Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 108

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Popular Culture Review

Comptroller who would destroy many great TV
programs, could you destroy that child?
Sarah Jane: It's Michael Grade we're talking
about"the most evil person ever created. You must
destroy him. You must complete your mission for the
producer!
Elector Four: Have I that right? Thousands of
generations could live without fear, in peace, and never
know the name of Grade.. . .
Here, MUM parallels the ruthless Grade with the alien Daleks. The
writers based the entire situation on an actual Doctor Who episode
that any literate Who fan would know about, but full understanding
of the humor is impossible unless the fan also knows that Grade was
responsible for attempting to cancel the program in 1985. This kind of
humor repays the close attention fans pay not only to every episode,
but also to inside information about the politics behind the program
gleaned from magazines such as Doctor Who Monthly and Starlog.
Instead of denouncing Grade directly. The Two Companions
writes him into the context of the program he is attempting to cancel.
MUM emancipates itself from the primary text here, a departure
from typical fan activity involving video images. According to
Bacon-Smith, fandom encourages strict adherence to the source
program. For instance, fans consider the songtapes Bacon-Smith
describes invalid if it uses a clip outside the source program. MUM's
videos move outside these tacit rules in three ways: by using live
actors and re-creating scenes; by mixing fictive characters with real
people; and by alluding to programs other than Doctor Who.
MUM's desire to speak only to a knowledgeable group and
exclude everyone else provides them with control over the program.
John Tulloch argues that Doctor Who fans
are, in effect, situated as a privileged group with few
powers—a powerless elite with little control over the
floating voter [non-fan Doctor Who watchers who
determine whether the show will remain on the airj on
one side, the producers of the show on the other.
Consequently their explanation and evaluation of any
one episode is strongly determined by this positioning