{"id":13538,"date":"2008-11-19T09:09:18","date_gmt":"2008-11-19T16:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/11\/19\/early-who.html"},"modified":"2008-11-19T09:09:18","modified_gmt":"2008-11-19T16:09:18","slug":"early_who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/19\/early_who.html","title":{"rendered":"Early Who"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The BBC has released some early archive material around the development of its long-running show, Doctor Who<\/em><\/a>, back in the early 60s. Reading some of the early notes, as well as concerns over doing something as dodgy and fringe as “science fiction” on TV is fascinating.<\/p>\n

\n

The Doctor without his time-travelling police box is difficult to imagine, but its creators initially proposed he journey through space in an invisible machine covered in light-resistant paint. When BBC producers were devising the show in the early 1960s, they thought viewers should see no machine at all, only “a shape of nothingness”.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s head of drama Sydney Newman, who commissioned the first series, insisted an invisible machine would not work and the doctor’s vehicle should be a strong visual symbol. Wisely, writers also said a transparent, plastic bubble would be “lowgrade”. But a seed of the Tardis idea is sown when they suggest using “some common object in the street” like a night-watchman’s shelter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

And then there was the initial description\/concept for the Doctor.<\/p>\n

\n

In Mr Cecil’s illuminating background notes, he describes the Doctor as follows:<\/p>\n

“A frail old man lost in space and time. They give him this name because they don’t know who he is. He seems not to remember where he has come from: he is suspicious and capable of sudden malignance; he seems to have some undefined enemy; he is searching for something as well as fleeing from something. He has a ‘machine’ which enables them to travel together through time, through space and through matter.”<\/i> <\/p>\n

It’s hardly heroic but that description, apart from being frail, fits David Tennant perfectly, says Mr Sangster. He’s quite unforgiving and it’s up to humans to remind him of his moral duty. […] That first description of the Doctor, played initially by an old-looking William Hartnell, still holds true today, says Doctor Who Online editor, Sebastian Brook, and his mystique is one of the show’s guiding principles. “The suspiciousness is something that’s passed on through the years and the undefined enemy is things going wrong with the universe.<\/p>\n

“And the mystery as well. It’s not just a question mark, but the character itself – who is he? If that’s ever resolved in the series, then that’s the day it fails.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 Interesting stuff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BBC has released some early archive material around the development of its long-running show, Doctor Who, back in the early 60s. Reading some of the early notes, as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-tv-doctor-who"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4312,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/09\/26\/and_another_one.html","url_meta":{"origin":13538,"position":0},"title":"And another one spits out the dust","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 26-Sep-03 10:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"Doctor Who returning? Dr Who is set to make a return to the BBC - but not for another two years. The show's creators say the series is in the...","rel":"","context":"In "Doctor Who"","block_context":{"text":"Doctor Who","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/media-tv-doctor-who"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26546,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/20\/tales-of-the-first-doctor.html","url_meta":{"origin":13538,"position":1},"title":"Tales of the First Doctor","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 20-Feb-12 5:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Some cool stories of the original people behind Doctor Who ... #ddtbReshared post from +Mark RichardsGood read about the start of Doctor Who and the obstacles it faced early on. Embedded Link The creators of Doctor Who were a scandal These days, Doctor Who is approaching its 50th anniversary as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39875,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/03\/tv-movie-review-an-adventure-in-space-and-time.html","url_meta":{"origin":13538,"position":2},"title":"TV Movie Review: "An Adventure in Space and Time"","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 3-Dec-13 9:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Lovely.And, as an added note, David Bradley (as William Hartnell) effectively joins the ranks of Harry Potter \/ Doctor Who cross-over actors, which include most prominently David Tennant, Roger Lloyd Pack, John Hurt, \u00a0Michael Gambon, Zo\u00eb Wanamaker, and Shirley Henderson. (And, before you object that Bradley\u00a0wasn't in the actual series\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13665,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/10\/30\/talkin_bout_regeneration.html","url_meta":{"origin":13538,"position":3},"title":"Talkin’ ’bout Regeneration …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 30-Oct-08 6:11am","format":false,"excerpt":"Word's come down confirming that David Tennant will leave Doctor Who\u00a0after all the various 2009-2010 one-off specials. The Guardian newspaper this evening broke the story prematurely, reporting on their...","rel":"","context":"In "Doctor Who"","block_context":{"text":"Doctor Who","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/media-tv-doctor-who"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/tardis.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19263,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/18\/unblogged-bits-thu-18-nov-10-1030.html","url_meta":{"origin":13538,"position":4},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Thu. 18-Nov-10 1030)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 18-Nov-10 10:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... BBC News - Vivaldi sonatas found in archive - Cool ... FOX: Serious News Is Serious - Stay classy, Fox! Speaking of Fox News ... Quantum Mechanics - Irregular Webcomic! #2853 A Win In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12468,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/23\/doctor_who_series_3_dvd_c.html","url_meta":{"origin":13538,"position":5},"title":"Doctor Who Series 3 DVD Commentary Track Update","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Apr-08 3:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow, that's a clumsy (but descriptive) title. 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