Twenty years ago, on this date, Doctor Who returned briefly to television screens in the UK. It was on this date, while spending my bank holiday in a rented cottage in Devon, that I personally became aware of the show. Its creators hoped that the movie would succeed as a backdoor pilot to relaunch the show. Sadly they did not reach the required ratings for this to be the case.
The failure of this pilot could perhaps be attributed somewhat to do with a continuity-heavy beginning
with the Master being put on trial by the Daleks on Skaro and exterminated. We then move to the Tardis itself with the Doctor, still played by Sylvester McCoy, already established. It's a bit of a baffling beginning. After the Master's remains break free and attack the Tardis, the ship crash lands in San Fransisco, 1999, where Chang Lee is witness to the Doctor's death. These city sequences feel like they should have been the beginning.
Sylvester McCoy's presence is not a bad thing, but he is in it far too much for someone who is going to disappear. Still, it was great to see this brilliant Doctor for one last time. Even if he is a more passive figure, sitting down, reading books and drinking tea rather than the energetic, spoon playing trickster of the tv show. In his tweed he is now the American idea of an Englishman, very much like Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Although the plot is heavy, scriptwriter Matthew Jacobs makes it easy to understand by threading a theme of death and rebirth throughout the piece. Two Time Lords, like two angels descending on San Franscisco. Both are reborn. The Master wants to kill and the Doctor brings Grace and Chang Lee back which might seem corny but works in this story alone.
Paul McGann was a great casting choice for the new Doctor. He shows exuberance in all of the important scenes. Just as McCoy's Doctor played the quintessential Englishman in tweed, McGann is playing the effete Victorian gentlemen. In a way this lumbers him. He is often shown a position of bewilderment or weakness, running away and being chained up. He is at his best when he is riding motorbikes, pocketing Professor Wagg's key and and running through the ITAR building. If the show had gone to series they would have had to toughen him up. Night of the Doctor would show how much of a swashbuckling adventurer he could have been.
Daphne Ashbrook was likable enough as Grace Holloway. The character is closer to the Liz Shaw or Barbara Wright style of professional companion who is an older woman with her own hopes and ambitions At points she is winy but I would have no objection to her being in a whole series.
Eric Roberts was adequate as the dying cadaver Master. The character has always been pretty camp so having him camp here does not make any difference. Dressing him up like the Terminator felt odd but he is delightful.
Yee Jee Tso is also good as Chang Lee. It's difficult to know whether he would have been a companion or an earthbound aid like Mickey or Danny. Still, he's a pretty different character for the show.
The rest of the cast are mostly background characters with little in the way of defining character traits although Professor Wagg is particularly memorable for being eccentric, as is Pete, the hospital attendant.
The music in this show is fairly conventional. The orchestral version of the theme is decent if not as striking as the more electronic, ethereal versions.
Visually this film is far more gorgeous than most Doctor Who stories. The Vancouver setting brings in a feeling of X-Files but the gothic look of the Tardis works against this.
The TV Movie was a failure, but by bringing Doctor Who back in the public spotlight, if only briefly, led me to become a fan. So for that, I am grateful. And at least we can enjoy the Eighth Doctor through Comic strip, the BBC Books and through the Big Finish Audios.
