Doctor Who: Audience and Industries blog tasks

 

Doctor Who: Audience and Industries blog tasks:

Audience

1) Who is the target audience for Doctor Who? Do you think it has changed since 1963?

The target audience is for people that like sci-fi or into science. I feel like it has changed because less people have been less interested into science and rather more into comedy or action etc.

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: 

 personally relating to something - seeing your lifestyle on screen. Think about how different audiences may identify with Susan, her teachers or the Doctor. 

Personal Relationships: 

caring about characters and wanting to find out what happens to them. This is the first episode of four - which characters do you think the audience will want to follow on their journey? 

 

 Diversion (Escapism):

escapism and being entertained away from your normal life. Science Fiction is a classic genre for escapism - what examples of this could be found in the episode?

Surveillance (Information / Facts): 

learning information that you did not already know. Doctor Who offers its audience an education about space travel, science and history.  

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

-  In terms of technology, videotape had only been in use for seven years when An Unearthly Child was made. It allowed the BBC to create the space and time travel effects we can see in the episode which were considered amazing at the time. 

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

VICARIOUS PLEASURE

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

-  Scientific - facebook fan group, comic con etc

Industries

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

- they were only a few channels because they didn't have any colour, There were only three channels in 1963

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

- Compared to the digital and streaming TV landscape of today, 1960s television was a different world.

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

-He is the main characters who does not hold any information on who he is, he also represents time travellers which makes us think how did he acquire the tardis and why is he using it

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

- There weren't any much movie programs, if you wanted to watch movies, then you would get a DVD or a cassette tape, nonetheless, they would normally watch the news as it is the only broadcasting channel

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

- It gives off the nostalgia to the people who have watched doctor who for decades. people have fan groups on either whatsapp or facebook and some have been there for more than 10 years, that's how loyal they are with the show.