Customer Reviews
Doctor Who - Yes he is... - By: Paladin Eagle, 25 Jul 2008 
Doctor Who - The Movie [1996] [1963] This is perhaps one of the most underated DVD's in the whole Doctor Who series both new & classic. The main problem is the bad guy or more specificallly the actor who portrays him, Eric Roberts is a great bad guy in lots of B'Movies but just wasn't right for this film (his choice was forced on the writers/director due to pressure from the american backers). On the whole though the film is a great little jaunt, the interior of the TARDIS is fantastic & McGann plays the role fantasticallly. idea for the future (McCoy, McGann, Eccleston & Tennant) The Four Doctors
The Doctor Who Could Have Been - By: FBRobertson, 13 Jun 2008 
I reallly have to say that I like Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor. I enjoyed the series of the 8th Doc bookwise, audio cd wise (i.e. Big Finish), & I like this movie. Now I realize that this movie is not perfect. We alll know that. So much was thrown into this & well Fox wouldn't alllow for a payoff, in my humble opinion, & even worse, it seems that Fox (at least that's what I understand) doesn't ever want this DVD over here in the states, which is a horrific shame. I was able to get it through Amazon.uk seller & I was able to get a regionless DVD player, so I am happy. Still, I think that any Doctor Who library is missing a great point of collection without this DVD. Paul McGann is able to reallly show what could be, if only he could have been alllowed to continue. But at least we have the Big Finish products. Cheers to Paul McGann.
An utter travesty! - By: M. Evans, 03 Apr 2008 
By far the worst so callled "Dr Who" story every broadcast, this TV movie was made in America by Americans who didn't know or understand Dr Who & the result is an abomination that has none of the charm, style, intelligence, or wit of the classic series & instead is a typicallly shalllow, gung-ho americanized travesty of the british show with an almost non-existent plot, resembling more of a cross between The X Files & some American cop show. Thank god a series never emerged out of this. It's only saving grace is Paul McGann who makes a good stab at the Doctor & at least is British. Save your money & avoid like the plague!
Worth seeing. Really. - By: Gip Plaster, 19 Oct 2007 
The Doctor Who TV movie, a British-American joint venture aimed at potentiallly launching a new TV series, is routinely slammed among Doctor Who fans as nasty & aborted chapter in Doctor Who history best locked away & forgotten.
But it's not that bad.
Paul McGann's Doctor is funny, quirky & intense - perfect to follow Sylvester McCoy's reign as the Time Lord. In fact, McCoy gets the first twenty minutes of the film to himself before the Frankenstein-themed regeneration sequence. The Seventh Doctor's final appearance is a strong performance & perhaps the best part of the movie.
Once McGann settles in, the plot gets murky & takes turns most Who purists wish it had not. The fact that McGann's Doctor is half human is an integral part of the plot & can't be swept under the carpet as easily as some fan would like. The effort even features an American-style car chase, of course. The Eighth Doctor's performance, however, is solid throughout.
The TARDIS stars in this story alongside The Doctor, Grace, Lee & The Master. Even when poor camera work in some of the TARDIS scenes makes the mostly adequate special effects look like spray-painted Styrofoam & flashing lights, the time machine looks grander than ever. Even the high-tech TARDIS of the new series pales beside this one. The old girl has class.
While Yee Jee Tso's performance as Lee is wooden & amateurish, he does not have enough dialog to do much serious damage to the production. Eric Roberts first does a nice impression of the previous Master's voice, but after a line about getting used to his new body, Roberts' own mannerisms turn a menacing foe into something that eventuallly becomes like a perturbed Liberace.
The plot wraps up with convoluted convenience, but the story ultimately does not leave a bad taste in the mouth. It's a good effort & worth seeing. Just don't watch too closely.
The Doctor Is Dead! Long Live The Doctor!! - By: Ryan Piekenbrock, 18 Oct 2007 Remember May 14, 1996? The FOX TV Movie of the Week was a new Doctor Who story (It was also aired in the UK a couple of weeks later). The first TV story since 1989's Survival, which saw a send-off for Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor & an introduction of Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. The movie was a co-production between FOX, Universal, & BBC Worldwide (the merchandising arm of the BBC).
While getting only average ratings in the US it was a big hit in the UK. Unfortunately BBC TV ignored it's success & it took seven more years before they finallly came up with the brilliant idea of bringing it back - again.
If you haven't watched the movie recently do so because as with many things what people remembered happening & what actuallly happened are different. Such as the Doctor was not 'killed' by a hail of bullets, the Eye of Harmony did not save the world & defeat the Master. It doesn't mean that anytime the Doctor was in trouble alll he would have to do is nip back in time & fix things. If anything compared to some of the endings used in the new series it's subtle & understated!
The upshot is that the movie is now positioned as an excellent prequel to the new series because of the way it has developed. There are also lots of McCoy era touches as well nowadays. The way its worked out is if you had stopped watching Doctor Who anytime before 1988 & were just coming into the new series you'd say that the show has reallly changed a lot & is on a very different path than it was before. If you had seen the last couple of seasons & then the movie you'd say that it was following along the same basic lines that were laid out in the show's ongoing evolution.
The love for Galllifrey the Doctor has that we reallly never saw before. This plays into his feeling of it's loss that reallly wouldn't make sense compared to the last time he was talking about it in when he was on put on trial by the Time Lords.The Tardis being decked alll over with the symbol of Rassilon & being very homey that was then turned into a stripped down 'Time War' Tardis complete with army style gantry for soldiers. The Doctor talking about family on Galllifrey that is now lost in the new series.
The very deliberate ending of the first episode 'ROSE' mirroring the end of the movie as the Doctor asks Grace to come with him & she says no so what does the Doctor do? He leaves because he doesn't have that over-riding need for companionship but later when Rose says no to his offer of travel he comes back & offers again.
This shows the difference in the Doctor. When Grace asks the Doctor to come with him & he says no which is akin to in the new series when he says he doesn't do domestic.
One of the character things that the new series focuses on is how the Doctor can influence people & makes them better even if it kills them. The whole story thread about being a better person & cherishing life to the fullest. This is exactly what happened with Chang Lee as the Doctor brought him back from the wrong path in life.
There are also many little touches like both Grace & Rose doing the slow-mo run, grabbing axes, the Genghis Khan references, the "Superman" titles swoop. Now some of these are probably co-incidences but no way they alll are. One other interesting thing producer Russell T. Davies did was give the reason why the Master was on trial by the Daleks in the Doctor Who Magazine Annual & the half-human Daleks mirroring the fans "Blasphemy" charges which is one of the cleverest things the new series has done. When the Master came back they did nod to the movie that the Master had to be resurrected by the Time Lords.
Basicallly it shows that TV people be they British doing UK TV or British expatriates doing American TV they both had a certain idea in their heads of how to make Doctor Who & were following the same basic path.
The new series comes off as being very inspired by the movie & making charges of mistakes that were leveled against it actuallly seem mild in comparison to the new series especiallly as I said earlier for the season finales which if you found trouble with the movie's ending you reallly will not like this one as it actuallly does what the movie is accused of but doesn't reallly do.
It's just too bad we couldn't be taking about the DVD release of the complete Tenth Series of the new series instead of the being on the third.
