Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 110

106

JPo£uIar_^ultur^Jte^^

They could recognize the actual Doctor Who
characters. The subplots of Mikey Grade and Mary
Whitehouse and all that kind of stuff—unless they
understood or someone had it explained to them, they
didn't understand the humor. If they had not watched
The Prisoner, it wouldn't have been [understandable]. I
mean, I had no idea. "The Village"? It was a
drawback. If we had done something that was more
identifiable, 1 think we would have gone over more.
However, MUM has no desire to appeal to a broad audience. MUM
wishes to valorize the specialized information only fans have; they
wish to exclude viewers not in the know and reward informed
viewers, which in turn maintains and perpetuates the fan status quo
and the transmission and perpetuation of fannish knowledge. Snide
attacks on BBC personnel provide emotional satisfaction, humor, and
fannish exclusivity.

Where is MUM Now?

Though MUM has not made videos since 1990, one video.
Without a Who, remains unfinished. Sue Bartholomew notes that it
needs only a day of shooting plus editing to complete, but argues that
MUM had grown "too political." She refuses to complete it. After
Mini-UNIT declared defeat in 1992 and disbanded due to shrinking
membership and general inertia, most MUM members moved on;
Bartholomew, for instance, has taken up competitive fencing. Of all
the MUM members, Dave Weides is the only one who maintains an
active and visible interest in the program; he edits a World Wide
Web page devoted to Doctor Who called "Matrix Mutterings." The
members remain in touch but seem to be drifting apart. And though
interest in Doctor Who still exists, with many fan groups still
operating and an Internet newsgroup presence, not to mention the
occasional convention, the heyday of Doctor Who fandom appears
over now that the source program is no longer being made.