The other day I was wondering what to write about for this Daily Doctor Who series, and I struck upon the idea of looking at a Doctor Who trivial quiz online and seeing how I do at it.
(Daily Doctor Who #304)
So I found this quiz at kidadl.com where it claims that only a true Doctor Who fan can get them all correct. This claim is suspicious because the introduction to the quiz says that Doctor Who was originally a Marvel comic released on October 17, 1979, which was then adapted into a TV show in 2005 which ran for 12 consecutive seasons, and starred David Tennant and Matt Smith.
I’ve done twenty questions (out of 40+) over two days so far have a 95% “true Whovian” ranking. Today, we’re going to do the next ten. These ones seem to focus on the original series, which is odd since it acknowledges that the show began 16 years before the Marvel Comic which actually inspired the whole program. Timey-Wimey indeed!
(I’m paraphrasing the questions here)…
Question 21 – Why did the first episode of Doctor Who air 80 seconds after the scheduled time?
Wow, I don’t really know. I know that the show got a repeat because of concern about people not watching it because of the news coverage of the assassination of President John Kennedy a day before. So maybe that’s it. I feel like from something I’ve read in the past that that’s not the real answer, but I don’t have another guess, so I’ll go for that.
The answer given is that it was delayed due to the JFK assassination. However, according to the wiki page on this episode (see it here) this is a myth (or part of one), and that the real reason the episode started late was because the previous show, Grandstand overrunning. I’m going to give myself credit for this one.
Question 22 – Who played the Doctor in the first episode?
Of course this is William Hartnell.
Question 23 – How many seasons did Doctor Who originally air for?
The answer here is 26, but I’m afraid they are going to say something different in order to confuse me.
After checking, no tricks…26 seasons is the answer they give.
Question 24 – What was the show’s original intent and target audience?
That’s an odd question. To be successful and make money? I’m assuming that the answer is going to be to be educational and for children (and maybe it will mention something about the show having both a history teacher and science teacher amongst its original cast.
After looking, I’m right! Well, it mentioned “kids and families” as the primary audience, but I think I got it.
Question 25 – What iconic science fiction / humor author wrote more than one episode of Doctor Who?
Um, I assume that’s Douglas Adams, who was a science fiction and comedy writer, is iconic, and did in fact write more than one episode of Doctor Who.
Question 26 – Who was the Third Doctor (replacing Patrick Troughton)?
That’d be Jon Perwee.
Question 27 – Who was the last actor to play the Doctor in the original series?
Sylvester McCoy!
Question 28 – Who played the 8th Doctor in the “film adaption” of Doctor Who?
Yes, it says “film adaption.” Technically, the only person to play the Doctor (or Dr. Who) in a film adaptation is Peter Cushing. But presumably they mean Paul McGann.
Question 29 – Who played the First Doctor in “The Five Doctors”?
The answer is Richard Hurndall. They question actually says that he “stepped in” following William Hartnell’s demise, which makes it sound like an emergency situation, but that’s not right of course–Hartnelle had died 8 years before the special.
Actually, the quiz then says that David Bradley followed Hurndall 34 years later. This is accurate, except of course Bradley didn’t play the role in The Five Doctors.
Question 30 – How many Ninth Doctor companions are there?
Hmm, a funny question. And definitely not about the original series. But anyway, discounting any that have appeared in comics or audio dramas, on TV I think one would generally count three companions.
Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler is the main one–and the only one to appear on the opening credits, the only treated as a genuine “regular character” for Christopher Eccleston’s one season on the show. But John Barrowman also played Captain Jack Harkness for five episodes, and Bruno Langley played Adam Langley who made one trip on the TARDIS (but appeared in two episodes) before being kicked off the ship.
So, 30 questions into this dubious quiz and I’m now 96.7% Whovian! So awesome!
See you then!
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