot never impressed me at all.

Me neither. I had scouts on Tuesday - which usually meant me being beaten up or worse (thank you Baden Powell).

So in the days when videos were a rarity, this meant I didn't get to see the ends for stories - and indeed wondered why Adric had left before Timeflight.

So despite being an avid fan since Genesis of the Daleks, there's a Peter Davison sized hole in my viewing. I'm still occasionally catching up on stories I've not watched fully (Black Orchid last year which was a bit of a dissapointment).

[Andrew Curnow]

I kept expecting Joan Hickson to turn up.

I don't think the BBC's famous Miss Marple series started until after season 19 - maybe not until 84/85? The Memory Cheats, to coin a phrase...

[SiHart]

Speaking of the memory cheating, the letter from Target Books was dated 26th Feb 1983... but I did enter the competition in 1982, when The Visitation book came out.

Si xx

[Stephen Morgan]

I don't think the BBC's famous Miss Marple series started until after season 19 - maybe not until 84/85? The Memory Cheats, to coin a phrase...

You are right Andrew, but nevertheless Black Orchid did remind of a Miss Marple period piece, and I didn't think it suited Dr. Who at that particular time. Hindsight however has changed my mind, and a few of the early Davison's have matured a bit like fine wine.

[Jonno]

Nearly forgot this! I wasn't a fan of the move away from Saturdays. Not least because, like those of you at cubs, I was a Scout on a Monday night! I was desperate not to go on the first Monday of the year for one very obvious reason - not just the first episode of a new series, but a new Doctor to boot and a whole new era!

I tried pretending to be unwell and not able to go, but my Mum was far too wise for that one - she rightly pointed out that I'd need to go to bed if I was unwell, and in those days there was only one telly in the house - in the living room natch - and no VCR. No IPlayer, digital channel repeats, nothing. You watched it live or you missed it - simple as.

My last resort was to skive off scouts and go to one of my friends to watch Who, but this failed when his family wouldn't watch it! I did go to Scouts and promptly "resigned" there and then. To be honest, I hadn't been enjoying it so much recently, and this was the nail in the coffin. Oddly, my parents didn't try and dissauade me though. So I managed to see every other episode that year. I do remember my parents telling me that I'd missed nothing, and that it was very dull (sorry, Andrew, but I can see their point really!). I'm pretty sure I didn't see part 1 until 1992 when the video came out.

I wasn't that keen on any of the first three stories - they were all on the dull side for me and remain so to this day - but things really perked up with The Visitation and I love the trilogy of stories that start with that. S19 is a real mixed bag for me!

Earthshock was the obvious highlight - I remember the DWM preview promising something rather special, and I remember thinking the mysterious beings in the caves were the Ice Warriors! It was a real OMG moment when I instantly recognised the Cybermen despite not having seen them for 7 years. And I do remember being upset at the death of Adric, even though I'd gone off the character that year. He was good in his last story.

Even the cliffhanger ending to the season was a bit of a surprise, thinking we'd seen the last of Tegan!

The Monsters repeat season was a real delight that summer, although I couldn't see the first part of Genesis as we all had to go out to some event that night - still no VCR and I pleaded to stay at home as I was so desperate to see this classic story which I remembered fondly from 7 years earlier, but it wasn't to be. At least I got to see the second half OK.

I was on holiday away from home while the Earthshock repeat was on - I saw the first part at my Grandad's house (the one who'd bought me the Stones of Blood Target in 1980), the night before we went to the seaside for a week and saw the second part in the living room/TV room of the boarding house we stayed at.

All in all, lots of great memories, but more trouble was ahead in the New Year when they moved the slot again...

[MacNimon]

Great thread, Si!

Sorry to be playing catch-up, but here we go...

Your starting point coincidentally is the exact point that I started to be a critic rather than just soaking everything up regardless of quality...S17 was the first time I ever thought "If they don't buck up their ideas a bit, we may not have many more years of DW ahead of us", or words to that effect. Of course, my views of that season have changed over time, and many of the earlier stories which had previously escaped criticism are poorer than many in S17. In hindsight, of course!

Other memories that year include the ITV strike (of course!) and the Quatermass serial being broadcast almost immediately after it ended, and we also got a repeat run of the first two Sapphire & Steel stories before the broadcast of two new ones. Also, fond memories of hunting down the first issue of Doctor Who Weekly in John Menzies in Ayr, which I purchased along with a copy of Star Wars Weekly and several other comics, both UK and US titles. That was the time I was at my most active as far as reading comics and magazines goes, I was reading all the Marvel UK stuff along with practically every Marvel and DC US titles which I could get my paws on…those were the days when you could easily get most US titles in your local newsagent. And magazines…we had Starburst, Starlog, Fangoria(?) - and I’m sure there were others - which served as great introductions to many a sci-fi and horror movie and series. This was the time of my awakening as a fan…great memories. Just as I was starting to question Dr Who, maybe starting to grow out of it, my attention was just being drawn to all the other fantastic sounding stuff which was out there demanding investigation…

I’ll come back later with some more thoughts regarding later years as soon as I’ve got time…I’m loving this thread though, and I have to say that comments like what I’ve been reading here are of the type I’d have loved to have seen in the “Into The Vortex” thread (as well as the story reviews/rankings). Of course, where that’s concerned, there weren’t many of us around with many memories of the early years of the series to contribute much. Planet Skaro? It's more like Skaro Kindergarten round these parts!

[SiHart]

I’d have loved to have seen in the “Into The Vortex” thread (as well as the story reviews/rankings)

You can- you started it on here and the results thread is at the top of the page!!

Si xx

[MacNimon]

You can- you started it on here and the results thread is at the top of the page!!

Si xx

Sorry Si...maybe I wasn't clear...what I meant is whereas in the Vortex thread we talked mostly about the actual stories themselves, here we're talking more about the experience of watching them, our reactions and all the other things which go along with it. In other words, I think this is the perfect companion thread to "vortex"

[SiHart]

1983

One afternoon in November 1983 my Mum came home with astonishing news. She advanced me 3 weeks pocket money so that I could buy one of the best pieces of Doctor Who merchandise ever produced- The Radio Times Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special.

From its interior pages with the shots of the title sequences through to the strange poem at the back, this was a very special magazine. It was a glimpse into the world of Doctor Who I’d not had in quite the same way before. It was glossy and wonderful and colourful. I can’t say how important this was bat the time. We’d had Doctor Who Monthly printing pictures from the show’s history for years before, but always in black and white. This magazine was full of colour photos with wonderfully evocative captions- “That’s the Hand of Fear and it’s 150 million years old”; “Romana II… she and the Doctor were an ideal team”; “Sara Kingdom…came to kill, stayed to become a friend.” Marvellous stuff, and to a young fan like me, something that was there to be lapped up. I can remember lying in bed, reading the story guide at the back of the magazine until Mum came in and told me to go to sleep.

In many ways, 1983 saw me expanding my knowledge of the show. Two of best presents I received that Christmas were Doctor Who- A Celebration (in rather better condition than my Radio Times special) and Doctor Who- The Making of a Television Series. I was becoming just as informed about how the show was made and who made it as I was about the stories and I’m sure at the time I wasn’t the only one. Just knowing the names of the actors who’d played the Doctor was no longer enough for me. There was so much else to know about.

I lapped up Matrix Data Bank in the monthly. So many questions! And more importantly so many answers to be had. The answers given might be apocryphal or at least wildly inaccurate now, but how was I to know that?

Back on TV, the Doctor was busy. Omega reappeared, and contrary to all the complaints from fans about no-one knowing who he was, I can remember my friends at school remembering him from the repeat of The Three Doctors in 1981. Snakedance gave me nightmares. All the possession stuff with Tegan I found really creepy- even more so than Kinda the previous year. It was her more masculine voice that scared me- it was just wrong.
Mawdryn Undead was applauded on my table at school for giving us a glimpse of the Daleks, or Dio-leks as Mark Lucas insisted they were called. Little did we know that we were deprived of their return later in the season, sadly. Neither Terminus nor Enlightenment made a huge impression at the time I’m afraid, but the return of the Master in that great cliffhanger to The Kings Demons part 1 was much loved by me. Mum liked the song Kamelion/ King John sings and we were disappointed that it didn’t turn up on Doctor Who The Music, which I bought with my birthday money that summer.

I was very disappointed that I didn’t get to go to Longleat that Easter. My dad was out of work at the time and so money was tight. I was incredibly jealous of my cousins who did get to go, especially as two of them weren’t even fans. Still, my cousin Dean gave me his programme and ticket, which kind of made up for it a bit. It would have been amazing to be there that weekend, but I think I’d have been unbearable! One of the few tantrums I ever threw when I was a kid was on a visit to The Doctor Who Experience at Madame Tussauds in 1981, when I really didn’t want to leave the Doctor Who bit and see the other boring waxworks. I doubt I’d have wanted to leave the Doctor Who stuff to see the animals or the maze if I’d gone that weekend.

I turned 8 in the summer and they always say that Doctor Who is best when you’re 8. The first new episode shown after my birthday was The Five Doctors. I’ve written so much about how I love it that I won’t go into that again. It did mark a milestone though, it was the first story I was allowed to keep on video. Dad broke the tab on the tape after we’d recorded it and Mum wrote the label Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special- The Five Doctors. I watched it over and over again until I knew backwards. I still do, probably.
My little brother liked Patrick Troughton best and his funny running. Me? I was delighted and excited to see a small glimpse of Tom back in the Shada clips but the Doctor I liked best was dressed in a velvet smoking jacket, drove a bright yellow car and lassoed the Dark Tower! I keep quiet about that these days!

I could go on for ages about 1983, but great chunks of my past are detaching like melting icebergs and I should get back to the present!

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

Oddly, my first, 'kneejerk' thought of 1983 is a vivid memory of watching the season opener (ie, Arc part 1) just me & bruv - as opposed to the whole family. Objectively I know we must have watched at least some of season 19 like that, but inbetween season 19 & 20 we moved house and I started Secondary School so maybe that's why I always think of it as a 1983 'thing'. Certainly from then on Who became far more a show that 'the boys' watched, rather than the whole family - so although I obviously have a huge nostalgic fondness for those 'twice a week' Davison days, in hindsight I think it was a big mistake by the Beeb.

[Jonno]

Wow, I had no idea you were so fond of Pertwee, Si!

1983 marked a massive change in my viewing of Who, going from one extreme to the other! Let me explain...

I used to go to evening swimming lessons at this time - they were on a Wednesday. The problem is that they moved Who to either Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I can't remember which. I was annoyed but oddly, compared to my immediate dismissal of being a Scout one year earlier, I just shrugged my shoulders and carried on swimming, meaning I'd miss the even-numbered episodes, including the conclusion of stories. Still with no VCR, I just relied on my schoolfriends to fill in the gaps on a Thursday morning.

Looking back, I think I was a bit indifferent to the Davison era at the time and it didn't seem to be must-see TV anymore. So I had to wait around ten years to fully see the first four stories of the year. I seem to recall that I did see the last part of Mawdryn for some reason. I missed Terminus part 2, but that marked the last episode I missed and I stopped the lessons. I can't honestly remember why, either I'd gone as far as I could with it or I gave in to the lure of Who, albeit it took a while. Probably a bit of each, and it was nice to see the whole of the rest of the season. It would mark the last time I'd ever fully miss an episode and not be able to see it soon after.

The next big event was us finally getting a VCR (Betamax!) sometime that spring. It was either late April or early May because one of the first things I taped was the 1000th edition of TOTP (how I wish I still had that now, it was a good'un!) and it was after S20 had finished. The first Who I taped were the summer repeats from S19 but they soon got taped over. With a blank tape costing around a tenner, I wasn't yet in a position to think of keeping stuff for posterity.

Having said that, The Five Doctors was such an event that I did record it while watching it and kept it. I invited my best friend over a couple of nights later who was a fan too - he didn't have a VCR at the time and we thought it was fab to sit and watch a story at our convenience - such a novelty!

I did buy (and still have) the Five Doctors cover of Radio Times that November, but oddly never bought the 20th anniversary special - I'm sure I knew it was out but never really considered buying it - needless to say, I wish I had for many years afterwards but I think it's now a PDF on one of the recent DVDs?

I never bought the Celebration book either but did borrow it a couple of times from the library. I did buy the Music album on LP (and still have it!) - when I asked the record shop owner to get it for me (we lived in a small rural town) he thought I meant Dr Hook!

So as you can see it was a very significant year for me, the main ramification of which (videos and never missing episodes again) is still with me 26 years on...

[Andrew Curnow]

The Five Doctors was a big thing, and I seem to remember it as DWM announcing more and more cast over the months - I may be wrong, but I think the first report was of Patrick Troughton being in a special anniversary story with Davison, then a couple of months later Pertwee being confirmed, and then the unexpected announcement of a recasting of the first Doctor, in the shape of Richard Hurndall. I vividly recall being fascinated by that idea.

[Stephen Morgan]

The Five Doctors was the very first story I ever had on video tape. I asked an old school friend if he would tape it for me as long as I got the tape. Tapes in those days were expensive, the tape I got was a three hour TDK one at a cost of £5.50.
The tape lasted me quite a while, although it was a few weeks before I got to watch the story again as we didn't get a video recorder until just before Christmas 1983. When we did I watched and rewatched the episode whenever I got the chance.
The Five Doctors was transmitted on Children In Need Night as you all know, even today when I watch it on DVD the scene with the cybermen crossing the minefield trap makes me anticipate the telephone numbers coming across the screen.
The Twentieth Anniversary special was a great magazine wasn't it! It made me hungry for more of the past, and reminded me of the Tenth Anniversary special from ten years before.
The rundown of stories for the forthcoming series was a little more comprehensive than the Tenth Anniversary special had been for the forthcoming 1974 series, this one gave a little more away and left me wondering, with tapes being so expensive, just which stories I would record. Fortunately I was given some tapes for my birthday and Christmas so there was no problem, I ended up recording the whole series, and every subsequent episode after that series.
I also had Peter Haining's Celebration book, I remember being so engrossed in it that I was ignoring everything else, the only thing that broke through to me when I picked it up one evening was Slade's new single My Oh My! And the only thing I put the book down to listen to. That book and that single take me right back there every time. The book took me weeks to get through, and even today I still dip in to it from time to time.

Radio Times naturally made a big thing of the twentieth anniversary, unfortunately there was a strike the week it was issued and copies of that one are a bit scarcer than usual. I had to resort to E-Bay to find a copy a few years ago, it cost me £20.

[Jon Masters]

The Five Doctors was the very first story I ever had on video tape. I asked an old school friend if he would tape it for me as long as I got the tape.

Blimey, that's spooky - I did exactly the same ! I remember going into the shop to buy the blank tape (a silver BASF). I also got him to record The Awakening and Resurrection, but it would be a whole 9 months to wait before we finally got our own video and I could watch them.

[Rob McCow]

I have another Who related memory from 1983 - it's the last one until 1987!

The Five Doctors was on at Paul Giles's birthday party. It was a very good party (I was four, so at that age you can be a bit of a party connoisseur). However, on the screen was an odd-looking program that I didn't recognise. It seemed to consist of a bunch of old men running around in a garden, being chased by triangles.

Then a Dalek appeared! I was very scared at the sight of the robot-creature. However, that fear ramped up to absolute terror when the Dalek exploded for no apparent reason and a green, sicky monster with tentacles and slime was revealed. Absolutely the scariest thing EVER!

[Stephen Morgan]

This thread has sparked off a lot of memories for all of us hasn't it! I'm glad I reminded Jon of his first video tape/recording. It seems we've all done similar things over the years.

[Andrew Curnow]

In our ITV region at least, the second part of the A-Team cowboy 2-parter (the one where Murdoch thinks he's "that mysterious rider of the plains, the Range Rider") was scheduled against The Five Doctors. We didn't have a video then (not until just before part 13 of TOATL in 1986) but we did have a TV in both the sitting-room and the kitchen, and two tape recorders... so we audio-recorded The Five Doctors (which we watched as well) and also The A-Team. The Five Doctors was on one of those 120 tapes that they don't seem to do now, and I vividly remember flicking it over onto side two quickly during the Cybermassacre scene. Marvellous!!

[SiHart]

We didn't have the CIN ticker tape in our region. We were lucky I think!

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I remember that we taped "The Five Doctors" and watched the other side, and I can clearly recall Dad flicking it over for a second to see if it had finished (I think it was the episodic repeat) and seeing a full-size Cyberman filling the screen, and squealing with delight! I think there is only one shot of a close-up Cyberman as well, and it's there for all to spot in the story today (during the "Promises to aliens" scene). Then again, memory could be cheating. I clearly recalling being excited BECAUSE the Cybermen were in it, yet this was the repeat. So I'd know, wouldn't I?

Si.