United States--1984

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TIME, 9 January 1984

• 9 January 1984: TIME magazine carries a feature on Doctor Who - "Who's Who in Outer Space". The article declares that the series is seen by 9.5 million viewers in 112 markets across the States.

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• 3-5 February 1984: Colin Baker makes his US convention debut in Miami, Florida. Coverage of this event appears in Fantasy Empire issue #12, covered dated July 1984.

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TV Guide February 1984

• The 18-24 February 1984 issue of TV GUIDE has a four-page article, "WHO HAS TWO HEARTS, 13 LIVES – AND SIX FACES?". This states that Doctor Who is seen in 112 US markets (as had been cited earlier by TIME).

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• Early 1984: By spring, season 20 starts airing:

PETER DAVISON (continued)

Six stories, 22 episodes (also in "movie length" omnibus editions):

Print ad for Geppi's, from 1984

6E	Arc of Infinity	4
6D	Snakedance	4
6F	Mawdryn Undead	4
6G	Terminus	4
6H	Enlightenment	4
6J	The King's Demons	2

• April 1984: Plans to film part of season 22 in New Orleans fall through, so the filming of The Two Doctors is relocated to Spain.

• By 1984, Doctor Who merchandise started to become more readily available through specialist mail-order companies, particularly Starlog Press and Geppi's, as well as the fan clubs.

• The 2-8 June 1984 issue of TV GUIDE has a review by Robert MacKenzie, which basically declares the series to be "cheap and tacky" but easy to get hooked on.

• 1984: By the middle of the year, Lionheart successfully makes a deal to market the existing 17 complete William Hartnell stories and five Patrick Troughton stories, to add to the forthcoming package of 24 Pertwee serials to be made available in 1985. The sale is reported to have earned the BBC £4.5 million.
• October 1984: Marvel US commences reprints of Doctor Who Magazine comic strips. (This comic series runs for 23 issues between October 1984 and August 1986.)

• November 1984: Season 21 begins screening in the States. Although The Twin Dilemma has been supplied, stations have been instructed not to air the serial until other Colin Baker stories are made available in 1985/86:

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PETER DAVISON (continued)

Six stories, equivalent of 22 episodes (also in "movie length" omnibus editions):

6L	Warriors of the Deep	4
6M	The Awakening	2
6N	Frontios	4
6P	Resurrection of the Daleks	(2/4)
6Q	Planet of Fire	4
6R	The Caves of Androzani	4

- For Resurrection of the Daleks, the original four-part version was supplied to Lionheart. However, part two was without music or sound effects. The omnibus "movie" version was similarly affected, but this time it was the entire second half that was missing its music and effects. There were also several extra scenes in these episodes not used in the final UK cut. (In later years, a corrected version with the missing audio was supplied.)

• December 1984: As had been announced at Longleat back in April 1983, a full package of Jon Pertwee stories is released for syndication in the US; although the package was made available from the start of 1985, the first serial actually went to air as early as December 1984.
• The overall package of "back-catalogue" material also includes the surviving 17 complete William Hartnell and five complete Patrick Troughton stories. (The same third Doctor package had already been sold to Australia and New Zealand.)

• The Pertwee package also included four stories that not had been sold to the States before. Since episode three of Planet of the Daleks was in black and white, the BBC provided an edited version that re-cut episodes two and four, making the story into a five-part serial. Invasion of the Dinosaurs was also re-edited because episode one was in black and white, so the opening titles were all re-captioned (e.g. PART TWO was renumbered PART ONE, PART THREE became PART TWO, etc), and the story was issued as a five parter:

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JON PERTWEE (Repackaged)

All 24 stories, 127 episodes issued, with four 'new' stories, equivalent of 20 episodes (also in "movie length" omnibus editions):

AAA	Spearhead from Space	4
QQQ	Frontier in Space	6
SSS	Planet of the Daleks	5
WWW	Invasion of the Dinosaurs	5

- At the time the 24-story package deal had been signed off in April 1983, Frontier in Space existed only in black and white. Full colour copies of Frontier in Space were recovered from Australia in late 1983 and added to the package.

- It wasn't until 1993 that all six episodes of Planet of the Daleks were made available for US syndication.

- A full account of the edits made to Planet of the Daleks can be found HERE

• WILL in Champaign, Illinois is the first station to screen the Pertwee episodes, from 4 December 1984.

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K9 and Company

• December 1984: The spin-off K9 and Company airs at Christmas, although it is not as widely sold as its parent series.

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