Channel Who

I've been thinking back on the history of Doctor Who in the Minneapolis/St Paul metro area since Romana1, in her blog, mentioned that she was looking for when Doctor Who first started on KTCA Channel Two (now TPT). I knew that it had started around the new year of 1982, as I was directed towards the program by my parents almost immediately after it aired, and Steve Manfred of the Doctor Who DVD FAQ confirmed a while back in an archive of old tv listings that it started on Monday, December 28, 1981.

This wasn't the first time it was aired in this market though, it aired for a little while in the late 1970s on KSTP, Channel 5. I don't have a real solid grasp on what exactly they aired and when. Early Tom Baker seems certain, and I have heard tales that Jon Pertwee stories were aired in that time period as well.

Also, we're coming upon the 20th anniversary of the first Doctor Who convention to be held in the Twin Cities area. The Doctor Who Fan Club of America hosted a event at the prom center with Peter Davison. I've realized that more than a few of my generation of local science fiction fans attended that event as their first convention, or the one in October with Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton.

One of the things that's been different about the new series airing on Sci Fi is that it's going across the whole nation at once. That's never happened before with Doctor Who in this country.