User:Mexcollectibles

Doctor Who in Mexico

The beginning

Doctor Who made its mexican premiere in 1967 on the largest spanish language Latin American TV network Telesistema Mexicano (TSM), known today as Televisa, with the broadcast of William Hartnell's first 26 episodes. The networks did not renew the program and it would not air new episodes on Latin America for at least 10 years. However, the original 26 episodes were rebroadcasted many times during the early 70s in difeerent days and time periods.

Doctor Who's run in Mexican TV was historical, because it was the very first time the series were dubed to spanish language and because it easily become in a cultural phenomenon. 40 years later many people still remeber the original series in Mexico : "There are three thigs I will never forget about Dr Who: the Tardis, the Daleks and the title theme", a Mexican TV analyst said in a recent interview.

The success of Doctor Who was not exactly a miracle. Despiting the sophisticated british humor and the "european" rhythm of the stories (much slower than the American series that crowded Mexican TV since the late 50s), other UK series gained inmense popularity in Mexico during the 60s: The Avengers, Fireball XL-5, The Thunderbirds and U.F.O. were also big hits there.

The 70s

In the late 1970s, local stations declined to show the existing 1960s episodes, instead the then Government owned Canal 13, known today as TV Azteca, purchased the rights of at least one season of the Tom Baker years as Doctor Who. The show was dubed to spanish language in a small studio in Mexico City and was aired under the name "Doctor Misterio" (Doctor Mystery) at 6 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Canal 13 (channel 13) was a small public station with low budget and mediocre ratings. In the middle of an unequal battle against hot telenovelas (soap operas), highly popular American TV series such as "Six Million Dollar Man", "The Bionic Woman", "Charlie's Angels" or "The Black Sheep Squadron", and cartoon series like "Super Friends" or "Scooby Doo", usually aired by its competition, Canal 13 programming schedule seemed like suicide. However, and according to those years local ratings reports Doctor Who caught a good number of faithfull followers averagin 2 or 3 rating points. Most of Canal 13 shows used to average less than 1 point.

Later years

Doctor Who disapeared from Mexican TV in 1980 and remained alive only in the memories of his fans. During the 80s and early 90s the show only appeared from time to time in Cablevision, the largest Cable operator in Mexico during those years, which used to carry the signal of PBS (Public Boradcasting Company) in a regular basis. All the episodes were aired in english and in the same time period than in the USA.

Present

In 2005, media reports suggested that the Sci Fi Channel had expressed interest in the picking up the series revival in the United States. Meanwhile in Mexico, the Latin American subsidiary of People + Arts (partially owned by BBC) started to broadcast season 1 of the new series in early 2006 with subtitles in spanish language in Mexico and South America with the exception of Brazil where the subtitles are in portuguese. The second season was aired in early 2007 and the debut of the third season is expected for februrary 2008.

The region 1 - 4 DVDs of the first two seasons (with and without subtitles) can easily be found in almost every video store.

There are rumors that Televisa, the largest Mexican TV network and the largest spanish language TV network in the entire world, is planning to put Doctor Who in one of its three nation wide channels, and in spanish language, in 2008.