Doctor Who: Audience and Industries

 Audience

1) Who is the target audience for Doctor Who? Has it changed since 1963?

   

 Originally it was young men , however since 63' the audience is now perdominantly young females.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity: Susan may depict the way teenagers during the time were , what their music taste was and their hairstyles and clothing.

Personal Relationships: The audience may want to know more about the doctors past and future, they may want to follow him on his journey.

Diversion (Escapism): the show could be used as a form of escapism taking you away from the bland life that you live and put you into an exciting and dangerous one. Eg. When the teachers discover the TARDIS.

Surveillance (Information / Facts): The show offers so much historical information that we don't learn without diving into it ourselves. Although not entirely historically accurate most of the time and exaggerated greatly for the purpose of TV and entertainment. Eg. when Susan is correcting her teacher about the French Revolution.

3) What additional Uses and Gratifications would this episode provide to a modern 2020 audience?

    

4) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to An Unearthly Child?

   All of the three Vs relate to the episode of An Unearthly Child as it lets you see the  physical thrill of watching  something eg.  when the Tradis starts flying and the teachers faint, lets you experience something through the characters and you watch something you wouldn't normally get to see eg. inside the TRADIS. 

5) What kind of online fan culture does Doctor Who have? Give examples.

   The doctor who fandom is named the Whovians. 

Industries

1) What was the television industry like in 1963? How many channels were there?

    

    There were only two TV channels in the UK in 1963: BBC and ITV. 

2) How does An Unearthly Child reflect the level of technology in the TV industry in 1963?

     The theme song introduction shows how far along their special effects was, it was knew and not very good by today's standards. The way Susan is dressed also reflects the dress sense of 1960's teens. The relationship between Barbra and Ian/The Doctor illustrates they way women were treated compared to men. The way the doctor ignores Barbra and only talking to Ian. 

3) Why is Doctor Who such an important franchise for the BBC? 

   Doctor Who is one of the BBC's most iconic franchises that the BBC has, it has been shown all over the world through BBC Worldwide and generates huge income for the BBC.

4) What other programmes/spin-offs are part of the wider Doctor Who franchise?

     - K9

     -Torchwood

     - Class 

     - Sarah Jane Adventures

5) Why does the Doctor Who franchise have so much merchandise available? Give examples. 

    It has so much merchandise because it's an extremely popular show, some of it's merchandise includes the Doctor Who Tardis tea pot and a sonic screwdriver.