Who?
A quiet day here, to allow folks to catch up with the flurry of activity that was Cornell Woolrich Week. Just this ~
Amid all the comments (mostly favourable) about the new Doctor in Doctor Who, the new assistant in Doctor Who, the new script editor on Doctor Who, and even the new Daleks, new theme tune and new titles, nobody seems to have commented on the fact that the show has, quietly but unmistakably, also acquired a new title: as the opening sequence attests, it is now called DOCTOR DW WHO.
What does the DW stand for? It would of course be lovely to think that is stands for “David Wark” in tribute to Griffith, father of film. But Doctor David Wark Who is a terrible name for a television programme. We must then assume the obvious: DW stands for Doctor Who. So the full title of the show must be Doctor Doctor Who Who.
Say it aloud: it’s brilliant! Well done the BBC!
April 19, 2010 at 12:51 pm
DW Who sounds like a P.I. or an oilman.
April 19, 2010 at 1:13 pm
I’m always going to think of it as “Doctor WHO-OO-OO, Doctor Who” thanks to the KLF’s Doctorin’ the Tardis.
April 19, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Ah, that was a fine song.
April 19, 2010 at 1:40 pm
As the man said about the ‘fish and chips’ sign, the space between fish and and and and and chips is different…
April 19, 2010 at 1:54 pm
I think it’s a shame Dirk Bogarde never got to play “Dr. Who.”
April 19, 2010 at 3:42 pm
That would have been interesting! I wonder if he’d have changed his persona at all (as he was quite capable of doing) or just used his normal persona.
Looking at one of his books the other day, and he says that at the start of shooting Our Mother’s House (which he’s terrific, and very different, in) he got a note saying “We hope you’re as good as you’re cracked up to be. You’d better be. Yours, the children.” This amused him and he had a great time on it, he says.
He has a quality that could be quite useful for Dr Who — you wouldn’t know quite where you are with him. Tom Baker had this, and Colin Baker had maybe too much of it. Nobody else has managed to be quite as disconcerting in the role.
April 19, 2010 at 3:48 pm
If Dirk Bogarde had played it, it would have to be called Dr. Who At Large. Or Dr. Who In The House. Or something like that. This from a person whose never seen one single episode. Ah, I just have to wait for those BBC channels when I get my dish.
April 19, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Dr Who in the House sounds terrific. There might be another song in that.
Since he hated making the Doctor films, I imagine he’d have loathed being tied to a TV series. No doubt he had offers in his latter years, but he would only associate with one-offs.
April 19, 2010 at 6:23 pm
I believe “Wee Jaimie” (Frazer Hines), whom the Dr. discovered at Culloden, did bring out a single years ago, “Who is Dr. Who.”
As for Dirk as Dr. Who, he may have hesitated at being next in line for the Tom Baker/Peter Davidson image as well as the fact that he was satisfied with his Losey, Visconti, and Fassbinder achievements not to do a series just for the money.
However, responding to a line “Where’s the bleeding Tardis?” might have been classic.
For me, William Hartnell will always be Dr. Who despite the fact that his Sergeant Bullimore from THE ARMY GAME (reprised in CARRY ON SERGEANT) and tough gangsters from many 40s British film noirs also remain entrenched in remain in my memory.
April 19, 2010 at 6:33 pm
My first Dr was Jon Pertwee, but then Tom Baker totally won me over and I became OBSESSED. Dinosaurs, ruined castles, Dr Who and then movies.
As the script editor said, the beauty of Tom Baker is that he IS an alien.
Bill Nighy was mooted at the time the show was being relaunched, and apparently was up for it, but like crazy fools they went for Ecclestone, a good actor but not a natural eccentric.
Matt Smith is very fine, but I worry about the tendency to cast young. It’s going to be hard to cast, say, Jim Broadbent after this.
April 19, 2010 at 6:35 pm
All will be revealed in the final episode, when he marries River Song and changes his name to Dandelion Wine.
“The name’s Who. Dr Dandelion Wine Who.”
April 19, 2010 at 7:45 pm
A propos de doctors in general, this is my favourite ever Lee Perry track, Doctor on the Go, which uses samples from the Doctor in the House TV series. If you listen carefully you can hear Robin Nedwell in there:
April 19, 2010 at 9:52 pm
abbott and costello’s lost routine
Doctor Who?
Thats what I said!
Thats what I’m ASKING YOU!
Thats what I’m TELLING you!
…..
April 19, 2010 at 10:40 pm
At one point, Joanna Lumley was suggested but those in control thought that was TOO much of a change. A pity, since she would have made a great DR.
Did anyone here ever see the 6 part “Dalek Master Plan”? Sadly, only fragments exist now since it was regarded as too bleak for Australian audiences. This was the high point of Terry Nation’s writing and featured Jean Marsh in her pre-UPSTAIRS-DOWNSTAIRS phase with a really pessimistic ending. I saw all parts and sorry that it does not exist today.
April 20, 2010 at 3:37 am
I loved Tom Baker’s intros for Little Britain; just brilliant non- sense.
Alot of 60′s British TV had interesting electronic soundtracks, like Yhe Tomorrow People,and the Clangers. I wonder if they influenced the British Dub artists at all?
April 20, 2010 at 8:25 am
Those lost episodes do intrigue!
I was deeply marked by Genesis of the Daleks as a kid, although looking at it now it should probably have been just 4 episodes rather than 6. A lot of it is escape/get captured/escape/get captured.
Certainly I know those kidshows influenced just about everyone who saw them, so I don’t see how Dub artists could escape being affected.
Joanna Lumley would be good in just about anything. I can’t understand why they haven’t found her a new show to star in yet. If she can’t have Dr Who, maybe they should let her be Sherlock Holmes.
April 20, 2010 at 9:38 am
Tom’s the Doctor, no doubt about it. I’ve yet to be convinced by Matt Smith. He can do eccentric but is less convincing at saving the universe.
April 20, 2010 at 1:09 pm
They tend to oversell the heroics these days: the Doc never used to be triumphal.
I have a lot of sympathy for the Hartnell enthusiasts: he had real star quality (and strangely beautiful Malayasian eyes!) and gravitas. Mark Gatiss wanted to write a TV play about him, it’s a shame that didn’t get picked up. What he has in common with Baker is a melancholy side.
April 20, 2010 at 6:47 pm
THE CHASE, which was a first run for the Dalek Master Plan ,has survived. As opposed to the recent inferior “Daleks in Manhattan”, the fiendish aliens chase the Dr. to the top of the Empire State Building managing to freak out a Southern gold ol’boy (played by future darts commentator Peter Purves) in the process. Purves plays two roles in this episode and his Southern character resembles the average American that drew many of H.L. Menken’s venomous remarks.
April 20, 2010 at 8:48 pm
That sounds giddy!
I wish the two Cushing Who movies were just a bit better. I’m still very fond of the flying saucer in Invasion Earth, with the neat rotating band of windows. Maybe my all-time favourite saucer (although I recall a nice one at the end of Escape to Witch Mountain).