h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... that the reason the series was canceled was due mainly to internal strikes at the BBC. During these strikes, several actors went out to get other jobs. When the BBC finally came round to the series, half the cast was unavailable; schuduleing was a nightmare. The BBC did make some spinoffs useing Pertwee and what have you, but the series was doomed. Start-up costs were prohibitive, and the budget reassigned. At least, that was my understanding.

well I think that it was only getting around 3 million viewers towards the end, instead of something like 14 at one time,as for the cast there were only two regulars, the doctor and companion, and they could always regenerate the doctor or get a new companion. but as far as i know they were both still keen to do it, and they've done some of the new audio dramas and related stuff.

they did suspand the programm for a year and a half, about three years before it finnished, partly to launch BBC 2, and because of low ratings.

and a couple of years after it finily finnished they did a couple of radios plays with pertwee.

but there's also the fact that they couldn't compete with the budgeting that US scifi had/has.

I have the Fox made Doctor Who pilot on tape and an ad in the local paper about it's premire. Really, i can't watch it. The show seemed to want to reveal everything about the doctor, even things that weren't there. And trying to make the doctor half-human, gerf! What a lot. If anything, i think the last season was pointing more towards the doctor was half demi-god or something. Terribly mesterious. The Fox movie had terrible writing, no plot (worth speaking of), and seemed almost to have nothing to do with the show.

I hated it, I hated the fact that sylvester mccoy did the regeneration scene, because it made it more offical, if that wasn't in it than it could be just written off, like the dalek films in the sixties, the half human stuff I've never agreed with, all the kissing was out of character, and the end bringing the companions back to life totally betrayed the whole series.

in the last series they were trying to make the doctor more mysterious, there was a line they cut out thats in the video where the doctor says to davros I'm much more than a timelord.

considering that they had the chance to bring the series back why they spent soo much time on the regeneration I don't know, and all the stuff with the eye of harmony etc, I think turned people off, it was too bogged down with the shows history, people want to enjoy it, not to need to have watched a load of preivous episode to understand it.

I would of prefered a proper film based on the series, where they got straight into the action so to speak,

I'm still disappointed in the whole Fox "episode" issue - and I have seen some stories of Dr. Who with McGan as the Doctor - but I have hope that they may well bring back the proper Dr Who again. The BBC have brought back Red Dwarf, and Red Dwarf VIII managed to keep in spirit of the original despite better special effects...

I don't know.

paul mcgann is doing some of the new audios, like peter davison, colin baker and sylvester mccoy, which I quite lke and there is a new radio play in the making, I've been watching a lot of the first dcotor episodes its quite good, it has that young innocents about it,

I've also been watching the auton video and the mindgame triogly and they aren't bad either