1996 Doctor Who Television movie finally on DVD WOOOOOO!

[sonak]

This may be old news, since it was technically released three months ago in the U.S.(Sorry, this is an American-centric topic since I think it's been available in the UK for years)


But I'd been watching and waiting for this release for like years. I'd heard they'd had issues with copyright or something, so I'd given up on them releasing it here in the U.S.


Yes, the movie is pretty ridiculous and not especially great. But that's beside the point. The Eighth Doctor was MY DOCTOR! This movie came out when I was just getting into "Doctor Who," and it was so exciting because it was NEW MATERIAL. This was 1996, long before the new series.


Now I've seen so much other Who material, Paul McGann's Doctor isn't even in my list of top five Doctors, but who cares? Also, the movie kind of bombed in the U.S. but again I say who cares?

I'm just walking through a store that sells DVD s and THERE IT IS! Doctor Who: The Movie.


Sorry for this thread on a somewhat old topic, but I was just so excited.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I'll have to get this - I've had a VCD of it for years.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I had no idea this was out. The last time anyone seemed to be talking about it the movie was in DVD rights hell despite airing on cable movie channels. I'll have to get it. No, it's not that great. In fact, most of it is cringe worthy. But I liked Paul McGann and wouldn't mind seeing him come back for some sort of multi-Doctor special.

 

[EJA]

Yeah, it's not a particularly great story, and does have its weaknesses. But then again, so do some stories of the new series. I definitely don't dislike it as much as I used to.

 

[OmahaStar]

I know it's a two-disc presentation now, and one of the new features is a commentary with both Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. I believe this may only be the second time (after Arc of Infinity) that two Doctors shared the same commentary track.

I'll get around to re-watching it eventually. I'm slugging through the appallingly bad Fifth Doctor era currently.

 

[Turbo]

I know it's a two-disc presentation now, and one of the new features is a commentary with both Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. I believe this may only be the second time (after Arc of Infinity) that two Doctors shared the same commentary track.

Yep! I rechecked the commentaries around the time AoI came out and couldn't find any others. It's definitely the only one since AoI to have two Doctors.

I'll get around to re-watching it eventually. I'm slugging through the appallingly bad Fifth Doctor era currently.

Bite your tongue!

Yes, the Fifth Doctor's era had some clunkers, but so did every era. And it had a number of great episodes as well (Castrovalva, Earthshock, Enlightenment, The Five Doctors, Resurrection of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani). So lay off before I start critiquing Sixie.

 

[23skidoo]

I had no idea this was out. The last time anyone seemed to be talking about it the movie was in DVD rights hell despite airing on cable movie channels.

I posted a thread about this before Christmas (last fall, actually). They managed to clear up the rights that allowed a North American release, so they put it out in a new edition that corresponds to the UK "Revisited" edition. Someone at Universal Studios was evidently working overtime to clear up rights because the announcement was made not long after Universal finally cleared the North American DVD release rights to The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman.

I greatly enjoyed the TV movie DVD set. There's a fascinating documentary on the in-between years (you get to see clips from Reeltime and BBV productions) and the making of the movie. My only complaint is that they didn't include the Bidding Adieu documentary that Mark Gatiss and Sylvester McCoy made during the filming. I've seen clips of it on YouTube and it looks fascinating (plus we get to see candid interview footage with Daphne Ashbrook, which is never a bad thing). I also think Big Finish missed a bet by not getting a sample episode of one of their Eighth Doctor audio dramas included as a bonus feature (BF has done stuff for 2 Entertain before - they did an exclusive audio drama featuring Davros for the Davros box set, for example).

Alex

 

[shivkala]

I have a soft spot for this movie and, yes, it is far from great, but, it has its charm. Paul McGann is a huge part of that charm, I must say.

I remember as a teenager watching this on TV knowing it was a backdoor pilot. After I watched it, I was ready to follow the Doctor into his next series, which, unfortunately, never came about due to the movie. It took almost 10 years for the series to start up again and I credit this movie as the reason I watch the show now.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

The movies actually pretty good, and although McCoy only has a small presence in it he does have plenty of onscreen presence in the short time he has in the movie....McGann makes his Dr work, Roberts bring a nice bit of pantomime to his take on the master and the movie intro and take on the theme tune is just cool.

 

[23skidoo]

One other fact to note about the movie is that, for all its faults (and even as someone who likes the movie, I readily admit they dropped the ball a number of ways), it could have been so much worse. Watch the documentary on the making of the film, or read The Nth Doctor by Jean Marc Lofficier and you'll see how up to a very short time before the film was made they were planning an all-out reimagining with some storyline involving the Doctor going in search of his father Rassilon or something like that. I can't remember the details offhand, but bottom line is, like it or hate it, the TV movie retained the link to the original series, and as such it prevented a reimagining from occurring. RTD would have probably still made his revival part of the original-series continuity regardless what happened, but the decision to make the TV movie a direct continuation of the TV series prevented Paul McGann from becoming Peter Cushing 2.0, which would have cost us more than a decade of great Eighth Doctor audio dramas.

Alex

 

[timothy]

I started watching doctor who with the fourth doctor. Now we are talking about the american made dr.who movie right? is it just on dvd or are any of the dr.who on blu ray?

 

[shadowedgalaxy]

The original idea was the Doctor searching for his father Odysseus (wat) while avoiding his evil younger brother the Master.

 

[23skidoo]

The original idea was the Doctor searching for his father Odysseus (wat) while avoiding his evil younger brother the Master.

That was it - I stand corrected. Though wasn't Rassilon a character, too? I need to dig out the DVD and watch that documentary again...

I do recall that the original game plan was also to remake a bunch of the original series storylines too. Actually, with Big Finish doing its Lost Stories series of stories never produced for TV, I think it would be cool for them to adapt some of these (perhaps even the original Odysseus TV movie script, which was completed from what I recall) under their alternate-universe "Doctor Who Unbound" line...

Alex