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 ...

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

Time waits for no man - except one.

---

Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

---

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

The TARDIS set cost $1 million to build and was constructed in the hope that a series would have emerged from the film. Although it does not resemble the control rooms seen in the original series, it has long been established that The Doctor is capable of changing the interior configuration of the TARDIS anytime he chooses, as well as the TARDIS having more than one control room.

---

Goofs

When the Master and Chang Lee are examining the Eye of Harmony, in some shots the pit that holds the Eye contains lots of dead leaves but in others it is completely empty.

---

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...

---

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.

---

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.

---

Connections

References Frankenstein (1931)

---

Soundtracks

Doctor Who Theme Song
(uncredited)
Written by Ron Grainer

User Reviews

Oh, dear.

The summary says it all: Oh, dear.

I don't particularly like it when Hollywood attempts to "glamourize" an existing phenomenon in order to rope in lots and lots of new viewers (to make money, of course, what other reason can there be?) but I've grown to accept the fact that it's an established part of the entertainment business. I approached this movie with what I hoped was an open mind, and I was even slightly intrigued by the first five minutes or so of the movie...

This changed, of course, when suddenly stuff started blowing up, pointless FX started popping up all over the place, and the scriptwriters apparently forgot that they were writing for DOCTOR WHO and seemed to think that they were employed by Chris Carter and the X-FILES, as they started a direct rip-off of the black oil creature, which is suddenly all that's left of the Master. (That this flies in the face of all previous background established by a show that had run for over twenty-five years is only to be expected; after all, it was only a cheesy little British sci-fi show and everyone KNOWS that Hollywood knows best, after all!) I was left with my mouth hanging open, aghast at the mess to which I was being subjected.

Paul McGann tried. God, how he tried. I can almost see him as the Doctor if I squint. This has nothing to do with the man's acting ability, which is superb, nor does it have to do with his comparatively young age--he was about the same age as Peter Davison was when he took over the role, after all. I just could not believe in a Doctor who was playing second fiddle to a completely new and fictitious TARDIS--say, last time I looked, wasn't the Eye of Harmony something to do with Rassilon back on Gallifrey?

Let us mercifully pass over the spectacle of the Doctor's first on-screen kiss--except to say that if he was never tempted by some of the companions in his past (particularly Romana, who at least was of the same species!) then why the heck would he be tempted by some jittery Earth woman who didn't particularly like him?

Please, o scriptwriter, if you're going to use characters and equipment that have been established over a quarter of a century, does it not make sense to have some passing familiarity with what you are writing? Or am I being ridiculous?

Never mind. At least I still have access to all of the videos of the classic episodes. Be sure that this travesty is one that I have zero interest in acquiring. If you're a fan of the television series, avoid this movie or spend the duration of it weeping for the mess they've made of DOCTOR WHO. If you've never seen the series and are a big fan of on-screen stuff that is really special effects in search of a movie, well, this will be right up your alley. Just don't subject a true fan to this nightmare, please.