WHO?Why, DOCTOR Who, of course...
A new series of the legendary TV series begins tonight (BBC One 6:20 pm) with the time-travelling Doctor sporting his latest - and
eleventh - physical embodiment in the person of Matt Smith...
How appropriate, bearing in mind the Doctor's celebrated anonymity, that he should, at long last, be played by a man named Smith!
And in case you've forgotten any of Mr Smith's predecessors, I found this tribute on YouTube as a reminder of Who
Was Who --- well, at least, all of the
legitimate ones because, as all Who-fanatics know, there were also one or two locum doctors such as those who stood in for deceased actors, took on the part for spoof versions or, in the case of Peter Cushing, portrayed the Doctor on the film.
So, with that caveat, here (courtesy of YouTuber,
Brian Rimmer) is the
Doctor Who first eleven...
I won't pretend that I've been a constant fan and devoted follower of
Doctor Who throughout his 47 year-long regeneration process, but I've always checked out each new incarnation of the Doctor if, for no other reason, because of a sentimental attachment to my youthful memories of where it all began...
To be honest, I've never quite got over the fact that I missed the very first appearance of
Doctor Who on our black and white telly
or the fact that, whenever I mention this, David reminds me that he
was watching!
It was teatime - 5:15 in the afternoon of 23 November 1963 (the day after the assassination in Dallas of President John F Kennedy) - when the BBC transmitted episode one of 'An Unearthly Child' with William Hartnell as the enigmatic Doctor.
Come Monday morning, everyone at school was talking about this amazing new TV show about a Time Lord zapping through time and space in a machine called a TARDIS that was disguised as a then commonplace piece of British street furniture - a police telephone box.
The following Saturday, I was on the sofa (I was already too old to be hiding
behind it!) ready to watch the next episode and -
wonder of wonders! - in response to a phenomenal public reaction to the series' debut and the fact that other hapless youngsters had missed the beginning, the BBC preceded the second episode with a repeat of the first!
Brilliant! I was hooked...
It's a truism (but true for all that!) that everyone's favourite Doctor is the one they watched when they were growing up. For me it was first and foremost, the irascible, grandfatherly
William Hartnell followed by the quirkily eccentric
Patrick Troughton and how utterly, fantastically exciting it was, back then, when one became the other!
Here's the fan picture I wrote for at the time...
I remained a fairly consistent devotee through the
Jon Pertwee and
Tom Baker years (two more highly idiosyncratic characterizations) and I quite enjoyed
Peter Davison's sojourn as the first really young Doctor although, following on from his appearances in
All Creatures Great and Small, I could never quite stop thinking that this doctor was actually only a vet!
Sad to say, I pretty much gave up and lost hope when
Colin Baker took over; although I gave
Sylvester McCoy a go and still think her deserves credit for trying (against overwhelming odds) to give Who back something of what he had once been.
I was, frankly, optimistic (wrongly so, as it turned out) when
Paul McGann made his brief, but quite impressive, foray in the role and - after almost a decade of being lost in space - was engaged by
Christopher Eccleston's energised portrayal, despite having quite a few issues with Producer/Writer Russell T Davies' re-birthing of the series.
Davies undeniably rejuvenated Who's popularity with all those spin-offs and, in casting
David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor at least ensured the continuation of the character's mercurial personality. Here are those Top Ten Whos as seen by the talented
Jon Pinto...
Now, as the the Brigadier once famously said, "Here we go again..."
The creative reigns have passed to Steven Moffat, a dedicated Who-fan (and, arguably the man responsible for some of the best of the recent Who scripts), with the mantle of William Hartnell now falling on the slight shoulders of Matt Smith as the eleventh Doctor...
Of course, you all spotted the moment of homage...
Yes, well that's more than enough to get an old Whoster like me, tuning in, I can tell you!
And, look, here's further
proof of my loyalty...
And you can find out What's What on the
Doctor Who - The Official SiteImages uploaded via my
flickr Photostream.
***By the way, just before 12:30 am this morning, the hit counter on my blog reached a pleasingly configured number...
Thanks for reading all those pages, folks!
The music for the pilot show in the series was written by Alexander Courage (left). At the time, the job probably seemed an unlikely long-term earner, but Courage was a pro: he arranged and orchestrated on some of the greatest movie musicals, including Show Boat, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Gigi and, until his death in 2008, worked on dozens of films and TV shows, orchestrating for John Williams on Superman and Jurassic Park and Jerry Goldsmith on Mulan, The Mummy and - er - Star Trek: The Motion Picture!
This particular copy was not just 'signed by the authors', but was presented by them to the veteran Disney animator, the late Oliver M ("Ollie") Johnston, as seen, left, by the brilliant Peter Emslie of The Cartoon Cave)
Click to enlarge
One of the most famous radio plays ever - it's very nearly a solo performance - Agnes Moorehead played Mrs Stevenson, the neurotic, bed-ridden invalid who gets a crossed line and overhears a murder being planned. She reprised the performance for seven more radio productions and included it in her one-woman stage show.
Very kind, I'm sure; but not a patch, I think, on my all-time favourite film review, written by C A Lejeune, The Observer's long-serving movie critic, who succinctly dismissed the 1947 June Haver picture,
Just back from the cinema and here's my review of Clash of the Titans:
Yes, well that's more than enough to get an old Whoster like me, tuning in, I can tell you!
