The Curse of Regeneration
There aren’t many posts here tagged with essay. I’m not usually the ranting philosopher anywhere outside of my head. But The Doctor’s still there making waves in my psyche.
Doctor Who: So flexible or so what? -
The title parodies the forthcoming album by Paul Simon, somewhat apt given the source of today’s events.
Today was Record Shop Day, an international celebration of independent record stores. Across the globe Silva Screen records printed 500 7” Singles featuring bits of the soundtrack from the two Peter Cushing Dalek movies. It had been announced a fortnight ago but as is the way of these things the Store in town didn’t know how many they’d get but being soundtrack from long forgotten movie they didn’t expect a big demand. I was 61st in the queue. The only copy they had went to the guy who had camped out overnight to be 1st in.
He wasn’t a fan of the films, or even of the series. I overheard him talking on the way out of the store. He’d come for a bunch of limited edition 80’s reissues and ‘got the Dr who thing to keep my kid happy.’
Yes of course I was crushed and no the Queen single in Pink vinyl wasn’t that good a booby prize.
But the thing that worried me most wasn’t anything to do with my collection; it was that fella’s kid.
Sure the sleeve art had Daleks on but just how many of the new series fans are familiar with the Cushing movies? How excited would they be to pop this slice of vinyl on their dad’s prize player expecting booming Murray Gold strings only to be met with classic 60s adventure jazz radiophonic grooves as heard in the trailer and even more confused on the B side when they hear Wilfred Mott taking on the Technicolor Tin Pots .
Doctor Who fans, especially those K9 mk3’s and Sarah Jane Smiths* like myself, have always valued the shows flexible format. It can be something different week by week, even in the 60s.
But thinking of today’s fans is the regenerative format a curse rather than a blessing?
The other thing that made me think on this happened earlier in the week. A relative of mine brought over some Easter eggs for my niece & nephew. She also brought me the Doctor Who Time Travels popup book. She had bought it for a pound at a car boot sale.
David Tennant suddenly looked forlorn on the cover. On day of release this book had been £17.99. Once Waters of Mars aired 2 years ago I started seeing it in shops like The Entertainer for £5 then £3.
And then, finally, it arrives with me as a gift that had cost a mere pound. The Tenth Doctor has been gone a year, the halls of fandom wept and moaned at his passing and the 11th burst upon us fully formed.
Sarah Jane Adventures Script Editor Gary Russell once said that after 3 years their target audience has moved away from SJA to the parent show. But in a world where our funny old sci-fi drama has a ‘Brand Manager’, previous Doctors vanish into repeat obscurity faster than it takes to transmit an episode. There are still shelves with 10th Dr era merchandise out there, vying for position with the new logo, the new doctor, even the new Tardis. Classic Doctors vanishing into the ether of fandom.
Steven Moffat is undeniably a fan, his era is chock full of nods to the past, from the Atraxi top 10 Dr Who to the Hartnell library card and the Cushing style skittles Daleks.
This brings me back to the future. I hope, I really do passionately hope, that the record shop guy’s kid has seen Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD. I hope it see’s those colourful behemoths of the past on the sleeve and smiles. If it hasn’t, I hope that it’s inspired to do so, to investigate into the rich and colourful past of the show.
I hope that disc isn’t one of the many, cynically bought with eBay as its true destination, to turn the already steep £7 into £25 or more.
*see previous essay Old School reunion
Doctor Who: So flexible or so what? -
The title parodies the forthcoming album by Paul Simon, somewhat apt given the source of today’s events.
Today was Record Shop Day, an international celebration of independent record stores. Across the globe Silva Screen records printed 500 7” Singles featuring bits of the soundtrack from the two Peter Cushing Dalek movies. It had been announced a fortnight ago but as is the way of these things the Store in town didn’t know how many they’d get but being soundtrack from long forgotten movie they didn’t expect a big demand. I was 61st in the queue. The only copy they had went to the guy who had camped out overnight to be 1st in.
He wasn’t a fan of the films, or even of the series. I overheard him talking on the way out of the store. He’d come for a bunch of limited edition 80’s reissues and ‘got the Dr who thing to keep my kid happy.’
Yes of course I was crushed and no the Queen single in Pink vinyl wasn’t that good a booby prize.
But the thing that worried me most wasn’t anything to do with my collection; it was that fella’s kid.
Sure the sleeve art had Daleks on but just how many of the new series fans are familiar with the Cushing movies? How excited would they be to pop this slice of vinyl on their dad’s prize player expecting booming Murray Gold strings only to be met with classic 60s adventure jazz radiophonic grooves as heard in the trailer and even more confused on the B side when they hear Wilfred Mott taking on the Technicolor Tin Pots .
Doctor Who fans, especially those K9 mk3’s and Sarah Jane Smiths* like myself, have always valued the shows flexible format. It can be something different week by week, even in the 60s.
But thinking of today’s fans is the regenerative format a curse rather than a blessing?
The other thing that made me think on this happened earlier in the week. A relative of mine brought over some Easter eggs for my niece & nephew. She also brought me the Doctor Who Time Travels popup book. She had bought it for a pound at a car boot sale.
David Tennant suddenly looked forlorn on the cover. On day of release this book had been £17.99. Once Waters of Mars aired 2 years ago I started seeing it in shops like The Entertainer for £5 then £3.
And then, finally, it arrives with me as a gift that had cost a mere pound. The Tenth Doctor has been gone a year, the halls of fandom wept and moaned at his passing and the 11th burst upon us fully formed.
Sarah Jane Adventures Script Editor Gary Russell once said that after 3 years their target audience has moved away from SJA to the parent show. But in a world where our funny old sci-fi drama has a ‘Brand Manager’, previous Doctors vanish into repeat obscurity faster than it takes to transmit an episode. There are still shelves with 10th Dr era merchandise out there, vying for position with the new logo, the new doctor, even the new Tardis. Classic Doctors vanishing into the ether of fandom.
Steven Moffat is undeniably a fan, his era is chock full of nods to the past, from the Atraxi top 10 Dr Who to the Hartnell library card and the Cushing style skittles Daleks.
This brings me back to the future. I hope, I really do passionately hope, that the record shop guy’s kid has seen Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150AD. I hope it see’s those colourful behemoths of the past on the sleeve and smiles. If it hasn’t, I hope that it’s inspired to do so, to investigate into the rich and colourful past of the show.
I hope that disc isn’t one of the many, cynically bought with eBay as its true destination, to turn the already steep £7 into £25 or more.
*see previous essay Old School reunion