Sunday, April 25, 2004
For the first time in years the series that I'm getting the biggest buzz from these days is "Doctor Who".
It's kinda weird really. It was the first series I was really "into" in a big way. As a kid I watched it religiously, had the Target novelisations on an almost permanent loan from the library, even had the Typhoo tea cards and the game on the back of the Weetabix boxes. (Wish I'd kept those now so I could flog them on Ebay!) Over the years my interest waned, particularly towards the end of the series' life, but the arrival of videos and then UK Gold helped renew my interest: here were stories that were new to me, that I'd only experienced through the books or at the very least, hadn't seen for years.
Of course, with the series out of production, this supply of "new" episodes was eventually exhausted, and the only new stories were Virgin's New and Missing Adventures novels. The 1996 TV movie saw a burst of new acitivity, but this soon tailed off and the only long-term change was the fact that the novels were now published by the BBC rather than Virgin. On the plus side we know had a new Doctor, which was just as well as I was growing tired of the Seventh Doctor by the time Virgin's licence ended.
The years approaching the series' 40th anniversary arguably saw things sink to their lowest level. The BBC halved the number of novels it published, so we didn't even have those to fall back on, while the chances of a new series seemed as remote as ever.
But the last seven or eight months have been the best period for "Doctor Who" for ages. The recovered 'Power of the Daleks' trailer and 'Fury From the Deep' film trims at least gave us something new to watch, as the announcement of a new online Doctor seemed to show that the series wasn't quite dead. 'Scream of the Shalka' might have been a bit rubbish, but by the time of its webcast it had been overshadowed by the news that BBC One was bringing the series back.
Since then we've had a returned episode from 'The Daleks' Masterplan', the rediscovery of the 'Marco Polo' telesnaps and the casting of Christopher Eccleston. The producers of the new series were obviously responsible for the casting decision, but after so many disappointing years, it's great to see outside events helping to keep interest buzzing in the series.
Let's just hope that Russell T Davies and co. don't disappoint!
It's kinda weird really. It was the first series I was really "into" in a big way. As a kid I watched it religiously, had the Target novelisations on an almost permanent loan from the library, even had the Typhoo tea cards and the game on the back of the Weetabix boxes. (Wish I'd kept those now so I could flog them on Ebay!) Over the years my interest waned, particularly towards the end of the series' life, but the arrival of videos and then UK Gold helped renew my interest: here were stories that were new to me, that I'd only experienced through the books or at the very least, hadn't seen for years.
Of course, with the series out of production, this supply of "new" episodes was eventually exhausted, and the only new stories were Virgin's New and Missing Adventures novels. The 1996 TV movie saw a burst of new acitivity, but this soon tailed off and the only long-term change was the fact that the novels were now published by the BBC rather than Virgin. On the plus side we know had a new Doctor, which was just as well as I was growing tired of the Seventh Doctor by the time Virgin's licence ended.
The years approaching the series' 40th anniversary arguably saw things sink to their lowest level. The BBC halved the number of novels it published, so we didn't even have those to fall back on, while the chances of a new series seemed as remote as ever.
But the last seven or eight months have been the best period for "Doctor Who" for ages. The recovered 'Power of the Daleks' trailer and 'Fury From the Deep' film trims at least gave us something new to watch, as the announcement of a new online Doctor seemed to show that the series wasn't quite dead. 'Scream of the Shalka' might have been a bit rubbish, but by the time of its webcast it had been overshadowed by the news that BBC One was bringing the series back.
Since then we've had a returned episode from 'The Daleks' Masterplan', the rediscovery of the 'Marco Polo' telesnaps and the casting of Christopher Eccleston. The producers of the new series were obviously responsible for the casting decision, but after so many disappointing years, it's great to see outside events helping to keep interest buzzing in the series.
Let's just hope that Russell T Davies and co. don't disappoint!
