Doctor Who

This is one of the most over-analyzed pieces of television ever produced. "Doctor Who" fans are such a dedicated bunch that they'll buy camcorders and film their own episodes when the show is not in production; it stands to reason that they'd pick apart the only "official" new episode produced for TV in the 1990s, but the chorus of their dissenting voices sometimes really grates on me. Thanks to all the controversy, I still can't honestly say what I think of this movie, even all these years later; every time I see it, I have a different opinion.

I'm not on board with some of the usual criticisms. I don't care about the romance (it barely features), and I don't really mind that the Doctor is half-human (it's a side issue that doesn't alter the plot, hardly worth complaining about). What I do dislike is the fast-paced, action-oriented nature of the story, which prevents character development (Chang Lee is the chief offender here) and doesn't allow any room for the Doctor to act like a detective (which is his usual schtick).

Still, good effects, a rockin' music score and some nice arty camera work elevate this far above the average TV production. Perhaps the only thing that really matters is that it's entertaining; why analyze it beyond that? The only real problem here is that the original series is, generally speaking, even more entertaining, but that's one tough act to follow!

An ex-roommate and good buddy of mine perhaps summed it up best: "That was fun, but could you put on a cheesy one now? They're more interesting." I bet her opinion of it wouldn't change on a second viewing; I, alas, am afflicted with the curse of fandom!

At last people can stop taking the proverbial out of the special effects in Dr Who! Instead they can take the proverbial out of the limp plot (if you can call it that). Eric Roberts isn't a patch on either of the previous incarnations of the Master. Paul McGann, however, makes an original Doctor and it's a shame a potentially interesting incarnation of the great Time Lord wasn't allowed to develop. There was a lot of complaining about the kissing scene, but I personally didn't see what was wrong with it as long as the Doctor doesn't turn into James Bond or Captain Kirk. Anyway, since the Doctor has a grand-daughter (Susan) then he must have done more than kiss a woman at some point in his life! But I did see what was wrong with the 'half-human' business. Can't people accept somebody who is an alien?

This film certainly has its moments and shows great potential for a new series, but it's just a shame Fox couldn't get their act together and make that series instead of allowing it to fall back into the clutches of the money-minded BBC where it'll probably never be seen again.

Not an example of Dr Who at its best by any means, but if you're a fan of the program like me then it's worth watching just to see the Doctor back in action, if only for one adventure.

It was in January 1996 that I first heard that my all time favourite TV hero was returning to our screens as a joint BBC / American network TVM . Whoever you are reading this review never EVER give up on your hopes and dreams because for DOCTOR WHO fans in the early 1990s not one of us ever believed we`d be seeing our favourite show return , never mind seeing a big budget American production or that this version was gong to have BAFTA award winning actor Paul McGann in the title role . Words fail to describe the anticipation me and every single other Who fan in the cosmos had in waiting till the TVM was broadcast in May . The only comparison I can think of is LOTR diehards waiting to see FELLOWSHIP , THE TWO TOWERS and RETURN OF THE KING . When the day of the broadcast came one Bank holiday Monday I`d almost bitten my fingers off in unbearable anticipation . I`d read every article I could find about the production in telefantasy magaziness , Paul McGann`s Doctor had appeared on the front cover of every British TV guide and the trailers led me to believe the Daleks were going to be heavily featured alongside the Master . So in mid evening the TVM began and for 90 minutes all the world`s problems disappeared . When the end titles rolled I was torn between being totally amazed by the good and bitterly disappointed by the bad .

The good bits were Geoffry Sax`s direction . Every single cent was up there on screen for the audience to gasp at . This is one Who story that can`t be accused of having crap FX . Sax also does an excellent editing job with intercutting between scenes , and it really was fascinating watching a Who story take place in an American setting . But the best aspect to the production is Eric Roberts camp scene stealing performance as the Master . My own memories of Roger Delgado`s original Master soon faded as Roberts bad-ass TERMINATOR inspired American arch enemy of the Doctor stole the entire show .

But unfortunately much of the bad outweighed the good and most of this was entirely down to Matthew Jacobs script which involved far too much continuity and extremely bad continiuty at that which not only displeases diehard fans but will alienate casual viewers at the same time . Regeneration ? temporal orbit ? the eye of harmony ? I know of these concepts because I`m a fan but here they`re presented entirely different from what I know them as . Likewise when did the Doctor become half human ? But the most disappointing thing were the Daleks who seem to be intergalatic hangmen and not the Nazis of the universe as shown on TV for three decades . Also bitterly disappointing to see them relegated to an off screen cameo when according to the trailers they might have been making a physical presence . Oh BTW can anyone really understand the plot ? At times it felt more like a Bond movie as the Doctor races around on a motor bike trying to save the world from a super villain . With the exception of Roberts no one really turns in a good performance least of all McGann who is surely one of Britain`s most underrated actors . I really expected more from him , though to be fair he didn`t have a lot to go on due to the script.

Oh well I suppose it was good while it lasted and I suppose my life has been slightly enriched after seeing an American version of DOCTOR WHO , and let me just repeat if someone had told me in 1992 I`d one day be watching an American version of the show I would have laughed in their face . It`s not the worst DOCTOR WHO story I`ve seen but it`s not a story I`ll watch over and over again unlike The Silurians , Inferno , Genesis Of The Daleks , Seeds Of Doom or Kinda . These really were classic pieces of not only Who but of British television

In 1996, seven years after the original Doctor Who series was canceled, the American network Fox thought a USA reboot of the show might be a good way to bring everybody's favorite Time Lord back to the small screen. The resulting TV movie was notoriously lambasted by critics and fans alike, who responded with more warmth to the BBC's revival of the character in 2005. Perhaps the biggest problem lies in the very fact that the Yanks tried to do their own version of a quintessential British creation: you don't see the Brits try and remake Star Trek, do you? Nevertheless, as messy as it is, this 1996 version of Doctor Who (which is part of the official mythology) has a few valid selling points that make it worth tracking down on a boring Saturday afternoon.

The original show ended with the Doctor being played by Sylvester McCoy, the seventh incarnation of the character, and it is still McCoy, albeit credited as a guest star, who controls the TARDIS at the beginning of the story. The year is 1999 (as a matter of fact, the specific date is December 31st), and the renegade Time Lord is transporting the ashes of his archenemy, the Master, back to their home planet Gallifrey. However, due to a series of mishaps, the machine crash-lands in America, with the Doctor presumably dead and the Master's spirit free to take over the body of a paramedic (Eric Roberts). His plan is to use some temporal anomaly to steal the Doctor's remaining lives (each Time Lord has thirteen of them; the Master's used them up). As for the Doctor, once he's regenerated into a half-human eighth embodiment (Paul McGann), he has to stop his nemesis once and for all.

The plot is a classic good vs. evil confrontation, and that's one of the TV movie's main flaws: instead of reintroducing the Doctor, like Russell T. Davies did in the new series, the narrative proceeds as if no time had passed between the original show's finale and this Americanized version. This can prove particularly alienating to US audiences, for whom Doctor Who isn't an essential part of popular culture, and McGann's clumsy voice-over doesn't do much to sort things out in that department. And that's without mentioning the holes in logic: why introduce two new (American) sidekicks, one of whom a potential love interest for the protagonist, and then suggest they would have no major role in other episodes, had the US show been picked up by Fox? And since when do Daleks and Time Lords cooperate, as shown prior to the opening credits?

That said, McGann and Roberts are good enough to compensate most of the other rubbish, one giving that undeniably English quality to the quirky time traveler, the other adding a bit of OTT menace to one of the show's seminal villains. In addition, the special effects are state-of-the-art, as is the new rendition of Ron Grainer's immortal theme music.

Overall, a one-off experiment that is best remembered as a guilty pleasure for die-hard fans. Fortunately, the Yanks were wise enough to let the BBC handle everything Who-related from this point on.

6,5/10

This attempted pilot for a new Doctor Who series may have faults but I think some of the criticism is off-base. The original Doctor Who series was never a slave to realism or it's own continuity the way shows like Star Trek or The X-Files were. It was more like a long-running comic strip with it's light "who cares about obsessive fan-boys and fan-girls" approach. This show always played fast and loose with it's own continuity and often contradicted what had gone before for the sake of the present story being aired. So many fans went bananas over things like the Doctor being half-human and the Eye of Harmony being on board the Tardis and the Master being able to slither around in that black snake form to find a new host body or why he was put on trial by the Daleks. For a show that always pretty much made it up as it went along that's a waste of time. I've got some random thoughts to throw out about this attempt to revive the series.

As for the Doctor being half-human I'll repeat my remark about this show making it up as it went along. From what I recall the show was on the air for years before it even established that he was a Time Lord so a sudden revelation about a half-human heritage isn't as way out as it first seems.

My view on the Master being able to slither around in snake form is also to repeat that this show was never a slave to it's own continuity. I'd like every Dr Who fan who can't sleep at night fretting over this bit to explain to me what the White Form in the story where Tom Baker regenerated into Peter Davison was and why the other regeneration scenes took place without such a White Form "merging" with the Doctor.

As for why the Eye of Harmony was on board the Tardis I'll say that if a new Doctor Who series had resulted from this pilot movie they could have done a flashback story at some point featuring Sylvester McCoy's Doctor and explained all that.

I thought the Master being put on trial by the Daleks was kind of cool - sort of like they were saying "This guy is so evil even the Daleks are outraged!" If a new series had resulted they could have done another Sylvester McCoy flashback story at some point to explain what led up to the Master being put on trial by the Daleks. Maybe he tried to take over Skaro and turn all the Daleks into his own personal hit-squad or some other nonsense.

Sylvester McCoy was pretty cool for agreeing to appear in this movie to give the potential new Doctor Who series a legitimate link to the original British show. The poor guy had to come in with a lame regeneration scene and went out the same way and the effort was for nothing since the show's own fans turned up their noses at this film and the new series was never given a chance. A new Doctor Who series that didn't live up to the continuity geeks' vision of the show would have been better than no Doctor Who series at all. Just another example of the down-side to cult shows.