Just noticed something odd whilst following Doctor Who on the 'horror' channel.
I am assuming that horror are showing the old Dr Who episodes in chronological order and thought of this thread when I noticed something earlier this week.
After using Roman numerals for as many eisodes as I can remember, the year of production at the end of the episodes is now being shown as '1976'!
I wonder why Dr Who changed back to the old method?
The copyright notice at the end of BBC programmes first appeared in 1972, with the year of production displayed in Arabic numerals, switching to Roman numerals in late 1976. Doctor Who was no exception to this. However there appears to have been a transitional period between the two, as demonstrated on BBC Four in 2011 when they were showing Top of the Pops episodes from the autumn of 1976, which switched between using Arabic and Roman numerals for a few weeks, before finally settling on Roman numerals.
I don't understand why though. BBC are meant to be informative and impartial. So why insult viewers by either hiding the production date or using an ancient language that nobody can understand. I mean why not go the whole hog and rename "Reporting Scotland" to "Reporting Caledonia"
The fact of the matter is if I was interested in when a program was made I would look it up online. They aren't increasing the commercial value of their output. So what gives?
I don't understand why though. BBC are meant to be informative and impartial. So why insult viewers by either hiding the production date or using an ancient language that nobody can understand. I mean why not go the whole hog and rename "Reporting Scotland" to "Reporting Caledonia"
The fact of the matter is if I was interested in when a program was made I would look it up online. They aren't increasing the commercial value of their output. So what gives?
I don't understand why though. BBC are meant to be informative and impartial. So why insult viewers by either hiding the production date or using an ancient language that nobody can understand. I mean why not go the whole hog and rename "Reporting Scotland" to "Reporting Caledonia"
The fact of the matter is if I was interested in when a program was made I would look it up online. They aren't increasing the commercial value of their output. So what gives?
Ah but these dates were in use *gasp* before the interweb thingy
And Roman numerals aren't "dead", they're still very much in use (look at a lot of watches of clocks...).
I don't understand why though. BBC are meant to be informative and impartial. So why insult viewers by either hiding the production date or using an ancient language that nobody can understand. I mean why not go the whole hog and rename "Reporting Scotland" to "Reporting Caledonia"
The fact of the matter is if I was interested in when a program was made I would look it up online. They aren't increasing the commercial value of their output. So what gives?
In the 70's the BBC attracted a higher standard (educated) viewer and therefore reading Roman numerals was not an issue. Unfortunately the standards have dropped:)
Ah but these dates were in use *gasp* before the interweb thingy
And Roman numerals aren't "dead", they're still very much in use (look at a lot of watches of clocks...).
I submit to you that the world would not change, if there was ban on roman numerals, and once you set what is 12 and maybe, 3, 6 & 9 you dont need any other numbers on a clock.
I am not saying we go around defacing historic clocks, replacing their roman numerals with regular numbers, but they are more of an oddity than the norm.
I do seek to accuse the BBC (or any other TV channels) of hiding how old any repeat is, we really dont need roman numerals anymore. In the age of digital, romans would be shocked to see their numerals still in use today,
I do seek to accuse the BBC (or any other TV channels) of hiding how old any repeat is, we really dont need roman numerals anymore. In the age of digital, romans would be shocked to see their numerals still in use today,
Who is "we"?? Why do some people feel the need to speak on behalf of the entire population?
In contrast, last nights showing of The New Statesman on ITV had 'Yorkshire Television Ltd 1987' at the end.
It was also nice to see the old Yorkshire Television chevron & branding too.
I wonder when/if ITV changed over?
I must think to look next time I watch a modern day ITV programme.
Last nights Coronation Street said 'ITV Productions 2014', so it appears that in the present day ITV still show the date in a format that is easy to understand at a glance.
Todays Dr Who has gone back to Jon Pertwee for some reason.
At the end of both parts 1 and 2, it simply said 'BBC TV'!
I wonder if these airings were taken from a video or DVD release? I'm making the assumption that they don't keep the year of production at the end of such releases, but I don't know for sure.
Could there be any reason why the date of production would be omitted at the end
Todays Dr Who has gone back to Jon Pertwee for some reason.
At the end of both parts 1 and 2, it simply said 'BBC TV'!
I wonder if these airings were taken from a video or DVD release? I'm making the assumption that they don't keep the year of production at the end of such releases, but I don't know for sure.
Could there be any reason why the date of production would be omitted at the end
Just to add that the story in question was 'Terror Of The Autons'.
Todays Dr Who has gone back to Jon Pertwee for some reason.
At the end of both parts 1 and 2, it simply said 'BBC TV'!
I wonder if these airings were taken from a video or DVD release? I'm making the assumption that they don't keep the year of production at the end of such releases, but I don't know for sure.
Could there be any reason why the date of production would be omitted at the end
Just to add that the story in question was 'Terror Of The Autons'.
The BBC did not start adding the copyright notice and date of production to the end of programmes until 1972. 'Terror of the Autons' was produced in 1970 and shown at the start of 1971, hence the date does not appear at the end.
The first time the copyright date appears on Doctor Who is apparently episode 6 of 'The Mutants', transmitted 13th May 1972.
The BBC did not start adding the copyright notice and date of production to the end of programmes until 1972. 'Terror of the Autons' was produced in 1970 and shown at the start of 1971, hence the date does not appear at the end.
The first time the copyright date appears on Doctor Who is apparently episode 6 of 'The Mutants', transmitted 13th May 1972.
That explains it, thank you.
I'm assuming that they have now run out of episodes, but why jump back to the Jon Pertwee era? I assumed that they would go right back to the beggining again
I have the same theory as to why we don't have the Euro in the UK.
It stops people on Holiday from quickly working out how much more we pay for our fuel in the UK due to tax than in other parts of Europe.
If only they confiscated their smart phones, tablets, laptops, and computers, blocked access to all the search engines, and switched off the internet, then there really would be a conspiracy.
Comments
The fact of the matter is if I was interested in when a program was made I would look it up online. They aren't increasing the commercial value of their output. So what gives?
Ssssh. Go back to bed.
Ah but these dates were in use *gasp* before the interweb thingy
And Roman numerals aren't "dead", they're still very much in use (look at a lot of watches of clocks...).
In the 70's the BBC attracted a higher standard (educated) viewer and therefore reading Roman numerals was not an issue. Unfortunately the standards have dropped:)
lol those old home movie video clips that people left the time code on! I wonder if many people actually knew how to turn them off?
These days I suppose you will more likely see footage shot from a phone camera on YBF!
Because it's what the BBC do best.
I am not saying we go around defacing historic clocks, replacing their roman numerals with regular numbers, but they are more of an oddity than the norm.
I do seek to accuse the BBC (or any other TV channels) of hiding how old any repeat is, we really dont need roman numerals anymore. In the age of digital, romans would be shocked to see their numerals still in use today,
PMSL? hang on, I think its the year... something 1000 something 50... ;-)
In contrast, last nights showing of The New Statesman on ITV had 'Yorkshire Television Ltd 1987' at the end.
It was also nice to see the old Yorkshire Television chevron & branding too.
I wonder when/if ITV changed over?
I must think to look next time I watch a modern day ITV programme.
Who is "we"?? Why do some people feel the need to speak on behalf of the entire population?
Last nights Coronation Street said 'ITV Productions 2014', so it appears that in the present day ITV still show the date in a format that is easy to understand at a glance.
At the end of both parts 1 and 2, it simply said 'BBC TV'!
I wonder if these airings were taken from a video or DVD release? I'm making the assumption that they don't keep the year of production at the end of such releases, but I don't know for sure.
Could there be any reason why the date of production would be omitted at the end
Just to add that the story in question was 'Terror Of The Autons'.
The first time the copyright date appears on Doctor Who is apparently episode 6 of 'The Mutants', transmitted 13th May 1972.
If they did show the date, then they weren't doing a very good job of trying to hide it!
That explains it, thank you.
I'm assuming that they have now run out of episodes, but why jump back to the Jon Pertwee era? I assumed that they would go right back to the beggining again
It stops people on Holiday from quickly working out how much more we pay for our fuel in the UK due to tax than in other parts of Europe.
If only they confiscated their smart phones, tablets, laptops, and computers, blocked access to all the search engines, and switched off the internet, then there really would be a conspiracy.
Sorted by the price of UNLEADED
([Highlight]*[/Highlight] may contain chip fat.)