Doctor Who USAU - Part 4: The NBC Years and the End of the Beginning (1982-1989)
DISCLAIMER:
The following is part four of a multipart alternate history series about the history of Doctor Who if it was an American-made production rather than a British production. It's purely speculative and a work of fiction, although some real-world elements were included and presented for realistic situations and scenarios. Neither this series nor its author are connected to nor reflect the views and opinions of BBC Studios (the owner of the Doctor Who franchise) or any entity or persons mentioned and does not mean to infringe on the copyrights and trademarks of those parties. - JH
The very first co-production was a retrospective special celebrating Doctor Who’s 20th anniversary in September 1983 and reuniting all five Doctors for the very first time, including Michael Keaton, the most recent actor to play the role of The Doctor whose run was shortened because of various strikes and ABC's waning interest in the series. Not surprisingly, the special was the number one series that week in all of television, largely due to Keaton and fellow Doctor-turned-superstar Robin Williams' participation in the special.
When rumors of Williams' participation in the special was first mentioned in the press, it was rumored that he would be returning to the role of The Doctor. Williams, who largely became a full-time stand-up comedian after the abrupt cancelation of Mork and Mindy in 1982 and tired of the network grind and having to deal with network executives, talked about it in a print interview.
"Are you f**king kiddin' me? Having a bunch of network guys jabbering about what I can and can't do? Look, I loved playing the old man, had a blast, and he's a huge part of me. But after Mork, I like feeling free now. I'll definitely be watching what they'll do with The Doctor."
The special ended with Michael Keaton’s Fifth Doctor, in character, receiving a strange transmission that was the catalyst for the upcoming specials featuring someone claiming to be The Doctor. Ironically, this was filmed during on the Saturday Night Live set clandestinely.
According to insiders at the time, many staffers felt this was going to be a filmed segment that was going to air during Keaton's first SNL hosting appearance on October 30, 1982 and featured SNL cast member Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing his companion in the segment. They felt the segment was scrapped for time. No one except for Keaton and Louis-Dreyfus knew it was going to be part of the series' revival on NBC.
This segment also would mark Saturday Night Live alum Dan Aykroyd’s first appearance as the Sixth Doctor before officially taking on the role at the end of the first serialized primetime special, "Doctoris Adventu (The Doctor’s Arrival)," which aired the night before Thanksgiving, November 23, 1983, coincidentally the 20th anniversary of its premiere on BBC One in the UK.
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| Dan Aykroyd as the Sixth Doctor (1983 - 1985) |
The two-hour specials were action-packed and a bit more comedic in tone, not unlike a lot of 1980s sci-fi fare of the time. Aykroyd's Doctor was more scientific, geeky, awkward, and straitlaced compared to the previous ones, but he had an eye for detail and history (he's been everywhere and seen everything, as he has reminded so many around him). Aykroyd was also a script consultant on the series during his run and co-wrote the story for "The Venusian Raven" and "Independence Night" along with his fellow Ghostbusters collaborator Harold Ramis.
Speaking of Ghostbusters, one of the caveats Aykroyd made in taking the role was gaining the rights to the Ghostbusters name, which Universal had owned as a co-producer and distributor of the Filmation series.
Eventually, due to growing Hollywood opportunities, Aykroyd's time as the Sixth Doctor was going to be limited to just six specials (the four he was the solo star of and the two featuring his regenerations), and Universal and NBC knew that from the start, which is why a search for his successor began almost immediately after he was cast. The torch was passed to musician and actor Rick Springfield in the fall of 1985.
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| Rick Springfield as the Seventh Doctor (1985 - 1989) |
Rick Springfield was already a popular rock star for well over a decade. The Aussie-born musician also started an acting career, appearing as a fictional version of himself in the animated series Mission: Magic in 1973 before venturing out into live-action roles throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s with guest appearances shows on The Six Million-Dollar Man, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, and The Incredible Hulk as well as the original pilot for Battlestar Galactica. From 1981 to 1983, Springfield played Dr. Noah Drake on the popular soap opera General Hospital. During his time on the series, his album Working Class Dog was released, with the single "Jessie's Girl" becoming a smash hit.
NBC, whose parent company owned Springfield's record label RCA Records at the time, brought him in to become the next Doctor. However, Springfield had only one caveat before he signed on: he would just act on the series and not provide music for it nor perform music on it. He wanted to keep his acting and music careers separate, which NBC and Universal, owners of rival music publisher Universal Music at the time, agreed on, and they officially announced the recasting in May 1985 during the upfront period.
The Seventh Doctor was a tragic figure. The only one without a companion throughout his run, he was a solitary figure who had seen many, many friends come and go and a few lost during his travels. Not wanting to endanger anyone else, The Doctor was a solo traveler who found many allies throughout his journeys. He is a brilliant and charming man but could be quite aloof at times due to overthinking things. He often spouts out Latin for reasons he never elaborated on. Through it all, he is a warrior, a savior, a healer, and a protector. He is the reason The Doctor's reputation, notability, and notoriety has spread across time and space.
Throughout his run, Springfield was a vital part of the next evolution of the franchise. From 1985 until 1989, Springfield played The Seventh Doctor in 12 live-action stories, the equivalent of about 42 half-hour episodes total.
The first solo story, The Last Voyager, had Meeno Peluce reprising his role as Jeffrey Jones and now fully a Voyager continuing the mission of his late mentor Phineas Bogg (Jon-Erik Hexum had tragically passed away from an accidental on-set shooting in 1984, two years before the story aired in 1986, and the special was dedicated in his memory). Initially slated for a February air date, the two-hour special was delayed a month because of the Challenger tragedy, and the special was also dedicated to their memory of the Challenger crew as well.
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A Doctor Who Adventures |
In addition to the live-action stories, NBC wanted to create an animated version of Doctor Who for its wildly popular Saturday morning lineup, and Doctor Who Adventures, co-produced by Japanese studio TMS Entertainment, debuted on NBC on September 13, 1986. The animated series, which was co-developed by Gremlins and The Goonies writer Chris Columbus (who also created the TMS-produced series Galaxy High School which, coincidently premiered on the same day on CBS) was a critical hit and a fan favorite that expanded the universe of The Doctor and ran for three seasons for 52 half-hour episodes (13 of which were exclusive to daily domestic syndication and international markets), four hour-long primetime specials, a half-hour recap special, and a two-hour finale movie in primetime, a rarity for Western animation, let alone a Saturday morning cartoon on broadcast television. In addition to Columbus, other notable writers on the animated series throughout the series' run included Michael Reaves, Paul Dini, Larry DiTillio, Alan Burnett, and J. Michael Straczynski. The entire 65-episode series entered domestic syndication in the United States in fall 1989.
Doctor Who Adventures shared continuity with the original series as well as the NBC event specials, and while Springfield was the main Doctor on the series (the series designers wanted a figure who looked relatively different from the actor, mostly for merchandising and commercial rights, but it was officially adventures featuring the Seventh Doctor), flashback stories featuring other Doctors were also told occasionally, though other voice actors performed those roles. Maurice LaMarche played the Third and Fourth Doctors, Michael Bell played the Fifth Doctor, and Frank Welker played the Second and Sixth Doctors throughout the series' run while Alan Oppenheimer played The Master, who was played by Peter Davison in live action during this era. Interestingly enough, the role of the First Doctor on Doctor Who Adventures was played by Jonathan Harris, an actor who was originally considered to play The Doctor in 1963 before Ray Walston was cast in the role.
By the end of the decade, the producers of Doctor Who felt it was time to end the series, so when the NBC 1988-89 schedule was announced, it was officially announced that both the Doctor Who specials and Doctor Who Adventures would be ending in winter/early spring 1989.
The Doctor Who Adventures finale movie, “Septem Valete (Seven Farewells)” was the only production to feature the first seven Doctors in the original era, with Ray Walston, Dick van Dyke, and Leonard Nimoy reprising their established roles alongside Springfield's Seventh Doctor. It aired in January 1989.
Septem Valete was the first of the two-part finale as the final minutes of the finale mirrored the first minutes of the live-action finale, “Doctoris Vale (The Doctor’s Goodbye)”
The two-hour finale, which aired on March 24, 1989, two days before NBC and Universal premiered a new unrelated time-hopping series, had The Doctor and The Master's final battle and also featured Walston as the First Doctor for the final time, marking the end of an impressive 26-year run of a sci-fi television franchise.
The final scene of the finale was the Doctor, victorious yet mortally wounded beginning his regeneration process, looking at his glowing hands knowing a new life is about to begin. The Doctor is humbled, reflective, optimistic about what’s ahead and thankful for everything that once was, as if he was thanking the viewers directly.
“It’s probably a little silly to think about such things, but this life, all of these lives have been a blast. And if I could do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I don’t know what’s next, whatever form I take, but I’m thankful to those I’ve inspired, those who knew what I’ve done, watched me grow, expand, and evolve. Those who followed me on my journeys. Those who have seen me be serious or a little silly. Those who have seen me a bit more animated. Those who watched me do the incredible, the impossible, the improvable, and the amazing. This tired old face is about to change into… something, someone who isn’t me, yet is me. Always me. Always The Doctor. And whoever I become; I hope they have just as much of an adventure as I had. Thank you for traveling with me all of these years. Why am I saying thank you to a body? That’s weird. Oh well, onward to the future. One last time, carpe diem!”
A blinding light overtakes the screen with The Doctor uttering two words as the light fades out.
“Huh. Cool!”
The TARDIS streaks out of sight with the Latin words “Donec Iterum Amicis,” which translates to “Until Next Time, Friends,” appearing on-screen, and the original incarnation of Doctor Who ends its run on broadcast television.
A scripted series lasting over 25 years is an impressive run. Twenty seasons across three networks and an animated series that lasted three seasons on Saturday mornings is nothing to balk at. But that's what Doctor Who did in its first incarnation.
While the original series ended in 1989, it was far from the end of Doctor Who. If anything, it was just the beginning. The Doctor always had a knack to reincarnate into something greater just when we needed him the most.
And in a world without the Doctor, his legend will only grow.
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