Dr. Who For Keep Australia Beautiful (TV story)
Dr. Who For Keep Australia Beautiful was a short mini-episode broadcast in 1979 to raise awareness of the growing litter problem in Australia, to aid the Western Australian Litter Act of 1979, also known as Keep Australia Beautiful. It featured the Fourth Doctor, or rather, Dr. Who, if one takes into account the title of the story.
Synopsis
Dr. Who is challenged by a computer about his knowledge of Australia - but the Doctor isn't as up to date as he believes...
Plot
In a space station orbiting Earth, a computer asks Dr. Who why he wants to go to Australia, as it believes that the Doctor knows nothing about the continent. The Doctor indignantly replies that he does, as he has been reading all about it, proceeding to pick up his copy of The Wind in the Willows, relaying information about Australia.
After doing so, the Doctor confidently challenges the computer to ask him anything about Australia. The Doctor seemingly answers all questions correctly except for the last one, about the disadvantages; the Doctor believes that there are none; he is mistaken, as the data-scan in which he cited, is now outdated. The computer informs him that a new data-scan has revealed that Australia is dirty, littered, and about to have an imminent collapse of life-support systems due to pollution. Feeling emboldened, the Doctor tells the computer that he must go down there, to tell them to "keep Australia beautiful".
Feeling that he must depart to carry through this important task, the Doctor asks the computer if he can leave. He gets confirmation that he can, and just before leaving, the Doctor turns and tells us that it is important, and to keep Australia beautiful.
Cast
Crew
to be added
References
- Reading from his copy of The Wind in the Willows, Australia is said to be "a sunburnt country of sweeping plains, rugged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains".
- In response to the Doctor's challenge, the computer asks the Doctor the population, the size, Bradman's best test score, Australia's most famous export, advantages, and disadvantages of Australia.
Story notes
- For some reason, there appears to be two of the Doctor's hats on screen at the same time.
- A pseudo double entendre is used by the Doctor, when he says that he must tell the population to "keep Australia beautiful", a meta nod to the Australian movement the mini-episode was created in aid of.
Continuity
- The Doctor visited Australia in his first, (AUDIO: The Transit of Venus) second, (TV: The Enemy of the World, AUDIO: Echoes of Grey) and third incarnations, (COMIC: Backtime, Gemini Plan, PROSE: Sleepy)
- The Doctor would return to Australia in his seventh, (PROSE: Three Steps to the Left, Set Piece) eleventh, (TV: A Christmas Carol, and twelfth incarnations. (TV: The Pilot)
- The Doctor has previously spoken to the audience in TV: The Daleks' Master Plan, The Face of Evil, Image of the Fendahl, Underworld, The Invasion of Time, and in The Pirate Planet. The Doctor continue this trend in later incarnations.
