I know that I saw Planet of the Daleks in Omnibus format before 1993, because WOSU showed everything in Omnibus format. I can't recall if Episode 3 was missing at that time.
Specifics for WOSU (Columbus, OH) are lacking, but BroaDWcast says they aired Doctor Who only from 1979 to 1981: Airdates in Columbus (WOSU) - BroaDWcast Though there are almost no story titles filled in on that page, at that time, US stations were just cycling repeatedly through Tom Baker stories. Planet of the Daleks wasn’t sold to the US until 1985: Planet of the Daleks - BroaDWcast Could you have perhaps watched it on WVIZ (Cleveland, OH)? They aired the omnibus version in December 1985. Airdates in Cleveland (WVIZ) - BroaDWcast That 1985 omnibus edition omitted Episode 3 and also removed and rearranged scenes from Episode 4 to smooth over continuity issues created by leaving out Episode 3. By the time Episode 3 was added to the US package in 1993, very few stations were still airing Doctor Who, so most Americans’ first opportunity to see the entire story didn’t arrive until the VHS was released in November 2000.
WTTW in Chicago showed Planet of the Daleks as a two-parter (as six-parters were always edited to). Episode three was definitely edited out. (They edited the episodes together themselves, though I'm not confident that's the case with this particular story.) The seventh Doctor makes a comment in his Dalek story after rigging up a gun that he made something like it once on Spiradon. Which isn't false, but it was in the missing part. Sadly, I was rather disappointed when I finally saw episode 3. Those red glowing eyes of animals watching them through the trees isn't really one of Who's best effects, nor is it one that should be particularly problematic to realise.
BroaDWcast is partially incorrect, 79-81 was only the initial run on WOSU. They aired Robot through Invasion of Time in episodic format, then repeated, 2 episodes at a time, on weekday early afternoons. In the late 80s, they aired Pertwee through Colin Baker stories in omnibus format (including Frontier In Space, Planet of the Daleks, and Invasion of the Dinosaurs) at 11 PM, adding Sylvester McCoy stories when they became available in the US, as well as Omnibus editions of The Daleks, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Chase and The War Games (broken into 2 parts), which were part of a special series of stories aired in the USA for the first time. These "midnight movie" airings probably started around 1985. Interestingly Colin Baker stories either aired prior to 1987 or after 1993, because that was the timeframe I was watching regularly, and I do not recall seeing them on WOSU; however, I have seen clips featuring Colin Baker on youtube with a WOSU call sign on the bottom. When Sylvester McCoy stories became available (Pledge Week), they skipped Colin Baker entirely, going straight to McCoy from Davison. WVIZ was not viewable in my area, I could not pick up channels from Cleveland, and did not have cable until 1993. Up until 1984, we only had 4 channels, ABC 6, NBC 4, CBS 10 and PBS 34, and then Channel 28, Independent was added, later becoming Fox 28.
You should reach out to Jon Preddle at BroaDWcast with that info as he’s always looking to make the site as accurate and complete as possible.
Well, I'm sad about Jodie, who I think was fantastic despite some seriously meh scripts, but Chibnall can't leave the show soon enough, so I'll take it. Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall to leave Doctor Who in a trio of Specials in 2022
That is such good news. I thought for sure the BBC would blame Whittaker and not the person responsible.
I liked Moffat with Matt Smith. I really liked Peter Capaldi as the doctor, but his first two seasons weren't very good, and holding over Clara from the previous doctor was a huge mistake. Once Capaldi got his own companion, his third season was fantastic, and then of course he left. Chibnall really hasn't done anything great, IMO, and a brilliant talent like Whittaker seems wasted on him. Maybe he'll finally get into a groove in his third season like Moffat did with Capaldi, but sadly I'm keeping my expectations low. I'm happy they'll have a new head writer though.
Just in time for the BBC to hire somebody else for the fans to hate. People know they're not bringing Davies or Moffat back, right?
Of course. I mean, IMO Chibnall is the first real personnel misstep of the rebooted series. I will, as always, enter the 2023 series with an open mind and clean slate. I'm sure there are a number of people who would be great head writers for the show.
You didn't like the Moffat era, but you're quite happy with the Chibnall era? I'm curious to see what your reasoning is. I didn't think the Moffat era was perfect, but then again I didn't think the RTD era was perfect either. But at least it always felt like Doctor Who. The last two series though, ain't Doctor Who. I've watched every Doctor Who episode since the First Doctor and I've listened to all of the missing episodes, and I find something to like with every Doctor... but Chibnall and Whittaker have never done anything for me. Looking forward to having a new showrunner and new Doctor, and hopefully the show will feel like Doctor Who again.
This is a big problem for Doctor Who going forward. Moffat was the obvious choice to replace RTD - he wrote some of the most acclaimed episodes of the first four series and he was already an experienced TV producer and showrunner. In terms of the quality of his episodes up until that point, Chibnall was not the obvious choice at all, but after his experience showrunning Broadchurch, yeah he kind of made sense too. Where do you go from there though? Someone new who hasn't taken part in Doctor Who up until now? Or one of the more successful writers from the RTD or Moffat era?
I was a huge fan of Moffat's Coupling, so I guess his work on Who was mostly fine with me. Took a little while to warm to Matt Smith but I grew to like him a lot. Not as consistent as the David Tennant years, but Tennant was like the Pet Sounds of Who, the absolute pinnacle of the rebooted show and something that will probably never be equalled.
Man, I loved Broadchurch so much. But it's completely night and day from DW, and I wonder if maybe Chibnall, despite being a fan, maybe just never quite got the hang of working in....whatever genre Dr Who is. Not sure where they go, but they have some time to figure it out. One thing I would predict is I imagine the choices will be...safer...whatever that means.
I too was a huge fan of Coupling...and Jekyll, and the episodes of Doctor Who he wrote under RTD...but when he took over as show runner he lost the plot. The show became...stupid. Just dumb plots and the worst dialog and Matt Smith was just awful to the point I never want to see him in anything ever again. Sadly, I loved Rory and Amy but will most likely never watch any of those episodes again. My reasoning is simple; Jodie's doctor has had mainly wonderful scripts, some great action sequences and a FANTASTIC Master in Sacha Dhawan. I think there has been a good air of mystery and a sense of wonder we haven't had since Tennant.
Jodie was fine, Chibnall wasn’t. I wish that we could see her as the Doctor with another producers vision but alas they have chosen to both be stupidly loyal to each other. Oh well. I thought her second season was way better than her first, but still none of the individual stories held a candle to anything Moffat wrote.
I don't mind when fans dislike a showrunner as long as the show is actually good. The Eccleston-Tennant-Smith eras were the Holy Trinity of NuWho and yet there were still naysayers even during those.
The master was good, but the scripts....eh. I think part of the issue was too many companions, and thus trying to shoehorn so many subplots (Graham getting over his wife's death. Graham and Ryan trying to awkwardly bond as parent-son. Wondering if Yasmin and Ryan will ever bang? Etc.) meant none of them ever really connected, in the way I connected with Amy, Rose, Donna, etc. I get having multiple series regulars was another way of changing up the formula, and I'm not opposed to it, it just didn't really work with this particular cast and writing team.
I liked Eccleston a lot and loved Tennant. The transition (err... regeneration) from Eccleston's Doctor to Tennant's was perfect and didn't miss a beat. Can't say the same from Tennant to Smith. Couldn't stand Smith's Doctor and couldn't take him seriously as The Doctor wearing that stupid bow tie, goofy grin on his face and his fast-talking dialect. His Doctor seemed more like a court jester/clown than a time and space traveller who can save the worlds/universe. Smith's era, though, for the most part, had the best stories and his Doctor had the best companion in Amy (though I do like Rose as 2nd favorite.) Smith's Doctor and Amy had the best chemistry together too in the Doctor/Companion relationships. Capaldi was a breath of fresh air after suffering through Smith as the Doctor. And I agree, he should've gotten his own new companion from the start. Even though I warmed up to Jenna Coleman's Clara Oswald after Amy left, she was more suited to be Smith's companion in his final year than she was with Capaldi's first. I don't think Capaldi's Doctor had any believable chemistry with Clara Oswald (felt creepy, to be honest.) While Bill Potts (who followed Clara) had better chemistry with Capaldi's doctor, I just couldn't stand her as a companion. I like Whittaker's take on the Doctor too but, unfortunately, she just didn't have much to work with. Crappy stories, lines and scripts, not to mention too many useless companions who she didn't have much screen time together with. The only one of her companions I like/liked was Graham. The other two I hate/hated. Hopefully her final season will be good (though, I do hate season-long story arcs, which will cover the shortened 8 episode season. I prefer episodic stories.)
I put Smith just ahead of Tennant, primarily because Tennant's Doctor was exhaustingly manic. Smith's persona was just steadily gleeful, and he did (as you say) have the best companion in Amy (and Rory - the perfect straight man to both the Doctor and Amy). The companions are so important, and after Rose, Donna, and the duo of Amy and Rory, there just haven't been any outstanding ones. Billie Potts was good too. Not great, but good - and what a fate she had! Clara Oswald was ok, though I never cared about her. Oh and Martha Jones was good. The companions during the Whittaker era were awful. The grandpa and the brain-damaged guy seemed like they were contemplating asking the Doctor for paychecks, or just going on a work-stoppage/strike. Yaz (Yazoo for American audiences) wants to be there - but in an obsessive, psycho kind of way. And having Whittaker's Doctor written as a socially-awkward, distant person who couldn't connect with them (no matter how many times she repeated the word "fam" when referring to them) was just a mistake. I just watched one of the specials in which most of them Spoiler leave , and, thank goodness.
