Germany
GERMANY is in central.
Profile
| Country Number (66?) | 1989 | THIRD WAVE |
| Region | Europe | |
| Television commenced | 1949 | |
| Colour System | West 1967 | PAL |
| Colour System | East 1969 | SECAM |
| Population | 1988 | 61 million |
| TV Sets | 1988 | 22 million |
| Language/s | German (Deutsche) | Dubbed |
Television Stations / Channels
Germany began its television service in 1947.
By 1989, the Federal Republic of German (West Germany) had many broadcasters, from the government-owned channels, to American, Belgian and French Forces Television stations.
In Germany, Doctor Who aired on two different channels:
All foreign television programmes are dubbed into German.
DOCTOR WHO IN GERMANY
Doctor Who was sold throughout Europe in the late 1980s – during the THIRD WAVE of sales (see Selling Doctor Who).
It was reported in DWM #155 (December 1989) that Germany was the 66th country to have bought the series. This tally is fairly accurate. (The news item was illustrated with a photograph of Sylvester McCoy climbing the broken Berlin Wall, during a publicity visit in August 1989.)
BBC Records
In DWM, Germany is identified in 21 story Archives: 4A, 6J, 6S, 6T, 6V, 6X, 6Y, 6Z, Template:7AC (Vervoids), and all 12 Sylvester McCoy stories, 7D through to 7P.
The listings for 4A and 6J are errors; and may instead have been supposed to be 7A and 6K. Also missing from the Archives are 6W and 7B.
Stories bought and broadcast (1989-1993)
SYLVESTER McCOY
12 stories, 42 episodes, but not screened in correct order:
| 7D | Time and the Rani | 4 | Terror auf Lakertia | Terror on Lakertia |
| 7E | Paradise Towers | 4 | Der Fluch des Kroagnon | The Curse of Kroagnon |
| 7F | Delta and the Bannermen | 3 | Delta und die Bannermänner | |
| 7G | Dragonfire | 3 | Der Feuer das Drachen | The Fire of the Dragon |
| 7H | Remembrance of the Daleks | 4 | Die Hand des Omega | The Hand of Omega |
| 7J | The Greatest Show in the Galaxy | 4 | Die Todesmanege auf Seganox | The Death Circus on Seganox |
| 7K | Silver Nemesis | 3 | Das Vermächtnis der Nemesis | The Legacy of the Nemesis |
| 7L | The Happiness Patrol | 3 | Die Macht der Fröhlichkeit | The Power of Happiness |
| 7N | Battlefield | 4 | Excalibur Vermächtnis | Excalibur's Legacy |
| 7Q | Ghost Light | 3 | Da Haus der Tausend Schrecken | The House of a Thousand Horrors |
| 7M | The Curse of Fenric | 4 | Die Todesbucht der Wikinger | The Death-Cove of the Vikings |
| 7P | Survival | 3 | Der Tod auf Leisen Sohlen | Death on Tiptoes |
Germany therefore bought all of the Sylvester McCoy stories.
The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes.
The programmes were dubbed into German. The man providing the voice for the Doctor, was German actor, Michael Schwarzmaier:[[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Schwarzmaier%7C
To voice for Sophie Aldred, actoress Carin C Tietze
Transmission
SYLVESTER McCOY
The series commenced on Wednesday, 22 November 1989, at 1.05pm on RTL-PLUS. The first serial was Time and the Rani. The English titles captions and credits were retained.
The second episode aired on Sunday, 26 November, as did the next three instalments. The second serial to air was actually the third story, Delta and the Bannermen. Part two aired on Monday, which was Christmas Day.
The third serial, was the second, Paradise Towers. Again, one episode aired on the Monday.
The season 25 stories aired in production order. Mid-way through The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, there was a break for one week (25 March 1990). On Tuesday, 24 April 1990 things went a bit awry, when part one of Battlefield was broadcast instead of the first episode of The Happiness Patrol. (The 'missing' segment was not broadcast until the July 1993 omnibus 'repeat'!)
From 6 May 1990, the Sunday afternoon screenings were retained through to the end of the run on 19 August.
Three years later, RTL repeated the McCoy stories, this time as "omnibus" movies. The run commenced on Friday, 2 July 1993, with Time and the Rani. The following day, Saturday, 3 July, the next "movie" aired. The series continued on this Friday / Saturday cycle through until 7 August 1993. Ghost Light screened at the very late time of 1.40am, due to it being pushed back in favour of live boxing coverage!
During this run, on 24 July 1993, the first episode of The Happiness Patrol was finally aired for the first time!
- DWB #122 (January 1994) reported on the RTL screenings, and noted the following points of interest:
- The songs in Delta and the Bannerman were retained, although sometimes playing at different points in the episodes
- The Russian dialogue at the start of The Curse of Fenric was subtitled, with the German text 'covering' the English subtitles. To get around Sorin's line "From now on, everything in English", the German subtitle substituted "From now on, nothing in Russian"!
- The BBC TV announcement in Remembrance of the Daleks was reworded – and the announcer does say Doctor Who!
- in Silver Nemesis, all the dialogue references to the year being 1988 were replaced with "1989" – despite on-screen caption still saying it' 1988!
TV listings
The German TV Guide, and TV listings magazines had full listings for the series, often illustrated with a photograph. However, one magazine had the first episode starting on 22 November 1989 as being Paradise Towers.
In a 22 November 1989 listing for the first episode of the "Neue Serie", it says the Doctor is a "Hexenmeister ... vom Planet Gallifrey", (a Witchmaster from Gallifrey!) who travels in time and space with Melanie and his "Roboterhund, "K9"!
| [[
File:Germ Towers 221189.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Time and the Rani – or Paradise Towers? 22 November 1989]] |
[[
File:Germ Fire 210190.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Dragonfire, Part 1]] |
[[
File:Germ Fire 280190.jpg|thumb|200px|right| Dragonfire, Part 2]] |
[[
File:Germ Daleks 180290.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Remembrance of the Daleks, Part 2]] |
[[
File:Germ Fenric 200590.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Curse of Fenric, Part 1)]] |
[[
File:Germ Ghost 050890.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Ghost Light, Part 1]] |
[[
File:Germ Show 080490.jpg|thumb|200px|right|THe Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Part 4]] |
1993 OMNIBUS SCREENINGS:
Stories bought and broadcast (1995)
Two years later, Doctor Who returned to German television screens, but now on the VOX channel, which had launched in January 1993.
This run included nine stories, featuring the fifth and sixth Doctors, and the first, the second, the third, the fourth...
PETER DAVISON
One story, one episode (but broadcast as three):
| 6K | The Five Doctors | 3 | Funf Doktoren | Five Doctors |
The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes.
As with the McCoy episodes, Actor Michael Schwarzmaier dubbed for Der Doktor – all five of them!
Transmisson
PETER DAVISON
The VOX run commenced with The Five Doctors, on Thursday 2 February 1995. Subsequent episode aired weekdays.
The original opening title captions were retained. The 90 minute "movie" was, however, cut into three segments. The new endings occurred at the following points:
- Part One (at 24 minutes) ended as the first and fifth Doctors set up the computer scan to see "what's out there..." (page 53 of the novelisation)
- Part Two ended after the third Doctor helps Sarah up onto the tower balcony, and she tells him "Sie sind verrückt!" ("You are mad")
At the end of the episode, a caption slide "FORTSETZUNG FOLGT" (to Be Continued) was superimposed over the image.
Other cuts were made to the serial to trim the running time of each segment to roughly 24 minutes.
For the voice-dubs, both K9 and the Daleks were given high-pitched squeaky "computer" voices. If you are interested to hear what a Dalek sounds like in German, click:
Stories bought and broadcast
COLIN BAKER
Eight stories, broadcast as 44 episodes. Note the unusual order!
| The Twin Dilemma4 | ZWEIMAL EINSTEIN | Twice Einstein | 6T | Attack of the Cybermen | 4 | ANGRIGG DER KYBERMANNER | Attack of the Cybermen |
| 6V | Vengeance on Varos | 4 | REVOLTE AUF VAROS | Revolt on Varos | |||
| 6W | The Two Doctors | 6 | ANDROIDEN IN SEVILLIA | Androids in Saville | |||
| 6X | The Mark of the Rani | 4 | DIE RACHE DES MEISTERS | The Revenge of the Masters | |||
| 6Y | Timelash | 4 | DAS AMULETT | The Amulet | |||
| 6Z | Revelation of the Daleks | 4 | PLANET DER TOTEN | Planet of the Dead Ones / of the Deceased | |||
| 7A-7C | The Trial of a Time Lord | 14 | DAS URTEIL | The Judgement |
Germany therefore bought all the Colin Baker stories.
The programme was supplied as PAL colour video tapes.
As he had done with the other five Doctors, actor Michael Schwarzmaier dubbed for Colin Baker.
Transmisson
COLIN BAKER
The day after Part Three of The Five Doctors, on Tuesday, 7 February 1995, the first Colin Baker episode aired – The Trial of a Time Lord! The next story was Revelation of the Daleks, then Timelash, then... well, for whatever reason, VOX chose to screen the Colin Baker stories in reverse order.
The stories were edited into half-hour segments, presumably the same editions that were screened in other countries.
Of note, the opening title captions were replaced with equivalents in German.
The run of episodes concluded on Friday, 7 April 1995. Doctor Who did not return to German television screens again, at last not until the new series on 2005...
German voices=
This website carries a summary of some of the German actors who provided the voices for the cast:
PAUL McGANN
The 1996 TV Movie was released on video on 15 January 1997, dubbed into German. It has never screened on German television.
German-chendise
Novelisations
Long before Doctor Who graced German television screens, two of the Target novelisations were adapted and published by Schneider-Buch in 1980:
- Dr Who - Der Planet der Daleks (Planet of the Daleks)
- Dr Who – Kampf un die Erde (Struggle on the Earth) (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
In 1990, Goldmann Verlag published a set of six novelisations, as the first run of television episodes was drawing to an end. These featured the same artwork used on the original Target books - although in some cases, the cover from a different book was used:
- Doctor Who und die Invasion der Daleks (The Daleks)
- Doctor Who und das Komplott der Daleks (The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
- Doctor Who und der Planet der Daleks (Planet of the Daleks)
- Doctor Who – Tod den Daleks! (Death to the Daleks)
- Doctor Who und der Schöpfer der Daleks (Destiny of the Daleks) (The Creator of the Daleks)
- Doctor Who und das Kind von den Sternen (The Child from the Stars) (An Unearthly Child)
The Goldmann translations of The Dalek Invasion of Earth and Planet of the Daleks were not the same as those done by Schneider-Buch.
Comics
In 1991 – a year after the Sylvester McCoy run had ended – Condor TV Comic / Conpart Verlag published three editions of DOKTOR WHO'S REISEN DURCH RAUM UND ZEIT", which featured colourised German adaptations of the sixth Doctor DWM strip, Voyager.
- Issue 1: Der Gestaltwandler (The Figure Coverter / Shape Shifter)
- Issue 2: Auf der Suche Nach der Wahrheit (On the Search for the Truth)
- Issue 3: Im Netz der Dimensionen (In the net of the Dimensions)
Fandom
German fans have a tong fan presence online, and in print.
(Grateful thanks are due to Bernhard Lürßen for information, clippings and screen-grabs.)
Germany in Doctor Who
- Einstein – The Stones of Blood and Time and the Rani
- The Time Monster
- Silver Nemesis
- The Curse of Fenric
LOTS MORE TO ADD TO THIS.
