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Was Doctor Who. I was very young when the local PBS station picked up a few of the British Broad Casting House shows for the first time. They didn't start with the first episodes of the series. Instead it jumped right into the fourth doctor. At the time there weren't many episodes out so PBS would also broadcast episodes of the third doctor as well.
I remember getting to make Jiffy Pop and sitting on our big green (slightly scratchy) couch while hidding slightly behind the couch cushions as the Doctor and his compainons ran around making the world safe. There was also the strange, other worldly and funny Doctor. His main companion, either Jo Grant or Sarah Jane (to this day I still think they're rather cute), and the boys from U.N.I.T.
My mother is, and never has been, pro military. So, my exposure to the concept of a good military officer was not broad in the least sense of the word. But there, on the T.V. screen every week was a man that reminded me a little of the Grandfather I never knew outside of stories. He was good, he was brave, he tried to do the right thing even when that was not always easy. He seemed, to me at least, a little larger than life. His name was Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart.
When the Doctor or the Brigadier were on the screen I knew that things were going to be okay. Now that may seem like a sort of sexist thing to believe, but I had not grown up with a father around and this was one of the close portraits of a father type of figure I saw. The companions were a team, and the Doctor and the Brigadier were the leaders. Things would be okay for the people of earth as long as they were on the job.
Yesterday Nicolas Courtney, the man who played this first military officer I had ever know, passed away. He was 81 and evidently going through his own battle with cancer. By all accounts a gentle man who enjoyed acting and life.
Farewell Brigadier. I'm sure we'll speak again some time.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: I'm finding it difficult to keep up with all of you these days, Doctor.
The Doctor: Some other time eh, Brigadier? Alas there's no time for pleasantries. I must find my young friend.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: We'll speak soon, old chap. To all of you, I hope.
I remember getting to make Jiffy Pop and sitting on our big green (slightly scratchy) couch while hidding slightly behind the couch cushions as the Doctor and his compainons ran around making the world safe. There was also the strange, other worldly and funny Doctor. His main companion, either Jo Grant or Sarah Jane (to this day I still think they're rather cute), and the boys from U.N.I.T.
My mother is, and never has been, pro military. So, my exposure to the concept of a good military officer was not broad in the least sense of the word. But there, on the T.V. screen every week was a man that reminded me a little of the Grandfather I never knew outside of stories. He was good, he was brave, he tried to do the right thing even when that was not always easy. He seemed, to me at least, a little larger than life. His name was Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart.
When the Doctor or the Brigadier were on the screen I knew that things were going to be okay. Now that may seem like a sort of sexist thing to believe, but I had not grown up with a father around and this was one of the close portraits of a father type of figure I saw. The companions were a team, and the Doctor and the Brigadier were the leaders. Things would be okay for the people of earth as long as they were on the job.
Yesterday Nicolas Courtney, the man who played this first military officer I had ever know, passed away. He was 81 and evidently going through his own battle with cancer. By all accounts a gentle man who enjoyed acting and life.
Farewell Brigadier. I'm sure we'll speak again some time.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: I'm finding it difficult to keep up with all of you these days, Doctor.
The Doctor: Some other time eh, Brigadier? Alas there's no time for pleasantries. I must find my young friend.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: We'll speak soon, old chap. To all of you, I hope.
