Two 45th anniversaries this weekend, one sad and one far less so

[thatcrazycajun]

On this day 4.5 decades ago, our last truly great President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, made the fatal mistake of riding in an open convertible, in a motorcade through the streets of a city I was once pleased to call home (well, a suburb of it, anyhow)...and into the gunsight of a lonely, deranged man waiting in a sixth-floor window of the local schoolbook warehouse with a loaded Italian rifle and a vendetta.

The resulting deaths so shocked the entire world that in this and many other nations, television programming that had originally been scheduled to air that day and evening was either canceled outright or postponed in favor of news coverage. And so it was that the very next day, the afternoon of Saturday the 23rd, saw the airing on BBC One in England of a new program that was ostensibly intended as an educational show to teach kids about history.

That program would become something far, far greater than just another children's edu-tainment show. It would become a British cultural icon, a weekend teatime tradition for both adults and children, and a bona fide worldwide phenomenon. It would gain fans in the millions and last (with the odd hiatus here and there) to this day, and would spawn two feature films and not just one, but two successful spinoff series...not to mention a global cottage industry in souvenirs, clothing, toys and just about everything else imaginable that can be made by the hand of man. And it would fuel conventions, clubs and other events and gatherings from horizon to horizon.

Yes, I'm speaking of the one, the only, the marvelous program called Doctor Who. Ten lead actors (and an 11th soon to come), legions of villainous foes, dozens if not hundreds of companions and uncountable aired episodes, recorded audio adventures, official novels and comics, fan stories and videos and much, much more. And it all began 45 years ago tomorrow.

Were you alive when JFK was killed and Who first aired? Whether you were born yet or not, what memory from then or since stands out most for you? I was all of six months old myself, so I have no real memory of the assassination, but of the show, I have many memories of favorite stories, people and moments...far too many to pick just one:

• The Fifth Doctor informing his other friends that Adric is dead...and that he cannot use his time-travel mastery to save him.
• Fifth using his late companion's gold star pin to help him stop a Cyberman from beyond the grave.
• The regeneration of a dying Fourth Doctor into a rejuvenated Fifth, at the foot of the Pharos Project tower.
• The Tenth Doctor having to leave his beloved Rose on the other side of a wall between universes...seemingly forever.
• Getting to actually hang out with Nick Courtney, the late John Nathan-Turner and Nicola "I Am Not A Fizzy Drink!" Bryant at the legendary Pat O'Brien's in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the last evening of a convention there in 1985...and helping introduce all three Brits to the signature beverage of Pat O's, the Hurricane.
• Brigadier Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart, standing strong despite advancing age, brandishing a gun and ordering Morgaine le Fay to get the hell off his planet.
• Four of the first five Doctors standing together against a mad, mind-controlling Lord President Borusa in the Tomb of Rassilon.
• Donna Noble taking hold of the lever alongside the Tenth Doctor deep in the bowels of Mount Vesuvius, helping him carry out a terrible and historic necessity. (And by sheerest coincidence, BBC America is airing that very episode tonight!)

Share yours here.

Comments

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

I was all of three years old when JFK was shot and the Doctor first aired. I do remember when we first got into the Doctor, though. It was at a con in Houston...I remember the ginger beer that was at a room party, and endless showings of Tom Baker's Doctor.

I haven't seen much of the current Doctor.

BTW, the con in NOLA where we hung out with Nick Courtney, et al, was in 1985, not '87. That is, if you're talking about Panopticon New Orleans.

It's been that long? My, how time flies when you're having fun. :)

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

You sure that was '85? I'll take your word then. And I do remember that convention in Houston; that was where I got my first exposure to the Doctor as well. And we entered the Masquerade...Good times, eh, love? :-)

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

I was a preschooler in San Francisco at the time.

Mom turned the TV on in the middle of the day -- it was usually off except for The Mickey Mouse Club and when Daddy was home on weekends.

She was very tense & worried, and the TV was showing the hospital where they took the President to. There was a split second when his gurney was wheeled into view and wheeled right out again.

I must have lost interest and wandered off to play, because that famous scene where Walter Cronkite cried on air when the President died -- I didn't see that until many years later when I was grown.

And as for Dr. Who -- I haven't spent enough time in television markets that broadcast it, to know those scenes.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a 6th floor window.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Mea culpa -- you are the second person to correct my faulty memory tonight. Fixed and thank you.

[poltr1]

I was in utero when JFK was killed. So I have no memory of it. Come to think of it, I have no memory of anything before my 5th birthday.

Got a nitpick....when did the Fourth Doctor tell folks that Adric was dead? "Earthshock" was a Fifth Doctor story.

I'm gonna have to compile a list of my favorite Doctor Who memories now.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I seem to be causing all sorts of memory glitches here. "Earthshock" was indeed a Fifth story, and the ramifications came afterward. Fixed with apologies.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I was but a twinkle in my daddy's eye in 1963; he and the lady that was to be my mom had had a date to go to the annual Chicken Kickin' (in which Danny Ford's Clemson Cats loped down US 278 to whoop the football-playin tailfeathers of yon Carolina Chickens) (This was way before I-26, see...) ... only, it didn't happen that way. And my mom was *ticked* because all the radio stations were either broadcasting live news or funeral music.

I still think Nine was the hottest of'em; he was gritty, ambiguously sexual (and open about it!), and..... he's fighting real hard with Tom Baker for my favorite. Especially since he was the inspiration for "Companion", which the lovely vixyish sings so well. (And this is me, straight guy, saying he's hot. :)

Congrats, Doctor. Many happy regenerations.

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]