Dr. Who And It's Not in Color

Sometimes they surprise you. Today I did not think we would make it more than eight or nine minutes into the 1963 episode of the classic sci-fi TV show Dr. Who before the squirming and indignation at being subjugated to boredom began. Even though I prepped them well, I still did not expect a very good outcome.

"Remember, like I said, this is old-school, everybody. You have to have patience to watch this. Things didn't go as fast in 1963 as they do today."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Making us watch it."
"Because it's part of our sci-fi unit and it's a classic."
"I love Dr. Who!" A voice shouted. I had an ally. One.
"Is it really old, like Back to the Future?"
"Can you make it be in color?"
"Can't we just read instead?"

You can see why I was concerned.


Lights out. Everybody comfortable. They all had their journals ready with their boxes drawn out on each page. Inside each box they had been instructed to jot down notes about setting, plot, character, tone, special effects, how technology is depicted.

The title of the episode is Escape and it came somewhere early in the first season of the show. If you're not familiar with the premise of Dr. Who, I'll spare you the details. For this episode you only need to know that Dr. Who, a time-traveler, along with his companions, are being held captive in a room by the Dalek who are a bunch of dastardly cyborgs. The 1963 Daleks looked like giant, aluminum badminton birdies. They wheeled around with toilet plunger protrusions that served as appendages and also provided the beings with sight.  The setting looks like painted cardboard from a high school play, and the acting is stilted. I thought the class would lose it when they heard the Dalek's voice, which sounded like someone talking into a fan through a soup can. In fact, I'm not entirely sure it wasn't someone speaking into a fan through a soup can. The whole production is the epitome of cheesiness.  Maybe we wouldn't even make it eight minutes.

But thirteen-year-olds are an enigma. You can't trust their attitudes, the sighs, the eye rolls, because just like the Maine weather, if you wait a minute it will change. The high string, synthetic whine of the Dr. Who theme music began. The waves of time undulated on the screen and it was like they were hypnotized. Not a peep out of any of them. They bought it.  I stopped the episode half way through. They jotted down some observations. I asked if they wanted to continue and was answered by a hearty, "Yes!"

We made it the full episode.