The Doctor Who fandom spans decades, dating back to the 1960s. However, the version we see today is nothing like what the show was like when it first started. In fact, according to Michael Grade, the former BBC boss, he thought the older version was “garbage.”
Speaking to Evening Standard, Grade revealed that when he took over the network in 1984, he made the decision to postpone the series altogether. If you’ve watched the older episodes before the 2000s-era revival with Christopher Eccleston (and Eccleston has his own strong opinions about Doctor Who these days), you can sort of understand where he’s coming from — they were kinda hokey. But Grade seems to go above the beyond:
"I hated Doctor Who. I said to the producer, ‘Do you go to the cinema much? Have you seen Star Wars or ET?’ He said yes. I said, ‘I’ve got news for you, so has our audience.’ What we were serving up as science fiction was garbage."
Yikes, the man is keeping it real.
About two years after its postponement in 1986, Doctor Who returned, but the actor in the lead role, Colin Baker, was fired because Grade felt he was “absolutely God-awful.” Fast forward to 1989, and the show was canceled outright and didn’t return until 2005.
The good news is that Grade doesn’t feel as pessimistic and indifferent about Doctor Who as he once did, according to a 2012 interview he did with Radio Times. The new era of the series, which featured Doctors like Matt Smith and David Tennant, has forged a new path for the series. “The show still leaves me cold, but I admire it, which I never did before,” Grade said. Well, that’s progress, right?
Speaking of old Doctor Who, a group of students, graduates, and staff from the University of Lancashire is about to bring a long-lost episode to the small-screen. “Mission to the Unknown,” an episode from 1965, is no longer a part of the BBC archives. This group of creatives remade it and will premiere it on the Doctor Who YouTube channel on October 9 at 5:50 PM BST.
According to Radio Times, the episode will feature Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks, plus Peter Purves, who played Steven Taylor, the companion of the First Doctor. The original episode is one of a handful that didn’t actually feature the Doctor at all. Instead, it primarily followed a Space Security Agent named Marc Cory, played by Edward de Souza.
I don’t know about all of you, but I am super excited about this! Who doesn’t love long-lost Easter eggs?
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The Digital Publishing Manager for Doctor Who at BBC Studios, Luke Spillane, is pretty excited, too.
"It is such a fantastic recreation, made lovingly with real craft and expertise by everyone at the University of Central Lancashire. I hope audiences around the world can imagine that it’s tea time on the 9th October 1965 as they rather excitingly watch a black and white episode of Doctor Who premiere on their television sets, mobile phones, and tablets."
Who else will be tuning in on October 9th to catch this episode?
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h/t Yahoo News!