DVD Cover For The Doctor Who Movie. BBC.
This year marks a milestone for not only science fiction but a certain show, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Doctor Who has been an icon in science fiction and British Culture for half a century. The show is such an icon that many people who only started watching it when it was revived have noticed allusions to it in cartoon and books and many other things, truly the show has pierced into the mainstream pop culture. I myself have started to find things like this too, one iconic monster from the show, the Dalek, was even spotted in an old episode of the Cartoon Rugrats. Now with 50 years under its belt there are many people who haven't watched all the episodes. Sadly some of the episodes footage has been lost before the show became the mega hit it is now. Still many fans are trying to watch every episode they can before the big 50th anniversary episode.
To give a little back ground, the original run of the series was from 1963 to 1989. The series was cancelled due to rating and in 1996 a movie broadcasted with the hopes of reviving the series, that didn't pan out. The series was brought back in 2005 and is currently still going strong. Today I'm going to be reviewing the 1996 movie.
First a little back ground on what the show is about, the show focuses on the alien known as the Doctor. The Doctor is a mysterious figure who travel in a space ship with the ability to travel through time that is shaped like a blue British police box and is called the TARDIS. Whenever the Doctor is close to dying he changes his form in a process called regeneration and like the phoenix is reborn with a new body. The regeneration causes his personality to change a little but at his core the Doctor is still the same person. The Doctor travels across time and space picking up traveling companions often getting involved in historical events and facing off against monsters.
Now I do warn any readers who haven't seen the movie I might give out some spoilers so be careful before you read ahead. The movie starts off with the Doctor from the end of the series traveling, played by Sylvester McCoy, taking the remains of his enemy, The Master, back to their home world. It seems like his enemy isn't as dead as he thinks and the TARDIS is is forced to land and the Master makes his escape. Bad luck for the Doctor as he steps out of the time machine he gets caught in the cross fire of a gang war in 1999 San Francisco. The Doctor is taken to a hospital to be treated and Doctor Grace Holloway confused by his alien biology, mainly the two hearts, accidentally kills him. In the morgue the Doctor manages to regenerate into the Eight Incarnation played by Paul McGann. The process didn't go as planned since the anesthetic from the surgery almost didn't let it happened and it's resulted in him having amnesia.
After finding some clothes he runs into Grace who has quit her job since her boss want to cover up the surgery so not to spoil their reputation. The Doctor manages to recognize her as the woman that operated on him and goes to her for help. After some convincing she believes his not a normal human and he is the same man that she operated on.
Meanwhile the Master has taken over the body of an ambulance driver and tricked a young man, Lee, into helping him. The Master plans on taking the Doctor's remanning lives for his own and killing the Doctor in the process. The movie quickly turns into a race against the clock to stop the Master and repair the TARDIS before it creates a Black Hole that will destroy the Earth on eve of 2000.
Overall I found the plot a pretty good one, the pace was good and it let new comers get to know the Doctor along with the Doctor himself. When the action starts up the viewer really gets into it. This is Paul McGann's only televised appearance as the Doctor which is a shame since I thought he did a good job at it. It was avery byronic take on the role, very mysterious, dramatic, romantic and even joyful Doctor. Daphne Ashbrook played Grace and did a splendid job at it. One of her first scenes is her running in a beautiful dress coming from the opera she's running into surgery and this is just a wonderful establishing scene for her. Grace is not only smart abut cultured and though very reasoned has a sense of wonder, she even admits the reason for becoming a doctor was to her dream of holding back death. It really is a shame that fans only got to see her in the movie, there was a lot that could have come from this character.
The main bad guy for the film is The Master who died at the start of the movie. Though not explained in the movie fans have taken it that he used the last of his species trick to change bodies on death to turn into a small slime like snake creature. One of the more terrifying scenes in the film has the snake slither and slide down an ambulance drivers throat while he sleeps. Trust me, this is a scene you do not want to think about before bed. The Master takes over the body and from then on is played by Eric Roberts. The first scene we see Eric Robert as the Master we find him staring at the widow when the ambulance driver's wife wakes up to greet him. As an establishment scene for the Master he turns around to show off that his eye are not her husband's and he reaches for her neck and with a sickening snap of her neck he kills her. It goes to tell everyone that the Master will not show mercy to anyone that gets in his way or could even possibly slow him down.
Eric Robert does have scary moments as the Master but is better remembered for his campy performances. The Master was always larger than life and this movie seemed to heighten it, though didn't think it was all that bad some fans really didn't like it. Despite the camp the Master did come off as a master manipulator and a dangerous threat willing to let the world die just to draw the Doctor out to kill him.
Now that you got the three main characters let me talk about some of the great things about this film. First off the inside of the Tardis was massive and cathedral like, it was truly gorgeous. All the controls were very steampunk that any science fiction fan would love, it looks right out of a Jules Verne novel. It is truly a shame that fans only got to see these once. It was great that they tried to stay loyal to the series even bringing back McCoy to reprise his role as the Doctor for the start of the movie. I felt the humor was well balanced with the darker elements and action in the movie. The Doctor himself was wonderfully played, when he's recovering his memories and he talks about his memories about watching a meteor shower you can't help but smile at his child like wonder. Then at scene when he nearly dies and is fighting the master he acts like the byronic hero straight out of Byron novel. There is a even a some lines here that perfectly define their characters.
There are something the fans don't like especially the fans of the old series. There has been a long held taboo that the Doctor doesn't kiss his companions but this film had him kiss Grace. Most of the fans of the new series don't mind or even care about breaking this taboo but some of older ones care, that depends on you point of view of things. One thing that really riles up the fans is an off handed line where the Doctor says he has a secret and it is "I'm half human on my mother's side." On my first viewing I thought it was just a joke to throw off a guy who walked into the conversation but most people take in a different way. It's a continuity snarl as it has never been dealt with and very few fans actually like the idea of the Doctor being truly half human. Most fans just brush that off now but they find it annoying to have it brought up in conversation. I will also say that I wished that Lee was more developed in the movie, he seems a little flat character, just a young man tricked by the Master. Still Lee did come as a well meaning character and fun, it would be nice to know more about him. Finally the film does get a little hammy, and by a little I mean a lot. Some very serious scenes are hammy by over the top performances.
So to sum it up I give the movie 3.8 out of 5. Yes, the movie did have some flaws and could upset people who have been long time fans but overall I found that the movie had more good things than bad. I can't say for sure if you'd like it but if you're a fan of the series I'd suggest giving it a try. It has plenty of good things in it, many fans actually have said their favorite Doctor is the one from this movie simply because of this appearance. Remember the plot is fairly solid and entertaining, the effects are good and the acting is for the most part is pretty great, the writing has great moments and if you just want to watch a good Doctor Who story than you might want to give this one a try.
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