 This story heralds the long-awaited return of Doctor Who which took place in 1996.
This direct-to-television film, by producer Philip Segal, was a joint production between the BBC, Universal Television and Fox Television, and was produced entirely in Vancouver, British Columbia - to date the only Doctor Who story filmed in Canada. It was the first attempt to revive Doctor Who and was intended as a back-door pilot for a new American-produced Doctor Who television series.
This story was written by Matthew Jacobs - who interestingly is the son of Anthony Jacobs, who had played Doc Holliday in the 1966 First Doctor story "The Gunfighters", and was actually present on the set.
This film contains the final appearance of the Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy, and introduced Paul McGann, as the Eighth Doctor. Due to this film not faring well on American television no new series was made – thus making it Paul McGann’s only televised appearance as The Doctor.
This film starts with the Seventh Doctor so providing continuity with the original run of the show that was cancelled in 1989.
The Seventh Doctor is now travelling alone. Various explanations for Ace's departure have since been given in various books and comic strips - in several of them she dies.
The Seventh Doctor is seen wearing a different costume from the one he wore during his 1987-1989 tenure. Gone are the question mark pullover and umbrella. The costume does though include the original hat, which is actually owned by Sylvester McCoy.
He is also seen to carry items associated with the Fourth Doctor, such as jelly babies and a yo-yo, and the Fifth Doctor's toolkit. A 900-year diary is also fleetingly visible in the TARDIS. As well as having a bowl of jelly babies in the TARDIS he is seen offering a jelly baby to a policeman, and he has jelly babies amongst his possessions claimed at the hospital by Chang Lee.
The Doctor has a new sonic screwdriver. The original was destroyed by the Terileptil leader in 17th century England (see the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "The Visitation").
The Seventh Doctor's x-ray reveals the presence of two hearts.
Both The Doctor (in his narration) and The Master reaffirm that Time Lords can regenerate twelve times. However, when The Doctor is heard saying he has 13 lives he isn't really saying it as he in actual fact he says twelve. When this error was discovered Paul McGann had to redub the line to say thirteen rather than the incorrect twelve.
Although The Doctor has never regenerated the same way twice (although his 9th and 10th regenerations were similar to each other), the depiction here is particularly unusual in that, unlike all previous (and later) regenerations, it sets in long after The Doctor's apparent ‘death’, a condition apparently caused by the anaesthetic in The Doctor's system.
On-screen dialogue confirms that the Seventh Doctor ‘dies’ at 10:03 PM on the 30th December 1999, with regeneration occurring early on the 31st December 1999. The position of prop clocks would suggest this regeneration to have occurred some time around 1:00 to 1:15 AM on that day.
It is often erroneously stated that the gunshot wounds are the cause of The Doctor's regeneration. This is incorrect as dialogue clearly indicates that the first bullet did no damage and the second was removed during a rather minor procedure. The Doctor's ‘death’ was caused inadvertently during the exploratory heart surgery that followed.
This is the only time The Doctor is declared dead during a regeneration story. However, it is also stated that his body processes (specifically the regeneration process, but perhaps his other vitals as well) were slowed by the anaesthesia so much they were undetectable. The Doctor's statement that he was ‘dead too long’ may simply have been a generalisation. This would reconcile the movie with the 2009/10 Tenth Doctor story "The End of Time", where The Doctor states that regeneration cannot take place if he is killed outright before the process begins. It is also the only occasion prior to "The End of Time" in which The Doctor refers to the circumstances leading up to regeneration as a death.
Of the regenerations actually depicted on screen, this was the first to show The Doctor undergoing the change while completely alone. This would next occur with the Tenth Doctor's regeneration in the 2009/10 story "The End of Time". (Two other regenerations, that of the Second Doctor after the 1969 story "The War Games" and the regeneration of the Eighth Doctor into the Ninth Doctor, were never shown on screen so it is not known if they occurred in the presence of others).
When reluctantly filling out an emergency medical treatment form, Chang Lee (who had only met the semi-conscious Seventh Doctor minutes earlier and did not know his identity) gives The Doctor's name as ‘John Smith’. This is a recurring alias originally given to the Second Doctor by companion Jamie McCrimmon in the 1968 story "The Wheel in Space".
While rummaging through lockers in search of clothing, The Doctor momentarily examines a long, multi-coloured scarf, similar to that worn by the Fourth Doctor. This also marks the second time when the newly-regenerated Doctor dons his new clothes by taking them from a hospital, the Third Doctor having previously taken the clothes belonging to a medical consultant in the 1970 story "Spearhead From Space". The Eleventh Doctor would again acquire his clothes from a hospital in the 2010 story "The Eleventh Hour".
The fact that The Doctor is half-human, on his mother's side, is news to The Master. This fact has proved extremely controversial among the show’s fans. The issue was referenced in a number of the BBC Books’ The Eighth Doctor Stories novels, which either seek to explain it or elaborate on it. "Alien Bodies" subtly suggests that it is just the Eighth Doctor who is half-human, while others books (such as "Unnatural History" and "The Gallifrey Chronicles") suggest that The Doctor's human mother is a Victorian Lady called Penelope Gate, and his Time Lord father is called Ulysses. Another explanation is offered in "The Taking of Planet 5" where it is suggested that The Doctor has become half-human as a result of repeated regenerations around humans, where he absorbed bits of their DNA. The issue was not addressed on-screen again, though in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End", a second version of The Doctor is created whose physiology had, through the unique circumstances involved, been created as a combination of The Doctor's and his human companion Donna Noble.
At the time of broadcast there was significant reaction to The Doctor kissing Dr Grace Holloway as this was the first overtly romantic scene involving The Doctor. Although The Doctor experienced some arguably romantic situations in stories such as in the 1964 First Doctor story "The Aztecs", this film is the first time The Doctor's sexuality is overtly explored on-screen. This tendency carries over to the revived series especially by the Tenth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor.
In the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Human Nature/The Family of Blood", in which The Doctor presented sketches of his previous incarnations, the Eighth Doctor appears most prominently. The Eighth Doctor made another cameo in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Next Doctor" in a sequence of clips, counting up the ten Doctors to date via means of a Cyberman infostamp. This was followed by two similar cameos in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor stories "The Eleventh Hour" and "The Lodger".
The Doctor, whilst fleeing The Master, is heard to say that he is afraid of heights. His tenth incarnation showed a fear of heights in the 2006 story "The Idiot's Lantern" and again in the 2007 story "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks". In the original script for "The Idiot's Lantern", it was implied that The Doctor has this fear due to his fourth incarnation dying when falling from a height (see the 1981 Fourth Doctor story "Logopolis").
The ‘Old Master’ who appears at the start of this film, played by Gordon Tipple, resembles the incarnation played by Anthony Ainley until 1989 (and again in the computer game "Destiny of the Doctors"), but it is not indicated definitively on screen whether this is the same incarnation or a different one. The Master is seen with ‘cat's eyes’ in both the pre-credits sequence and again after taking over Bruce. This could be a possible reference to his condition on the Cheetah World in the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Survival".
Eric Roberts, who played the part of Bruce and The Master is the brother of Pretty Woman's Julia Roberts. While Miranda, the wife of Bruce, is played by Eric Roberts' real-life wife, Eliza Roberts.
This remains Eric Roberts' sole appearance as The Master. This would also be The Master's last official television appearance in Doctor Who until the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Utopia". In the following story, "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords", it is stated that the Time Lords themselves resurrected The Master to use him in the Time War.
The Master's ashes have shape-changing abilities – suggesting that Time Lords can obviously regenerate even when their bodies are severely destroyed, but are unable to regenerate into a full human body, assuming instead that of a snake-like being that can possess other beings.
The Master's snake form is given an explanation in the BBC Books’ The Eighth Doctor Stories novel "The Eight Doctors" and in The Doctor Who Magazine comic strip "The Fallen".
The original script called for Bruce's body to start visibly decaying after The Master's possession. This though was later dropped when the prosthetics caused Eric Roberts severe skin irritation.
The Master tried to use the Eye of Harmony to obtain a new set of regenerations before (see the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Deadly Assassin"). He was also offered a new set of regenerations by the Time Lords in the Thirtieth Anniversary special "The Five Doctors", but his continued quest for regenerations in later stories, like in the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "Planet of Fire", implies that he never received them.
The Master, The Doctor and Dr Grace Holloway name-drop throughout this story by referring to Marie Curie (‘does she kiss as good as me?’), Sigmund Freud, and Genghis Khan.
Although the TARDIS interior changed several times throughout the original series, the movie's set was the most dramatic change to date, replacing the sterile white corridors and roundel-based design with a theme more reminiscent of Jules Verne. Several subsequent tie-in novels attempted to explain the change. In the 2005 series, the interior changed just as dramatically again. In a later interview with Doctor Who Magazine, series producer Russell T Davies mused that the TARDIS interior is probably ‘skinnable’. This seems to be confirmed in the 2007 special Children in Need story "Time Crash" where the Fifth Doctor remarks that the Tenth Doctor had ‘changed the desktop theme’. However, in the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Masque of Mandragora" the idea that the TARDIS has at least one secondary Console Room was introduced. This was later confirmed in the 2011 Eleventh Doctor story "The Doctor's Wife". Another change to the Console Room was made in 2010 Eleventh Doctoctor story "The Eleventh Hour" just after The Doctor had regenerated. It had been critically damaged and, as explained by The Doctor, it was ‘rebuilding itself’, thus confirming how such changes were made to the room.
The console itself is shown to be a hodge-podge of different technologies and objects, including a handbrake similar to that used on automobiles in the early 1900s, and a 1950’s-style television set/monitor. The shows’ revival in 2005 would continue the theme of the console featuring bits and pieces from different objects, as if it had been cobbled together.
The Seal of Rassilon is featured extensively throughout the TARDIS.
The Cloister Room, last seen in the 1981 Fourth Doctor story "Logopolis", makes a return appearance. However, it now includes the Eye of Harmony which The Master states is where the TARDIS gets its power. He also describes the Eye as the ‘heart of the structure’.
As established in the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Deadly Assassin", the Eye of Harmony is held on Gallifrey. Its presence on the TARDIS therefore seems a peculiar inclusion for this film. Fan theory quickly resolved this conflict by speculating that the ‘Eye’ on the TARDIS was merely a spatiotemporal link to the actual Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey, a feature presumably contained on all TARDIS’s as a source of energy. This theory soon found its way into licensed material such as the BBC novel range. Notably, in the revived series, in which Gallifrey has been destroyed, the TARDIS lacks its own power source, and must draw power from fissures in the fabric of reality. The 2007 Tenth Doctor story "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords", also support this theory as it is revealed that after falling into the Eye, The Master is revived by the Time Lords without The Doctor's knowledge.
This film further states that the ‘Eye’ can only be opened with the scan of a human retina, a fact apparently tied to The Doctor's own human retinal pattern. The 2000 Big Finish Productions audio story "The Apocalypse Element" attempts to explain this by introducing a plot point in which the eye of The Doctor's companion Evelyn Smythe is keyed to a Gallifreyan security system so as to confound enemy expectations by allowing entry only to the most unlikely of candidates.
The golden ‘fairy dust’ emitted from the Eye that resurrects Dr Grace Holloway and Chang Lee, though unprecedented within the series and unexplained within the movie, is to some extent evoked in several stories of the revived series. These include the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways", in where Rose Tyler wrenches open the console to absorb the energies of the Time Vortex, thereby obtaining control over life and death. In this case, the Vortex energies are again depicted as a sort of golden dust. It is seen again when both the Tenth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor undergo their respective regenerations in "The Christmas Invasion" and "The Eleventh Hour" as well as many other ‘regeneration’ scenes including The Master in "Utopia" and River Song in "Let’s Kill Hitler".
The Doctor's reference to the Chameleon Circuit as a ‘cloaking device’ was for a while another point of criticism within amongst fans. Russell T Davies referenced the criticism in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Boom Town" when at one point Rose Tyler refers to a cloaking device and The Doctor corrects her.
We learn that Twentieth Century Earth is in the "Humanian Era". Other eras shown on the TARDIS's co-ordinates panel include the "Sumaron Era" and the "Rassilon Era".
Chang Lee gets the honour of doing what has been referred to as ‘The TARDIS run-around’ – where a character goes inside, sees how big it is, comes back out and walks around the TARDIS, disbelievingly, before going back inside. This is also performed by Rose Tyler in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Rose", Donna Noble in the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "The Runaway Bride" and again in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "Turn Left", Martha Jones in the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Smith and Jones", Jackson Lake in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Next Doctor", Amy Pond in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Eleventh Hour" and Vincent van Gogh in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "Vincent and The Doctor".
Although The Doctor's most famous alien adversaries, the Daleks, are not seen, they are heard condemning The Master to death during the film's opening sequence (sporting their trademark war cry of: ‘EX-TER-MIN-ATE!’).
The Daleks appear to have a legal system which includes trials and formal executions. They appear to have arranged with both the Time Lords and The Doctor for their mortal enemy to visit Skaro to collect The Master's mortal remains.
The book that The Doctor sits down to read at the beginning and the end of this film is ‘The Time Machine’ by H. G. Wells. The Doctor shared an adventure with H. G. Wells in the 1985 Sixth Doctor story "Timelash" and would meet him again in the Tenth Doctor comic "The Time Machination". In the 1973 Third Doctor story "Frontier in Space", The Master is seen reading H. G. Wells' ‘The War of the Worlds’. While in the untelevised Season Seventeen story "Shada", Professor Chronotis can be seen with a copy of ‘The Time Machine’.
This is one of six Doctor Who stories to be set on New Year's Eve 1999 and New Year's Day 2000. The comic strip "Plastic Millennium" (published in the Doctor Who Magazine 1994 Winter Special); Virgin Books’ The Missing Adventures novel "Millennial Rites" (written by Craig Hinton); The BBC Books’ The Past Doctor Stories novel "Millennium Shock" (written by Justin Richards); the short story "Suitors, Inc." (Short Trips: Seven Deadly Sins) and the Fourth Doctor's segment from the comic "The Forgotten" (2008) all take place on those dates, as do elements of the Torchwood story "Fragments".
The version of 1931's Frankenstein that is seen during the regeneration sequence is not the current restored version, but the earlier censored print that was commonly circulated on television prior to the 1980’s. This is evident from the fact that Doctor Frankenstein's dialogue ‘Now I know what it feels like to be God’ is not heard. However, this portion of the film is still visible, just not audible.
The reason for The Doctor warning Chang Lee not to be in San Francisco the Christmas is explained, in the BBC Books’ The Eighth Doctor Stories novel "Unnatural History", as an Earthquake rocks the city around that time.
The Virgin Books’ The New Adventures novel "Lungbarrow" sets up events for this story (including why the TARDIS interior looks the way it does, why The Doctor now has a sonic screwdriver and why The Doctor was rescuing The Master).
The Big Finish Productions’ audio story "The Apocalypse Element" attempts to explain why the Eye of Harmony, Gallifreyan technology, could be opened only by a human eye.
The producers of the television movie compiled several lists of actors to consider for the part of The Doctor. Among early thoughts were Michael Crawford, Tim Curry, Eric Idle, Billy Connolly, Trevor Eve, Michael Palin, Robert Lindsay, and Jonathan Pryce. All were uninterested in the project, or unavailable for the intended filming dates.
Casting sessions took place in March 1994. The actors who actually auditioned for the role include Liam Cunningham, Mark McGann, Robert Lindsay, Tim McInnerny, Nathaniel Parker, Peter Woodward, John Sessions, Anthony Head, and Tony Slattery. Paul McGann was first considered around the time of these auditions, but did not formally audition for the part until later.
This film was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada and is the first time that a Doctor Who story had been filmed in North America (although the 1985 Sixth Doctor story "The Two Doctors" was originally planned for New Orleans). It is also, to date, the first and only Doctor Who production mounted completely outside of the UK (whereas all previous stories shot abroad included at least some studio taping in the UK). It is also the last to be mounted in a major way outside Europe until the production of "Planet of the Dead" in the Middle East in 2009.
When Paul McGann arrived in Vancouver for a photo shoot in January 1996 it was discovered that he had recently had his hair cut due to having worked on another production. This meant that hair stylist Julie McHaffire had to hastily put together a wig.
The production budget for this film (as revealed in the book "Doctor Who: Regeneration") was US$5 million, with the Fox Network spending $2.5 million, BBC Television contributing $300,000, and the remaining $2.2 million split between BBC Worldwide and Universal Television.
In the 2005 Doctor Who Confidential episode "Weird Science", Sylvester McCoy reveals that during the sequence where he locks the casket with his sonic screwdriver, he held the tool pointing the wrong way around (although previously it is seen being used both ways). The sonic screwdriver was blurred in post-production to conceal the error. This is also the only time the Seventh Doctor was seen using a sonic screwdriver.
The opening pre-credits sequence went through a number of modifications, with several different voice-overs recorded. At one stage the voice-over was to be made by the old Master, played by Gordon Tipple; in the end this was not used. Gordon Tipple is still credited as ‘The Old Master’, though in the final edit his appearance is very brief, stationary, and mute. In the version shown to test audiences this was replaced with one by Paul McGann as The Doctor. This too was eventually dropped and replaced with a different one by Paul McGann when the producers concluded as a result of these screenings that American viewers unfamiliar with Doctor Who needed an introduction that would more clearly explain the premise to them. Had the original pre-titles voice-over been used, it would have been unclear what incarnation, of The Doctor, that Sylvester McCoy portrays (as he is simply credited as ‘The Old Doctor’). Only the rewritten narration makes his number of regenerations clear. The sequence of the TARDIS flying through the time vortex was briefly reused in the opening of the 1999 Comic Relief special "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death", as The Master observes Rowan Atkinson's Doctor.
This is the first televised Doctor Who story to feature a narration since the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Deadly Assassin" - although the First Doctor’s pre-credits sample from the 1964 story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth" used in the Thirtieth Anniversary special "The Five Doctors" was re-contextualized so that it could be read as bit of omniscient narration. In this film the Eighth Doctor sets the scene during the pre-credits sequence and immediately thereafter. This device would be used in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Father's Day" and in the Tenth Doctor stories: "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday" (2006), "Human Nature/The Family of Blood" (2007), "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" (2008), "The End of Time" and in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood".
Instead of designing a new Doctor Who logo for this film, it was decided instead to use a modified version of the logo that was used for the majority of the Third Doctor’s era (with the exception of the final season). This logo, being the last logo used on an ‘official’ Doctor Who broadcast before the 2005 revival, has since been used by the BBC for most Doctor Who merchandise relating to the first eight incarnations of The Doctor.
Neither Paul McGann nor Sylvester McCoy are given a credit on screen next to any character name. However, the press kit for the film gives the official credits as being as ‘The Doctor’ and ‘The Old Doctor’, respectively. Although not used on screen, this is the last time the lead character is credited as ‘The Doctor’ until the the beginning of the Tenth Doctor’s era - as the stories, in Season Twenty Seven (New Series 1), reverted back to the old ‘Doctor Who’ credit line.
Ron Grainer, the composer of the Doctor Who Theme, is not given a screen credit for his work. John Debney was commissioned to write the music score for this film, and intended to replace Ron Grainer's original theme with a new composition. Ultimately John Debney did in fact use an arrangement of Ron Grainer's music for the theme. Because only John Debney is given a credit this subsequently led to the mistaken impression that John Debney also composed the Doctor Who Theme. There is also a screen credit given for ‘additional music’ by John Sponsler and Louis Serbe.
Despite containing an off-screen addition of the Daleks, Terry Nation, their creator, does not receive a screen credit, contrary to later practice. Similarly, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Delia Derbyshire are uncredited for their creation of the TARDIS sound effect.
Many fan rumours surrounded the production, including one which suggested that a futuristically-redesigned version of the Daleks may appear. Ultimately, the Daleks are only heard, not seen in the pre-credits opening sequence and are name-dropped by The Doctor later in the film.
A documentary, "The Making of Doctor Who – The Movie" was featured on the Sci-Fi Channel using excerpts from the Electronic Press Kit.
The making of this film features heavily in Jean-Marc Lofficier's book ‘The Nth Doctor’, released by Virgin Publishing in 1996. It includes earlier editions of the story – as does Philip Segal and Gary Russell's hardcover book ‘Regeneration’ which addresses the production history of this movie.
There is some disagreement over exactly what this film should be called. The production documentation only referred to the project as ‘Doctor Who’. Philip Segal suggested the unofficial title "Enemy Within" as an alternative at Manopticon 5, apparently after being repeatedly asked what the actual title for the movie was. The only on-screen title that appears is ‘Doctor Who’, making this technically the first story of the franchise to not carry an on-screen title. Both Region 2 DVD releases are labelled "Doctor Who" and "The Movie". The VHS release contains the name "Doctor Who". The most common fan usage appears to refer to it as ‘the television movie’, the ‘TVM’, or variations thereof.
The title "Enemy Within" was never used as a working title during production. Later Fox televised an Alien Nation telefilm with the title "The Enemy Within" - which also happens to be the title of an early episode of the original Star Trek.
‘TVM’ is also the production code used in the BBC's online episode guide. The actual code used during production was ‘50/LDX071Y/01X’. While Doctor Who Magazine's ‘Complete Eighth Doctor Special’ gives the production code as ‘#83705’. Big Finish Productions uses the code ‘8A’, and numbers its subsequent Eighth Doctor stories correspondingly.
The movie debuted on the Edmonton, Alberta CITV-TV station on the 12th May 1996. This was two days prior to its Fox Network broadcast.
Commercials on the Fox network advertising the film incorporated special effects footage from the opening sequence of the first episode of the 1986 Sixth Doctor story "The Trial of a Time Lord" - specifically the TARDIS being drawn into the giant space station - although this footage was not used in the movie. This marked the first time that footage from the original BBC series had been shown on a major American network. The advertisements also used a different arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music than that heard in the film.
To promote the film among North American media, Fox also issued a small, coil-bound press booklet detailing the film and also explaining a bit of the history of Doctor Who.
For releases outside of the UK the opening sequence has the caption ‘Based on the series originally broadcast on the BBC’. This is because it is standard practice for American productions to give screen credit to a series/character creator, so this title card is used in lieu of crediting Sydney Newman or any of the others involved in the creation of the original series. The UK version had this caption removed but it did feature, at the end, a still-caption tribute to actor Jon Pertwee who had played the Third Doctor. This was in recognition of this popular actor who passed away seven days before this story was broadcast.
When shown on BBC One in the UK, on Monday 27th May at 8.30pm (thirteen days after its American broadcast), it received just over 9 million viewers. This was the highest drama ratings in the UK for the whole week. It is also the first time a story has been watched by more than 9 million viewers since the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Earthshock".
One reason why this film received such low ratings in America on Fox is because it had been scheduled opposite a key episode of the popular sitcom Roseanne.
Upon translation into French, this film was renamed "Le Seigneur du Temps" ("The Timelord").
This film was scheduled to be released on video in the UK several weeks before broadcast to capitalize on the interest in the shows’ return. However, the British Board of Film Classification required the video release to have the same edits as the UK broadcast version and so the release was delayed to just a week before its debut broadcast on BBC One. Hundreds of fans queued in London at midnight in order to buy a copy at the earliest possible moment, however overall sales were impacted by the imminent broadcast.
A Laserdisc release of this film was also released exclusively in Hong Kong by Universal in 1997.
An unedited version of this film was released on DVD in the UK in 2001 titled as "Doctor Who: The Movie". Several of the featurettes on this release were produced specifically for US audiences and so provided UK audiences with a look into the way Doctor Who was marketed in America.
Despite the fact that this film was originally made for American broadcast, it was until 2011 the only non-missing story which had not received a North American video release in any format. Joint BBC/Universal ownership was problematic for North American publication, because the BBC is obliged to use Warner Brothers, and not Universal, for their Doctor Who DVD distribution. However, in August 2010 it was announced that Universal had agreed on the release of this film outside the UK (including North America). This release, in the US, finally occurred in February 2011.
Some snippets of footage from this film did make their way onto Region 1 DVDs. In 2003, a special Fortieth Anniversary music video that included footage from this film was added to a number of DVD releases of stories from the original run of the show. In July 2009, the Region 1 DVD release of "Planet of the Dead" included an unedited edition of Doctor Who Confidential that included part of a dialogue scene from the film. While the Region 1 DVD release of "The Next Doctor" includes a short piece of footage.
The 2010 DVD box set "Revisitations" contains this film with a new, updated Special Edition DVD features. It is this version that was released to North America in February 2011.
The music from this film was featured on a CD, "Doctor Who: Original Soundtrack Recording" with music by John Debney. Additional music was contributed by John Sponsler and Louis Febre. This CD was marketed for promotional use only and not for public sale. However, some specialty stores carried the recording and ultimately caused a limited distribution.
This film was novelised by Gary Russell and published by BBC Books in May 1996.
It is based on an early draft of the script and Gary Russell adjusted some details to make it more consistent with the original series. It also contains elements that were cut from the shooting script for timing reasons.
The cover title of the novel is "Doctor Who", but the spine title is "Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film". Its publication marked the start of BBC Books' involvement with publishing Doctor Who fiction. It is also the first novelisation of a televised Doctor Who story not to be published by Target Books (or any related companies) since "Doctor Who and the Crusaders" in 1965. It is also the last novelisation of a televised story to date.
This book was actually published prior to the conclusion of Virgin Books' contract for publishing original Doctor Who fiction, so the next release by BBC Books did not occur for about a year when The Eighth Doctor Stories series of novels began with "The Eight Doctors". The novelisation of this film was released as a standalone work and is not considered as part of The Eighth Doctor Stories series.
A script book of this film was also published. Neither book was distributed in North America.
In 1997, this novel was released as an audio book, read by Paul McGann. This reading was later included on the 2004 MP3 CD "Tales from the TARDIS Volume Two".
At the 1997 Saturn Awards ceremony, Doctor Who took home a statuette for Best Single Genre Television Presentation. Paul McGann however, did not win in the category of Best Genre TV Actor".
Yee Jee Tso would later return in 2002 to play Major Jal Brant in the Big Finish Productions audio story "Excelis Decays" and as Doctor Reece Goddard in the Sixth Doctor webcast "Real Time".
Daphne Ashbrook would later return in 2004 alongside Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor, playing the part of Perfection, in the Big Finish Productions audio story "The Next Life".
Both Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso can be heard in the Big Finish Productions Companion Chronicles audio story "Tales From the Vault" that was released in July 2011. Daphne Ashbrook plays the part of Captain Ruth Matheson and Yee Jee Tso plays Warrant Officer Charlie Sato.
This television movie remains Paul McGann's sole televised story as the Eighth Doctor. It has nonetheless had a significant impact on the Doctor Who mythos, with an ongoing Doctor Who novel line, comic strip, and audio series that featured the Eighth Doctor for years, until the show returned in 2005. The Eighth Doctor has also featured in a series of Big Finish Productions audio stories some of which have been broadcast on the radio since 2007.
| |
|
|
The Firsts:
The first direct-to-television film.
The first Doctor Who story for 6 years - since the 1989 story "Survival".
Paul McGann's first appearance as the Eighth Doctor.
Eric Roberts' first appearance in the show as The Master.
The first Doctor Who story to be written by Matthew Jacobs.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Geoffrey Sax.
Philip Segal's first involvement in the show as Executive Producer.
Jo Wright's first involvement in the show as Executive Producer.
Alex Beaton's first involvement in the show as Executive Producer.
Matthew Jacobs' first involvement in the show as Producer.
Peter V Ware's first involvement in the show as Producer.
The first Doctor Who story to show The Doctor regenerating while completely alone.
The first Doctor Who story to contain an overtly romantic scene involving The Doctor.
The first Doctor Who story to feature a narration since the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Deadly Assassin".
The first time that Doctor Who has been filmed entirely abroad and the first time in Canada.
|
|
(Position = 89 out of 159)
(Position = 135 out of 200)
(Position = 152 out of 241)
