Doctor Who' Class Notes: What I Learned About the TARDIS, the Daleks and 1963 Television

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'Doctor Who' class notes: What I learned about the TARDIS, the Daleks and 1963 television

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By Katrina Tulloch | [email protected] Print more Follow on Twitter Email Comics Kingdom: on January 13, 2015 at 11:50 AM, updated January 13, 2015 at 1:00 PM Read your favorite comics online SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Remember that "Doctor Who" in the Digital Age class oﬀered for free at Syracuse University? It started last night. And I'm in it.

Professor Anthony Rotolo calls the spring 2015 offering a "Doctor Who ENTERTAINMENT PHOTOS (Un)Class" because it's not an official college course. In October, both SU students and members of the Central New York community were invited to enroll, free of charge. Students could register the course as an independent study to receive academic credit if View full size An undated handout photo made available by the BBC approved by their advisors and shows the first eleven Doctors, from left, William departments. Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and "I do hope to make this an official course Matt Smith. Zac Brown Band fans BBC | The Associated Press for SU credit in the future," Rotolo told syracuse.com last year. Fans of the Zac Brown Band have fun before his concert at the Lakeview The three-hour lectures cover both classic and recent episodes of "Doctor Who," Amphitheater ... See photos» with discussions and analysis of the history, evolution and cultural impact of the long-running British science fiction series.

Two hundred people (about half SU students, half non-students) could enroll in ENTERTAINMENT LISTINGS the live class in Syracuse, but thousands of online students from all around the world follow along and participate in the class discussions via Twitter and Events Music Food Google+.

Doctor Who in the Digital Age: Class 1 Enter Keyword or Phrase

The course is named "Doctor Who in the Digital Age" because our current Enter City or Town technology lets us stream and binge-watch and look things up anything about the

"Who" universe online. With the ability to instantly revisit stories and connect the Event Category dots from decade to decade, we have all the knowledge we want at our fingertips. Select a Start Date "We can do what only the Doctor could," said Rotolo, on the first night of class. "We're time-traveling." Search As a social media expert, Rotolo knew how to kick things off with some buzz. See All Events »

Syracuse University's music group, Otto Tunes, made an excellent surprise cameo Submit Your Events » with an a cappella rendition of the "Doctor Who" theme song. Check it out below.

Doctor Who Theme Acapella #whoclass

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Each weekly class consists of a lecture, at least one screening and discussion of How CNY traﬃc stop the screenings in real-time on Twitter as we watch. Anyone can follow the class on for speeding ended Twitter with the hashtag #WhoClass. However, we lucky 200 were spoiled with a with driver facing up to life in prison TARDIS cake and British cookies (sorry, biscuits) called Digestives.

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Happy that so many loved the TARDIS cake! I had fun making it; glad you had fun eating it! #WhoClass 12:21 AM - Jan 13, 2015 15 See E.C. Lambson's other Tweets FEATURED JOBS

02.17.18 East Syracuse, NY Every week, I'll post a few cool things I learned in the "Doctor Who" class, for the pop culture junkies and Whovians out there. Geronimo! Equipment Operator II (2nd Shift Routers) Anaren 1. 1963 television 02.17.18 East Syracuse, NY The BBC needed an action show to compete with ITV Equipment Operator II (1st shift Router/Lam) When "Doctor Who" ﬁrst aired on the BBC in 1963, the moon landing hadn't yet Anaren taken place. "War of the Worlds" oﬀered the most common depiction of aliens in 02 17 18 East Syracuse NY pop culture and any action on TV was rare.

"TV was in black and white and scenes were slow, typically done in one take," Rotolo told the class. "There was very little action, very little to stir up people's sensibilities."

For reference, Rotolo showed clips from shows on air in 1963, like "The Andy Griﬃth Show" and "Gunsmoke" in the U.S. Like PBS, Rotolo explained, the BBC was meant to educate the masses, and their programming reﬂected that mission. When ITV started airing sexy, action-packed programming (think Emma Peel of "The Avengers" sporting a skin-tight leather catsuit), it captivated British viewers. Particularly male viewers.

The BBC needed to compete with these attention-grabbing crime shows, so they hired Canadian producer Sydney Newman to create a new, family program to capture the imaginations of the TV-viewing public.

2. TARDIS namesake It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.

On the ﬁrst day of class, we watched the ﬁrst episode of "Doctor Who," featuring William Hartnell, who played The Doctor from 1963 to 1966.

"He's not the First Doctor; he's just The Doctor," Rotolo reminded us. "You can't compare him to anyone else. He's the only person who never had a point of reference for his character."

In the pilot episode, we learned the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman, named the TARDIS (the iconic police box which travels through space and time). It stands for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

"Doctor Who" quickly nailed the crux of what made it so successful: a juxtaposition of the very familiar and the very mysterious.

Among the "Who" episodes were "historicals," or adventure scenarios which played out in the context of a real historical moment. In our ﬁrst class, we saw the Doctor bring his TARDIS and companions back to the American Old West, for example. More on that in another class and another post.

3. Doctor Who's nemeses, The Daleks The Daleks reﬂect The U.K.'s post-WW2 fears of fascism.

The merciless Daleks have endured as the ultimate villain in the "Who" universe for more than 50 years, perhaps because their fascist ideology resonated with the British people at a sensitive time in their history. View full size Watching the ﬁrst appearance of the Daleks in class, with a running feed of viewer comments from the "1963 England was very diﬀerent from students on Twitter.

1963 America," Rotolo said. "Yes there's Katrina Tulloch | counterculture, but the U.K remembered [email protected] 18 World War Two very diﬀerently."

Two words: The Blitz. The United Kingdom sustained regular bombings from the Nazis for many months but never surrendered. As a result, the U.K. believed long after the war ended that fascism would emerge if citizens didn't actively fend it oﬀ.

Daleks embody zealous racism, fascism and nationalism, choosing to "Extreminate!" anyone who challenges their beliefs and progress. That's pretty scary for a nation still nursing its wounds from a similar threat.

The Daleks also crystallized the "Doctor Who" monster as a creature much bigger in story than in budget. In television history, Rotolo explained, the show's been known for bad special eﬀects, but nothing beats a strong story and complicated characters. 139 shares Class Notes will return Jan. 27, after Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Contact Whovian Katrina Tulloch anytime:Email | Twitter | Google+

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by Taboola 18 comments Newest | Oldest | Top Comments

Jim B. Johnson Jan 13, 2015 This class sounds fantastic! I hope you report a bit on it each week.

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Katrina Tulloch | [email protected] Jan 13, 2015 @Jim B. Johnson That's the plan! :)

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lennym44 Jan 13, 2015 Who's Dr Who?

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marat Jan 13, 2015 @lennym44 That's out of one of the episodes....you have revealed yourself to be a Dalek! : )

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capwasteh20 Jan 14, 2015 @marat @lennym44 EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!

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Katrina Tulloch | [email protected] Jan 14, 2015 @capwasteh20 @marat @lennym44 Love how nerdy this comment thread became.

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OldMaidWhovian Jan 13, 2015 I've been an absolute fan, besotted with Doctor Who, since I first watched the series one rainy Sunday afternoon, in March 1982, on Schenectady's PBS station, WMHT.

Became such a fan, that I ended up secretary & PR person to the (now defunct) Albany fanclub, Doctor Who Northeast. As a club, we sponsored conventions, viewing marathons, parties, and myself & other members were even once interviewed for the BBC's "Breakfast" program in the late 1980's.

Though the program went off the air for nearly a decade, I never stopped loving Doctor Who. It's only a shame there's no longer any (formal) local clubs in upstate New York.

I can't afford to enroll in any courses, but I am so happy to hear that SU is helping to carry on the "cause" of the Doctor. Doctor Who came back into my life in 2006, at a time when I very literally lost everything: family, home, job, car, pets, etc. It was actually the only (positive) thing I had left in my life to hold on to. It helped me through nightmare after nightmare, and kept me sane.

Though I no longer watch the series (on DVD) every day like I did in 2006-07, I still get chills whenever I hear that wonderful theme tune.

Thank you for a great article, Katrina.

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Steve Carlic | [email protected] Jan 13, 2015 @OldMaidWhovian Katrina will be sharing her class notes after each class. There's no class next week because of the holiday, but she'll be reporting weekly thereafter. We'd love to hear your perspectives.

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Katrina Tulloch | [email protected] Jan 14, 2015 @OldMaidWhovian I also came to Doctor Who through PBS-WMHT! Glad there's a fellow Whovian from the 518 in Syracuse. Definitely agree the show can get people through some tough times. Thanks for reading and for the great comment. Perhaps the time is ripe for a Syracuse Doctor Who fan club...

Flag Trayhead Jan 16, 2015 Baldwinsville Public Library, in a suburb of Syracuse, has hosted several Doctor Who events, and we're hoping to have Professor Rotolo at our ComiConVersation event in August. We'd love to host a Syacuse area DW fan club! Anyone who is interested in organizing one - or has already done so - please call the Bville library and ask for Julia or Val!

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ChairmanAl10 Jan 13, 2015 I want a Dalek of my own. I'll send it up to the attic to deal with the squirrels.

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Katrina Tulloch | [email protected] Jan 13, 2015 @ChairmanAl10 Perhaps a replica alone will scare them off? http://www.bbcshop.com/page/dalekreplicas

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ChairmanAl10 Jan 13, 2015 @Katrina Tulloch | [email protected] @ChairmanAl10 I doubt the squirrels would be impressed. Besides, £3495 is a bit steep for something that doesn't even have a working death-ray. I like the Dalek coffee mug, though. I may get one of those... for coffee, not the squirrels.

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Trayhead Jan 16, 2015 I got to try out an actual fan-made ride-in dalek in England, made by Duncan, who we encountered in a pub the night before. It looked and acted just like an original Dalek, and he acted in it for the fan-made remake of a lost Second Doctor dalek episode. It is about the only fan- made movie that the BBC has approved! Anyway, it was cool. But no working death-ray; it just lit up and made the shhrronngg noise of the original daleks.

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marat Jan 13, 2015 @ChairmanAl10 I can lend you my children.

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ChairmanAl10 Jan 13, 2015 @marat @ChairmanAl10 Do they have working death rays?

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marat Jan 13, 2015 @ChairmanAl10

Even better - they cause premature aging, bankruptcy and ulcers.

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ChairmanAl10 Jan 14, 2015 @marat @ChairmanAl10

Squirrels are not afraid of that. Death rays and atomic weapons are called for.

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