Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part 1 in USA

[David Zientara]

I recently obtained copies of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" 1-6. Previously, I only had an off-air copy of the serial in omnibus format, which was taped off a public TV station in the late 1980's. This version, of course, only covered parts 2-6, with part 1 eliminated entirely. This is not entirely unlike the situation with "Planet of the Daleks" in which the omnibus format skipped episode 3. However, the BBC eventually made available all 6 episodes of "Planet" in episodic format with episode 3 intact, and a few stations aired them. My question is: has episode 1 of "Dinosaurs" ever been aired in the USA?

My guess is no, since the only time the Pertwee episodes aired in the USA, as far as I know were as follows: (1) when Time-Life syndicated the first two seasons of Pertwee in the 1970's; (2) when PBS started airing episodes. [Locally, WOR channel 9 aired "Doctor Who" in the early 1980's, but as far as I know the early syndication packages only covered the Tom Baker years. Also, the Sci-Fi channel aired "Doctor Who" briefly, but again, I think they started with Tom Baker.]

Time-Life never syndicated season 11, so that eliminates (1) as a possibility. Perhaps the episode aired on PBS, but it seems unlikely, as it took some clamoring from fans to get the BBC to make episode 3 of "Planet of the Daleks" available, and I doubt there was a similar movement to get episode 1 of "Dinosaurs," since its absence didn't interfere with the continuity of the other 5 episodes. [IMO, it had a lot of padding - are we really expected to believe that the Doctor and Sarah would just wander aimlessly around central London when it's obvious that something has gone wrong and they should get out of there, and then once they are caught, are we expected to believe the Doctor can't establish his credentials to the satisfaction of the soldiers who detained him - psychic paper, anyone? - but nonetheless, it served a purpose in establishing the atmosphere for the story.]

Also, is there a list of PBS stations that were still airing the show when the BBC withdrew rights to the show in 2005? I found a list from the late 1990's, and even then the stations numbered less than 20.

[Nicholas Fitzpatrick]

David said:

Also, is there a list of PBS stations that were still airing the show when the BBC withdrew rights to the show in 2005? I found a list from the late 1990's, and even then the stations numbered less than 20.

Benjamin Elliot has been posting "This Week in Doctor Who" to the Usenet for years.

You can find most of the ones from the relevant time period by following this link

The most recent version is at Outpost Gallifrey

Two PBS stations still carry Doctor Who. MPT Maryland

and IPTV Iowa

Nick

[Greg]

'Invasion of the Dinsoaurs' Part One or "Invasion" did air in the US in the 90's. This was not part of the standard BBC Worldwide America's package. Stations would purchase the story with Part One as a special one off generally for Pledge Drives. This story was offered as well as the full 'Planet of the Daleks', the re-colorized Pertwee episodes and the Five Doctors Special Edition.

Of course both Invasion:1 and Planet of the Daleks:3 were broadcast in Black and White.

Take care,
Greg

[David Zientara]

If that was the case, then I assume PBS stations did NOT air "Invasion" part one if (a) they were showing it in omnibus format, or (b) they were showing it in episodic format, but as part of their regularly scheduled (non-pledge week) broadcasts.

I wonder if NJN ever aired this one. My off-air copy of "Invasion" from 1989 only covered episodes 2-6, but they did sometimes have special programming for pledge drives (I remember seeing "Tomb of the Cybermen" sometime around 1992 or 1993 during a pledge drive on NJN). Alas, NJN stopped airing Doctor Who in late 1994 or early 1995, and I suspect by then few PBS stations were still carrying the show; I assume that by the time "Invasion" part one was made available, not that many stations were still airing Doctor Who and perhaps even fewer would have bothered to acquire it for broadcast, but it does seem likely that at least one or two would have aired it.

Being an on-again-off-again Doctor Who fan, I haven't really kept close track of what's been re-colorized and what hasn't. [My understanding is that they've been able to re-colorize pretty much all but a few episodes from the Pertwee era - basically parts of "The Ambassadors of Death" and "The Mind of Evil" is all that's left, along with (obviously) episode 3 of "Planet of the Daleks" and episode 1 of "Dinosaurs."] I was watching an episode of "Doctor Who Confidential" recently and saw for the first time the re-colorized version of "Terror of the Autons."

As a sidebar, with the new series out, might this not be a good time to release a re-colorized version of "Planet of the Daleks" and/or a re-colorized version of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs"? The reason usually given for not doing so has been the prohibitive cost. Yet if it were done properly, a re-colorized (and presumably VIDFIRED) DVD release with a few extras, IMO, could be a big seller (since these episodes were usually left out of the American broadcasts, it would be almost like releasing hitherto missing episodes).

[Tom Rinschler]

Yes, Invasion of the Dinosaurs part 1 has been aired here in the US. I saw it twice on WCET here in Cincinnati, as part of the regular Pertwee run, right after The Green Death part 6 and just before Invasion of the Dinosaurs part 2. They only showed it when they aired the series in episodic format, which they only started to do in the mid-'90s. Had WCET been allowed to continue the series (they were abruptly forced to end their airings earlier this year), they would be getting around to showing it again by about now...

[David Zientara]

Tom said:

Yes, Invasion of the Dinosaurs part 1 has been aired here in the US. I saw it twice on WCET here in Cincinnati, as part of the regular Pertwee run, right after The Green Death part 6 and just before Invasion of the Dinosaurs part 2. They only showed it when they aired the series in episodic format, which they only started to do in the mid-'90s. Had WCET been allowed to continue the series (they were abruptly forced to end their airings earlier this year), they would be getting around to showing it again by about now...

They skipped over "The Time Warrior"?

[Tom Rinschler]

D'oh!

Of course, they showed The Time Warrior! Silly me for forgetting!

[David Zientara]

Tom said:

D'oh!

Of course, they showed The Time Warrior! Silly me for forgetting!

As a sidebar, does anyone have any idea what the BBC is up to with respect to the U.S.? Presumably they have withdrawn the rights from PBS stations for a reason. I assume that they plan to air the show on either a third-party cable network (e.g. Sci-Fi channel) or BBC America, possibly with the new series as part of the deal. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense not to license it to PBS stations, in which case they'd at least be making some money off the show.

[Misha Lauenstein]

David said:

As a sidebar, does anyone have any idea what the BBC is up to with respect to the U.S.?

I think they want you to buy it on DVD now.

[Martin Pyne]

Given that the new series hasn't been released on Region 1 DVD yet, that's rather difficult.

If you're referring to the classic series DVDs, it seems that they're limiting their fan base in the U.S. If WYBE (Philadelphia) hadn't aired Doctor Who, I doubt I would have ever been interested in the series and therefore wouldn't have bought any DVDs.

[Wright Blan]

From what I recall the Beeb tried to do a deal with the Sci-Fi Channel, but Sci-Fi turned them down. Reportedly, Sci-Fi said the series didn't match up to their standards. This coming from the network that brought us "Black Scorpion."

[David Zientara]

Wright said:

From what I recall the Beeb tried to do a deal with the Sci-Fi Channel, but Sci-Fi turned them down. Reportedly, Sci-Fi said the series didn't match up to their standards. This coming from the network that brought us "Black Scorpion."

...Not to mention that show with Traci Lords...and "Scare Tactics."

[Daivd Zientara]

Martin said:

Given that the new series hasn't been released on Region 1 DVD yet, that's rather difficult.

If you're referring to the classic series DVDs, it seems that they're limiting their fan base in the U.S. If WYBE (Philadelphia) hadn't aired Doctor Who, I doubt I would have ever been interested in the series and therefore wouldn't have bought any DVDs.

Perhaps they want you to download the episodes off the Internet?