Canon-Strike XVI: Doctor Who

[Neon Ignition]

We begin a journey through time and space, a voyage through collective memories of a franchise that this year marks its 60th Anniversary. It's often said of older franchises that they are ones that we grew up with but Doctor Who now finds itself as a rare example of a show that some of its audience lived alongside and increasingly now find themselves growing old with.





Being such a long running show, it has experienced deviations from its established canon repeatedly as successive showrunners contend with finding ways of keeping the show engaging to new generations of viewers time and time again. From its original set up, to the life saving conception of making recasting the central role a core aspect of the character - Doctor Who has changed and evolved throughout the six decades of its existence.

Each actor playing the central role of the Doctor has experienced their own fanbase in a similar way to how fans of James Bond are often attached to the one they grew up with. Each represented their own take on the character whilst at the same time contributing to an overall tapestry of a role that is also one and the same throughout. In celebration of the shows latest milestone and it's preparations to step into a new era for its seventh decade on screens, we take a look back at the history and canon of:


Doctor Who

Doctor Who: Series 01
1963 and families sit down in front of their TV's as a black and white image transitions from the BBC1 logo to the very first ever episode of what would become one of the longest running shows ever made. School teachers Barbara and Ian discover the Tardis in a junkyard and this discovery leads them to meet William Hartnell's First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan. Running over 40 episodes in length, the season quickly introduced the Doctors iconic enemies the Daleks. Regularly averaging between 7-10m viewers, the show became an unexpected hit for the BBC and plans were quickly made to produce a second run.




Have you watched the original series or where you there when it originally aired?

[QualityChimp]

Bloody hell, you've got your work cut out for you here, Neon!

[Neon Ignition]

That's why I've wisely opted to launch in a by series approach - it'd never end otherwise

[QualityChimp]

Ha, fair enough.
I never saw the first series, but I did see the film that came after it starring Peter Cushing as the Doctor.

[Neon Ignition]

My Dad can recall sitting down and watching the first episode when it first aired, he was a young kid but it's mostly that 1-2 of the shows set up followed by the Daleks he recalls from the first run. Like is always said, he puts a lot on it being so unlike everything else around at the time.

[QualityChimp]

My Dad can recall sitting down and watching the first episode when it first aired, he was a young kid but it's mostly that 1-2 of the shows set up followed by the Daleks he recalls from the first run. Like is always said, he puts a lot on it being so unlike everything else around at the time.

I saw in your first post that the show was an "unexpected hit" for the BBC.
I'm not sure of the state of sci-fi on TV in those days, but this must've been pretty pioneering for that genre?

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, apparently it was commissioned purely to fill a gap in the schedules. The heads of BBC have often championed for its axing over the decades which it's had to fend off. Apparently the first ep did well but they remained unconvinced and then at around week 5 when the Dalek arc began they were what really struck a chord and the shows fame really kicked up from that point.

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 02
With only a minor gap between runs, the second series launched. By the end of this second run, its success would mean rapid internal movements with only one member of the founding production team remaining and this second series would become notable for featuring the first time that a companion left the show and was replaced by a new character, in this instance it was the Doctor's granddaughter Susan though the series final story would also see the other two original companions also leave with Hartnell becoming the only original cast member. Today, thanks to the BBC's prior keen approach to deleting material, 37 of the series 39 episodes still exist.




Do you have any memories of the peak Hartnell era?

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 03
Less familiar is this third series that followed the very next year and ran for 45 episodes however the BBC's archiving practices mean that only a mere 17 episodes have survived. The show continued to see companions increasingly change with this run, the most notable being Katarina who only lasted for five episodes but was notable for becoming the very first companion to die when she sacrifices herself by opening an airlock. It was at this point where by the standards of the time concern was rising about the longevity of the show. Whereas its opening stories brought in 8-10m viewers, by the time the last one was resolved average viewers had fallen to 5m.




The third season found the show gravitating toward a need to change, this has been a common timeframe cycle in the shows history. Is three and done the best for the show or do you prefer a beloved Doctor to stay longer than that?

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 04
The fourth run began and things continued very much on the same vein that they had before, however that would change when eight episodes in viewers would witness a moment that would become one of the most defining elements of the show moving forward and a huge event whenever it happened - Regeneration. Tired and worn out after being captured by the Cybermen and also being old in of himself, the Doctor uses his remaining strength to rescue Polly. Once that has been achieved he collapses and regenerates into the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. This episode of the show remains missing along with 32 others of the shows run making this series the one with the only one with no complete serials.




Is it true to say that Regeneration was the greatest idea within the show?

[Dogg Thang]

I haven't seen any of these early seasons (especially the missing ones obvs), but the regeneration idea was absolute genius and is completely responsible for how the show still has relevance today. I hope whoever came up with that idea is doing well.

[Asura]

Gonna say, as an 80s kid who grew up with Sky, my first ever contact with Who was the 90s TV movie, followed by a bit of the Ecclestone show before leaving the country for years, and only coming back to find in my absence that it had become "a big deal" again... I've just never been that into it. Which is weird, given all the sci-fi **** that I love, people often expect me to be. During the height of the David Tennant series' I even had someone buy me a bit of merchandise as a daft gift.

[Neon Ignition]

Had a look into how Regeneration came about:


"The role of the Doctor had been played by William Hartnell since the programme began in 1963 but, by 1966, it was increasingly apparent that Hartnell's health was deteriorating and he was becoming more difficult to work with. Producer John Wiles had, following several clashes with Hartnell, intended to have the actor replaced in The Celestial Toymaker; during two episodes of that serial, the Doctor is invisible (owing to Hartnell being on holiday during the recording). Wiles' plan was for the character to reappear played by a new actor. This proposal was vetoed by Gerald Savory, the BBC's Head of Serials (and Wiles' superior), which led to Wiles leaving before The Celestial Toymaker was produced.^[1] However, it was apparent that it would not be possible for Hartnell to continue for much longer.On 29 July 1966, production concluded on the final episode of The Smugglers, the last serial recorded in the third production block.^{[citation needed]} During production, Hartnell and producer Innes Lloyd had reached an agreement that he should leave the role, having starred in one more serial that would see a handover to a new actor, which would be the first one produced as part of Season 4. Script editor Gerry Davis proposed that, since the Doctor had already been established as an alien, the character could die and return in a new body. Lloyd took this further by suggesting that the Doctor could do this "renewal" regularly, transforming from an older man to a younger one; this would allow for the convenient recasting of the role when necessary.^{[citation needed]} The process itself was modelled on LSD trips, with the experience being like the "hell and dank horror" of taking the drug.<sup>[2]"


The guy who came up with it also co-created the Cybermen and made the 70's sci-fie series Doomwatch. He later moved to the US and worked on the 80's film The Final Countdown. He died aged 61 in 1991 after trying to win back control of Doctor Who when the BBC was shelving the show.</sup>

[QualityChimp]

That's fascinating and definitely part of the reason why the show has been able to continue with new actors.

It's not the best way to replace someone, though...

->Open Spoiler<-

[Neon Ignition]

Doctor Who: Series 05
Only two arcs from the fifth series have survived to today, this series included more tales about the Cybermen and Ice Warriors but is notable for its fourth arc where Patrick Troughton played the villain Salamander despite also being the Doctor. This season exists in full now, the missing episodes having been recreated via animation.




Have you seen any of the recreated Who episodes done via animation, what did you make of them?