Taiwan
TAIWAN is an island off the east coast of China.
Profile
| Country Number (58?) | 1986 | THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Australasia/Asia | |
| Television commenced | 1962 | |
| Colour System | 1969 | NTSC |
| Population | 1987 | 19.4 million |
| TV Sets | 1987 | 6 million (incl. 5.3 million colour) |
| Language/s | Chinese and English | (Subtitled into Chinese) |
Television Stations / Channels
Taiwan began its television service in 1962.
There are three major television broadcasters: Doctor Who aired on Taiwan Television Service (TTV).
Language/s
The principal language of Taiwan is Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese). Programmes were broadcast in Chinese or English, and/or with subtitles. Doctor Who aired in English with Chinese subtitles.
DOCTOR WHO IN TAIWAN
Taiwan was approximately the 58th country to screen the series, and one of the last countries in Australasia/Asia (see Selling Doctor Who).
BBC Records
The Eighties - THE LOST CHAPTERS records a sale of "(6)" stories (by 10 February 1987). Only five serials have been accounted for.
Taiwan is not identified in any of the DWM Archives.
Stories bought and broadcast
TOM BAKER
Five (identified) stories, 20 (identified) episodes:
| ? | Unidentified 4 parter | 4 |
| 5P | State of Decay | 4 |
| 4D | Revenge of the Cybermen | 4 |
| 4E | Genesis of the Daleks (*) | 4 |
| ? | Unidentified 4 parter | 4 |
(*) It's possible the story that aired was actually Destiny of the Daleks
Taiwan therefore bought an assortment from GROUPs A and G of the Tom Baker stories.
The programme was supplied as NTSC colour video tapes with English soundtracks.
Transmission
TOM BAKER
Episodes were broadcast in English, with Chinese subtitles.
The series started on Monday, 18 August 1986, at 3.30pm. The listings merely state the programme was in "(English)". It is not known what the first 4-part serial was. The 8 September episode was pre-empted by a Variety Show.
The 20 October episode of the second serial was identified as being State of Decay Part IV. The following week, Revenge of the Cybermen commenced. On 24 November, Genesis of the Daleks started; this was advertised as being a four-parter. Was this a re-edit of the special two part (2 x 45 minutes) version that had been created by the BBC for the 1982 Doctor Who and the Monsters repeat? Or was it that they had ordered and purchased Genesis of the Daleks but were instead sent the 4-part Destiny of the Daleks?
The fifth serial screened eight months later, from Wednesday, 12 August 1987, with all episodes starting at 3.57pm: no title was given so it is not known what the four-parter was. The final episode aired on 2 September 1987.
As noted above, The Eighties stated that six serials had been sold to Taiwan by February 1987. Airdates for the sixth serial were not located. (Of course it's possible the 1987 memo was inaccurate.)
TV listings
 |
← AIRDATES ...... (CLICK ICON TO GO TO TABLE SHOWING EPISODE BREAKDOWN AND AIRDATES - N/S = story title is Not Stated) |
TV listings have been obtained from the newspaper China News, an English-language newspaper. The paper says that Doctor Who is broadcast "in English, with Chinese subtitles".
The paper carried basic listings in the main daily page. For the first seven episodes, the listing usually just said "Doctor Who" or "Doctor Who Film (English)". It wasn't until the eighth episode that a title was given: State of Decay. Unusually, the episode numbers were always identified in Roman numerals – Part I, II, III, IV.
The newspaper also sometimes had a "TV Highlights" section, in which story titles and/or brief synopses were often given. There was no Highlights section to identify the four 1987 episodes.
Papers for most of 1982, 1983, 1984, and all of 1985 to 1987 were checked; December 1987 to March 1988 were not available, so it's possible that the unaccounted for sixth serial aired on its own during the date ranges that have not been checked.
PAUL McGANN
The 1996 TV Movie was available in China on laser-disc and DVD, with Cantonese subtitles. The title translated as Murder in Space or Death of Time.
Doctor Who in China
Although Doctor Who screened in Taiwan, rather than mainland China, this list includes China:
- Marco Polo is set in China
- The 1996 Festival of Ghana was "Cancelled by Peking" (The Chase)
- Wheel crewman Ken Chang is Chinese (The Wheel in Space)
- Peking went off the air during the Cyberman invasion (The Invasion)
- A Chinese delegation attends the Peace Conference; Mao Tse Tung is name-checked (The Mind of Evil)
- Ten units of Axonite are sent to Lop Nur (The Claws of Axos)
- Styles travels to Peking in Day of the Daleks
- Peking is also named in Frontier in Space
- Sarah likens Morbius to "chop suey" (The Brain of Morbius)
- The Talons of Weng-Chiang
- Scarlioni has a Chinese Puzzle Box and priceless Ming Vase (City of Death)
- Romana mentions the I-Ching philosophy in Warriors' Gate
- Li Futu and other Futu Dynasty Chinese are on board Monarch's spaceship. The Doctor says he can bowl a 'chinaman' (Four to Doomsday)
- A Ching Dynasty ship and crew are in the race for Enlightenment
- The Curse of Fenric was brought to England with stolen Oriental treasure
- The Master mentions Ghenghis Khan in the TV Movie
