Seems Like Yesterday...

[jjpor]

As this is a comm created specifically in order to celebrate Who's history and longevity, it seems appropriate to acknowledge that twenty years ago today, viewers of CITV-TV based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, were the first in the world to see:

Comments

[locker_monster]

Cool, I never knew that Edmontonians got to see the TV movie before everyone else. Go Canada!

I can't believe it's been 20 years. Kind of crazy how Paul McGann doesn't look any older.

[gaiamix]

Neither do Daphne and Yee Jee, really.

[jjpor]

I don't know how it came to be that the movie premiered on Canadian television, only that for some reason it did.

And you're right - it's uncanny! :D

[a_phoenixdragon]

Man...twenty years. Ye gods!!

*HUGS*

[jjpor]

A scary thought, isn't it? ;)

[paynesgrey]

20 years ago... that's when I became a Doctor Who fan! Thanks to this movie. <3

[jjpor]

So some good came of it! :D

[lost_spook]

Those were a long 15 days! I was having my first experience of online fandom via uni, and alt.drwho.creative went from a handful of posts a month to being very busy, and that time lag was the first time I'd met the frustrations of spoilers and people across the pond watching things before you did.

(Mind you picking stuff up by osmosis meant that I was at this point also vaguely convinced that a lot of people in the US were going on about a cartoon rabbit called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And, no, I've never been sure why I assumed Buffy was a rabbit specifically

[jjpor]

See, I wasn't yet online at that point, so I had all of that still to come, but I remember it being a big deal at the time. News coverage of people queueing to buy the video (still VHS, I assume, at the time), which for some reason I think might have been released before the film was actually shown on the telly over here.

And agreed - it really rekindled my hope after finally coming to terms with the fact the old series was really dead and gone (the New Adventures helped me in the meantime!) It was massively successful in the UK, much less so in the States, but then it was all down to how much Who was ingrained in our popular culture I suppose.

I think the thing about the TVM is that it's actually pretty rubbish in itself but so much good came out of it. McGann for one, the EDAs and audios for another, and most likely the new series too, which you can see trying to do some of the same things the TVM tried, but actually getting them right. ;)

And yes - the wig! :D

[lost_spook]

Yes, I think you're right - I think because of the earlier US release the DVD came out when it was shown, and there were midnight sales, which were still quite a new thing. I do remember that the BBC made some cuts to it that made conversations with people who'd seen the DVD occasionally baffling. (Grace's and Chang Lee's deaths were cut down, and something else, I think. I don't know, although I should because I only had the recorded off the telly VHS for years.

Indeed, it really did show the Powers That Be that Doctor Who was still a force to be reckoned with. And on top of all that it led to, these days, looking back, it's still not the greatest, but it's fun and (the wig aside) it's still one of the prettiest episodes.

[lost_spook]

Also, I can't verify your CH4 memories, but the BBC helpfully have years of RT listings online, so it looks as though you're definely right re Billy Connolly: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1996-05-27

[jjpor]

I'm glad I didn't imagine that. :D