I was originally captivated by the Dr. Who series while PBS was airing the Tom Baker (my favorite) and Peter Davisson episodes during the 80's. Later I caught bits and pieces of some of the earlier and later incarnations of the Doctor during PBS pledge drives. (Yes, it worked! I have a bunch of Dr. who t-shirts and coffee cups now. And of course, i supported "television worth watching".) So when i heard about the fox production i was waiting with bated breath. Silly me. I should have known that the clowns in hollywood would urinate all over a wonderful story.
Hits:
Paul McGann was a great doctor. Good looking in the hollywood way but not a hollywood plasticface. He actually projects some character. He gives the role a sense of childlike wonder and earnestness, very much in keeping with the interpretation of T. Baker, Davisson and Troughton. His costume works for me.(but not how he got it. see my misses)
The regeneration scene. Awesome! The whole idea of a cocky surgeon suddenly unable to perform a routine procedure and because of her frustration and conviction of the way things are she kills him is wonderful. The fact she has to deal with the reality that if she had just stepped back, questioned her assumptions, given the x-ray techs and radiologist credit for knowing what they were doing, etc, she would not have "killed" him, works for me. My only gripe is that she doesn't really agonize over it enough. She doesn't even apologize for killing him!
Sylvester McCoy making his appearance. I think this regeneration was approached as well or better than any of the others. It's too bad Fox assumed that americans couldn't deal with the quirky McCoy as the Doctor. I guess he was just not "beautiful" enough. (last time i checked i was an american and i liked his doctor a bunch. I'd put him in a close tie with peter Davisson as second best)
Some very typical doctor behavior. I particularly like where he holds the gun to HIS OWN head in order to steal the motorcycle. I could easily have pictured Tom Baker's or Patrick Troughton's Doctor doing that.
The kiss - I don't mind the kiss at all. Actually it was kind of cool. I was always disappointed he never kissed Romana. There seemed good chemistry there. (since Tom Baker and the actress did end up marrying i guess that makes sense.) And come on people! it's just a kiss. It's not like they went totally hollywood and had them strip down, jump in bed and have her teach him the "human way" to ecstasy. And it's not like she shacks up with him in the Tardis. They each go their own way, friends. As it should be.
Special effects, nothing outstanding for an american show but not bad. Wouldn't it be cool to have seen some of the classic who stories shot with effects this good?
The new tardis. Not bad. A little hollywood i guess but no worse than the claustrophobic, antiseptic control room in the series. Wasn't there a point where one of the doctors (i think it was t. baker) used a nice mahogany and brass "old control room" for awhile? As for the spaciousness, not too hard to deal with. I remember an episode of the tv series where the doctor seems to be running endlessly down corridors in the tardis that look strangely like they might be corridors in a studio basement.
Misses:
Doctor is Half human and renaming the chameleon to the cloaking device... These are the result of the brainless hollywood assumption that americans will better consume a product only if it is made according to formula. In this world all sci-fi fans are by definition star trek fans, therefore these two "tips of the hat" to Star Trek are necessary. To me they are just way too jarring - they don't belong in the story at all. Tell me, what does it add to the story for him to be half human? What? Why does hollywood always assume that americans are all brainless boobs.... Still, (am i speaking heresy here?) if they are going to mix worldlines why pussyfoot around? Why not have the tardis appear on the bridge of the enterprise? I think the tension and interaction between Tom Baker's irreverent Doctor and Spock would be priceless. Still, it wouldn't be a Dr. Who story.
Reinventing the master as a cheap terminator/krychek knock-off. Yuch. I accept the the incarnation of the master portrayed by anthony ainly was already a stolen body for the master trying to live beyond his final incarnation but still... this just doesn't work for me. I think i saw a villain like this on Power Rangers.
Chang Lee does not leave with the doctor to become his first companion in the new Fox series. Why not? It's not like he's got much of a life to look forward to as a gang member. It would have been great.
Procuring his costume -- I pondered that a long time after i saw the movie. How does a guy who's just left the morgue and is wandering around in a hospital basement find a room with all the windows smashed out and filled with lockers containing stage costumes? huh? I worked maintenance in a hospital when i was a teenager and EVERYTHING in the building was kept clean, painted and in perfect working order, even in the sub-basement. A derelict room like that? Not in any hospital i've ever seen!
All the senseless incorrect references to the Dr. Who pantheon. Ok, him having jelly babies is marginally acceptable, i guess, but the Eye of Harmony? Just let the story develop naturally for pete's sake....
the chase scene and other hollywood pap. I admit that Pertwee and the U.N.I.T. people end up doing that a lot but ya know, I always thought of pertwee's doctor as pretty lame compared to most of the others. The whole thing about the doctor being sentenced to remain on earth seemed a cheap budgeting ploy by bbc to cut down the cost of sets and special effects. Why put any of this in except to make a nod to the pertwee incarnation. Again, why does hollywood always assume we're morons? And the countdown scene for the bomb or whatever (it's been awhile since i've seen it). What's up with that? They only thing they didn't have was the scene where he has to cut the red wire or the blue wire. Or the scene where he walks into the darkened room where the monster is and inexplicably doesn't turn on the light. Or the scene where his boss takes away his badge and tells him he's on his own... I mean if we're going to tell a story by formula what's up? You missed a few, hollywood guys!!
Why wasn't K-9 in the movie? It's amazing the hollywood guys missed the potential r2-d2 tie-ins.
I guess to sum up, i'd say that this Doctor is better than no doctor at all. I just wish they'd have given us a script that was even a little better than an episode of (70's) battlestar galactica or the six million dollar man. Maybe if they would have made the series it would have. Maybe. I'd like to see the people that made the new Dune movies for the Sci Fi channel take a crack at the doctor. Now that would be cool!
Hits:
Paul McGann was a great doctor. Good looking in the hollywood way but not a hollywood plasticface. He actually projects some character. He gives the role a sense of childlike wonder and earnestness, very much in keeping with the interpretation of T. Baker, Davisson and Troughton. His costume works for me.(but not how he got it. see my misses)
The regeneration scene. Awesome! The whole idea of a cocky surgeon suddenly unable to perform a routine procedure and because of her frustration and conviction of the way things are she kills him is wonderful. The fact she has to deal with the reality that if she had just stepped back, questioned her assumptions, given the x-ray techs and radiologist credit for knowing what they were doing, etc, she would not have "killed" him, works for me. My only gripe is that she doesn't really agonize over it enough. She doesn't even apologize for killing him!
Sylvester McCoy making his appearance. I think this regeneration was approached as well or better than any of the others. It's too bad Fox assumed that americans couldn't deal with the quirky McCoy as the Doctor. I guess he was just not "beautiful" enough. (last time i checked i was an american and i liked his doctor a bunch. I'd put him in a close tie with peter Davisson as second best)
Some very typical doctor behavior. I particularly like where he holds the gun to HIS OWN head in order to steal the motorcycle. I could easily have pictured Tom Baker's or Patrick Troughton's Doctor doing that.
The kiss - I don't mind the kiss at all. Actually it was kind of cool. I was always disappointed he never kissed Romana. There seemed good chemistry there. (since Tom Baker and the actress did end up marrying i guess that makes sense.) And come on people! it's just a kiss. It's not like they went totally hollywood and had them strip down, jump in bed and have her teach him the "human way" to ecstasy. And it's not like she shacks up with him in the Tardis. They each go their own way, friends. As it should be.
Special effects, nothing outstanding for an american show but not bad. Wouldn't it be cool to have seen some of the classic who stories shot with effects this good?
The new tardis. Not bad. A little hollywood i guess but no worse than the claustrophobic, antiseptic control room in the series. Wasn't there a point where one of the doctors (i think it was t. baker) used a nice mahogany and brass "old control room" for awhile? As for the spaciousness, not too hard to deal with. I remember an episode of the tv series where the doctor seems to be running endlessly down corridors in the tardis that look strangely like they might be corridors in a studio basement.
Misses:
Doctor is Half human and renaming the chameleon to the cloaking device... These are the result of the brainless hollywood assumption that americans will better consume a product only if it is made according to formula. In this world all sci-fi fans are by definition star trek fans, therefore these two "tips of the hat" to Star Trek are necessary. To me they are just way too jarring - they don't belong in the story at all. Tell me, what does it add to the story for him to be half human? What? Why does hollywood always assume that americans are all brainless boobs.... Still, (am i speaking heresy here?) if they are going to mix worldlines why pussyfoot around? Why not have the tardis appear on the bridge of the enterprise? I think the tension and interaction between Tom Baker's irreverent Doctor and Spock would be priceless. Still, it wouldn't be a Dr. Who story.
Reinventing the master as a cheap terminator/krychek knock-off. Yuch. I accept the the incarnation of the master portrayed by anthony ainly was already a stolen body for the master trying to live beyond his final incarnation but still... this just doesn't work for me. I think i saw a villain like this on Power Rangers.
Chang Lee does not leave with the doctor to become his first companion in the new Fox series. Why not? It's not like he's got much of a life to look forward to as a gang member. It would have been great.
Procuring his costume -- I pondered that a long time after i saw the movie. How does a guy who's just left the morgue and is wandering around in a hospital basement find a room with all the windows smashed out and filled with lockers containing stage costumes? huh? I worked maintenance in a hospital when i was a teenager and EVERYTHING in the building was kept clean, painted and in perfect working order, even in the sub-basement. A derelict room like that? Not in any hospital i've ever seen!
All the senseless incorrect references to the Dr. Who pantheon. Ok, him having jelly babies is marginally acceptable, i guess, but the Eye of Harmony? Just let the story develop naturally for pete's sake....
the chase scene and other hollywood pap. I admit that Pertwee and the U.N.I.T. people end up doing that a lot but ya know, I always thought of pertwee's doctor as pretty lame compared to most of the others. The whole thing about the doctor being sentenced to remain on earth seemed a cheap budgeting ploy by bbc to cut down the cost of sets and special effects. Why put any of this in except to make a nod to the pertwee incarnation. Again, why does hollywood always assume we're morons? And the countdown scene for the bomb or whatever (it's been awhile since i've seen it). What's up with that? They only thing they didn't have was the scene where he has to cut the red wire or the blue wire. Or the scene where he walks into the darkened room where the monster is and inexplicably doesn't turn on the light. Or the scene where his boss takes away his badge and tells him he's on his own... I mean if we're going to tell a story by formula what's up? You missed a few, hollywood guys!!
Why wasn't K-9 in the movie? It's amazing the hollywood guys missed the potential r2-d2 tie-ins.
I guess to sum up, i'd say that this Doctor is better than no doctor at all. I just wish they'd have given us a script that was even a little better than an episode of (70's) battlestar galactica or the six million dollar man. Maybe if they would have made the series it would have. Maybe. I'd like to see the people that made the new Dune movies for the Sci Fi channel take a crack at the doctor. Now that would be cool!