The inauguration of both ‘Doctor Who’ episodes differs from each other. Although being a sci-fi show, there are many other genres included, which affects the portrayal towards the audience. I am firstly going to analyse how the show is introduced in the 1960’s version, in relation to the different genres displayed. The first scene is situated in a desolate street on a foggy night showing a policeman next to blue police box. In the early 1960s police dramas were very popular in this time; an example is ‘Dixon of Dock Green’. In this first part it automatically fools the audience into thinking it was one. The next scene is set in a high school, following the routine of every day school life. School dramas were also very common; this was another way in which ‘Doctor Who’ is introduced. Furthermore, the show is portrayed in a mysterious atmosphere, when two high school teachers are attempting to work out why their pupil returns to the junk yard every night. As a result, the audience are tricked into thinking that it is anything but a sci-fi show, and that it has nothing to do with aliens. Also, when one of the teachers begins to ask questions, and you think that there could be something out of the ordinary going on, he makes excuses, such as Susan is a foreigner, from this, the audience are willing to accompany him and also jump to this conclusion.
On the other hand, ‘Rose’, the first episode of the revived series, ‘Doctor Who’ is introduced as a sci-fi show from the beginning. There are many reasons to why this is shown in this way. The prime reason is because the majority of television consumers would have already had a general awareness of the show. This series of ‘Doctor Who’ was very newsworthy. Features in the news were broadcasted such as; the shows developments, which also featured in tabloids almost daily leading up to the first episode. In order to remind the audience about the basics of ‘Doctor Who’, the director (Nick Pegg) streamlined the storyline by extracting basic characteristic elements from the classical in which most people remember, the fact that the Doctor is an alien that could time travel and that he travelled in a blue 1960s police box. Because of this, it would be very difficult to delude the audience into thinking that it was not a show to do with aliens and villains. Much of the amusement for the audience was not learning the basics, but how the show presented them. For example, the 2005 television show avoids using ‘techno-babble’, where wordy science jargon, such as the Doctor’s two word explanation on ‘anti-plastic’, this tells that the show are more intimidated to entertain their contemporary audiences than to bore them ,where as, being in an educational period the 1960s version used a frequent amount of techno-babble. However, there were still other genres incorporated into the episode. Conversely, there was an element of soap opera, as, similarly to the 1960s episode, a majority of it was concentrated on Rose’s domestic life.
The TARDIS, the Doctor time travelling vehicle, was also cleverly disguised, so as to trick the audience into assuming that it was a show excluding aliens, in the 1960s version. The Doctor’s TARDIS is actually a police box and because the audience experience the vehicle next to an ordinary policeman, it does not look anything out of the ordinary. However, in the latest 2005 series, the TARDIS is automatically introduced as something mystifying. Such as the scene in which Rose runs in fear and has no where to turn and follows in the direction of the Doctor to the TARDIS, however, when hastening into the vehicle the camera only focuses on her facial horror. Then she runs out again trying to think to herself and finds out that she has walked into a stereotypical Narnia atmosphere, in which the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than outside. Again, people have already and heard about ‘Doctor Who’ and that it is already famous for travelling through time in a police box. The police box is also displayed in an out of date fashion in the 2005 episode, as it has come form the 1960s, and this automatically makes the viewer assume that it is there for a different reason. Because the TARDIS appears in the opening credits, the audience knows that it is a key part of ‘Doctor Who’, and not just part of the background set, as it is introduced as in the 1960s episode.
Moreover, both episodes blend into their time. Both had the same aim; to interest the viewers and persuade them to tune in the following week, however, this is illustrated differently, to suit the different audiences of different times. The 1960s episode makes the audience reflect a lot about the storyline, by having not much action, and a quite a lot of dialogue. In the 1960s, programmes and films contained less action, and if this first episode of ‘Doctor Who’ was to have a fast pace, and more movement than dialogue, many consumers would have been disconcerted, and would not have wanted to tune in the following week. In this episode there are there are only two camera shots per minute. Being in a limited environment, it would have been very difficult to speed up the pace anyway, because of the lack of facilities and technology at this time. This episode was studio based, whereas, ‘Rose’ was situated in Cardiff in which they could used more recently developed machinery. This was because; the cameras would have been heavy to move around constantly. The studio would have had four cameras fixed in positions which surrounded the set, which meant that the actors performing would have to be very precise in where they were standing in relation to each other. Camera shots were normally long shots, two-shots, mid shots and close-ups. Because of these factors, it gave the episode a more ‘pantomime’ feel, likening it to a play. However one must remember that their contemporary audiences would have been familiar with this and it was because of this that the first episode became popular. However, the new series was completely targeted at a completely different type of audience. Even though both series would have been targeted at the same age groups, people’s expectations and performance outcomes of the new ‘Doctor Who’ would have changed dramatically, due to the changes television and other mass communication products over time. Being in a new millennium, television is at a much faster pace now than it used to be, and this is reflected in the 2005 episode. In the first five minutes there were sixty-five different camera shots. Moreover, the first five minutes, Rose had been menaced by an Auton- a creature controlled taking on the appearance of a mannequin. Then rescued by the Doctor, and seen her occupational area blown up. Matching the fast pace of action, and the frequency of camera shot changes, the music was very fast and jaunty which gradually created a build up of mystery and suspense. Contrasting with 1960’s episode, the aim was not to get the viewers thinking about the storyline and mysteries so much, but was to include a lot of action, and to keep the pace fast so as to give the audience any time tot get bored.
Even though there is more action in the second ‘Doctor Who’ than in the first, both still base their mood around a mysterious, atmospheric storyline; who is the Doctor? What is the TARDIS? We as viewers from a number of things sense this. By using questions, this builds come atmospheric suspense and mystery. In the classical version of ‘Doctor Who’ the writers use the teachers (history and science) to convey the gradual rise in suspense, when they are asking each other questions in the classroom, and also, asking the Doctor questions in a barren junkyard. With the new Doctor, it is Rose for there is more suspense at the beginning when
