REVIEW: Doctor Who - The Movie

REVIEW: Doctor Who - The Movie

Recently on this blog, I posted my thoughts on the rumours regarding a potential BBC Films/Warner Bros. Doctor Who movie (which you can read here), so I thought I would take a look back at my review for Paul McGann's feature length debut, aptly titled 'Doctor Who: The Movie'.

Doctor Who - The Movie is a curious part of Doctor Who history. Originally intended to launch a new TV series produced by the BBC, Fox and Universal, it has become something of a missing link between the classic and new series, with all plans for what would have been Paul McGann's first full series dropped due to poor viewing figures stateside. So what was at fault?

Well, for starters it feels like it was a mistake to include Sylvester McCoy as his incarnation of the Doctor at the beginning of the movie. This would no doubt have been confusing for new viewers who didn't previously follow the series; the TV movie did, after all, air seven years after the last episode of the classic series was transmitted. This error was later rectified when Russell T Davies brought the show back in 2005, when he opted to introduce us to Christopher Eccleston as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor, without a regeneration having occurred. 

It's a shame that executive producer Paul Segal made the decision to include Sylvester McCoy, although it's understandable why he chose to go down this route. He is a Whovian after all, so the temptation to include a regeneration sequence was likely too much to resist. Overall, though, this was a decent attempt at a Doctor Who film, with an engaging plot and great actors at the helm.

Perhaps also the setting was a major factor in the TV Movie's lack of success. Doctor Who is, after all, a beloved British icon, and so moving the series across the pond to San Francisco feels like a particularly odd move to make. It's almost as though they tried too hard to attract the American audience, and in doing so they lost the series' identity as a quintessentially British affair. Why couldn't the atomic clock have been located in London, for instance, at a major scientific convention being held at the London Olympia centre, where the Doctor Who Experience used to be located before its move to Cardiff?

The plot of the Master trying to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations and opening the Eye of Harmony in order to destroy the world is a good one that feels largely in character for the Master. Paul McGann and Daphne Ashbrook are fantastic as the Doctor and Grace Holloway too; so believable in their roles that many wish to see them reunited in the form of a Big Finish audio. Paul McGann in particular is a delight in his first performance. He instantly oozes charisma, and provides a dashingly romantic portrayal that had not been seen in the series by this point. In some ways it feels like a template for Russell T Davies' second and third series as showrunner, which focused heavily on the notion of romance brewing in the TARDIS. 

I don't even mind the idea that the Doctor is half human on his mother's side; it makes sense given his fascination with Earth. My only real complaint besides the ill-thought out decision to include Sylvester McCoy is that at times the Master appears more like Count Dracula than the Master himself. This is in large part down to Eric Roberts' performance, who seems too theatrical and hams it up a little too much to be convincing as a serious dramatic threat to the newly regenerated Doctor.

Overall, the Doctor Who TV Movie is a great film that is unfortunately let down by a couple of poor decisions within the production. Bringing back Sylvester McCoy as the seventh incarnation of the Doctor was an unnecessary piece of fan service, and Eric Roberts' portrayal of the Master was perhaps a little too on-the-nose. It's a shame this theatrical production was not more successful, as Paul McGann truly deserved a full series as the Doctor.

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What are your thoughts on the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie? Let me know in the comments.