"did you know" -interesting Who trivia and titbits
Mr Seta
Posts: 380 Forum Member
✭
Okay, I thought I'd start a thread here where fans could put down any interesting facts they know about the show which they think are not widely known.
So let's see who can come up with the most interesting thing (ideally you know it's true too and that it's not widely known).
So to start the ball rolling:
Who was the oldest actor to start playing the Doctor when it first went to air?
You will say: "Oh that's easy -William Hartnell" ..but no, jumping into the Tardis and moving forward in time by half a year from now, it will actually be Peter Capaldi. He's just turned 56. Mr Hartnell was only a spring chicken at 55.
For some others try this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/doctor-who/10468029/Doctor-Who-50-things-you-didnt-know.html
So let's see who can come up with the most interesting thing (ideally you know it's true too and that it's not widely known).
So to start the ball rolling:
Who was the oldest actor to start playing the Doctor when it first went to air?
You will say: "Oh that's easy -William Hartnell" ..but no, jumping into the Tardis and moving forward in time by half a year from now, it will actually be Peter Capaldi. He's just turned 56. Mr Hartnell was only a spring chicken at 55.
For some others try this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/doctor-who/10468029/Doctor-Who-50-things-you-didnt-know.html
0
Comments
ha ha
/thread
The original TARDIS key was designed by Jon Pertwee
Prior to 1973, the key to the TARDIS looked much like an ordinary Yale key. In fact, it was an ordinary Yale key. Jon Pertwee, however, wanted something fancier, so helped to create the copper, spade-like key that made its first appearance in The Time Warrior. The design has been used as the TARDIS key template ever since.
Except, it hasn't... The TARDIS key, since the 2005 revival, has been an ordinary Yale or ERA key again.
I read that bit of trivia not too long ago, and it annoyed me then, too - it had been copied well after the revival. All it takes is watching the show to know it's not true! >:(
Doesn't the TARDIS key nowadays look like an ordinary door key?
http://artlung.com/images/20100616-tardis-key.png
Yes, it does. And, like I mentioned above, it has since Father's Day at least.
Which actor has played the greatest number of different roles in Doctor Who? In which stories?
Which Doctor has been broadcast most, worldwide? Therefore if you asked an random person from the last fifty years, which would they be most likely to recognise as _the_ Doctor? Given that Hartnell and, to a lesser extent, Troughton stories were sold much more widely (being closer to the end of empire and all that), can either of them tip the balance away from the longer stayers? Or has being in black and white killed their rerun opportunities?
If you add up all the individual screams, which companion has screamed the longest?
Which would a graph of Doctor Who episodes as ranked on the Flesch-Kinacaid reading scale look like?
Scream wise, reckon it would be between Victoria and Mel. Probably the former as she had more screen time and seemed to spend quite a lot of it in a state of constant panic. Decibel level and length of individual scream Eg End of Terror of the Vervoids part 1 brings Mel into the reckoning though. Tough call. I'll dig out my DVDs and stopwatch and get back to you in a few weeks. ;-)
(I'm a Tardis nerd by the way!):)
You'd be looking for the 'random questions thread'...
Can only be Bill, being the only actor to play the Doctor when it first went to air?
Here's mine: John Pertwee co-designed the 'Whomobile' and allowed a company to use it in an advertising campaign (so I guess he owns the rights to it)
What exactly was it like in the space between the inner doors and the outer ones? Sometimes it took people many seconds to get between the two, whereas others it was immediate.
I heard some idiot drove it into the sea, thinking it was a hovercraft!
Lol
Ah yeah, good point. I meant to say "the oldest Doctor when the first show with him as the Doctor first aired". Thought it would be useful to add this because I imagine the time delay between Hartnell being announced to play the Doctor to it being filmed to it then being screened was probably somewhat shorter than what goes on now. In fact it probably still is Hartnell (the oldest Doc) if you knew his exact age when he was signed on for the role!
No it would be John Hurt
Yeah okay, if you buy into that War Doctor malarkey. I was going to say "bullsh#t" but maybe that would rark a few too many people.
I wonder what mumbo jumbo Moffat has dreamt up for this series to fundamentally alter the basic premise of Doctor Who? Does he have no conscience as to "hmm, should I really try and do this?" I'm sure a lot of people who worked on the original series (such as Terrance Dicks for example) won't be too happy with what has been going on with the new Who lately. I bet some might even be rolling in their graves.
They should also change the title to "Super Who" as I think this better describes the Doctor now -more some sort of super hero in a lot of the stories.
No I'm pretty sure It'll be Peter Capaldi. He'll be 56 when his first episode airs and Bill Hartnell was 55. In terms of when it was announced I'm not sure, but they'd only be a few months in it,
It's a shame we never saw it again after the Pertwee episodes.
(Presumably for storyline purposes, it's still in storage at Unit somewhere. )
Surprised Bessie hasn't made a reappearance!
John Hurt's still the Doctor, though.
You've misunderstood the misunderstanding!
The OP started with...
Who was the oldest actor to start playing the Doctor when it first went to air?
The BIB is the pertinent point. When Doctor Who first went to air, there had been no previous Doctors so WH must have been the oldest.
So, the fact that every show runner or executive producer has added stuff to the Doctor Who mythos has passed you by? Of everyone involved with Doctor Who over the years had that same mentality, we wouldn't have had anything after William Hartnell. Thank goodness there are people out there not averse to change...