Doctor Who Rewind #1: The 1996 TV Movie

"What's this?" you ask. "Something Doctor Who related?" Well, duh. Doctor Who's in the title! 

To keep things lively on this blog for the next 4 months, I'm going to be revisiting some Doctor Who stories from both the classic and rebooted series. They won't be as frequent as my TV reviews, but I'll do my absolute best to churn out at least, let's say seven, before the end of the summer. 

My first stop will be Doctor Who's 1996 FOX TV movie, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this past month...

Writer: Matthew Jacobs
Director: Geoffrey Sax
Original Airdate: May 14, 1996

PART 1: The Plot

The Master has been captured and executed by the Daleks on Skaro, and his last request was for the Doctor to bring his ashes back to Gallifrey. The Doctor, currently in his seventh incarnation (Sylvester McCoy), agrees, but is wary that his old adversary might have still have something up his sleeve, even after death. Sure enough, the Master resurrects himself in the form of a weird, slime snake thingy and proceeds to cause considerable damage to the TARDIS. This forces the Doctor to make an emergency landing.

Meanwhile, in 1999 San Francisco, two days before the arrival of a new millennium, an Asian teenager named Chang Lee (Yee Jee Tso) confronts rival gang members along with his friends. Just as Lee is about to be killed, the TARDIS lands literally smack dab in the middle of the shootout. The Doctor steps out and is promptly shot by one of the gang members. Lee calls an ambulance, not hearing the Doctor's plea to stop the Master from escaping. At the hospital, the Doctor is operated on by famous surgeon Dr. Grace Holloway (Daphne Ashbrook). Grace's confusion with the Doctor's anatomy (Those darn double hearts!) ends up "killing" him. Lee manages to snatch the Doctor's belongings and ski-dats while the Master snake thingy takes over the body of Bruce (Eric Roberts), an ambulance driver. While in the morgue, the Seventh Doctor regenerates into the Eighth (Paul McGann), but ends up with a severe case of amnesia.

The forgetful Doctor wanders through the hospital until he bumps into Grace, who has quit her job after a disagreement with her boss. Grace is shocked when she discovers that this is the same man she operated on the night before and that he has two hearts and that he has 13 lives. 

Lee finds and enters the TARDIS using the Doctor's key and finds the Master/Bruce waiting for him. The Master claims that the Doctor stole his body and convinces Lee with a promise of wealth to help him capture the Doctor. The two open the Eye of Harmony, the TARDIS' power source, and use it to spy on the Doctor, who is bonding with Grace and recovering his memories.

Once the Doctor senses the Eye of Harmony has been opened, he realizes what the Master's plan is and that the world is in grave danger. Having used all his lives, the Master wants the Doctor's body and plans to use the Eye to do so. But keep the Eye open for too long and pop goes the world. He tries to convince a terrified Grace of this, but she calls an ambulance to take them both to a psych ward. And who's the ambulance driver? Brucey!

During the trip, the Doctor catches a glimpse of Bruce's snake-ified eyes and flees with Grace, but not before the Master hits grace with a blotch of weird snake goop. Grace finally believes the Doctor about the Master and the two rush to a New Year's Party to retrieve a part from an atomic clock. They return to the TARDIS and the Doctor closes the Eye. Problem is, the Eye has been open too long and the Earth is still in danger. The Doctor plans to go back in time to before the Eye was opened, but needs to jump start the TARDIS. As he does that, Grace falls under the influence of the Master thanks to that darned snake goop. 

The Doctor is taken to the Cloister Room, where the Eye is kept,and brought before the Master. As the Master explains his villainous plot, a slip of the tongue reveals his true intentions to Lee. Lee refuses to help the Master, so the Master snaps his neck. Classic Master. Since the Eye can only be opened with a human eye, the Master cures Grace and uses her's. As the body-snatching process begins, the Doctor urges Grace to go and jumpstart the TARDIS. She succeeds, sending the TARDIS back in time and halting the Master's plan. She returns to help the Doctor, but is also killed by the Master. The Doctor and the Master have a bit of a tussle and the Master is swallowed up by the Eye.

Grace and Lee are revived by plot convenience and the Earth is safe. The three return to present day, where the Doctor sends Lee off with a bag of gold dust and offers Grace a trip through time and space. She declines, they kiss, and the Doctor leaves. 

PART 2: The Review

The Pros

• For the most part, the four main actors turn in solid performances. Paul McGann is great, bringing a sense of warmth and wisdom to the role of the Doctor. Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso are both fine, and Eric Roberts...well, he looks like he's having an absolute hoot here, chewing scenery left and right.
• In many scenes, the lighting, cinematography and score are fantastic, giving the film a much more cinematic feel. My favourite shots and musical cues are mostly towards the end of the film, by the way.
• Though a bit over-extravagant, I'd be lying to you if I said I hated the TARDIS interior in the film. It's bigger on the inside than it ever has been.

The Cons

• There are some "changes" made to Doctor Who lore that really don't make any sense, such as the Doctor's claim to be half-human on his mother's side (an obvious Star Trek rip-off) or the fact that the Master can turn into a goop snake after death, which is never explained at all over the course of the film. Luckily, the first seems to have been ret-conned and the second has been waved off in the years since this first aired.
• Grace starts off as a reasonably well-written character, but slowly devolves into a not so well-written one. To her credit, she does end up saving the day, but once she throws in with the Doctor, she sort of becomes the helpless companion. She also gets the film's worst line: "Great. I finally meet the right guy, and he's from another planet!" She says this in the middle of a motorcycle chase, mind you.
• As much as some of the other technical aspects are close to fantastic, as I mentioned before, some of the others just aren't. Sometimes the editing becomes way too jarring (like during the climax), and some of the visual effects are a bit too wonky.
• How on Earth can you butcher the voices of the Daleks? 

PART 3: The Trivia

References to Who Past

• There's really not much in terms of connections to previous stories. The most obvious one is of course Sylvester McCoy's brief return as the Seventh Doctor. 
• Some recurring items from the series make cameos, such as the 500/800/900 Year Diary, the sonic screwdriver, the Fourth Doctor's scarf and those darn good jelly babies.
• The idea that Time Lords have 12 lives was first introduced in the 1976 Tom Baker story "The Deadly Assassin."
• "The Invasion of Time," another Tom Baker story that aired in 1978, was where the Eye of Harmony was first introduced.
• The Master brings Lee to the Cloister Room, first seen in "Logopolis," Tom Baker's final story. The room also holds the Cloister Bell, also first introduced in "Logopolis." It can be heard throughout subsequent stories whenever the Doctor is about to encounter some serious trouble.

Some Interesting Facts and Tidbits

• The film was intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for a new Doctor Who series that would air on FOX. The film flopped in ratings, scrapping those plans. The film had excellent ratings in the UK, though.
• Paul McGann has reprised the role of the Eight Doctor in many Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas. He returned to play Eight onscreen in the 2013 minisode "The Night of the Doctor."
• Christopher Eccleston (the Ninth Doctor) was initially offered the role of the Doctor and Peter Capaldi (the Twelfth Doctor) was asked to audition. Eccleston declined because he didn't think it would be a good idea to associate himself with such a large brand that early on in his career, while Capaldi turned down the invitation because he was so afraid he wouldn't get it.
• Some big name actors were considered to play the Doctor. The three big ones were Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford and Jim Carrey. Hanks and Carrey turned down the role to respect the series' British heritage, while Ford turned it down simply because he didn't want to do television.
• Christopher Lloyd was considered for The Master, but Universal thought he'd be too expensive. Eric Roberts ended up costing more than Lloyd.
• Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor) passed away a week before the film aired in in Britain. The broadcast was preceded by a text card that dedicated the film to him.
• The film features the Doctor's first onscreen kiss, an event that caused controversy among fans at the time. Little did they know that this wouldn't be his last.
• The first and only Doctor Who production that doesn't credit Ron Grainer for the theme music.
• Comedian Will Sasso (aka the lemon-spitting guy) plays Pete, the nurse who is the first person to meet the regenerated Doctor.

Sources: TARDIS Data Core, IMDB

Next Rewind: "Blink?" Yeah, let's do "Blink."

Noah