Still Seems Like Yesterday...!
So, twenty years ago today, the Doctor Who TV Movie starring Paul McGann aired on US television, on the Fox network. Not many people watched and/or liked it, apparently.
(And yes, I will no doubt be doing a post commemorating the eventual UK premiere on 27 May 1996, for the sake of completeness)
As I was just saying in response to a comment on the earlier post I made on the subject, I don't personally think the TVM, or "Doctor Who", or "Doctor Who: The Movie" or whatever we're calling it, was actually that good. I know, I know, McGann (and let's be honest, pretty much the whole cast) is fantastic in it, and there are lots of nice little moments. I'm really glad they actually got Sylvester McCoy back to do a proper regeneration and handover, even if Seven did, in Samuel L Jackson's words re his Star Wars prequel character, go out like a punk. Overall, though, it's kind of disappointing and has lots of wrongheaded ideas about what Doctor Who was or is and what it should be doing.
And yet, in spite of that, so much good came out of it. McGann, as said already, is fantastic, and without the TVM we never would have had the EDA novels, the Eight audio series, or indeed The Night of the Doctor. For that alone we should be deeply grateful. On the other hand, I think it's clear that McGann's performance and the TVM's approach to the material were greatly influential on the new series. Except that the new series, for the most part, managed to do what the TVM was trying to do in terms of reviving and modernising the series successfully, possibly because its creators have had a much firmer grounding in the classic series as well.
Most of all, though, I think that the existence of the TVM and the huge interest it generated in the UK, showing there was still very much an audience for Who even seven years after the end of the old series, meant that from then on it wasn't a matter of if, but when, we would get a new television series.
Still, given some of the missteps it made, I'm sort of glad the TVM wasn't more successful in the US and didn't lead to the promised (threatened?) series it was meant to be a pilot for. If you're wondering why I'm saying that, watch this:
I really would have loved to see those spider-Daleks they always used to go on about, though. ;)
(And yes, I will no doubt be doing a post commemorating the eventual UK premiere on 27 May 1996, for the sake of completeness)
As I was just saying in response to a comment on the earlier post I made on the subject, I don't personally think the TVM, or "Doctor Who", or "Doctor Who: The Movie" or whatever we're calling it, was actually that good. I know, I know, McGann (and let's be honest, pretty much the whole cast) is fantastic in it, and there are lots of nice little moments. I'm really glad they actually got Sylvester McCoy back to do a proper regeneration and handover, even if Seven did, in Samuel L Jackson's words re his Star Wars prequel character, go out like a punk. Overall, though, it's kind of disappointing and has lots of wrongheaded ideas about what Doctor Who was or is and what it should be doing.
And yet, in spite of that, so much good came out of it. McGann, as said already, is fantastic, and without the TVM we never would have had the EDA novels, the Eight audio series, or indeed The Night of the Doctor. For that alone we should be deeply grateful. On the other hand, I think it's clear that McGann's performance and the TVM's approach to the material were greatly influential on the new series. Except that the new series, for the most part, managed to do what the TVM was trying to do in terms of reviving and modernising the series successfully, possibly because its creators have had a much firmer grounding in the classic series as well.
Most of all, though, I think that the existence of the TVM and the huge interest it generated in the UK, showing there was still very much an audience for Who even seven years after the end of the old series, meant that from then on it wasn't a matter of if, but when, we would get a new television series.
Still, given some of the missteps it made, I'm sort of glad the TVM wasn't more successful in the US and didn't lead to the promised (threatened?) series it was meant to be a pilot for. If you're wondering why I'm saying that, watch this:
Click to viewI really would have loved to see those spider-Daleks they always used to go on about, though. ;)