Lost in Space

It's true, or at least I think so.

One of the many recollections, from a celebrity pundit, on this day, the 50th Anniversary of the first broadcast of Dr Who was that it was always dark, cold and menacing outdoors when the programme was on.

This may be based in fact. Perhaps Dr Who was relied upon by the BBC to bolster the viewer ratings in the autumn and winter months and simply took an interstellar vacation in between.

I can vouch for the contribution of the menacing influence of a grim winter's evening to the overall ambience of those Saturday tea time broadcasts in my childhood.

It would just not be the same watching The Doctor battling to save a particular Universe from dire consequences against the backdrop of a sultry and sweaty July twilight.

The programme has had mixed fortunes and a dramatic fluctuation in its popularity with the viewing public over the fifty years of its existence. This did take the form of an enforced sabbatical for, amazingly, sixteen years until re-invented and revamped in 2005.

Perhaps that absence from our screens and psyche can explain some of the character traits, anxieties and hang-ups of a generation whose formative years did not overlap with the Dr Who experience. I am referring to those unfortunate souls born in 1989.

It would be an interesting exercise to take a straw poll amongst the psychiatric professions as to what proportion of their clients are under 24 years of age and have a strange feeling of some form of void and emotional gap in their lives for the first 16 of those.

It could explain a lot.

Granted, there have been many other things to fill that empty space.

The decision by the BBC to take Dr Who off the listings completely in 1989 did seem like a full funeral with honours although with that gift of hindsight now appears to have been a very clever strategic mothballing. There was a lot of competition vying for the attention of the target audience in the late 80's. It is not coincidental that 1989 was the launch  of the World Wide Web and that tantalising phrase used by Politicians of the time of "super-information highway". A well tried and proven formula centred on an old Police Box would seem, to the decision makers, to be a throwback to a more sedate and pedestrian age.

Soon to follow was the Pentium Processor and the cheap availability of computing power. This spawned a whole range of gadgets and products and the generation deprived of the wisdom and morality of The Doctor found solace and comfort in the iPod, Adidas 1 Trainers and then the portal onto the world, a sort of time machine in itself, You Tube in 2005.

Older siblings of the lost generation will have been into the Sci-Fi Scene within which Dr Who retained its position even if missing from the airwaves for so long and hopefully kept the popularity and fascination to the fore. Theirs will have been a wonderful childhood in the company of successive Time Lords, their entourage of assistants and assorted adversaries.

It was, as I vividly remember, a childhood living in the constant but exhilarating fear of the appearance of the Daleks, Cybermen and all other manner of creatures. The less humanoid the enemy, the more frightening it would be. Many a play session involved battling with aliens and entities from far off galaxies and many different epochs. You could, with a bit of imagination,  let rip and run riot simultaneously.

What of the lost generation?

Probably secreted away in a darkened room, eyes transfixed on a games console and relying on the virtual image for entertainment. A fabulous multi-layered and multi dimensional world it may be but it is artificially engineered and no substitute for the fantasies and complex scenarios of the independent and unsullied human mind.

The re-invention of Doctor Who in 2005 was pitched in perfectly to recapture those lost to Nintendo, Play Station and X-Box. They would however still have a lot of catching up to do for the missing 16 years of their lives. The therapy was instant and the episodes became even more exciting, with high tec special effects,  controversial same sex kissing, quite sad in places and with many metaphors for modern life woven into the storylines. No more the wobbling sets, dodgy props and nervy delivery of lines which were so apparent in the early black and white broadcasts but even so hardly noticeable given the originality of the material.

Tonight's special 50th Anniversary is to be marked by a broadcast to over 100 million viewers worldwide and at a point in time as we await the formal regeneration of the next custodian of the Tardis and Sonic Screwdriver.

I expect that the waiting rooms of Psychiatrists will be empty from Monday onwards as the lost generation will finally come to appreciate and understand the unstoppable force that is The Doctor.

I just hope it is not too late for some of them......................................................................................