Attn: UK - Canada exists!
Today’s blog entry is just a polite reminder to the Doctor Who world, with a special hello to the UK, that Canada exists. Its unfortunate that the reminder is needed, but with the recent fantastic news that the new series of Doctor Who has been sold to the US, Canada appears destined to be shunted further into the nether regions of existence.
Already we’ve had Executive Producer Julie Gardner mention on BBC radio how thrilled she was that Doctor Who has at last “made it across the pond” with the sale to the US. This has followed countless comments from fans (unfortunately, mainly British fans) to the effect that the series had not yet been seen across the Atlantic, not to mention a programme that has never had a story set in Canada, on tv, radio, audio or even a full novel (this gives Canada the unfortunate distinction of being the only country that has had a Doctor Who story filmed on its land, but never had one set there). There has barely been any explicit Canadian characters in Doctor Who, leading fans to desperately clutch at characters like Mr. Huckle from Terror of the Zygons and proclaim them to be Canadians in a last-ditch effort to prove that Canada as a country exists in the Doctor Who world.
There have barely been any references to Canada in the show’s history, many Canadian fans can recite them off the top of their heads thanks to their scarcity. One reference occurs in The Claws of Axos, where Canada is only deemed worth of one unit of Axonite when everyone else in the world is entitled to more (including some places I still haven’t even heard of). In the DVD release of this story, a documentary about the return of the colour versions of the episode to the BBC archives claims that the re-conversion to the British format was done from “the re-covered American tapes” when in fact they were recovered from Canada (along with a whole host of other colour Jon Pertwee episodes). The diagram in the documentary showing the conversion process between North America and the UK ommitted Canada from it, for no readily apparent reason.
A Canadian created Doctor Who. We were the first country on this side of the Atlantic to buy the original series, and the first country anywhere to buy the new series. A plethora of missing colour Pertwee episodes were recovered in Canada. Doctor Who has been filmed here and we currently are “co-producers” of the new series. Canadians usually don’t ask for much, but I think we are entitled to the acknowledgement of our existence. Can the TARDIS not land here once?
Posted by John on Monday, January 16 at 6:41 pm
16 Comments...
I’d like to deny that Don Cherry exists.
Posted by John on 01/16 at 07:50 PM
Well put Luca.
I’ve been both a Canadian and a Doctor Who fan for all of my 31 years, and since the news of the rebirth of the series and its Canadian participation, I’ve never been happier to be both. Every time it was on CBC last year, I loved the cast intros to the episodes, knowing that we were being acknowledged, even in some small way.
But its a real shame how we get missed in the shuffle during any serious talk about fandom on this side of the pond (or worse, lumped in with out neighbours to the south).
Hopefully Canadians will get the recognition we deserve for being the ‘all-weather’ fans that we are.
Posted by derek on 01/16 at 08:38 PM
Oh, I’ve always been convinced that Huckle was meant to be Canadian! His accent and mannerisms scream “stereotypical Canadian” and of course that shirt…
It’s also interesting that Terrance Dicks has consistently referred to a city called “Ottowa” in his novelizations (definitely twice, maybe more?).
Posted by Ben on 01/16 at 10:26 PM
Toronto is mentioned in “The Seeds of Death” - quite near the beginning, in fact - by that droning computer keeping track of things around the world. So offscreen activity takes place there.
Andrew Cartmel, script editor of the last three seasons of the original series, was born in Canada. And Yee Jee Tso, who co-starred in the Vancouver-filmed TV movie, is Canadian.
And one of those thick-as-a-phone-book episode guides - I forget which one - is written by someone who believed that some of the character accents in “Tomb of the Cybermen” were Canadian.
Besides, it’s not as if Doctor Who has consistently portrayed non-British cultures with respect and dignity (Morton Dill, anyone?) so Canada’s low “Who” profile may be a blessing in disguise.
Posted by Curt on 01/17 at 12:30 AM
I really think making a few nods to Canadian viewers would be a nice gesture. Coronation Street does it all the time.
Posted by Scott on 01/17 at 10:18 PM
Canada has at least premiered an episode though (the TV Movie on CityTV in Vancouver). Which is more than can be said for Australia.
(the UK, USA and New Zealand having been the other episode-premiering nations of Whodom).
Posted by Paul Hayes on 01/17 at 10:50 PM
Canada is much like Doctor Who (The TV Movie) in that it gets sometimes gets overlooked by the producers and sometimes not.
Certainly for story ideas the movie has been watched incessantly though rarely acknowledged but then it is slightly embarassing to talk about their show being the second successful return of Doctor Who since 1989 even though the BBC did nothing with it.
As for Canada it did get a mention as Davies referred to Newman as a Canadian. It would have been nice for Gardner to correctly state the airing of the show on the radio interview, especially since she apparently was over here not long ago talking to the CBC!
When the Doctor comes to America on the new series it’ll be probably be shot in Canada.
Posted by Ryan on 01/18 at 03:38 AM
Very well said. I’ve been extremely proud that CBC was ‘on board’ for the new series and proud of Sydney Newman’s work to create the program and all that other Can-Con connected to the program.
Perhaps some of the “Canada who?” lately is just because we seem to be a ‘safe’ market or at least not a very potentially profitable one. The US release on TV could mean a LOT of money if they do it right and I can’t blame the BBC for really going for it. Let’s hope they make enough money that they can afford to do a story in Canada (besides, it’s obvious Stephen Harper is a cyberman).
Posted by Allan on 01/18 at 03:52 AM
well said allan—i too am very proud of the fact that the cbc was in on the ground floor for the new dr. who, not to mention the contributuion of mr newman that began it all! i don’t know the history of dw’s relation to canada or the us (what episode was filmed in canada? is it available on dvd?), but it’s quintessential britishness is part of its charm for me, so i’m not sure if i’d like a location shot episode—although tennant vs. bubbles is tempting! as for don cherry, he’ll be culture minister after the 23rd. and i think you’re onto something with harper being a cyberman, too…
Posted by Jimmy on 01/18 at 04:57 AM
I realize that this is looking too far into the future but it occurs to me that so far the Sci-Fi network is simply buying the rights to broadcast the first series. But if they start putting money into the program, as CBC has done, then we will really get the short end of the stick.
Posted by LT on 01/18 at 06:55 PM
OK OK.. Our bad. Actually I like Canadians. Whenever I hear a vaguely North American twang I always say ‘oh wow - you’re Canadian!’.. If I’m right I’ve just pleased a Canadian and if I’m wrong I just annoyed an American. It’s a win-win thing.
Email RTD and have him put a Bad Wolf style running reference to Canada in the next series. He’s a nice chap, I’m sure he’ll help.
JH (Brit interested enought to read your blog… so by definition it mustn’t be 100% accurate..
)
Posted by Jonathan on 01/19 at 10:18 AM
Hey there—
I’d just like to add my two cents’ worth and say that I agree with you—Canada gets the short end from the Brits all the time—mind tho—I think it’s gotten worse since independence! Remember how they treated us for the first 140 years after 1783!
I’ll say it again—I want this version of the show to be sucessful, without having to pander to the fickle American taste! (and I’m one of…them). We went down that road to hell once before—and I have no desire to see history repeating itself—far too much of that going on already. As for me,I grew up close to Canada, in a far less jingo-istic time than we are living in now—I still sound closer to you guys than I ever will the rednecks I’m stuck next to at present!
As for your new P.M., if he becomes a pain—just remember those six little words from the Xmas Invasion—we sure could have used something like that in this country last August!
Hey—if another American city gets destroyed this year, maybe we can set a precedent of our own and have the first ever US No-Confidence Vote—it’s worth a try!
Posted by martin on 02/07 at 06:06 AM
I’m from the U.S. but would like to see a Doctor Who story set in Canada, but without resorting to cliche. Would Canadians be offended if the Doctor met up with a stereotypical Mountie who proclaimed he “Always gets his man,” along with other cliches? I’d like to see it done with due respect to the country, with some research to get the local flavor right.
Posted by David on 02/21 at 05:32 AM
Wait a minute, did someone just claim that the TV Movie was first broadcast (i.e. premiered) in Vancouver? Well, certainly it premiered in Canada, but I believe its first public broadcast was in Edmonton on CITV (Sunday, May 12th, 1996 at 10 p.m.). Still, it’s all in the family, right?
Posted by JP on 03/03 at 02:57 AM
I have to say that as a Canadian, I’ve never actually paid much attention to where the story was happening. Apart from a few historical references that I had to look up during the classic series and a few knocks at Cardiff last year, most of the plots seem to transcend geography. But if you remember in the first episode in 2005, the Doctor made a reference to Canada. “Lot’s of planets have a North.”
Posted by Gord on 05/03 at 01:05 AM
All this talk of Canada getting short shift concerning Doctor Who, gets me thinking that maybe we in Canada should insist that the CBC start pulling its weight as to the production of the show. I understand (although I wish someone would clue me in as to how it happened) that the CBC now owns the rights to all things “Doctor Who”. The way I understand it, the BBC discontinued the series for a few years, and when it decided to pick up the series again, they found that they did not own the rights to it, and were forced into court to fight for the rights, only to have the judge rule that the rights were owned by, of all groups, the CBC. If that is true, then why dosn’t the CBC insist on some shows be filmed in Canada?
Posted by Greg on 05/29 at 06:13 AM
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