And so we come to the delayed part three of our look back at the Paul McGann telemovie. Last we saw of the Master, he was discovering that the Doctor is half human (kept that one a secret, didn't he?), while the Doctor was having a mild fit in a park and scaring poor Grace into locking herself into her house.
From this point on in the movie the witty dialogue kicks it up a gear. The Doctor and Grace are just brilliant with each other, particularly with McGann's delivery. In fact, from this point on as well, McGann really settles into the role and just establishes his Doctor very, very clearly. He's singularly fantastic and, criticise Philip Segal all you like, the truth is he must have some pretty good ideas about what was going on, given that he wanted McGann from the very outset. Everyone seems to understand that they are delivering clever and funny lines, but I think Eric Roberts is perhaps the only one who isn't giving it quite the seriousness that it deserves. McGann in particular is extremely straight in his portrayal and makes it even better. We don't have cliffhangers in this story (obviously), but we do have "go to ad break" moments, and the Doctor opening the door to the Master and they meet eyes is one of my favourites.
More great dialogue in the back of the ambulance, and you can't deny that this exchange is brilliant:
Grace: "I suppose you knew Madame Curie as well?"
Doctor: "Intimately."
Grace: "Did she kiss as good as me?"
Master: "As well as you."
Sold even more by the Doctor and Grace's reaction to the Master.
And here we come to one of the most Doctor-y moments in the entire film. (Incidentally, there was supposed to be some dialogue about how there was a crash on the highway which caused all the chickens to go free. Hence the chickens.) The Doctor whips out a gun and...points it directly at himself. This is absolutely perfect. There's always something mildly distasteful when the Doctor takes a gun and points it at people (The Seeds of Doom I'm looking at you), and worse if the Doctor uses it (I'm sorry Day of the Daleks, did the Doctor just kill an Ogron because it glanced in the Doctor's direction???). Here we have the Doctor pointing the gun at himself, and it's just one of those great moments when the Doctor can take a situation and turn it on its head. And it's absolutely perfect.
But of course this leads directly into the big chase sequence in the film which many people point at and say "AMERICANISATION!!!!!" Yup, it's very American. And Doctor Who, of course, has never had chase sequences in it...oh, well except for that entire episode in Planet of the Spiders! And, of course, I maintained earlier that this movie really influenced the new series more than we care to admit, and quite aside from the relationship between the Doctor and his companion, can we all remember the various action sequences in The Runaway Bride and Voyage of the Damned. Again, everybody raged at the telemovie, but it happened, so we were accepting of it when it came about in the new series.
McGann's Doctor has some great little quirks in the entire ITAR sequence, such as stopping Grace from taking a glass of champagne, or snatching the director's passcard. But this sequence brings up two things. Firstly, the Doctor specifically states to Grace that Time Lords can change species. Now, this is a slightly odd thing to say and doesn't entirely make a lot of sense, given the fullness of time. Certainly to this point it seems quite sensible (after all, Romana regenerates into a blue fish person in Destiny of the Daleks, and from this conversation, it's pretty obvious that the intention was to suggest that the Master regenerated into that morphant creature at the beginning (something that novelist Gary Russell and first writer of the Eighth Doctor Adventures Terrance Dicks completely disagree with). However, the Romana sequence and this particular line don't make sense of identifying Time Lord's physiognomy through double hearts and the like...after all, they could regenerate into a species that don't have that. And, since then, of course, the Doctor revealed the chameleon arch which allows a Time Lord to change species...hmmm? Of everything in the film, it's actually this bit that makes the least sense.
We also get the Doctor again affirming he's half-human on his mother's side. Now, fans say the Doctor was just joking with the director (and certainly the fact Grace says "I think you must be" does seem a bit like a joke), except...well, except the Master already identified the Doctor as such. And, again, it's never been contradicted by the rest of the series, ever.
Some nice bits at the TARDIS - the key in the cubbyhole above the "P", and also the motorbike guy going in and out. Chuckles galore. But Richard Hudolin deserves to take center stage at this point because his design of the console room really comes to the fore from this point on, and Geoffrey Sax's direction, and particularly Glen MacPherson's photography is astounding. There's just so much to drink in and love with these sequences that you can't help but be impressed. Equally, also coming to the fore as of this point, is editor Patrick Lussier. Lussier edited a lot of Wes Craven's films, and has since gone on to directing a lot of horror as well. He really has a great eye for editing, and the sequences from this point on are so brilliant.
Eric Roberts is having so much fun as the Master here, though his sudden visciousness, first with Lee and then with Grace is quite shocking. He really brings a different dimension to the Master; in many ways a far scarier version than any of the others have ever achieved. You genuinely believe that the Master would kill you for no reason. Of course, we then get to the plot which creates a lot of confusion. "What's a temporal orbit?" Grace screams at one point, and apparently most of the audience did as well. I'm not quite sure why it's so difficult to understand. The Eye of Harmony is the source of the TARDIS' power. It's a black hole and when it opens it releases the energy that powers the TARDIS. When that energy is depleted, there is nothing to stop the Earth from being sucked into it, and then setting off the chain reaction that will destroy the rest of the galaxy. The TARDIS is set in temporal orbit with the Eye open; a temporal orbit, presumably being an orbit around a point in time, rather than a point in space. So the TARDIS is effectively moving back and forth around December 31st, and is therefore reasorbing all the energy back into the Eye so that at the precise moment the Earth is sucked into the black hole, the Eye is recharged and the Earth isn't sucked in after all.
Just as interesting is Grace and Chang Lee coming back to life. Now, the truth of the matter is, the writer's intention is that time has been rewound and Grace and Chang Lee were brought back to life by that. However, that isn't what remotely happens on the screen - instead some form of energy brings the pair back to life. Thanks to the new series, we can retroactively say that the energy is regenerative energy (it looks exactly like what the Doctor expels when he regenerates, and he breathes it out later). I'm not saying that the new series was inspired by the movie in this regard, or even that the new series used regenerative energy to correct the telemovie. I'm just saying that now we can do it.
And there we have what could have been the TARDIS crew for 1997. Apparently, though, neither Lee nor Grace were intended to return, though Daphne Ashbrook did say she would have been more than happy to do so. I do think we missed out on something here, sadly.
Lee runs off as the Doctor gives another tip about the future, and Grace rejects her tip in favour of a snog. And her decision to stay is a neat reversal of what usually happens. "You stay with me," she offers. They snog under the New Year's fireworks, and part company. It's funny, but in a short time, McGann and Ashbrook created some real chemistry and there is a genuine sadness that they are parting company.
We have this look which I think is brilliant. McGann completely sells the lonely wanderer in time and space with just one look. In some ways I think the movie should have ended here, rather than the extra coda of the Doctor getting into trouble again, but the coda does bring the movie full circle which is nice. It's a tricky one, I guess we could just say it works either way.
And that's the end of the telemovie. Paul McGann's only outing as the Doctor, and yet it made an impact, not just on Doctor Who mythology, but also on the series that followed it. As a pilot for a new series, it really delivers the goods, though perhaps it actually should have had less ties to the classic series. Nonetheless, it was a brilliant success in England, while in America, people were more interested in John Goodman having a heart attack on Roseanne. It's a tough break, guys.
From this point on in the movie the witty dialogue kicks it up a gear. The Doctor and Grace are just brilliant with each other, particularly with McGann's delivery. In fact, from this point on as well, McGann really settles into the role and just establishes his Doctor very, very clearly. He's singularly fantastic and, criticise Philip Segal all you like, the truth is he must have some pretty good ideas about what was going on, given that he wanted McGann from the very outset. Everyone seems to understand that they are delivering clever and funny lines, but I think Eric Roberts is perhaps the only one who isn't giving it quite the seriousness that it deserves. McGann in particular is extremely straight in his portrayal and makes it even better. We don't have cliffhangers in this story (obviously), but we do have "go to ad break" moments, and the Doctor opening the door to the Master and they meet eyes is one of my favourites.
More great dialogue in the back of the ambulance, and you can't deny that this exchange is brilliant:
Grace: "I suppose you knew Madame Curie as well?"
Doctor: "Intimately."
Grace: "Did she kiss as good as me?"
Master: "As well as you."
Sold even more by the Doctor and Grace's reaction to the Master.
And here we come to one of the most Doctor-y moments in the entire film. (Incidentally, there was supposed to be some dialogue about how there was a crash on the highway which caused all the chickens to go free. Hence the chickens.) The Doctor whips out a gun and...points it directly at himself. This is absolutely perfect. There's always something mildly distasteful when the Doctor takes a gun and points it at people (The Seeds of Doom I'm looking at you), and worse if the Doctor uses it (I'm sorry Day of the Daleks, did the Doctor just kill an Ogron because it glanced in the Doctor's direction???). Here we have the Doctor pointing the gun at himself, and it's just one of those great moments when the Doctor can take a situation and turn it on its head. And it's absolutely perfect.
But of course this leads directly into the big chase sequence in the film which many people point at and say "AMERICANISATION!!!!!" Yup, it's very American. And Doctor Who, of course, has never had chase sequences in it...oh, well except for that entire episode in Planet of the Spiders! And, of course, I maintained earlier that this movie really influenced the new series more than we care to admit, and quite aside from the relationship between the Doctor and his companion, can we all remember the various action sequences in The Runaway Bride and Voyage of the Damned. Again, everybody raged at the telemovie, but it happened, so we were accepting of it when it came about in the new series.
McGann's Doctor has some great little quirks in the entire ITAR sequence, such as stopping Grace from taking a glass of champagne, or snatching the director's passcard. But this sequence brings up two things. Firstly, the Doctor specifically states to Grace that Time Lords can change species. Now, this is a slightly odd thing to say and doesn't entirely make a lot of sense, given the fullness of time. Certainly to this point it seems quite sensible (after all, Romana regenerates into a blue fish person in Destiny of the Daleks, and from this conversation, it's pretty obvious that the intention was to suggest that the Master regenerated into that morphant creature at the beginning (something that novelist Gary Russell and first writer of the Eighth Doctor Adventures Terrance Dicks completely disagree with). However, the Romana sequence and this particular line don't make sense of identifying Time Lord's physiognomy through double hearts and the like...after all, they could regenerate into a species that don't have that. And, since then, of course, the Doctor revealed the chameleon arch which allows a Time Lord to change species...hmmm? Of everything in the film, it's actually this bit that makes the least sense.
We also get the Doctor again affirming he's half-human on his mother's side. Now, fans say the Doctor was just joking with the director (and certainly the fact Grace says "I think you must be" does seem a bit like a joke), except...well, except the Master already identified the Doctor as such. And, again, it's never been contradicted by the rest of the series, ever.
Some nice bits at the TARDIS - the key in the cubbyhole above the "P", and also the motorbike guy going in and out. Chuckles galore. But Richard Hudolin deserves to take center stage at this point because his design of the console room really comes to the fore from this point on, and Geoffrey Sax's direction, and particularly Glen MacPherson's photography is astounding. There's just so much to drink in and love with these sequences that you can't help but be impressed. Equally, also coming to the fore as of this point, is editor Patrick Lussier. Lussier edited a lot of Wes Craven's films, and has since gone on to directing a lot of horror as well. He really has a great eye for editing, and the sequences from this point on are so brilliant.
Eric Roberts is having so much fun as the Master here, though his sudden visciousness, first with Lee and then with Grace is quite shocking. He really brings a different dimension to the Master; in many ways a far scarier version than any of the others have ever achieved. You genuinely believe that the Master would kill you for no reason. Of course, we then get to the plot which creates a lot of confusion. "What's a temporal orbit?" Grace screams at one point, and apparently most of the audience did as well. I'm not quite sure why it's so difficult to understand. The Eye of Harmony is the source of the TARDIS' power. It's a black hole and when it opens it releases the energy that powers the TARDIS. When that energy is depleted, there is nothing to stop the Earth from being sucked into it, and then setting off the chain reaction that will destroy the rest of the galaxy. The TARDIS is set in temporal orbit with the Eye open; a temporal orbit, presumably being an orbit around a point in time, rather than a point in space. So the TARDIS is effectively moving back and forth around December 31st, and is therefore reasorbing all the energy back into the Eye so that at the precise moment the Earth is sucked into the black hole, the Eye is recharged and the Earth isn't sucked in after all.
Just as interesting is Grace and Chang Lee coming back to life. Now, the truth of the matter is, the writer's intention is that time has been rewound and Grace and Chang Lee were brought back to life by that. However, that isn't what remotely happens on the screen - instead some form of energy brings the pair back to life. Thanks to the new series, we can retroactively say that the energy is regenerative energy (it looks exactly like what the Doctor expels when he regenerates, and he breathes it out later). I'm not saying that the new series was inspired by the movie in this regard, or even that the new series used regenerative energy to correct the telemovie. I'm just saying that now we can do it.
And there we have what could have been the TARDIS crew for 1997. Apparently, though, neither Lee nor Grace were intended to return, though Daphne Ashbrook did say she would have been more than happy to do so. I do think we missed out on something here, sadly.
Lee runs off as the Doctor gives another tip about the future, and Grace rejects her tip in favour of a snog. And her decision to stay is a neat reversal of what usually happens. "You stay with me," she offers. They snog under the New Year's fireworks, and part company. It's funny, but in a short time, McGann and Ashbrook created some real chemistry and there is a genuine sadness that they are parting company.
We have this look which I think is brilliant. McGann completely sells the lonely wanderer in time and space with just one look. In some ways I think the movie should have ended here, rather than the extra coda of the Doctor getting into trouble again, but the coda does bring the movie full circle which is nice. It's a tricky one, I guess we could just say it works either way.
And that's the end of the telemovie. Paul McGann's only outing as the Doctor, and yet it made an impact, not just on Doctor Who mythology, but also on the series that followed it. As a pilot for a new series, it really delivers the goods, though perhaps it actually should have had less ties to the classic series. Nonetheless, it was a brilliant success in England, while in America, people were more interested in John Goodman having a heart attack on Roseanne. It's a tough break, guys.
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