Classic Doctor Who - The TV Movie (1996) - Review
Starring: Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook, Yee Jee Tso & Eric Roberts
Written By: Matthew Jacobs
Directed By: Geoffrey Sax
In
1989, the unfathomable happened … something I hope I'll never have
to repeat again – Doctor Who was cancelled. Having lasted
twenty-six years, the BBC cancelled the show owing to poor ratings
and a lack of public interest in the show. Although the franchise
survived in alternative formats, such as in books or in Doctor Who
Magazine, it seemed like the TV show was officially a thing of
the past. But as we now know, fate had other ideas and in 1996, the
Doctor returned to our screens for his biggest adventure yet – a TV
movie produced between the BBC and 20th Century Fox that
would see the TARDIS land in America. It was hoped that The
TV Movie would be successful enough to lead to a full return
for the show, and while that proved not to be the case, it is still a
significant part of Doctor Who's history.
The
Master has been executed, and the Doctor has been tasked with
bringing back his remains to their home planet, Gallifrey. But even
in death, the Master cannot be trusted and he returns to life and
sends the TARDIS off course. It lands in San Francisco on New Year's
Eve, 1999, and upon exiting the TARDIS, the Doctor is shot down in a
gangland gun battle. Later at a hospital morgue, the Doctor is forced
to regenerate … but the Master has also found himself a new body.
Seeking more regenerations, the Master plans to steal the Doctor's
own, but may end up destroying the Earth in the process.
The
most apparent difference between The TV Movie and the
original series is its scale and ambition. At the time this was
broadcast, The TV Movie was the biggest Doctor Who
had ever got, complete with grand Hollywood-style sensibilities
in mind. It was something that was badly needed if the show was to
return, because as much as the original show could create compelling
sci-fi and had the occasional good-looking story, it had still built
up an image of tin-foil villains and wobbly sets. Here, that's
something long gone, thanks in part to its American setting and the
impressive cities, skylines and imagery it brings. You know the show
has stepped up its game when you have a scene where the Doctor and
Grace can escape from the Master by motorbike. In fact, this is a
brilliant production on every level, one that's stylishly directed by
Geoffrey Sax. The set design is fantastic, the highlight of which is
easily the new TARDIS interior. It's the biggest change to the inside
of the TARDIS since the show began and I really like it – it's
definitely the largest interior yet and the old-fashioned Victorian
spin that accompanies it is surprisingly fitting. The special effects
– something that had been one of Doctor Who's biggest
pitfalls up till now – are well-crafted and used just enough
without becoming obtrusive. This is something that's clear right from
the new title sequence, which itself comes with a new composition of
the theme tune. I absolutely love the music here, and the new take on
the title music feels joyous and uplifting, not to mention one
particular track called Breakout that recurs throughout the
film during moments of action, and it never fails to get the
adrenaline going.
Of
course the problem with Doctor Who suddenly getting a budget
and an eye for a more cinematic style, is that you're going to get
complaints from fans of the original series that the film is too
Americanized. While I see where these complaints would come from, I
personally wouldn't go as far as to say that the film is
Americanized. For me, the film retains enough of its distinct
Britishness and Doctor Who feel. Take for example the scene
where the Doctor encounters a police officer, and when he goes to
fetch something from his pocket, the policeman thinks the Doctor's
going to pull out a gun … only for him to offer him a jelly baby. It's
such a great little scene, and it's small moments like this that are
enough to convince me I'm still watching my favourite show. Although
that's not to say that The TV Movie doesn't have any
Americanisms – it is after all a British and American production.
However, most of the time this isn't a problem at all, and while some
minor things feel at odds being here, such as the awkward-to-watch
Pete, the man who works in the hospital morgue, it's not enough to
constitute a serious problem.
The
TV Movie also
provides us with a new Doctor, and while Sylvester McCoy is here at
the start, it isn't long until he gets caught in a gang shootout and
forced to regenerate. The actual regeneration was very good, and I
particularly liked how it was paralleled with clips from
Frankenstein.
Paul McGann's role as the new 8th Doctor is one of the many things that I've already mentioned that
helps to keep The TV Movie feeling
like Doctor Who.
It was something else that was going to have to change if Doctor
Who was
to survive – the Doctor himself, and Paul McGann's version is
noticeably different from his predecessors. The 8th
Doctor is brimming with charm and a more romantic nature, to the
point where we even see the Doctor kiss his companion for the first
time. Seeing this more different side to the Doctor still doesn't
feel out of character, rather it feels like something that the
creative team have been trying to do for years. But for all his
gentlemanly charm and Victorian/Edwardian style, this Doctor can
still pull off the more dramatic moments, particularly when it comes
to his last showdown with the Master. It really is a shame that this
was the only full-length appearance Paul McGann would get to make as
the Doctor, because the potential is undoubtedly here for his Doctor
to carry multiple series' worth of adventures. The same goes for
Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso as Grace and Chang Lee respectively.
They both work very well with Paul McGann's Doctor, so it's a shame
they both decided to leave the TARDIS at the end.
However,
the Doctor is just one side of a coin here, and as always, it's his
Time Lord nemesis, the Master, that's the other side of this coin.
Eric Roberts takes the role this time, and his incarnation of the
Master is … well I'm quite sure what to say. On the bright side, it
is fun to see a name like Eric Roberts take on such a role, and he's
clearly enjoying himself as the leather-coated and dark
glasses-wearing villain. He even adds a delicious campiness to the
role when in his Time Lord robes and says “I always dress for
the occasion”. Part of me curiously enjoys this version of the
Master, and Eric Roberts is strangely watchable in the role. Don't
get me wrong, he doesn't top those who came before him such as Roger
Delgado or Anthony Ainley, and he is perhaps the weakest version of
the Master thus far, but even so, he does fit in with the tone of the
film.
The
biggest problem that holds The TV Movie back is the
fact that it either gets carried away and too bogged down with
continuity, or just blatantly disregards it. The film's issues with
continuity is in my opinion why it failed to attract an audience in
America, as this is not the suitable jumping-on point for new
audiences that it needed to be. Many things in the film are unlikely
to make sense unless you have knowledge of the classic series and
Doctor Who mythos, as the film doesn't set aside sufficient
time for introducing us to things such as Time Lords, TARDISes or
even the Doctor's relationship with the Master. We're thrown in the
deep end and you're left to pick it up for yourself as you go along.
For example, Sylvester McCoy appears for the first fifteen minutes,
and while it is nice for fans to see his Doctor get to regenerate,
it's not such a good idea introducing a new audience to him, only for
him to be gotten rid of. But even if you are a returning fan and know
about the things that the film is talking about, it still does a poor
job at maintaining coherent continuity. The biggest offender that
annoys practically every Doctor Who fan, is trying to pass the
Doctor off as half-human. Personally, I do my best to ignore this,
but I see why it annoys so many people and especially when it was so
unnecessary. The problems go further than that, and extend to things
such as the Eye of Harmony. In the original series, the Eye of
Harmony was understood as the TARDIS' power source on Gallifrey, but
here it's actually in the TARDIS. Again, you can ignore or try to
think of ways around this, but it's still a bad and unnecessary move
on the film's behalf.
Many
people are quick to overlook or dismiss The TV Movie,
but I'm inclined and willing to defend it, because at the end of the
day, there is a lot to like here. It's far from perfect, but its new
style fits the show well and Paul McGann shows great promise as the
Doctor. If The TV Movie was designed as entertainment
and a chance for fans to see the Doctor one more time on TV screens,
then it's a success. As a reboot for the show and for entirely new
audiences … this is where it falls short. This was not quite the
successful reboot that the show needed to make a comeback, which is
ultimately a shame. However, even though a return to a regular
prime-time slot wasn't to happen, it did prove that there was still
life to be found in Doctor Who, at least as far as the UK was
concerned. It may not have been the right time for the Doctor to
return yet, but in a few more years, he'd burst back onto our screens
ready for new adventures with a new TARDIS, new companion and
entertain a whole new generation of viewers.
The TV Movie
7/10