Random Doctor Who Picture

[purplecat]

One of the advantages, as a child, of a birthday in late November was that one tended to get hot-of-the-presses anniversary stuff for Doctor Who as gifts. I recall the excitement of receiving this book. It wasn't the first book about the history of Doctor Who, but it certainly one of the earlier examples of a genre of books that there are now a lot of. Its high production values, with a hard cover, plenty of photos (some of which were in colour!) made it really special.

Of course, today, it seems fairly simplistic, but its probably hard to over-estimate how influential it was to how a lot of people my age understand the history of the show.

Comments

[magister]

My birthday's September, so too early for this. It was a very eagerly awaited Christmas present.

[purplecat]

Mostly I think we're better off now there is more stuff we can get hold of about the show. But sometimes think the scarcity had benefits in terms of how much we appreciated what we did have.

[magister]

That's very true. I remember the excitement of the Five Faces repeats in 1981 - seeing episodes I never thought I'd be able to. If I want to watch Three Doctors now, I've a bluray of it on the shelf or if I can't be bothered to stand up, I can watch it on Britbox. I cant help but feel that something's been lost.

As a side note, Unearthly Child was 18 years old when repeated that November. So, about 8 months older than Rose or The End of the World. It feels like time has concertina'd - something that was once impossibly distant now feels like you could reach out and touch it

[purplecat]

So true about time concertinaing but I suspect that more just an inevitable fact of age than anything to do with the modern media landscape.

[magister]

I think it's a mixture of the two. The Eccleston series, like the rest of New Who, has never been out of reach in the same way Hartnell Who once was. VHS copies, repeats on BBC3, repeats on Gold, dvds, blurays, iplayer- since it was broadcast, it's always been available to rewatch.

But, as you say, 18 years to a 10 year old is unimaginable. The same period to someone a few weeks away from turning 51 merely provokes a vague thought that it should longer.

[purplecat]

I think the change in style/production values between Rose and Flux is less than between An Unearthly Child and Survival - that may be age again, but I think there was huge innovation in TV production throughout the 1960s and we go from something which is essentially a stage play to something that has post production effects (or at least CSO), outdoor shooting and reasonable capability to film out of sequence.

[magister]

Rather than Survival, surely it should be either Seeds of Doom (end of series 13) or Logopolis (17 years later)?

Anyway, definitely yes. The main changes from Rose to Flux are improved effects and the story being slightly more serialised. With the classic series, as well as changes in production, the character of the Doctor and the ethos of the show had changed. What was the story of two teachers trying to return home had become the adventures of a heroic alien and his friends.

[daniel-saunders.livejournal.com]

Just seen this (I just got back a few hours ago from New York. I am now married in the eyes of the New York City Clerk, but not in the eyes of God, as the Jewish religious ceremony will have to wait for the Home Office to approve my wife's visa). I didn't read this particular book, but when I was in primary school, I devoured two of Peter Haining's other Doctor Who books from the local library. The boom in Doctor Who non-fiction was only really beginning then (1992-93) and having these in the library (I could never have afforded to buy them) was a boon and gave me an insight into Doctor Who (and, by extension, television and fiction generally) as something that had a history and a creative process, something that I suspect I had never much contemplated until then. The pictures alone helped visualise things that I couldn't see in the Target novels. There were one or two other books around -- I think my primary school library had a copy of The Making of Doctor Who -- but the Haining books seemed important to me and I'm a bit sad that other fans don't seem to have the same nostalgia for them.

[purplecat]

Congratulations!!! and fingers crossed the rest follows comparatively smoothly.

I have a lot of nostalgia for these but also a lot of suspicion about the way the fixed the narrative (if you see what I mean). But I have a weird mourning for the days one could aspire to own all the Doctor Who stuff and each thing was unique and special.

[daniel-saunders.livejournal.com]

Thanks!