The Movie

"I was dead too long this time..."

Writer: Matthew Jacobs 

Format: TV 

Broadcast: 27th May 1996

Series: 1996 TV Movie

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Seventh Doctor

Synopsis 

New Year's Eve 1999. Earth is about to run out of time...

Returning home to Gallifrey with the remains of his arch enemy, the Master, the TARDIS is forced off course, plunging the Doctor into the middle of a street gang's gun battle in downtown San Francisco. 

Critically wounded in the shoot out, the Doctor has to regenerate to save his own life. And he's not the only one - the Master too has a new body with which to wreak havoc, and his ultimate goal is to take the Doctor's own existence. 

As the clock counts down to the start of a new millennium, the Doctor has to stop the Master destroying all life on Earth. But at what cost...? 

Verdict 

The Movie is a fine example of a Doctor Who story and I'm still stumped to this day why we didn't get an Eighth Doctor reboot with Paul McGann! His performance is magnificent and despite some criticism from fans, I love this story and I think it's brilliantly written. Other than The Night of the Doctor minisode, which I think should have been made into a full length episode, this is all we've got of Paul McGann on screen. He's just superb and he only improves in the audios which is natural with him growing into the role. This was another watch for me with my cousin whose knowledge of Doctor Who is growing greatly lately. Following on from his first Fourth Doctor story yesterday with Destiny of the Daleks, I've added the Eighth Doctor to his list of stories with each Doctor now and that just leaves the first three incarnations for him to watch now. We'll get there for sure. This story really captures Doctor Who but also certainly has the feel of a movie which is incredibly important. It's action packed, well paced and full of eventful ongoings. My cousin really likes the Seventh Doctor so he questioned me right away as to why Sylvester McCoy looked a lot older from his original tenure back in the late '80s. I then had to explain about the cancellation and he seemed to understand which was good. The scenes in the TARDIS with the Seventh Doctor were good and I think one sometimes forgets that it was actually this incarnation that redesigned the TARDIS interior so drastically. I must say though, it looked incredible. There was quite a lot of humour mentioned about the interior in The Four Doctors but I'm a big fan of it. It just looks so impressive. I really loved the new materialisation sequence and I'd have liked that to have been taken over into the 2005 arrival. It's clear that this movie sets the tone for the revival starting in Rose with the everyday life situations, more movie-like stories and production and the hint of romance with the Doctor. He certainly seems to be smitten with Grace! Now, in my opinion Grace should not be considered as a companion. She's absolutely brilliant in the story and her relationship with the Doctor throughout is fantastic but she flat out declines to be companion at the end of the movie so how can she be considered one? The Doctor seemed to like kissing her! This story sparks huge debate in that it's claimed that the Doctor is half-human. That fact is pretty much forgotten throughout continuity and it could just be taken as post-regenerative trauma, which as my opening quote suggests, would be quite surreal this time around. The Doctor forgot who he was for quite a considerable time. The story behind the Master was very good and I loved the visible continuation from Survival. The Master seemed to have wasted all thirteen of his lives and after being exterminated on Skaro, the Doctor was taking his remains home. But even in death, the Master could not be trusted. He had a plan and took over another body in the form of Bruce. Eric Roberts plays a ruthless and fantastic Master in my opinion. He really brings aggression to the role which at this point in his life is something I'd expect. The regeneration itself was unique and quite gruesome but the moment the Eighth Doctor emerges from the morgue is superb. The attire is brilliant and I'm glad to see the sonic screwdriver was back! I liked the An Unearthly Child reference too. The way the Master tricked Chang Lee was excellent but his plan was audacious to say the least! He'd open the Eye of Harmony, take the Doctor's body and his remaining regenerations and destroy the planet with it! The New Year's Eve setting of 1999 is clever and I like how this is a hint of a Y2K prelude. The Master defeating himself by letting the truth slip was typical and the Doctor was just about safe thanks to heroics by Grace. The Master was consumed by the Eye of Harmony, which then brought back Grace and Chang Lee, but the Doctor wanted to save him. The story of fighting off death came beautifully full circle for Grace. Overall, a wonderful story and more than fitting of a Doctor Who movie! My cousin enjoyed once more which was a bonus, and I loved it. 

Rating: 10/10