DOCTOR WHO REVIEW: THE TV MOVIE
Written By: Matthew Jacobs
Directed By: Geoffrey Sax
It's come to that time in my reviews where I talk about "The TV Movie".
Now as you know, I am currently reviewing my favourite story form each doctor. However the Eighth Doctor is a tricky one, because there is only the tv movie. There is nothing else really solid in terms of Eighth Doctor adventures on television apart from that. I know there is The Night of the Doctor but that was a short episode, not really a proper full on adventure.
I have to review the TV Movie, because that's all there is for the Eighth Doctor. I have to review it whether I like it or not. I am one of these people, who doesn't think that the TV Movie is that good a story. It's never really stood out as being a favourite of mine. I think the problem for me with the TV Movie is that it is incoherent, the storytelling, is very poorly done.
I think the whole idea, originally with it, was to reboot it in America, and that's why that there is so much american influences in it. They wanted to sell it to an american audience and make Doctor Who as big a success in America as it was in Britain, but never tiding away from the fact that Doctor Who is a British Show.
In my mind, Doctor Who is such a common show, its been in our lives for fifty two years, rolling on fifty three this November. It's something which has adapted and changed and reshaped itself many times throughout the various eras of its time. This could be from changing the character of the doctor or the companion, or the various types of stories that are told, and I think that the TV Movie is no exception to that.
It starts off withe the master being put on trial and executed by the Daleks, and the doctor in his seventh incarnation has to take his remains back to Gallifrey. The TARDIS ends up landing in San Francisco's chinatown in 1999. The seventh doctor gets shot and is taken to hospital.
The problem with the hospital scenes for me is that they look too real, and the seventh doctor's death is too real a death for Doctor Who. The Third Doctor, got poisoned by the crystals of Metabelis Three, Fourth Doctor fell off a radio telescope but had no broken bones, Fifth Doctor poisoned, Sixth Doctor smacks his face on the console and regenerates due to a cause of tumunktuious bufferting. Seventh Doctor is operated on, the operation fails and he dies, that's terrifying and so sad, for a doctor who was that happy and jolly, wacky and eccentric to suddenly drop dead like that and scream his last breath, for me that was wrong. I liked the regeneration sequence, its just a shame that Paul McGann was not up for the whole molding of the face.
The doctor, now Paul McGann has no idea who is, he has lost all trace of his identity. A Chinese boy called "Chang Lee" smuggles on board the TARDIS, to find that The Master in the form of Eric Roberts is there, and tells Chang Lee that the doctor is evil and has stolen his body and that they need to get it back. There's one thing that I don't get. One minute the master says to Chang Lee, help me or I will kill you and the next he is bribing him with gold dust. It doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it. It was one thing and now its the next, and somehow you're just meant to go along with it. And the Master wants to steal the doctor's remaining regenerations by making up a sob story which makes the doctor out to be the bad guy.
Meanwhile The Doctor is with Doctor Grace Holloway at her home, who is curious by the doctor and we too become quite curious with her, its adds to the mystery behind his identity. I liked the Eighth Doctor's relationship with Grace. I thought that it was too hands on with the kissing, but what can I say, it's Paul McGann, he is a romantic sort of type. I don't mind kissing in the TV movie too much compared to how much kissing there is in the new series.
The Doctor ends up being captured by the Master and in his TARDIS, the master begins to drain the doctor's remaining regenerations by opening the eye of harmony in the TARDIS. Each TARDIS apparently has its own small eye of harmony which is linked to the eye of harmony on Gallifrey, the eye of harmony was used and referenced once before in The Deadly Assassin. Holloway was under the control of the master, the master needed Lee to open the eye for him, but the master ends up killing him, and releases Holloway from his control and forces her to open the eye. Now that she was free from The Master's control, Holloway manages to shut down power to the eye, The Doctor gets freed, he gets into a fight with The Master, and pushes him into the eye. All this happens in terms of time limit in a matter of seconds, as it happens in-between 1999 and 2000 new years.
With no further threat being apposed to earth, the doctor prepares to leave, he asks Grace to come with him, but she terms him down. And that's basically it.
Until "The Night of the Doctor" the tv movie was Paul McGann's sole televised story as the Eighth Doctor. It has inspired on going eighth doctor adventures in novels, comic books and audio dramas. And Paul McGann has done some great work for Big Finish over the years as the eighth doctor.
In my personal view, there are much better stories to watch and I never for once think "Oh you know what, I feel like watching The TV Movie" it just never appeals to me. And that was one of the problems that the TV Movie had. It didn't appeal to people and it flopped in America and this and that. It looked as if a new series was going to continue with Paul McGann but never really did.
I don't want to into too much detail about it, the complaint was that there was no american audience, when that couldn't be possible seeing as America did know about this show, it was being imported from Britain to the states since 1978. American audiences did know about this show, that's probably why in collaboration with the BBC they wanted to reboot the show in this way, so much to the extent that they went to trouble to get Sylvester McCoy back to do a regeneration scene.
Paul McGann gets little screen time as it is, and I don't think that his performance and the story does his doctor or himself as an actor any justice. If you want to see how good Paul McGann's doctor is, check out the audios he's done for Big Finish, they are online, you can buy or download them from somewhere, just type in Paul McGann audios big finish into google or amazon and see what comes up. I highly recommend you check out his Big Finish stuff.
Overall, I am not fussed at all with the TV Movie. It's a bit duff, I don't have much interest in the plot and its not a good story, feels very rushed in places, not many clear explanations as to whats happening or why its happening, something which a certain future show runner does a lot of nowadays. Yeah, TV Movie, bit duff, but had to review it because its the only Eighth Doctor thing out there really.
NEXT TIME: Dalek.
