From: ph9991_manfr@rivers.acc.uwrf.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Re: Your firsts
Date: 22 Nov 92 16:48:04 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin - River Falls

In article <XR7muB2w165w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca>, yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Dave Shariff Yadallee) writes:
> 
> - <IO21145@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> writes:
> -
> - > I would like to hear how some of my fellow "Whovians" were
> - > first introduced into the series - It was quite a powerfull
> - > experience for me (or as powerfull as a child might imagine!)
> - > when I watched "Genesis of The Daleks" on channel 2. It was
> - > the best show I'd ever seen ! - The mystery of the whole series
> - > was a joy to unravel, to get to know the doctor and his interesting
> - > happenings. In short - it's the last Televison show I'll watch!
> - > But anyway, I'd like to hear from anyone on this...
> - >
> - >
> - >    Scorby...


My turn.

I first heard of DW at the age of nine in the first few weeks of December
1981.  At this time, we (the family) were over at a neighbor's house
and it was traditional for these neighbors to give us little Christmas
presents and to give them to us at this time rather than waiting for
Christmas.  I was already a little into "Star Trek" (I emphasize the
little) and heavily into science, and thus the gifts I received were
books about science.
One of them was a British publication they had found somewhere geared
for the pre-teen audience called simply "Robots."  In the sections
where it talks about film and television robots, "Doctor Who" gets 
mentions for the Daleks, the Cybermen, K9, and Kettlewell's Robot.
I had never heard of this show before (or many of the others mentioned)
but the name stayed in my mind, particularly as some of these robots
looked pretty interesting.  
Sometime in Mid-January, my mother, sister, and I got home from a little
shopping excursion at about fifteen after five and I was anxious to 
find something on TV to watch, and so I paged through the newspaper
TV listings.  I noticed that at 5 pm on Channel 2 (KTCA in Minneapolis)
there was a listing for "Dr. Who" and the name rung a bell.  I wasn't
certain, but I turned there anyway, and caught the last ten minutes
of part three of "Terror of the Zygons."  (At this time, KTCA was still
showing the stories in episode format)
For a reason I don't recall I missed the next day's installment, and
picked up again with part one of "Pyramids of Mars" and sat hypnotized
over all four episodes.  (At this time, Time-Life was still distributing
the series, or at least Lionheart hadn't yet got the episode order correct
from the inherited wrongly-ordered Time-Life package.  Of course I didn't
know that at the time and for at least three years I kept thinking the
sequence of stories I was seeing was always wrong!)
And thus I was hooked, and have bee ever since, which I suppose is going
on eleven years now.  

Ah, those were the days, getting home from school and watching the show
in 25 minute episodes every day of the week, being annoyed when the
picture reception was bad (pre-cable days too), being very annoyed at
my regular Wednesday piano lesson for making me miss an episode of every
serial except when the serial started on Thursdays, being surprised that
"Seeds of Doom" was turning out to be longer than four parts, loving
K9, not understanding what a Police Box was, not spelling TARDIS right
(I always thought it was "Tautus"), trying to get other kids to watch
the show too and being laughed at for it, being annoyed at pledge breaks
(some things never change), and the list goes on.

There are three occasions from those early days that always bring a smile
to my face (OK, make it four) that I shall recall here, and these may
possibly be the reason I still and probably always will like John
Nathan-Turner as a Producer, as they all happened during his tenure and
were his ideas, yet these are the things I remember most....
(OK, it's probably going to go more than four)

1.  Being at first mad when I thought "Doctor Who" had been replaced one
	day and then discovering to my great delight that the title
	sequence and music had been updated, and updated very well indeed.
	And I also *really* loved having the bridge of the theme music
	permanantly returned to the closing titles.
2.  Liking Adric's introduction to the series, as he was nearer to my age.
	Also he was the "smart" kid that no one liked, and that was me too.
3.  Loving the new incidental music.
4.  Being very, very happy near the end of "The Keeper of Traken" when
	the thing inside Melkur turned around to reveal the withered
	Master....
5.  Being excited and amazed at my first look at a Doctor's regeneration
	at the end of "Logopolis" and thinking "he's a kid!"
6.  Being angry with my mother for paranoidically making me shut of
	"Castrovalva" (by now on at late night) as a thunderstorm passed
	overhead.  I snuck it back on five minutes later though...

And to this day, I still think the *best* story to get introduced to the
series to is "Pyramids of Mars" for not only is it a classic, but it
neatly reviews the series' history a little at the start and has some
nice TARDIS scenes too.

Steven.K.Manfred

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