The Children's Own Programme That
blah blah blah
Part Three
I have to go down a generation now, to discuss another
semi-cult figure, doubtless familiar to literally a couple of you, both
from my references to him, and from his own posts on the BBC Doctor Who
message board. I refer of course, as Terry Scott might have put it, to my
lovely, lovely brother!
Where to start? My brother is two and a half years older than me, born
while "The Invasion" was on. He once told me that he could remember seeing
the Pertwee regeneration from the omnibus repeat of "Planet of Spiders",
which is quite probable. He also told me he could remember seeing the
Hartnell regeneration - he made a very convincing case for it, saying he
could remember the second Doctor sitting up and saying, "I'm the new
Doctor Who!" I checked what it said in my book of "The Tenth Planet" and
by gum that was it word for word! You might think that I would have
rumbled him on the grounds that he wasn't born until two years after the
episode aired, but no, his spot on quotation had swung it for me. He works
in the law now, and his firm's recent brochure said that he had acquired a
reputation for "winning the unwinnable case" - I like to think the roots
of this talent stretch back to the tall story of "The Tenth Planet".
Then there's the impressions. Chang's line "Mr Sin will not be with me
tonight" is the earliest impression I can recall my brother doing, back in
1977 (recently revived amid the excitement of the DVD release). The
Williams' era seems to have been less inspiring, but with the arrival of
JN-T bruv quickly added another two to his repertoire. First we have, "Did
you say Foamasi?" from "The Leisure Hive". And secondly, the death scene
of Varsh: "Adriiiiiicccccccccccccccc!" Impressed yet? No, thought not.
Then there's the fact that my brother is probably responsible (whether
that's in a good or a bad way, I'll leave up to you) for my getting into
Doctor Who. Although I always used to watch it, I was at one point more of
a Star Wars man, with Doctor Who being much more my brother's area. But
via the route of his Target books and then his Doctor Who weeklies, I
began to see that there was much more to fantasy entertainment than light
sabres and wookies. I'm sure I'm not alone in remembering the first Target
I ever read ("The Sontaran Experiment" for anybody who's interested) but I
also remember my brother's collection of them before I started following
suit. In fact I still have some on my bookshelf that were originally his
but which he has 'bequeathed' to me over the years. "The Ice Warriors" is
certainly one, as is "The Cybermen". And "The Three Doctors" - or, less
accurately but more entertainingly, "Doctor Who and the Three Doctors"
(that's what it says here!)
I vividly remember my brother getting "The Three Doctors" book - it had of
course been the most exciting title on the 'Also Available' pages of the
books we had, simply because it had three Doctors in it (obviously). To
fans of the modern age, this next sentence will probably make us sound
like a couple of Neanderthal throwbacks, but other than the one obvious
story detail that can be gleaned from the title, we knew absolutely
nothing about the story of "The Three Doctors" prior to getting the book.
A chapter or two in, and my brother's theory was that the gel guards
(which strangely look so much more convincing in the book...) were sent by
the second Doctor, trying to communicate with the third. Quite why this
would be I don't know, but that idea has stuck with me, and I have to be
honest it is potentially more exciting than the actual plot. My brother
remembers that idea too, I know, even after all these years.
I think the above paragraph has really hit the nail on the head as regards
my brother's placing in my Doctor Who family tree. We are, it has to be
said, very different people in lots of ways, but one thing we do have in
common is "Doctor Who", not only in terms of an interest in it now but
also in the sense that there is a lot of shared history. If we all watched
it as a family during the 1970s then more often than not my brother and I
watched it together during the 1980s. I'm quite sure that my brother
remembers as I do that the first episode we ever videoed was "The Trial of
a Timelord" part 13 (and rewatched it at least twice a day waiting for
part 14 - would you like me to recite some of it for you?); that the first
broadcast of "The Five Doctors" coincided with the second half of a
two-part western-based episode of "The A Team"; that (as mentioned
earlier) he missed part one of "Timeflight". In fact, going back further
still it was my brother who told me who the fifth Doctor was - I can
remember being half-awake when he woke me up by telling me it was "that
bloke off All Creatures". For just a few confused minutes in 1981 I though
Christopher Timothy WAS the Doctor.
My brother and I have a sort of shorthand, mainly borne of this specific
common interest. What's interesting (well, ish) is that it's only
comparatively recently that I've realised it is somewhat 'exclusive'. Last
year for his birthday we bought my brother the CD of "The Mutant
Phaaaaaaaaaaase" but in order that some degree of suspense be maintained
(as Douglas Adams might say) I wrapped it up inside an old cardboard box.
On the various layers of wrapping paper I put labels bearing the legend 'Diddley-Dum,
Diddley-Dum, Oo-Ee-Oo' confident that he would 'get it'. Of course he did,
but intriguingly he had to explain it to my sister-in-law (that's his wife
for those of you who aren't keeping up). She has heard of Doctor Who (if
not before her marriage then certainly many times since!) but this verbal
representation of the theme tune just didn't make any connection for her.
Goodness knows what she'd make of 'Vworp Vworp.'
That is not to say, lest anybody who actually knows me should be reading
this, that my brother and I always get on, nor that we always have. There
have been many sibling arguments over the years, and not all of them on
the subject of Doctor Who. For a long time I maintained that the rebel
cruiser at the start of "Star Wars" was smaller than the Millennium Falcon
- a claim I now know to be in error, although interestingly I've never
actually admitted as such. Another dispute arose over the ownership of the
single of the Peter Howell theme tune, with a lovely Peter Davison pic on
the front. That argument has settled down in recent years, partly because
we're older and wiser, but mainly because neither of us has a record
player.
In some ways my brother is a 'pure' fan. By which I mean that he has
somehow managed to retain that fundamental sense of just enjoying "Doctor
Who". He's not that interested in production dates and the names of
extras, or source material, or any of that stuff; but he knows what he
likes. He may have caught ten minutes of "The Chase" once, but on the
basis of that he's never watched it because he doesn't want to, simple as
that. Conversely, when watching season 2 in sequence last year (how anal
of me is that?) I of course watched all six episodes of "The Chase" even
though I find it one of the worst stories ever. As Ben Kenobi might have
put it, who is the more foolish - the man or his idiot brother who watches
whole stories even though he hates them? (Well quite, Sir Alec.) In that
regard the video age was tailor-made for my brother - robbed of the need
for context, he must have watched just the last episode of "Logopolis"
dozens of times, because it's his favourite bit; ditto the Death Star
battle at the end of "Star Wars" (sorry to any purists reading but I just
can't call it "A New Hope" with a straight face). The DVD age is probably
even more perfect for him, as its neat chapter points do away with all
that annoying fast forwarding.
This process of selection extends to the books (and even audios) - I'm
currently making my way through the back catalogue of the EDAs in order,
and although most of them are at least average it does means I've spent
time reading such disasters as "The Scarlet Empress" and "Legacy of the
Daleks" (although not in that order obviously). In contrast my brother has
started various books, but as soon as he knows he's not 'getting into'
them he stops. I would find myself for ever wondering how the story ends
(a bit like the Doctor in "Destiny of the Daleks" when he complains he
wouldn't be able to sleep if he didn't know where he'd been) and so I
steadfastly trudge on. But my brother wisely knows what he likes, so has
read "Exodus" several times but "Human Nature" not at all. Bizarrely, to
put some intriguing depth to this characterisation, he has read "No
Future" which I would have thought was one of the most impenetrable of all
the NAs, particularly read out of context.
When the TV Movie aired in 1996 I happened to be in America, and watched
the US transmission. When I got back to the UK the following Saturday, and
rang up my brother to tell him I was back (and it's about time) the first
question he asked was not, How was the trip? or Good flight? or even When
will you be back home? It was, So you've seen the new Doctor Who film then
- any good? I knew that would be the question, and it made me glad to be
back.
As a tantalising tease for the next segment, I might just add that if it
wasn't for that 1996 TV Movie my wife and I would probably never have met.
Maybe that's why she dislikes Doctor Who so much...
To be continued...
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