Dr. Who Returns to SciFi March 17th at 9PM!

[Ivan Seeking]

Did you not see the episode when the doctor and Sarah Jane were reunited?? K9 was fixed by the doctor and left to her as a present...

That was my thought: I wonder if they intend to use K9...? I suppose that's why the doctor was so kind as to rebuild him; esp seeing as how that episode was a pilot.

 

[Mike Cookson]

Which episode was a pilot? That episode of Doctor Who? It wasn't a pilot in the UK it was well into the second or third new series.

 

[Art]

Anybody watch Torchwood (an anagram of Doctor Who) another spin off with Captain Jack?

 

[Janus]

Which episode was a pilot? That episode of Doctor Who? It wasn't a pilot in the UK it was well into the second or third new series.

TV producers often create "pilots" for new shows as episodes of existing shows. It is a way to test the concept on the cheap. If you shoot a regular pilot and the show doesn't sell, you are out the cost of production. Shot as an episode of an existing show, even if it doesn't sell you have an episode to air that you would have had to shoot anyway.

For instance, the Andy Griffith Show pilot was shown as an episode of the Danny Thomas Show, and the Star Trek episode "Assignment Earth" was meant to be a pilot for a new episode (It didn't sell).

 

[Mike Cookson]

I know what a pilot is, I'm just confused as to what was shown as the pilot. I'm assuming this is in the states. Pilots rarely occur in the UK.

 

[Janus]

I know what a pilot is, I'm just confused as to what was shown as the pilot. I'm assuming this is in the states. Pilots rarely occur in the UK.

They are talking about the episode of Dr. Who with Sarah Jane. We here in the US saw it just as you did, as a regular episode of Dr. Who during the second or third series. But that does not mean it couldn't have also been a pilot for the new show with Sarah Jane. (as I mentioned above, this is a common practice.)

I guess the real question is, was it shot as a pilot, or did the idea for the spin-off occur afterward? (Again, a common occurrence, Both "Laverne and Shirley" and "Mork and Mindy" were based on characters introduced in "Happy Days" episodes, but those episodes were not originally meant as vehicles to launch the new series.)

We don't always see the pilot episodes of series in the US either. Sometimes the show changes significantly between the shooting of the pilot and airing, and thus airing the pilot as the first episode would be awkward.

 

[Mike Cookson]

Ah right, I understand. I don't think I have actually seen an aired pilot for a UK program. I have seen some claimed to be pilots after the date but I never heard of one being aired, at the time so to speak. Most 'pilots' for UK TV are fairly old now too, as if they don't bother any more.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

(Again, a common occurrence, Both "Laverne and Shirley" and "Mork and Mindy" were based on characters introduced in "Happy Days" episodes, but those episodes were not originally meant as vehicles to launch the new series.)

And Happy Days first piloted as an episode on Love American Style.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Anybody watch Torchwood (an anagram of Doctor Who) another spin off with Captain Jack?

It is a pretty good show but it gets too torchy at times!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Is it just me or does Sarah Jane really suck?

Obviously this show was intended for kids.

Regarding pilot episodes: Turns out that Love American Style was known as the graveyard for failed pilots. The Happy Days pilot had been rejected but was picked up after it ran as an episode on LAS.