Part II, Chapter XXIII: "Fans, Conventions, Spinoffs, and the British Invasion"
One cannot truly discuss the success of a franchise without an acknowledgement of the impact that the fans inevitably have. The realm of science-fiction is no exception to this rule, in many ways, it relies more heavily upon it. [1]
The decision to bring
Doctor Who to the US had greatly expanded its fanbase. The success of the brief film franchise, now considered a modern classic, coupled with the revived television series had resulted in a much greater public exposure than before. Fan conventions would begin to pop up across North America, many of which would manage to book actors involved in the show at various points.
The Doctor Who Appreciation Society (or DWAS) also opened an American offshoot, the American Doctor Who Appreciation Society (ADWAS). Much as the British society had elected an honorary president in Jon Pertwee, the American society would soon find their own figurehead in Patrick Troughton. The mock-antagonism between the two actors would only be furthered by this development. [2]
Star Trek had always maintained a large fanbase in North America, with a decent overseas fandom as well. The continued success of
The Next Generation would only serve to bring more people in, and
Star Trek conventions would continue to be a somewhat common occurrence.
Star Trek, in part due to the greater exposure that it had received for the majority of its run, did have more outspoken celebrity fans. Some would occasionally turn up at conventions, and many persons who would later appear in the franchise would admit to having attended conventions in their youth.
The British origins of
Doctor Who and many actors now appearing on American televisions led to the terming of the “Third British Invasion”, although many considered it an offshoot of the primarily musical “Second British Invasion”. As a result of the popularity of British import
Doctor Who, other British shows would begin to be given reruns in North America, as other networks hoped to cash in on the popularity of British television. [3]
Despite this, the majority of the shows soon died out in popularity, as it became clear just how vastly different British and American television networks were. However, some shows did see something of a revival as a result of this newfound exposure. Most notable were
Blake’s 7 and
The Avengers, and talk soon spread of American revivals of these shows.[4]
Terry Nation, who now resided in the US, had in fact been trying to revive
Blake’s 7 in conjunction with actor Paul Darrow for some years. The success of
Doctor Who had proven that there was a market for a show like
Blake’s 7 in North America. The suggestion that
Blake’s 7 and
Doctor Who in fact existed in the same universe had been brought up by Blake actor Gareth Thomas and Tom Baker, who were close friends. Although Terry Nation was less keen on the notion, the thought of reviving
Blake’s 7 with a back-door pilot through
Doctor Who was an exciting one.[5]
Doctor Who was not the only franchise where a spin-off was being considered. With the continued success of
The Next Generation, there were mutterings of a new
Star Trek show in many Paramount offices. In stark contrast to
The Next Generation, the proposed show was to take place primarily on a space station. Hesitantly titled
Deep Space Nine, the show would be greenlit in late 1991, although the project would not enter production until 1993 for various reasons. [6]
Another show that would increase in popularity due to the “British Invasion” was the situational comedy
Red Dwarf. During the height of the Invasion,
Red Dwarf was in the middle of airing its fourth, penultimate, season. With Grant and Naylor having made it clear that the fifth season would be the final one, executives at Universal Studios began plans to purchase the rights to an American remake, with an aim to air in 1993. [7]
[1] No intro quote to this chapter, in part because this is more of an ascended supplemental update that I realised I had put too much non-supplemental stuff in.
[2] Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee were, by all accounts, good friends. Despite this, their characters always seemed antagonistic to each other. I felt that it was only appropriate that this mock-competitiveness was reflected by the American and British chapters of the DWAS
[3] While they won't be given quite the same level of detail I'm giving Trek and Who, I'm going to be bringing in more shows to the timeline. It's more that the scope is naturally expanding than my wanting to cover certain areas to be honest.
[4] I do love to drop hints at plans, especially when they come to me in the course of writing an update.
[5] In all honesty, I'm not sure that I'd want Blake's 7 as a part of the DW universe, but it doesn't not make sense. A backdoor pilot may occur. It's all dependent on what happens down the line.
[6] Many of you may realise what this means, beyond the fact that DS9 would air a year later at the earliest. I've been dropping hints for something, and I'm laying the groundwork now. Personally, DS9 is my favourite of the Star Trek shows, but there will be many changes to it.
[7] And now it's clear why I've been mentioning Red Dwarf while ignoring some other sci-fi franchises, beyond saving Graham Chapman for a while. I've got plans for it. You may also notice that I've stopped it at season 5, make of that what you will.
Alright, slight slump over. I wasn't quite sure how to tackle this update, because it started as a supplemental one about the fandom, but sort of spiralled into a fully relevant update, which is why it's now Chapter 23. Next update will be on S4 of Red Dwarf, then a BIG musical update, done in part by user @Drorac. After that, back to Trek for S5. This update helped me to work out what I wanted to do with a couple of franchises (that I didn't mention this update), and I'll apologise in advance for what I'm going to do. Once more, any questions, send them my way. There's a couple of comments here that I'll reply to once this is done, I just wanted to get this out first.