Jodie Whittaker may be the first female actor to play the Doctor in the official series, but there have been other female Doctors in unofficial productions. In 1984, an actor called Barbara Benedetti played the character in a fan film created by a company called Seattle International and directed by Ryan K Johnson. The female actors since then have all been in comedy sketches but this is one of the few examples not to be a spoof.
The story opens with a pre-titles sequence, set in London, 1911. A chimney sweep, Carl Evans, discovers the female Doctor who is suffering the effects of her recent regeneration. The Doctor is wearing the multicoloured coat implying she is the seventh incarnation. Carl helps the Doctor back to the Tardis and discovers that it is bigger on the inside. It's a nice sequence. The only flaw in this sequence is that Carl shouldn't recognize a police box. Otherwise this is a far better way of bypassing a regeneration scene than Time and the Rani would manage.
After the titles, the Tardis materialises in a modern day National Park where Vietnam veterans are living in the wild. A reporter is investigating the camp and is later killed by an unseen alien force.
The veterans accusethe Doctor and Carl are accused of the murder but the Doctor's curiosity is piqued and she helps to track down the force. One by one, the veterans are killed off.
The force responsible for these killings is revealled to be Eukor, an energy being. Carl unwittingly frees Eukor who possesses one of the vets. The Doctor and Carl take Eukor to an energy plant and the Doctor traps Eukor in a force field. Like Prisoner Zero in The Eleventh Hour, Eukor is basically just a blank slate for which this new Doctor can pitch herself against. His voice sounds a little bit like Zordon from Power Rangers.
Barbara Benedetti proves to be decent Doctor. She gets the confidence and the intellectual qualities of the part. The obligatory sex change jokes are there at the beginning but once they're out of the way she just gets on with being the Doctor.
Randy Rogel is good as Carl, the Dick Van Dyke-alike companion. His performance is brilliant although his accent is incredibly distracting.
The supporting cast are a decent bunch of actors, although most of the characters are killed off too soon to really get to know them.
The production is fairly good. The outdoor filming gives the whole thing a sense of atmosphere. The only strike down is the incidental music is recycled from the early 1980s stories with Earthshock and The Leisure Hive featuring prominently. This music doesn't really suit the atmosphere.The title sequence is inspired by the Sid Sutton version, with Barbara Benedetti's face superimposed.
Overall this is a decent start to the series. It's nice to have largely exterior scenes. Time will tell whether audiences will accept a female Doctor but this fan film certainly proved it can work.
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment