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The 1996 Doctor Who tv movie was
made for American television, and obviously designed to appeal to
that market. It was enjoyable in a very superficial way, but did not
compare with the wit and imagination of the original British TV series,
nor even with the quality sci-fi offerings that America has produced
recently - Babylon 5 and The X Files. Perhaps the biggest
fault of the Doctor Who movie was that it was trying too hard to
be Doctor Who, which resulted in it becoming far too bogged down
with series continuity, which must have been confusing and off-putting
for the new American audience - and yet for all that, it failed to
treat this continuity with any attention to accuracy. It was used
gratuitously and without thought, as if the appearance of jelly babies
or mention of the Eye of Harmony were there just to justify the film
calling itself Doctor Who. Ironically, the original series was
at its best when it largely ignored the past and concentrated on
telling stories (Season 7, the Tom Baker era, etc.) rather than
retreading old ground (most of the eighties episodes).
Nevertheless, the movie achieved very good ratings in Britain,
perhaps because the name Doctor Who still generates some
affection here - and the nineties did seem to be the decade of
nostalgia. The greater proportion of Doctor Who fans went wild
with excitement when the film was first shown - it was the best thing
since sliced bread, and gushing praise was continually heaped upon it.
They were of course just desperately trying to convince themselves
that Doctor Who was back, without worrying too much what it was
like. We need quality Doctor Who, not merely quantity.
There were good things about the movie. The production values were
superb, and the direction was good. It attempted to present itself as a
direct continuation of the original series, and even featured Sylvester
McCoy reprising his role as the seventh
Doctor before handing over to his successor. The best aspect of the
whole thing was the casting of Paul McGann, who gave a promising
performance as the Doctor. When one considers the limited material
he was given to work with, it's clear that he might have made a very
good Doctor had he been cast in the series proper. Five years later, McGann
reprised the part in a series of audio plays, but in the meantime, his
version of the Doctor had generated various spin-offs novels and comic
strips. So the eighth Doctor Who lived on - and in 2013, as part of the
show's fiftieth anniversary celebrations, we finally got to see his final
moments in a special mini-episode.
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