Here’s what Google AI has to say when I typed in “the state of science fiction in the UK in the 1960s”:
In the 1960s, British science fiction experienced a significant shift towards the “New Wave,” characterized by experimentation and a focus on social and psychological themes. This era saw the rise of authors like Brian Aldiss and J.G. Ballard, who explored complex social and psychological issues through the lens of science fiction. The New Wave also influenced the emergence of science fiction on television, with shows like Doctor Who and Out of the Unknown gaining popularity.
It also pointed to a Wikipedia (question both sources) page on British television science fiction:
Two important events for the future of British television science fiction occurred in 1962. The first was that the BBC’s Head of Light Entertainment, Eric Maschwitz, commissioned Head of the Script Department, Donald Wilson, to prepare a report on the viability of producing a new science-fiction series for television. The second was that Sydney Newman was tempted away from ABC to accept the position of Head of Drama at the BBC, officially joining the corporation at the beginning of 1963.
The BBC developed an idea of Newman’s into Britain’s first durable science-fiction television series. Taking advantage of the research Wilson’s department had completed, Newman initiated the creation of a new series, and along with Wilson and BBC staff writer C. E. Webber oversaw its development; Newman named it “Doctor Who.” After much development work, the series was launched on 23 November 1963. It ran for 26 seasons in its original form, through which first emerged many of the writers who, until the 1980s, would create most of the genre’s successful British shows.[example needed] One of the few science fiction series to have become part of the popular consciousness, its success led the BBC to produce others in the genre, notably the science fiction anthology series Out of the Unknown (1965–1971), which ran for four seasons.
What does that have to do with this?
While looking for the next story bible/writer’s guide to review I came across a series of Doctor Who related postings on this site simply called TV Writing that collects writer’s guides for study. That was after one of my other new go-to sites had one of these files, but going to a dead link. There doesn’t seem to be an actual writer’s guide for the original Doctor Who online on any of my choices. For all I know the BBC didn’t and still doesn’t use them. I’m not a historian. I’m a reviewer, semi-artist, and storyteller. Still, this site has some of those notes and early pitches for Sidney Newman’s long-running-with-a-long-break series and possibly the notes mentioned above. I didn’t know about any of this, but in this next series of articles, which I’m putting into my story bible category on a technicality, we’re all about to.
Welcome to a new article series.
BW Media Spotlight 
Did Walt Disney Damage Literature?
At first this was going to be a full-on BW Vs article, responding to a recent pair of blog posts by author Brian Neumeier over at his Kairos Publication‘s blog section. However, he showed the same video I’ll be showing below, and it’s a kinder version of what he wrote. I’ll still refer to those articles and to part two of the video, which is out and a part three is teased at the end, but you come here to read.
The video comes from YouTube channel Cartoon Aesthetics, a relatively new animation discussion channel with only a handful of videos in it’s one year of operation. This is the first of a series titled “How Disney Stole Your Childhood”. In the video, the host discusses how Walt Disney’s adaptations of public domain tales from the past had a negative impact on reading those stories by becoming the definitive version of those stories. Unlike Neumeier, the host of the videos doesn’t believe that this was intentional on Uncle Walt’s part, but something that happened over time and through later owners and CEOs of the company as they shifted more towards business than storytelling, or that was my impression of both. While I’ve gone over that Walt knew business to a degree he cared more about storytelling than the business, certainly more than current CEO Bob Iger, and wanted his stories to be as good as possible, knowing that would bring the business.
This actually started from a discussion on Disney’s role in cementing the idea that cartoons are just for kids, the first article I linked to specifically about that. I don’t agree with that assessment because making kids cartoons weren’t new. As even some commenters pointed out, other studios were making cartoons for kids but there were also cartoons for adults. Betty Boop was brought up and what the Hayes Code did to her, but let’s also remember that the Looney Tunes were not entirely for kids. Some of their humor was clearly made for adults. It’s just over time the Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies shorts (and I’m not even sure what the differences in titles were), ended up being thought of as kids fare, even airing on Saturday mornings not only on parent group-patrolled network CBS but in syndication and later on Nickelodeon. This really could be a discussion for a later time, and both the articles and the videos bring up Japanese “anime” (short for animation so stop correcting people) as examples of how this is a Western position. So the question is for this response commentary…did Disney convince kids to not read books based on their adaptations? And if so, do we now have a way to fix that?
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on May 22, 2025 in Animation Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged commentary, Literature, Walt Disney, Walt Disney Pictures.
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