Folks who know me (or read my blog) know that I love Doctor Who. I have bought pretty much every New Who book published and most of old Target ones as well. Rest are in the queue to purchase pending funding approval (from the wife 😉 ) This year is the 60th Anniversary of the show and it is supposed to be a big thing with a whole bunch of things planned to celebrate the show.
I recently re-watched the entire New Who (9th Doctor onwards) and I have to say it is a show that just keeps getting better. There have been some ups and downs over the years for example, I really didn’t like the 12th Doctor much. Though the stories he had were quite good the character was not something I liked much, the 13th on the other hand was phenomenal. Personal ranking would be 10th, 4th, 13th, 9th and 11th with the 10th being the best.
To celebrate this occasion BBC was planning on putting the entire backlog of all of the Old episodes going back to the 1st episode broadcast back in 1963 in one location on iPlayer. Unfortunately, thanks to one idiot it looks like the set will have all episodes except the one that started it all: The first-ever story arc and the introduction of William Hartnell’s first Doctor, which will be missing from the set because the son of the original story’s author is having a hissy fit over the casting decision for the 15th Doctor.
Mr Coburn’s son claims that the BBC has been in breach of copyright since his father’s death in 1977. He has demanded that the corporation either stop using the Tardis in the show or pay his family for its every use since then. Stef Coburn claims that upon his father’s death, any informal permission his father gave the BBC to use his work expired and the copyright of all of his ideas passed to his widow, Joan. Earlier this year she passed it on to him.
He said: “It is by no means my wish to deprive legions of Doctor Who fans (of whom I was never one) of any aspect of their favourite children’s programme. The only ends I wish to accomplish, by whatever lawful means present themselves, involve bringing about the public recognition that should by rights always have been his due, of my father James Anthony Coburn’s seminal contribution to Doctor Who, and proper lawful recompense to his surviving estate.”
But if you read through his Twitter feed (I read a few posts) you will see gems like the following:
Regarding the hysterical hatred coming my way from the entitled outraged ‘fans’ of Doctor Who, I should say that, in the event of my death, I have bequeathed ALL my father’s DW related copyrights, to an ENEMY of the BBC, possessing ALL the resources required to act against them.
By that he means Russia. If you want to read the hateful postings of a sad old man who has never accomplished anything in their life and is jealous of their father’s achievements you can go search for his posts on Twitter (I refuse to call it X). He is someone who openly supports Hitler, is a transphobic racist & frothing islamophobe who glorifies Russian violence against Ukraine.
In his own words he wants to destroy Doctor Who because… I don’t know.
Would you plead so with Davros?
Or beg mercy from The Master?
I am ‘The Undoctor’. I have resented the success of Tony’s bastard brainchild, while his REAL children were left bereaved & forgotten, by the BBC, ALL MY LIFE.
If I could ERADICATE DW & the BBC from existence, I would.
In response to someone who asked “What do you actually gain from doing this though?” Stef Coburn replied: “Vengeance.”. Vengeance for what is something I can’t figure out, unless he means having a Black doctor and gay/Trans characters in the show (Which it always had). Basically I think that Stef Coburn couldn’t see the joy folks feel when watching the show and decided to rain on everyone’s parade by being a petulant brat. Or he just saw an opportunity to make money and used this as the perfect time because of all the focus around the 60th anniversary celebrations. Otherwise not many would have realized how a small minded bigot trying to ruin an awesome show.
In the days since his ranting/posts started multiple folks have posted copies of the “Unearthly Child” on Twitter, YouTube and other filesharing systems to get the episode out there.
Hopefully this will get sorted soon and folks will be able to see the episode that started it all.
Source: Slashdot: First ‘Doctor Who’ Writer Honored. His Son Contests BBC’s Rights to ‘Unearthly Child’
– Suramya