Doctor Who [TV/1996.5.14]

★★★★☆

  The Dr. Who TV movie is a special occasion indeed. It's one of those special films I pick up whenever there's an event going on in the house, whenever friends are over to finally figure out what this Dr. Who business is about, or whenever I feel like it -- which used to be quite a lot. Sadly, with the ever-marching years of adulthood, I found myself with jobs, several of them, relationships and other preoccupations in life. I got busy, went out, busied myself with earning money, and I started watching the film less and less. Let me tell you -- revisiting it after several years  was quite the emotional experience. I could quote the film line by line, every shot seared into my mind and every composition imprinted on my psyche. This is a special movie for me, my first real exposure and introduction to Dr. Who, and therefore writing about it fills me with anxiety and excitement in equal measure.

  I mean, where to begin? Ask anyone and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's claiming the TV movie to be a deeply profound, Oscar-worthy film. As fond as I am for it, I don't exactly put this up on my favourite film list either (that coveted list is reserved for the likes of films by Gregg Araki, R. Bruce Elder, Zack Snyder), but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a special place in my heart. Point I'm trying to make is, it's a film tailor-made for people like me, who really like the 1990s US TV influences that the film wears on its sleeve, who love that it has a completely unique flavour to anything else in the entirety of Dr. Who thanks to this American influence. From the slightly blue colour grading to the frankly incredible cinematography done by DoP Glen MacPherson (there are a number of beautiful shots in this movie) that enhances the otherness, the otherworldliness that this story possesses. Dutch angle central, I'd say. All the sets are made and shot with love and care (I'm particularly fond of the miniature sets clearly conceived and created as such to not blow the budget, such as the New Years' party set with the hospital staff that the movie keeps cutting to), the new TARDIS is my favourite of them all to this day, and the entire film is presented with such sleekness, stylish flair on lovely 35mm print. The special computerised effects, compared to what came before in the classic series, is a whole flight of stairs up, and even in 2023, there's an undeniable charm to how the snake Master looks, now the TARDIS model looks, everything. Editing is on point as well, did anybody mention that?

  But of course, I have to dedicate this paragraph to none other than Paul McGann. Despite his own opinions later down the line, I'm really glad that Sylvester McCoy agreed to come back and film a true passing of the torch; McGann is given the opportunity to craft his own incarnation, so strikingly different from the rest, in a lavish film production. He's a mystery, struck with clairvoyance and a pretty face, and he's the "perfect guy who's from another planet", according to Grace (played so wonderfully by Daphne Ashbrook). He can be childlike, he can be foreboding, and in many ways he is the perfect poster child of Dr. Who (and was for 9 years before it came back on telly) -- this incarnation encompasses practically every aspect of the Doctor as we know it, ranging from compassion to love to secrecy and determination. It's a beautiful rendition of the Doctor, and this new incarnation makes an immediate impression. McGann is fantastic from the off, one of a handful of Doctor actors who got their roles from the word go. 

  So with an explosive story about the Master trying to steal the Doctor's body, a duo of companions (one who starts off as an adversary's accomplice) played so well by Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso, a San Francisco setting at the turn of the millennium and a team of creatives and Dr. Who fans behind the wheel who are trying to make this the best film they could ever make, Doctor Who is a TV movie filled with love and ambition that sticks the landing, wows the audience and entertains for its runtime. It's a special slice of Dr. Who history, so easy to watch and easy to fall in love with. I will always love the film, and I will always love its Doctor (obviously) and its Master (Eric Roberts is one of my favourites). Beautiful stuff, really, and with the hindsight we have now that the show would go on to be a very successful BBC venture again in the years to come, the TV movie is rid of whatever ill will or context it may have had and is left as a sweet little movie... or should I say, sweet, great big explosive film.