acsgjjp@sunybcs.UUCP (An L space Time Lord) (08/01/84)
[They say the evil one eats babies...]
Well, I saw for the second time last night, my first Dr. Who episode,
"Horror of Fang Rock", episode 2. The first time I saw it, I hated it.
I didn't know what the h--l was going on. And where were the special
effects? It's supposed to be a science fiction show, right?
These were my opinions back in 1981, or 1982. After a while, and at the
urging of one of my friends, I decided it to give it another chance.
The second episode I saw was episode 3 of "The Face of Evil". And that
was the show that turned things around for me.
I didn't consider myself to be a true Whovian until early May of this
year, when I had met another fan of the show. Now I am seeing all I can
of the good Doctor.
If there's anyone whom I should thank for bringing me into the fold,
it's my friend, the hobbit[@sunybcs]. He wasn't too crazy about Horror of
Fang Rock either; it was written for Sarah and not Leela. (Leela screams?
Leela does not scream!) And now, with two DW cons under my belt, I am
glad I'm a fan.
It is also my feeling that the Doctor is an excellent role model for
children of all ages, from 4 to (pause) 743. He's not a bully (like Mr.
T.), he doesn't crash cars, and he doesn't go around stealing other men's
wives. The only weapons he ever uses are those of wit and logic.
But I doubt that Doctor Who would have survived this long (21+ years
and counting) if it had started on a privately-run network (recall that
the Beeb, a.k.a. the BBC, is government-operated). Remember the show
"Voyagers!" a few years back on NBC? It was always dead-last in the ratings,
so the network junked it. (What do you expect when you go against 60
Minutes?) Also, when Luke Spencer (of General Hospital) was trying to
get the Ice Princess from Mikos Cassadyne, the show (GH) had its highest
ratings ever. (How about "Doctor Who and the Ice Princess"? Let's ask
Gloria Monty....)
That's all I have to say for now; I must leave so I can catch part 3 of
Horror of Fang Rock.
--
From the Big Briar-modified terminal of
nfqstuwxy; Jim Poltrone
(a/k/a "Poltr1: The Last of the Raster Blasters")
UUCP: {cmc12,hao,harpo}!seismo!rochester!rocksanne!rocksvax!sunybcs!acsgjjp
{allegra,decvax,ihnp4}!watmath!sunybcs!acsgjjp
ARPA, CSnet: acsgjjp.buffalo@rand-relaymsc@qubix.UUCP (Mark Callow) (08/05/84)
> = Jim Poltrone > ...if it had started on a privately-run network (recall that > the Beeb, a.k.a. the BBC, is government-operated). The Beeb is NOT government operated. It is fiercely proud of its independence. The government does collect (through the Post Office) the money to run it (licence fees from all TV set owners) but it is turned over to the board of governors who have total control over how it is spent. They appoint a controller to actually run the operation. The controller is always a former producer or director or some such. Several former and present Prime Ministers (both Labour and Tory) have complained bitterly about what they saw as bias against them and their parties by the BBC. Most notable of these was Harold Wilson. The BBC almost cancelled Dr. Who back in 1964/65 when the number of viewers fell to around 3 million. Even the Beeb pays some attention to ratings. Luckily the Cybermen were invented and they saved the show. I just visited Timecon-84 here in San Jose specifically to see a presentation of "The Hartnell Years" by John Nathan-Turner. It brought back many special memories and confirmed my belief that Hartnell was the greatest Doctor. Incidentally many in the audience had problems pronouncing the actors names. It's HARTnell not hartNELL and it's Trowton not Troffton (Patrick Troughton). -- From the TARDIS of Mark Callow msc@qubix.UUCP, qubix!msc@decwrl.ARPA ...{decvax,ucbvax}!decwrl!qubix!msc, ...{amd,ihnp4,ittvax}!qubix!msc "Nothing shocks me. I'm an Engineer."