There is an experience Doctor Who fans will never have again
that anyone watching the series in the Seventies did have and that is watching
your first episode in colour. After years of various shades of grey there would
finally be an episode when the series exploded into bright COLOUR! For some it
had started with `Spearhead from Space` when the series itself was first
broadcast in colour. Some of us had to wait a while longer. For me it was
episode 2 of `Pyramids of Mars` first broadcast on 1 November 1975. Having
avidly watched most of the third Doctor’s era in monochrome – and therefore
spared the garish colours of the Axons- nothing could prepare me for the
experience of seeing the series as it should look. It’s difficult to describe
in a world now where black and white material is either ancient or used as a
novelty. Somehow watching in monochrome you did have some idea of things being
different shades yet whenever a photo turned up it was still a surprise. I
think the reason why I loved the Target books covers was because of the vibrant
colour of the artwork. Yet Doctor Who
was still a black and white series for me. Then in 1975 we got a colour
television and suddenly everything was different.
