Doctor Who (1996)

The newly-regenerated Doctor takes on the Master on the turn of the millennium, 31 December 1999.

Director:

Geoffrey Sax

Writer:

Matthew Jacobs

Stars:

Paul McGann, Eric Roberts, Daphne Ashbrook

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul McGann	...	The Doctor
Eric Roberts	...	The Master / Bruce
Daphne Ashbrook	...	Dr. Grace Holloway
Sylvester McCoy	...	The Doctor
Yee Jee Tso	...	Chang Lee
John Novak	...	Salinger
Michael David Simms	...	Swift
Catherine Lough Haggquist	...	Wheeler (as Catherine Lough)
Dolores Drake	...	Curtis
Will Sasso	...	Pete (as William Sasso)
Jeremy Radick	...	Gareth
Eliza Roberts	...	Miranda
Bill Croft	...	Motorcycle Policeman
David Hurtubise	...	Professor Wagg (as Dave Hurtubise)
Joel Wirkkunen	...	Ted

Storyline

The Doctor, an alien time traveller from the planet Gallifrey, is transporting the remains of his nemesis, the Master back to their homeworld. However the Master is not as dead as the Doctor thinks. The Master's essence escapes and sabotages the TARDIS, the Doctor's time machine causing it to crash land in San Franscisco on December 30th 1999. The Doctor requires a beryllium atomic clock to repair the TARDIS, but is shot as he leaves it. Taken to hospital, the Doctor's seventh regeneration is triggered by a surgeon, confused by his alien physiology, while the Master takes over a paramedic's body. He needs a Time Lord's body to survive and be able to regenerate again so he needs the Doctor's. The newly regenerated the Doctor must fight to save his own eighth body, and the world when the Master sabotages the TARDIS' power source. By midnight on December 31st 1999, the Earth will be pulled through this power-source, a mini-black hole, and only the Doctor can stop if only he can remember ...

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Plot Keywords:

master | regeneration | eighth doctor | apocalypse | doctor who character | 

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Taglines:

He's Back... And It's About Time

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [UK]

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 May 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Doctor Who

Filming Locations:

1988 Odgen Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Television, BBC Worldwide, Fox Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Producer Philip David Segal was born in the U.S., but grew up in England, and was a fan of Doctor Who as a child. It was largely due to his determined efforts that this movie was carried to completion, and that its story stayed mostly within established Doctor Who canon.

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Goofs

If Chang Lee's goal in accompanying The Doctor to the hospital and staying with him overnight was to steal his possessions, why didn't he just pick The Doctor's pockets when he was lying unconscious in the alley?

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Quotes

[first lines]
The Doctor: [voiceover] It was on the planet Skaro that my old enemy the Master was finally put on trial. They say he listened calmly as his list of evil crimes was read, and sentence passed. Then he made his last, and I thought, somewhat curious request. He demanded that I, the Doctor, a rival Time Lord, should take his remains back to our home planet, Gallifrey. It was a request they should never have granted...

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Crazy Credits

Rather than credit the creator of "Doctor Who" (1963), Sydney Newman, a title card reads: "Based upon the television series broadcast by the BBC." Ron Grainer, composer of the film's theme music, and Delia Derbyshire, designer of the TARDIS sound effect, do not receive screen credit.

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Alternate Versions

The 'uncut' version has since been broadcast by the BBC in the UK, during a night of Dr Who programmes on BBC 2 in November 1999, and this formed the basis for the 2001 Region 2 DVD release.

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Connections

Spoofed in Master When: Public Domain Doctor Who (2015)

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Soundtracks

In A Dream (I Called Out Your Name)
Written by Barbara L. Jordan and William Peterkin
Performed by Pat Hodges
Courtesy of Heavy Hitters Music
Played on a grammophone when the Doctor is sitting in the lounge of his Tardis, just before the Master escaped

User Reviews

The show was never designed for glitz and glam

I really struggle with this movie. Being traumatised as a 9 year old when the show was cancelled I can remember the sheer excitement at there being a movie. It starts off well enough, I really enjoyed Sylvester McCoy's appearance, at least he got a send off.

Paul McGann made a really good Doctor, I feel sad for him that he wasn't given a true crack of the whip, he showed us in The Night of the Doctor what we'd missed all those years. He performs as well as can be expected. I even quite liked Grace (not the kissing bit!!)

But, oh my days it's so tacky, Eric Roberts as the Master?? Seriously!! I don't know why they didn't hire Dom DeLuise and have him in drag, well they weren't that far off were they.

The story itself isn't uninteresting, but gang crimes, guns etc it's not what this show was about, were they aiming this movie at the American market? The Doctor being half human? I should coco!!

Overall it's watchable enough, at least they tried to get it to work, it's just a bit too cheesy and glitzy. 5/10