Doctor Who: Audience and Industry blog tasks

1) Who is the target audience for Doctor Who? Has it changed since 1963?

I think Doctor who's targeted audience is teenagers and middled aged men. This has changed as throughout the years the female sci-fi audience has increased by 22%.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity: Many teenagers may be able to relate to Susan as they also may be students. Middle aged people might also relate to the teachers as they might work and have to act caring and loving towards people. 

Personal Relationships: Having a connection with the Doctor and Susan to find out who they really are and the teachers to see if they are ok or not.

Diversion (Escapism): The escape from reality by entering the TARDIS and traveling to a unearthly area.

Surveillance (Information / Facts): People might learn something new about space and science from the episode. 

3) What additional Uses and Gratifications would this episode provide to a modern 2020 audience?

Surveillance (Information/Facts): People in 2020 learn about TV in the 1960s.

They might not feel any diversion as there it is quite slowed paced while todays TV shows are more fast paced.

4) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to An Unearthly Child?

Vicarious pleasures can be applied to An Unearthly Child as the audience is experiencing time travel through the TARDIS

Voyeuristic pleasures can also be applied to An Unearthly Child as the audience are experiencing and seeing the TARDIS and a unearthly area.

5) What kind of online fan culture does Doctor Who have? Give examples.

Doctor Who fans are called Whovians. Their psychographics may be explorers as they like to discover new things and learn new things.

Industries

1) What was the television industry like in 1963? How many channels were there?

The television industry in 1963 was very limited as they only had 2 channels (BBC and ITV). In 1967 BBC2 launched as the first colour TV channel. 

2) How does An Unearthly Child reflect the level of technology in the TV industry in 1963?

An Unearthly Child reflects the level of technology in the TV industry in 1963 as the episode is in black and white. Furthermore, when the TARDIS was moving, the actors were moving side to side. The camera movement is also quite slow.

3) Why is Doctor Who such an important franchise for the BBC? 

It is a long-running TV show and one of the most iconic franchise for BBC. It is very important as it generates huge income for the BBC and would get lots of attention from people around the world.

4) What other programmes/spin-offs are part of the wider Doctor Who franchise?

• K9
• Sarah Jane Adventures
• Torchwood
• Class

5) Why does the Doctor Who franchise have so much merchandise available? Give examples. 

The franchise has lots of merchandise as the show is long-running. It is also very iconic. E.g - For the 50th anniversary, doctor who released new merch for it and are planning to release more for their 60th anniversary.