Argentina
ARGENTINA is the southern-most country of the South American continent. It shares a border with Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay Uruguay and Brazil.
Profile
| Country Number (N/K) | 1997? | |
| Region | South America | |
| Television commenced | 17 October 1951 | |
| Colour System | 1978 | PAL |
| Language/s | Spanish |
Television Stations / Channels
Argentina began its television service in 1951.
The sole broadcaster is Asociacion de Teleradiodifusoras Argentinas (ATA), now known as Canal Siete.
Unlike the majority of the other South American countries, the station adopted the PAL colour system (experiments with NTSC were abandoned in 1969).
DOCTOR WHO IN ARGENTINA
PETER CUSHING / DALEKS
The first of the two Peter Cushing Dalek movies was never released in Latin America.
The second film was shown in theatres in Argentina in the late 1970s under the title "Daleks Invasion a la Tierra Ano 2150". This was subtitled; the title caption - showing the translated name - bears a 1977 copyright date. (It may have been released around April 1977 – see below.)
The subtitled film was later released on VHS (in cropped widescreen) by Video Blue, a company that usually issued unlicensed video tapes.
A full-colour comic strip adaptation of the second film was published by Buenos Aires company Editorial Columba in issue 400 of its long-running "El Tony" Supercolor film magazine series; this volume had a cover date of Febrero 14, de 1978.
The 14-page Spanish language comic – written by Fred W Seymour (the pen-name of Alfredo Grassi) - was the first of eight stories that featured in the 100+ page magazine; it was a close but not-entirely accurate retelling of the film story, with the artist Clemente Rezzónico making a number of cosmetic changes, such as Susan being blonde; the TARDIS has only three rows of panelling on the doors, and coloured bright green! Even the Daleks didn't escape cosmetic changes – the neck sections have only two rings instead of three, and the middle section with the gun and pincer arms is missing the lower banding, which makes the Daleks squatter than they should be.
Some of the character names were changed: in the strip, the wheel-chair-bound leader of the resistance was called Malcolm rather than Dortmun; David becomes Bill, and Wyler is Peter. These may have been the names given in the subtitled movie.
With a limited page count to work to, the adaptors dispensed with the sub-plots involving the traitorous Brockley, and of Susan and Wyler taking shelter in the house of an old woman and her daughter only to be handed over to the Daleks.
Tom tells "doctor Who" [sic] that the date he came was "14 de abril de 1977", which ties in with the year the film was first released in Argentina.
The first film eventually made its Argentinian debut on television - billed as "El Doctor Misterio y los Daleks"; the subtitled film aired on 30 December 1980 (see also Guatemala).
The first film was later shown in English at the British Arts Centre (BAC) in Suipacha, Buenos Aires on 29 September 1998.
Stories bought and broadcast
PAUL McGANN
The 1996 TV Movie was available in Argentina via three different methods:
Video
The TV Movie was available as (possibly a Rental Only?) VHS tape from MCA/Universal/CIC Video in late 1996.
The Spanish subtitled tape - with the cover title EL DOCTOR WHO - had the tagline "¡HA REGRESADO… Y YA CASI ES HORA!" (He is Back… And It's Almost Time!)
TV
There have been reports of the film being shown on TV (presumably on ATA) at some point between January and June 1997 (a review was apparently published in the El Diario de la Pampa newspaper), but we have not been able to verify this. (It's possible this was actually a review of the VHS release.)
The Movie was however shown (projected from video?) at the British Arts Centre (see above) on 8 October 1998 at 7pm; this was in English without Spanish subtitles.
(In late 2009, the BAC hosted a series of Torchwood screenings: Torchwood at the BAC.)
Cable
The 1996 film was available again from February 1999 via the HBO OLE cable station.
TOM BAKER
Also shown on cable was a run of Tom Baker stories: these aired during 2002 on the Argentinian-based cable station Uniseries, which was also available in other South American countries - see that separate profile page for more details.
Argentina in Doctor Who
- The Doctor attended the Capablanca vs Alekhine 1927 World Chess Championship. (This was held in Buenos Aires, from 16 September to 29 November) (The Androids of Tara)
