Doctor Who (TV story)

"Time...."

- The Doctor musing on his memory of Clocks.

Doctor Who, aka Doctor Who: The Movie, or Out of the Ashes, or The Enemy Within, was a made-for-television motion picture that was first broadcast in 1996. Co-produced by the BBC in the UK, the Fox Network in America, and Universal Studios, it was an attempt at reviving the 1963-89 Doctor Who TV series, relaunching it in the UK while introducing it to a wide audience in America.

Synopsis
New Year's Eve 1999. Earth is about to run out of time... Returning home to Gallifrey with the remains of his arch-enemy, the Master, the TARDIS is forced off course, returning the Doctor into the middle of a street gang's gun battle in San Francisco's Chinatown district.

Critically wounded in the shootout, the Doctor has to regenerate to save his own life. And he's not the only one - the Master too has a new body with which to wreak havoc, and his ultimate goal is to take the Doctor's own existence.

As the clock counts down to the start of a new millennium, the Doctor has to stop the Master destroying all life on Earth. But at what cost...?

Plot
The Master has apparently been executed on Skaro, and the Seventh Doctor is bringing his remains back to Gallifrey. However, the Master is not really dead, but transformed into a snake-like morphant creature. He causes a timing malfunction in the TARDIS, and the Doctor is forced to make an emergency landing on Earth: specifically, in San Francisco on 30th December 1999. As soon as the Doctor leaves the TARDIS, he is caught in the cross-fire between two Chinese-American gangs. One of the gang members, Chang Lee, accompanies the wounded Doctor in an ambulance to Walker General Hospital. Unseen, the Master stows away in the ambulance.

At the hospital, a surgeon removes the bullets, but the Doctor's two hearts confuse the medical team. They assume he is fibrillating and that the X-rays showing two hearts must be a double exposure. A cardiologist, Dr. Grace Holloway, is summoned from a date at the opera and attempts to stabilize the Doctor's hearts. He attempts to stop the operation, but is anesthetised. The Doctor's anatomy confuses Grace, and he appears to die under anaesthesia.

The Doctor's body is placed in the morgue, where he regenerates. Around the same time, the morphant Master takes over the sleeping body of the ambulance driver Bruce. As Pete, the morgue attendant, watches the 1931 film version of Frankenstein, the newly-regenerated Doctor bursts out of the morgue, clad in only a shroud. This was mimicked by Frankenstein's awakening on the film at the same time. Pete takes affright, The Doctor stumbles into a deserted wing of the hospital where he sees himself in a broken mirror and cries out, "Who am I?"

The next morning, the Doctor finds a Wild Bill Hickok costume intended for the hospital's fancy dress New Year's Eve party, and dresses in it; meanwhile, Chang Lee goes through the Doctor's possessions (which he had pilfered from Grace at the hospital). Meanwhile, the Master realizes that his occupation of Bruce's body will not last; he needs the Doctor's body. He kills Bruce's wife. At the hospital, the Doctor recognises Grace (who has quit her hospital job after an argument with the hospital administrator over the surgery), and follows her to the parking lot. In her car, he removes the surgical probe which Grace had left in him the previous night, a sight which convinces her that this strange man is in fact her supposedly dead patient.

"Bruce" goes to the hospital, where he learns that the Doctor died during surgery and that his body is missing. Grace takes the Doctor to her house, where she discovers that her boyfriend has left her and taken some of her furniture to boot. She listens to the Doctor's hearts and takes a sample of his blood, while the Doctor's spotty memory begins to return with anecdotes about Puccini and Leonardo da Vinci. Chang Lee uses the TARDIS key to enter the TARDIS. There he encounters the Master, who lies to him and convinces him that he has been wronged by the Doctor. The Master and Chang Lee go to the TARDIS's Cloister Room, where the Master uses Chang Lee's human eyes to open the Eye of Harmony, the TARDIS's power source. As the eye opens, the Doctor's memories come flooding back. In a fit of enthusiasm, the Doctor announces, "I am the Doctor!" and kisses Grace. In the Cloister Room, the Master sees a series of images: the old Doctor, the new Doctor, and a human retina. The last causes him to assert, "The Doctor is half-human." Just as the Master sees an image of Grace, the Doctor becomes aware of the Master's actions, and shuts his own eyes, blocking the images in the Eye of Harmony.

The Doctor explains the Master's plan: he hopes to force the Doctor to look into the Eye of Harmony, which will allow him to take over the Doctor's body. However, if the Eye is not closed by midnight the entire planet will be sucked into it. The Doctor will need a beryllium atomic clock to fix the TARDIS before then. Grace finds all this quite improbable, and calls an ambulance for the Doctor (who she now suspects to be insane). A television news report informs the Doctor of strange weather phenomena, and of a beryllium atomic clock about to be inaugurated at the Institute for Technological Advancement and Research (ITAR).

When the ambulance arrives, the EMT is the Master, and the unseen driver is Chang Lee. The Doctor asks to be taken to ITAR. Grace is still skeptical, but indicates for the driver to play along. However, a sudden stop at a traffic jam reveals the Master's inhuman eyes, and the Doctor recognizes him. His identity revealed, the Master spits a burning viscous substance on Grace's arm, but the Doctor temporarily blinds him with a fire extinguisher. He and Grace escape into the stopped traffic, and the Doctor bluffs a policeman into giving him his motorcycle. On the motorcycle, Grace realizes that the Doctor's improbable story is true. Chang Lee and the Master pursue the Doctor and Grace, but Chang Lee takes a shortcut and arrives at ITAR before the Doctor does.

Grace, a board member of ITAR, introduces the Doctor to Professor Wagg, creator of the clock. As the Doctor tells Professor Wagg "a secret" ("I'm half-human on my mother's side"), he surreptitiously removes Wagg's security pass. Grace and the Doctor steal a small component from the clock. They spot the Master and Chang Lee in the crowd, but escape by lowering themselves from a fire hose. They flee on the motorcycle, and arrive at the TARDIS, where the Doctor remembers that he keeps a spare key in the cubbyhole above the letter "P" in "Police box". They enter the TARDIS, where the cloister bell is ringing. The Doctor is able to close the Eye of Harmony; however, a quick temporal scan confirms that the Eye has been open too long, and the Earth is still in danger. The only solution is to take the TARDIS back to a time before the Eye was opened — but since the Eye was open so long, the TARDIS now has no power. The Doctor attempts to jump-start the TARDIS by drawing energy directly from the eye. Suddenly Grace's eyes turn black, and she knocks the Doctor out with the neutron ram.

Grace has been taken over by the Master's will, infected when he spat on her in the ambulance. The Doctor awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney in the Cloister Room. The possessed Grace and Chang Lee chain the Doctor to a balcony, under the supervision of the Master. Taunting the Doctor, the Master inadvertently contradicts his earlier lies to Chang Lee, who attempts to help the Doctor. The Master breaks Chang Lee's neck. He then removes his control over Grace so that her human eyes will be able to open the Eye; this he does quickly, while Grace is disoriented. As the Master begins to absorb the Doctor's life-energy, the Doctor asks Grace to return to the console room and jump-start the TARDIS.

As the Earth celebrates the approaching new year, Grace manages to start the TARDIS one second before midnight. The TARDIS enters a temporal orbit. She returns to the cloister room and frees the Doctor, but the Master attacks them both. He throws her off the balcony, and she appears to die. The Doctor and the Master struggle over the open Eye, and the Master falls in; the Doctor attempts to save him, but the Master rejects his hand and is sucked into the Eye.

The TARDIS slips back in time from midnight. Energy travels from the Eye to the bodies of Grace and Chang Lee, reviving them, and the Eye closes. The Doctor takes Grace and Chang Lee back to San Francisco on New Year's Eve. The Doctor gives Chang Lee a bag of gold dust, and tells him not to be in San Francisco next Christmas. The Doctor asks Grace to come with him, and she asks him to stay with her. They kiss and say their farewells. The Doctor leaves in the TARDIS, off to a new adventure.

Cast

 * The Doctor — Paul McGann
 * Seventh Doctor — Sylvester McCoy (credited as "The Old Doctor")
 * The Master — Eric Roberts
 * Dr. Grace Holloway — Daphne Ashbrook
 * Chang Lee — Yee Jee Tso
 * Salinger — John Novak
 * Dr. Swift — Michael David Simms
 * Wheeler — Catherine Lough
 * Curtis — Dolores Drake
 * Pete — Will Sasso
 * Gareth — Jeremy Radick
 * Bruce — Eric Roberts
 * Miranda — Eliza Roberts
 * Motorcycle Policeman — Bill Croft
 * Professor Wagg — Dave Hurtubise
 * Ted — Joel Wirkunnen
 * Security Guard — Dee Jay Jackson
 * The Old Master — Gordon Tipple
 * KKBE News Anchor — Mi-Jung Lee
 * KKBE News Anchor — Joanna Piros

Crew

 * Director - Geoffrey Sax
 * Costumes - Jori Woodman
 * Designer - Richard Hudolin
 * Executive Producer - Philip David Segal
 * Executive Producer - Alex Beaton
 * Executive Producer for the BBC - Jo Wright
 * Film Cameraman - Glen MacPherson
 * Film Editor - Patrick Lussier
 * Incidental Music - John Debney, John Sponsler, Louis Febre
 * Producer - Peter V. Ware
 * Production Manager - Fran Rosati
 * Special Effects - Gary Paller
 * Stunt Arranger - JJ Makaro, Fred Perron
 * Visual Effects - Eric Alba
 * Visual Effects Producer - Tony Dow
 * Writer - Matthew Jacobs

Production
British expatriate Philip Segal had been working since 1989 to forge a coproduction deal between an American company and the BBC to make a new Doctor Who series, beginning even before the programme's twenty-sixth and final season, which was broadcast that year. At that time, Segal was working with Columbia Pictures, but little had come of his efforts by the time he left Columbia for a two-year stint at ABC. Subsequently, Segal went to work for Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and shortly thereafter resumed his efforts to acquire the rights to Doctor Who. By June 1992, he was joined in efforts by Peter Wagg, producer of the eclectic science-fiction series Max Headroom. There were a number of parties involved in the Doctor Who discussions: Amblin and the BBC, of course, but also Amblin's parent company, Universal Pictures, and the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Enterprises (which would shortly transmute into BBC Worldwide). With each organisation trying its best to safeguard its own interests, negotiations stretched into 1993, and then 1994.

However, despite the many difficulties the complex situation presented, on January 13th, 1994, an agreement was reached. Philip Segal was, for all intents and purposes, Doctor Who's newest producer. The race was on to get a series ready to be pitched to the American networks in time for the Fall 1994 season, essentially giving Segal and Wagg less than two months' breathing space. One of Segal's first instructions from his superiors at Universal was that he use a studio writer for the project, specifically John Leekley. Segal was hesitant, preferring to go outside Universal; former Doctor Who script editor Terrance Dicks was amongst the candidates he was considering. However, aware that any fight with Universal would waste precious development time, Segal agreed to bring Leekley aboard.

Together with designer Richard Lewis, Segal and Leekley prepared an expensive and extensive series bible -- titled The Chronicles Of Doctor Who?, to introduce Doctor Who in general, and the proposed new series in particular. Segal had envisioned this version of Doctor Who as being largely divorced from the original BBC series -- although the basic concepts of Doctor Who were adhered to, the programme's mythos would be completely rewritten. The bible was written from the perspective of Cardinal Barusa (a misspelling of Borusa, a character who had first appeared in Season Fourteen's The Deadly Assassin). It introduces the Doctor and the Master, who are half-brothers and both sons of the lost Time Lord explorer Ulysses, Borusa's son. When the evil Master becomes President of the Time Lords upon Borusa's death, the Doctor flees Gallifrey in a rickety old TARDIS to find Ulysses. Borusa's spirit becomes enmeshed in the TARDIS, enabling Borusa to continue to advise his grandson. The Doctor takes the TARDIS to "the Blue Planet" (Earth), to search for Ulysses -- this being the native world of the Doctor's mother.

The bible went on to detail the Doctor's encounter with the Daleks -- still creations of Davros, but now controlled by the Master. These events, clearly inspired by Season Twelve's Genesis of the Daleks, would have formed the bulk of the pilot episode. Various other possible adventures are detailed, most of them drawing, to a greater or lesser extent, on stories from the original series: The Smugglers, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Earthshock, Horror of Fang Rock, The Celestial Toymaker, The Gunfighters, Tomb of the Cybermen, The Abominable Snowmen, and The Ark in Space. (Others excised from the final draft included adventures inspired by The Sea Devils, The Invasion of Time, The Reign of Terror, The Claws of Axos, The Daemons, and Shada.) Many familiar Doctor Who monsters were extensively revised. The Daleks were hideous mutant creatures whose travelling machines -- appearing not unlike those from the original series, albeit without a "head" region or external appendages -- opened up into a spider-like design. The Cybermen (now called "Cybs") were marauders whose cybernetic parts were culled from a variety of sources, giving them a patchwork appearance (though they were still vulnerable to gold dust). The Yeti are gentle descendants of the Neanderthals. The bible concluded with the conclusion of the Doctor's adventures, in which he locates Ulysses and travels back to Gallifrey to depose the Master and become President.

The bible was completed around the end of March. Leekley then began work on sample storylines, with most work concentrating on the revised version of The Gunfighters, now called Don't Shoot, I'm The Doctor. This was similar to the original Season Three serial only in broad sketches -- the Doctor does travel to Tombstone suffering from a toothache, but the rest of the story hewed much more closely to the true events of the OK Corral, as opposed to the more fictionalised version offered in the original Doctor Who story. As well, the idea at this point was for the new episodes to be made for one-hour American time slots (meaning about forty-five minutes of actual programming).

Meanwhile, Segal and Wagg began the gruelling process of finding an actor to play the Doctor. They wanted someone who would suit the part, yet also a big name to ensure a huge ratings success (and to please both Fox and Universal who weren't too sure about how well a British television show would go with an American audience). Their top three choices were Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford and Jim Carrey, all three of whom turned it down, each for different reasons. Tom Hanks, who is a fan of the original series turned the role down almost immedietally (after at first coming down to Earth after being overwhelmed with the honor being offered to him), he turned it down because as a fan of the original series he thought that an American playing the role would not do the amazing British show any justice. Harrison Ford turned down the role as he didn't want to work in television, he said in a 2008 interview that not only did George Lucas yelled at him, calling him an idiot when Ford told him, but he would then (in 2008) deeply regret the decision (as he didn't like the movies he made in the mid 90s). Jim Carrey, who had never even heard of Doctor Who until being offered the role of the Doctor turned down the role as he felt it would cause outrage amongst fans if their sacred part was not played by a fan of the original series.

To this end, they secured the services of British casting agents John and Ros Hubbard. In January and February, enormous lists of actors (most -- but not all -- of them British) were compiled; amongst the names were Adam Ant, Rowan Atkinson, Chris Barrie, Sean Bean, Jeremy Brett, Jim Broadbent, Pierce Brosnan, Simon Callow, Martin Clunes, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Crawford, Tim Curry, Timothy Dalton, Rupert Everett, Ralph Fiennes, Hugh Grant, Robert Hardy, Anthony Stewart Head, John Hurt, Eric Idle, Derek Jacobi, Ben Kingsley, Rob Lowe, Malcolm McDowell, Ian McKellen, Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole, Michael Palin, Jonathan Pryce, Aidan Quinn, Tony Slattery, Patrick Stewart (who states in interviews that while he might have been considered for the role, he was never formally approached), Peter Ustinov, Jason Connery, Alexis Denisoff, Matt Frewer, Jeff Goldblum, Rutger Hauer, Chris Isaak, Kyle MacLachlan, Gary Sinise, Alan Davies, Alfred Molina, Julian Sands, Arnold Vosloo, Peter Weller and Scott Weinger. Some of these actors were interested in the part, but there was no other actor in the world more interested in playing Doctor Who then Steve Martin, as he was (and as of 2009 still is) a huge fan of Doctor Who. Around mid-March, an effort was also made to approach Paul McGann, but the actor was unavailable; his brother Mark had in fact auditioned for the role some days earlier, on March 1st. The early favourite was Irish actor Liam Cunningham, but by the start of April, it was discovered that other commitments would prevent him from agreeing to the role.

Efforts were also under way to cast the role of Borusa, with several performers on the list of possible Doctors also given consideration here. A "big name" actor was clearly preferred, and some of the names suggested included Don Ameche, Richard Attenborough, Peter Cushing, Kirk Douglas, Albert Finney, John Gielgud, Richard Griffiths, Alec Guinness, Richard Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Burt Lancaster, Hammer horror film stalwart Christopher Lee, Jack Lemmon, Ian McKellen, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, Donald Pleasance, Peter Ustinov, Max von Sydow, and David Warner. The clear favourite, however, was Peter O'Toole, who by the end of March had provisionally declared his interest in the project.

A third producer joined the Doctor Who team in March, much to the surprise (and, at the time, the dismay) of Segal. This was Jo Wright, assigned by the BBC to represent their interests in the production. Around the end of March, Doctor Who was offered to the four American networks. NBC and ABC were completely uninterested. CBS president Peter Tortorici tentatively offered Segal a two-hour pilot and six one-hour episodes (presumably to serve as mid-season replacement series), but this was retracted by network head Howard Stringer in mid-May.

That left Fox, at the time the youngest American network. Led by head of series Robert Greenblatt, Fox was interested in Doctor Who, but was only willing to commit to a two-hour movie with the possibility of a second. It appeared that Segal's dreams of producing a new Doctor Who series were fast disappearing. Despite this, he agreed to an offer made by Doctor Who historian Jean-Marc Lofficier and his wife Randy to become unofficial consultants on the project. The Lofficiers would advise the production team on matters of Doctor Who continuity, and could also act as liaisons with the fan community. Then, on June 28th, Fox indicated that they were interested in having the initial movie serve as a "backdoor pilot": if ratings were sufficient, the property might shift from their Movie of the Week department to the series department.

Meanwhile, Leekley was working on the script for the movie. He submitted his first story proposal on July 15th, drawing heavily from the suggestions set forth in the bible. In the midst of a Dalek attack on Gallifrey, Borusa dies, allowing the Master to become President of the Time Lords. The Doctor flees in his TARDIS, which now incorporates Borusa's spirit. In World War II London, the Doctor meets American WAC Lizzie Travis. Together, the Doctor and Lizzie travel back to Ancient Egypt to find Ulysses, only to be attacked by the Cybs. The Doctor then travels back to Gallifrey, where a suspiciously friendly Master sends him and Lizzie to Skaro to stop Davros from creating the Daleks. In the process, the Master takes control of the Dalek army and has them destroy Davros. The Doctor escapes and returns Lizzie to Earth, then heads off to continue his search for Ulysses.

A revised July 27th version eliminated the Cybs and added a henchman for the Master, Castellan Kelner (named after the obsequious character in Season Fifteen's The Invasion Of Time); "Castellan" subsequently became the character's sole name instead of simply his title. Later, the return to Gallifrey was eliminated by having Borusa direct the TARDIS to Skaro. Leekley then prepared the first draft of his script, which was delivered on August 24th. This diverged noticeably from the earlier storylines by concluding on a cliffhanger, with Davros and his Daleks confronting the Doctor and Lizzie for the first time. By September 8th, however, the full storyline had been added to the script, and other Skaro scenes -- as well as much of the Egypt material -- was trimmed to accommodate it.

Meanwhile, Wagg was compiling a list of possible directors, including Michael Apted (the 7 Up films), Joe Dante (Gremlins), Leonard Nimoy (the third and fourth Star Trek films), Alan Parker (Mississippi Burning), Ridley Scott (Alien), and Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society). The hoped-for production date of July had long since been abandoned due to the delays caused by CBS; it was now thought that filming would begin in November (for a possible May 1995 airdate), with work on a series potentially beginning the following July. For the movie, Segal and Wagg envisioned using Vancouver, British Columbia as their base, with some material possibly being shot in Denver or Utah.

Through mid-September, Leekley's script made the rounds of all the various organisations which had to approve it (Amblin, BBC Television, BBC Enterprises, the Fox network and Universal). Ironically, the death knell was sounded by Segal's own boss: Steven Spielberg. Spielberg was concerned that Leekley's Doctor Who script veered too closely to his own Indiana Jones franchise, and on September 26th asked Segal to start again with a new writer. This meant that principal photography would be delayed until at least February 1995.

The BBC -- particular BBC1 Controller (and longtime Doctor Who supporter) Alan Yentob and Tony Greenwood of BBC Enterprises -- was still enthusiastic about Doctor Who, however. Around the start of October, at the instigation of Universal, Segal met with veteran writer/producer Robert DeLaurentis. DeLaurentis agreed to put together a new story proposal, using Leekley's script as a starting point, but wanted to accentuate its "fun" aspects. On October 7th, DeLaurentis delivered a new draft of the storyline. This time, in the process of meeting Lizzie in World War II London, the Doctor also discovers that his father (no longer named Ulysses) was involved in a plot the assassinate Hitler. They travel forward to the United States in 1994, where the Doctor is reunited with his father. The Master then lures the Doctor, his father and Lizzie to Skaro for a final confrontation. There, the Doctor manages to destroy the Master's time-travelling warship, though the Master himself escapes with his Daleks. Other minor alterations included Castellan being renamed Casteloan (though this would subsequently be changed back), and giving Lizzie a bulldog companion named Winston, who stays with the Doctor at the story's conclusion.

DeLaurentis then wrote a draft script -- titled Dr Who? -- which he submitted on December 17th. Winston was all but eliminated (he does not leave 1944 England in the TARDIS), the Daleks became shape-shifting humanoids, and Lizzie Travis was renamed Jane McDonald. Also, for the first time the TARDIS began the adventure with a functioning chameleon circuit, which malfunctions in World War II London. The Doctor was also given another companion, Sherman, who is trapped on Skaro at the start of the story and is subsequently discovered to have been killed.

DeLaurentis' next draft, delivered on February 3rd, 1995, was an even more substantial departure from the original Leekley script. The Daleks had become Zenons and Borusa was renamed Pandak (a suggestion of Lofficier's). Sherman was replaced by an alien creature called Gog who accompanies the Doctor throughout the adventure, and Castellan is transformed into a half-Zenon creature by the Master and commits suicide. At this point, Fox intervened and indicated that they were not happy with the direction DeLaurentis was taking the project -- indeed, they suggested reverting back to the Leekley draft.

At the suggestion of Trevor Walton, Fox's vice president in charge of movies, Segal and Wagg met with Matthew Jacobs, who had written for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. (Jacobs was the son of Anthony Jacobs, who had played Doc Holliday in The Gunfighters, and was actually present on the set.) The selection was approved by the other interested parties, and Jacobs set to work on May 5th. Unlike the DeLaurentis iteration, it was decided to essentially discard all the work done to date, with Jacobs starting afresh on an entirely new script. Only the idea of the Doctor having a human mother would be retained.

By May 19th, Jacobs had composed a storyline; unlike the earlier Leekley and DeLaurentis versions, this continued on virtually from the end of the original series, starting by introducing Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor. The Doctor arrives on modern-day Earth (in either San Francisco or New Orleans). However, the dying Master has transmogrified himself into a shape-shifting slick of DNA, and attacks the Doctor, mortally wounding him. The Doctor's body is found by a street kid named Jack. Jack brings the Doctor to the hospital, where he is operated on -- unsuccessfully -- by Dr Kelly Grace (an obvious play on the name of actress Grace Kelly). In the morgue, the Doctor regenerates; meanwhile, the Master acquires a temporary human host body. Jack has gained access to the TARDIS using gloves he pilfered from the Doctor's body. The Master raises Jack's father from the dead and through him uses Jack to take over the TARDIS. As Halloween approaches, the Master uses the TARDIS to unleash an army of the dead. With Kelly's help, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS and draws himself, the Master, Kelly, Jack and the dead into another dimension. He defeats the Master, returns Jack to Earth and leaves with Kelly.

Various changes were made by the time of the next draft, on June 27th. The date was shifted to the days leading up to New Year's Eve instead of Halloween, and San Francisco was specified as the location. After regenerating, the Doctor sees a vision of his mother. Jack uses the TARDIS key instead of a pair of gloves to enter the time machine. In addition to Jack's father, Kelly is also confronted by someone from her past, and an earlier suggestion made by Jacobs -- that Jack be killed only to be brought back to life via the power of the TARDIS -- was included. Kelly also reluctantly remained behind at the end of this version.

Jacobs then began writing the first draft of his script, which he delivered on July 18th. This screenplay differed from the storyline on several key points. Jack became Chang Lee, and the Master's host body acquired a proper identity in the form of a fireman named Bruce. Kelly Grace was now Grace Wilson, and two cartoonish hospital porters Jacobs had earlier mentioned were given the names Bill and Ted, after the title characters in the time-travel comedies Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), which themselves owed no small debt to Doctor Who. Also introduced at this point was Gareth, here a young librarian.

The idea of the Master's body decaying throughout the story made its first appearance, in this version becoming more reptilian; he was also able to control his form, turning his arms into lassos at one point. The Eye of Harmony was also brought into play at this stage, this being the link to the Master's death dimension (Chang Lee sees his late father, Jimmy Lee, reflected in the Eye, instead of him actually being raised from the dead; later, Grace sees a vision of her grandmother). Chang Lee acquired an uncle, Sam, who is killed by the Master. This time, when all four end up going through the Eye of Harmony, the Doctor saves Grace and Chang Lee (who is still killed and then resurrected) by embracing his past after conjuring up the ghost of his dead mother. The Master tries to repeat the Doctor's feat, and is destroyed. The Doctor departs alone, leaving Grace and Chang Lee in San Francisco.

After receiving input from the various associated parties, Jacobs' next major draft was ready by August 18th. In this version, the Master no longer kills Sam Lee but instead reads his mind, learning that it was Sam who killed Jimmy Lee. The Master's plan now is to channel the emotional upswell of New Year's Eve through the Eye of Harmony, thereby reshaping the universe to his design, although the death dimension was still involved. The appearances toward the end of Jimmy, Grace's grandmother and the Doctor's mother were all excised, and the Doctor's half-human retinal print was now important as the focus of the Master's control over the death dimension. The Doctor and the Master now battled around the Eye of Harmony instead of inside it, and at its climax the Master was sucked down into the death dimension. Both Grace and Chang Lee were killed this time around, only to be brought back to life by the Eye of Harmony.

All of this underwent major changes in the ensuing month, and the draft that appeared on September 18th featured some notable modifications. The death dimension was now gone, with the focus of the Master's schemes now an "intergalactic roving force field" called the Millennium Star which passes near Earth every thousand years. The Master intends to use the Eye of Harmony to harness the power of the Millennium Star, which will permit him to refashion the universe. The Master poses as a "false messiah" in order to influence Grace and Chang Lee. The Doctor no longer experiences a vision of his mother shortly after his regeneration; instead, the Master causes this during their confrontation at the Eye of Harmony.

Meanwhile, in July Doctor Who had lost a key personnel member when Peter Wagg elected to leave the project to return to his family in London. Nonetheless, Wagg offered to keep in touch with Segal and lend a hand -- albeit remotely -- whenever he could. It was also around this time that Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier's advisory role ended. The relationship between Segal and the Lofficiers would subsequently sour when much of the production material Segal had given them was transformed into a book, The Nth Doctor, released by Virgin Publishing in 1996. Then, in September, Segal found yet another producer being added to the project. This time it was Universal who wanted a representative in the production office, in the form of Alex Beaton. Later that month, Segal left Amblin for Lakeshore Television (which was under the aegis of Paramount Pictures). Spielberg allowed Segal to take Doctor Who with him, and Segal elected to work on the project directly through Beaton and Universal, essentially meaning there was one less cook in the kitchen.

It was at this stage that some of the key crew positions started to be filled, most notably British director Geoffrey Sax, whose work included episodes of Bergerac and Lovejoy. Because the movie would be filmed in British Columbia, Canadian regulations meant that most of the rest of the crew would come from the country. This included production designer Richard Hudolin, who major task was a redesign of the TARDIS console room. Segal wanted to invoke the Jules Verne feel of the wooden version of the set used during Season Fourteen, but on a much grander scale. Construction on the TARDIS sets began very early on, during September, before the project had even been officially green-lit. Around the start of October, Fox announced that Doctor Who would air in mid-May 1996. May was one of three key "sweeps" periods for the American networks (the others falling in November and February), when ratings performance determines advertising rates for the next quarter. Consequently, expectations on Doctor Who would be fairly high.

Meanwhile, both Fox and Universal had approved Jacobs' script, leaving only the BBC. Segal was becoming concerned that further delays on this front might threaten the start of preproduction, and so arranged a meeting directly between Jacobs and the BBC, out of which several more changes arose. The story now began with the Doctor transporting the Master's remains back to Gallifrey, only to have the Master escape in his snake form. The TARDIS lands on Earth and is inadvertently killed as a result of Chang Lee's actions (instead of by the Master; this would eventually become a Chinatown gang shoot-out). Bruce is now an ambulance attendant who sees to the Doctor, Chang Lee allies with the Master out of sheer greed, and Gareth works for a company which makes technologically advanced clocks. From this, Jacobs wrote a new draft script for November 14th. This introduced the idea of the Master being tried and executed by the Daleks (the BBC had always been very keen on including the Daleks in the script in some fashion) and the Doctor needing a beryllium atomic clock from Gareth's workplace (here specified as KAL-TECH, but later changed to ITAR -- the Institute for Technological Advancement and Research). The clock's inventor was named Professor Wagg as a tribute to Peter Wagg's involvement in the project.

Around the same time, Segal was facing new struggles with Universal, who were uncomfortable about their share of the project's budget: Fox was responsible for US$2.5 million, the BBC for US$300,000, and Universal and BBC Worldwide for US$2.2 million. Segal made tentative inquiries with Paramount about the possibility of that company replacing Universal in the deal, but Paramount was not interested. Segal was on the verge of giving Universal an ultimatum -- to either commit fully to the project, or else release Segal and allow him to search for yet another production partner. On November 6th, he posted a message to various online Doctor Who forums suggesting that, due to reticence on the part of Universal, the project was now in dire jeopardy. Segal pleaded with fans to inundate Universal with letters and phone calls, and even released Universal President Tom Thayer's phone number. Reportedly, fans then proceeded to bring Thayer's office to a standstill, despite the protests of a Universal employee that Segal had misunderstood the situation and that the project was proceeding ahead as normal. A couple of days later, Segal asked fans to stop calling, but keep writing. Fortunately, despite all this drama, by November 27th all the parties had signed on.

The next step was to cast the major roles. Sylvester McCoy had already agreed to appear, fulfilling a promise he had made to himself in 1989 to hand off the role of the Doctor to a successor in proper fashion. Jo Wright, in fact, had wanted Fourth Doctor Tom Baker to appear instead, but Segal was adamant that the telefilm continue on from where the original series had left off. Segal also briefly considered the idea of including a role for Sophie Aldred as Ace, the Seventh Doctor's final companion. This, however, was quickly vetoed by the BBC. Segal did decide to give the Seventh Doctor a new wardrobe, having long disliked both the umbrella and the question-mark pullover which were hallmarks of the original outfit. Costume designer Jori Woodman composed a new costume which echoed the earlier version but appeared much more refined; to Segal's delight, McCoy brought with him the hat he had worn throughout his time in Doctor Who.

By this time, the role of Grace Wilson had also been cast. Candidates considered by Hymson-Ayer included Kristen Alfonso, Maria Bello, Erika Eleniak, Stacy Haiduk, Marcia Gay Harden, Kelly Lynch, Carrie Ann Moss, Nia Peeples, Mia Sara, Helen Slater, and Ally Walker. Ultimately, the part went to Daphne Ashbrook,

Given his concession regarding the Master, Segal initially wanted Christopher Lloyd, a choice which met Fox's approval. However, Universal stalled due to concerns over Lloyd's fee, and by the time they gave the deal their approval, Lloyd was no longer available. Hymson-Ayer then drew up a large list of possible Masters, including numerous well-known names. This included F Murray Abraham, Dan Aykroyd, Richard Dean Anderson, Armand Assante, Scott Bakula, James Belushi, Tom Berenger, David Bowie, Steve Buscemi, Dana Carvey, Chevy Chase, Phil Collins, Tim Curry, Timothy Dalton, Matt Dillon, Michael Dorn, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Duvall, Robert Englund, Jonathan Frakes, Matt Frewer, Jeff Goldblum, Rutger Hauer, Gregory Hines, Dennis Hopper, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Chris Isaak, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, Ray Liotta, John Lithgow, Kyle MacLachlan, John Malkovich, Malcolm McDowell, Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Oliver Platt, Jonathan Pryce, Randy Quaid, Judge Reinhold, Tom Selleck, Martin Sheen, Kevin Spacey, Brent Spiner, Patrick Stewart, Sting, Jon Voight, singer Tom Waits, brothers Damon Wayans and Keenan Ivory Wayans, Peter Weller, Henry Winkler, James Woods, and Michael York. In the end, though, Eric Roberts was cast -- and, ironically, earned a larger fee than Christopher Lloyd had been asking. At Roberts' request, his wife Eliza was given the minor role of Bruce's wife, Miranda.

With production now just weeks away, Jacobs was working on fashioning his script into a finished form. The BBC was much more receptive to his November draft, but passed it along to an in-house script editor, Craig Dickson, for comment. From this came the decision to eliminate the Millennium Star concept, with the Master's focus now simply to take over the Doctor's body. Jacobs' newest draft was ready by December 29th, and this was fundamentally the version which was recorded. Other small changes eventually made included changing Grace's surname from Wilson to Holloway; eliminating the Bill And Ted reference (which the BBC felt was out-of-date) by renaming the former Pete; having the Master break Bruce's wife's neck instead of shooting her; and excising a scene where the Master callously kills a hospital patient who resembles the Seventh Doctor. Much of Chang Lee's background had also been lost due to timing reasons by this stage, with all references to Sam and Jimmy Lee having been dropped.

As 1996 dawned, numerous difficulties still remained to be overcome. Geoffrey Sax had originally been promised a luxurious thirty-day shoot, but Beaton subsequently curtailed this to twenty-five days in order to save money. Then Segal discovered that the BBC did not actually own the rights to the familiar Doctor Who theme music -- this rested with Warner/Chappel Music, who wanted to charge a hefty fee for its use. Universal balked at this, but finally Segal convinced the BBC to pick up the cost. The new theme arrangement would be composed by John Sponsier and John Debney. Segal had not realised that McGann had recently cut his hair severely for another production until McGann arrived in Vancouver for a photo shoot on January 7th; this meant that hair stylist Julie McHaffire had to hastily put together a wig.

Meanwhile, Richard Hudolin had completed work on the enormous TARDIS set, only a small fraction of which would actually be seen in the finished movie. Enormous detail went into the design -- everything from busts of Rassilon's head visible in the Cloister Room, to a roundel-type design on the main doors to echo the look of the original console room. Every control on the main console actually did something, and the rotating panels indicating the current location and era made numerous references to Doctor Who lore: Gallifrey, Argolis (The Leisure Hive), Calufrax (The Pirate Planet), Manussa and the Sumarans (Snakedance), Sarn (Planet Of Fire), the Kraals (The Android Invasion), and the Sensorites (The Sensorites).

Location filming began on January 15th, and was interlaced with the studio work which started on the 31st. Various sites around Vancouver were used, including a disused wing of the BC Children's Hospital, the Plaza of Nations, and several street exteriors (No filming was actually carried out in San Francisco; for establishing shots, stock footage was employed.) The studio itself was located in nearby Burnaby. Some difficulty arose when Roberts found that the wardrobe created for him by Woodman -- which was largely in keeping with the Master's outfits from the original series -- was too restrictive. He was also uncomfortable with the serpentine contact lenses he was supposed to wear, and with the prosthetics which would have depicted his body's gradual disintegration over the course of the movie. The result was that the effect of Bruce's body wearing out was essentially lost, and it was decided to instead dress Roberts in dark sunglasses and a leather jacket for most of the film, unfortunately turning the Master into a silhouette of the Terminator from the two Arnold Schwarzenegger motion pictures. (Elements of the Master's original costume would still be visible in the Time Lord outfit he adopts in the latter stages of the movie.)

Several other dilemmas also had to be confronted as the shoot went on. Some problems were found with the script -- such as the question of how the Master has gotten into the TARDIS when he first encounters Chang Lee -- which had to be simply ignored. The final battle between the Doctor and the Master had been only briefly sketched, and had to be quickly fleshed out for filming. Sax had hoped to have all the Doctors appear in the Eye of Harmony, but could not get clearance on the images in time. Ultimately, the production went four days overschedule, and even then some sequences were greatly simplified to save time, such as Chang Lee's death scene. Filming for Doctor Who was completed on February 21st.

Post-production saw various trims to the material, such as the loss of the scene where the Master confronts the security guards who are later found "slimed". The Dalek voices were originally in keeping with the original series, but were changed due to concerns that they weren't audible enough. A new introductory voiceover by Paul McGann was written on April 2nd to replace earlier dialogue by the Master (voiced by Gordon Tipple) and the Daleks. The BBC expressed concerns that the Master's snake form was too comical, but little could be done about it at this stage. Segal loaned a rough cut of the movie to Los Angeles-based fan Shaun Lyon, organiser of the Gallifrey One conventions and editor of the Outpost Gallifrey website, to get his opinion on it. It was Lyon who caught several errors in the movie, most notably a reference to the Doctor having "twelve" lives. This was subsequently amended to the correct number, thirteen.

Segal also had to deal with various claims for credit from individuals who had worked on earlier stages of the project. Despite the protests of Fox and Universal, Segal won agreement for John and Ros Hubbard to be credited, as they had indeed been the first to bring McGann to his attention. John Leekley's case for a producer's credit was rejected, however, because virtually nothing remained of his work. Meanwhile, the various cost overruns -- on recording, casting and even the theme music, all to the tune of roughly US$170,000 -- was creating animosity between the coproduction partners, souring the relationships before the would-be back-door pilot had even aired.

Food and Beverages

 * In the TARDIS the Seventh Doctor has a bowl of jelly babies, together with a cup of Tea and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.
 * Grace takes a glass of Champagne at Professor Wagg's party.

Gallifrey

 * "Rassilon Era" appears on the TARDIS' console and screen.
 * The Seal of Rassilon is featured extensively throughout the TARDIS.
 * The Master uses the Eye of Harmony to spy on the Doctor and to transfer his lives.
 * Both The Doctor (in his narration) and The Master reaffirm that Time Lords can regenerate 12 times, a fact previously established in The Deadly Assassin and Mawdryn Undead, among other serials.

Individuals

 * The Master, the Doctor and Grace name-drop throughout this story by referring to Marie Curie ("does she kiss as good as me?"), Sigmund Freud, and Genghis Khan. (The Master also corrects Grace's grammar to "as well as you")


 * The Daleks put the Master on trial "for crimes he committed". Possibly for deserting them at the end of "Frontier in Space". Or it could be a continuance of the CD-ROM game "Destiny of the Doctors which would make more sense. The "Old Master" who appears at the start of the film, played by Gordon Tipple, resembles the Tremas incarnation played by Anthony Ainley up until 1989 (and again in Destiny of the Doctors), but it is not indicated definitively on screen whether this is the same incarnation or a different one. The Master does, however, in both the pre-credits sequence and again after taking over Bruce, sport "cat's eyes", a possible reference to his condition on Cheetah World in Survival.


 * Grace obviously likes Madame Butterfly, and the Doctor has met its composer.

Technology

 * The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver and asks Grace for the neutron ram.
 * The Doctor describes the chameleon circuit to Grace as a cloaking device.

The Doctor's TARDIS

 * The telefilm features a redesigned console room with a library and gothic architecture. Much later, in Time Crash, it would be established that the console room design can be changed like a desktop theme, although the Tom Baker era also established that the TARDIS has more than one console room.
 * The cloister room, appears again, however, is the placement of the Eye of Harmony within the room, which the Master says is where the TARDIS gets its power. He also describes the Eye as the "heart of the structure", although this being the Master, it's unknown how much if any of this is the truth.
 * The odd-shaped TARDIS key, glimpsed on previous occasions, appears, and it is revealed that the Yale lock opening seen on the door is in fact a false front for the real keyhole underneath.

Story Notes

 * Doctor Who: The TV Movie was a 1996 co-production between the BBC and Universal Pictures. Its executive producer, Philip Segal, had hoped that it might be a "back-door pilot" for a new series of Doctor Who, but poor ratings in the United States prevented this.


 * The TV Movie was broadcast on Fox Television in America on 14 May, 1996, and on BBC1 on 27 May, 1996.


 * During production and during its airing, it was referred to only as "Doctor Who". Philip Segal later told a convention audience that if fans wanted a distinct title for the TV Movie, they could call it "Enemy Within", but this name was never used in any official capacity. A wholly unofficial subtitle, Out of the Ashes, was given to the film by some fan groups; it subsequently was used in this capacity by the A Brief History of Time (Travel) website and by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an online documentary promoting the 2005 series revival.


 * British-born television producer Philip Segal had a longtime ambition to create Doctor Who. While working at various American production companies, including Steven Spielberg's Amblin, he attempted to develop a Doctor Who series or film. Eventually he was able to arrange a co-production between Universal Pictures and the BBC. The script went through several different forms, including some which would have started Doctor Who continuity over again.
 * The eventual script by Matthew Jacobs continued from the BBC series, including a substantial role for Sylvester McCoy, the last occupant of the role of the Doctor.
 * Doctor Who: Regeneration details the development of this story (and many of the previous attempts).
 * For the 'international release' (ie everywhere outside of the UK) the opening sequence within the TARDIS has the caption "Based on the series originally broadcast on the BBC".
 * Ron Grainer, the late composer of the Doctor Who Theme, is not given screen credit for his work. Only John Debney, commissioned to arrange the theme and compose new incidental music, is given credit; this led to the mistaken impression that Debney also composed the Doctor Who Theme. (It was reported that Debney wanted to create a new theme, but was overridden by Segal). Similarly, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and Delia Derbyshire are uncredited for their creation of the TARDIS sound effect.
 * At the time of broadcast/release there was significant reaction to the Doctor kissing Grace as this was the first overtly romantic scene involving the Doctor. (The later revival series, however, would incorporate more of these elements.)
 * Promotional advertisements for the telefilm shown on the Fox network incorporated footage from the opening sequence of the first episode of The Trial of a Time Lord - specifically the TARDIS being drawn into the giant space station - even though this footage does not appear anywhere in the telefilm. The arrangement of the Doctor Who theme heard during these ads doesn't correspond with the Debney arrangement heard in the film, either.
 * Neither Paul McGann nor Sylvester McCoy are actually credited on screen next to any character name. However the press kit for the film gives the official credits as being as "The Doctor" and "The Old Doctor", respectively. Although not used on screen, this is the last time the lead character is credited as "The Doctor" until the 2006 season, as the 2005 revival reverts to the old "Doctor Who" credit line.
 * The version of 1931's Frankenstein excerpted here is not the current restored version, but the earlier censored print that was commonly circulated on TV prior to the 1980s; this is evident from the fact Dr. Frankenstein's dialogue "Now I know what it feels like to be God" is blanked out in the scene shown during the regeneration sequence.
 * Sylvester McCoy has in recent years been critical of aspects of this film, telling the premiere episode of Doctor Who Confidential that the film should not have featured him, but should have started with Paul McGann's Doctor and saved the story of how the regeneration occurred for an episode of the resulting series, if one had been commissioned.
 * This is the first televised Doctor Who to feature omniscient narration -- one of the characters addressing the audience in voiceover -- Since The Deadly Assasin, in this case, the Eighth Doctor setting the scene during the pre-credits sequence and immediately thereafter. This device would be used again in the BBC Wales series in episodes including Army of Ghosts and The Family of Blood.

Ratings

 * 9.08 million viewers

Myths

 * Many fan rumours surrounded the production, including one which suggested that a futuristically-redesigned version of the Daleks may appear. Ultimately, the Daleks are only heard, not seen in the pre-credits opening sequence and are name-dropped by the Doctor later in the film.
 * This movie had the working title The Enemy Within. (Executive producer Philip Segal suggested to fans that if they wanted a title for the movie other than just Doctor Who, they could refer to it as Enemy Within. However neither Enemy Within nor The Enemy Within was ever used as a working title during production; later, Fox televised an Alien Nation telefilm with this same title, which is also the title of an early episode of the original Star Trek.)
 * It is often erroneously stated that the gunshot wounds are the cause of the Doctor's regeneration. This is incorrect as dialogue clearly indicates that the first bullet did no damage and the second was removed during a rather minor procedure. The Doctor's "death" was caused inadvertently during the exploratory heart surgery that followed.

Filming Locations

 * The story was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 15 January to 21 February 1996. This was the first Doctor Who production mounted completely outside of the UK, and the last to be mounted in a major way outside Europe until the production of Planet of the Dead in the Middle East in 2009.
 * Ogden Avenue (No 1998), Vancouver, Canada
 * Plaza of Nations, Vancouver, Canada
 * East Georgia Street (No 218, rear), Vancouver, Canada
 * Keefer Street (No 222), Vancouver, Canada
 * Carrall Street/Keefer Street, Vancouver, Canada
 * Waterfront Road, Vancouver, Canada
 * Hadden Park, Vancouver, Canada
 * British Columbia Children's Hospital, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, Canada
 * East Georgia Street (alley), Vancouver, Canada (Alley where the TARDIS materialises)
 * Golden Crown Centre (car park), 211 East Georgia Street, Vancouver
 * Andy Livingstone Park, Vancouver, Canada
 * Eastlake Drive (no 8651), Burnaby, Canada (Location of studio)

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * How is Grace supposed to know what a Neutron Ram is? She is on the board of The Institute and thus is acquainted with advance technologies. Whatever a Neutron Ram is may exist, in one form or another, in late twentieth century Earth.
 * How could the Doctor possibly have got any Jelly Babies? Maybe they were already in the costume which he acquired.
 * Why does the police motorcycle drive at full speed into the TARDIS? Surely it would slow down as it was coming up to the wall. Evidently, the motorcycle is experiencing malfunctioning brakes. The policeman CAN be heard alluding to his brakes.
 * The Master is executed on Skaro but, Skaro had been destroyed by the Hand of Omega in Remembrance of the Daleks. The execution may have happened before the planet was destroyed. It has also been suggested in EDA: War of the Daleks that another planet, not Skaro, had been destroyed.
 * The idea of the Doctor being half-human on his mother's side is not supported by any other televised episodes. There have been attempts to reconcile this in various novels, plus some have also suggested the Chameleon Arch may have played a role. The Big Finish audio drama The Apocalypse Element suggests that the human retinal pattern the Master sees in the TARDIS' Eye of Harmony may actually be that of Sixth Doctor companion Evelyn Smythe. The 2008-09 comic book mini-series The Forgotten suggests that the Doctor created the fiction of being half-human in order to deceive The Master, making use of a chameleon arch. This is actually supported by dialogue in the film, in which the Doctor's opening narration indicates that "even in death I couldn't trust him" suggesting the Doctor may have had a Plan B in place.
 * As the Doctor regenerates, an orderly watches Frankenstein on TV. The film jumps ahead about 20 minutes -- from the unwrapping of The Monster to his later menacing of Elizabeth --in the space of only a few moments. Perhaps it took that long for the Doctor to recover enough from the regeneration to get off the gurney and start pounding the door. Or perhaps the orderly is watching a drastically edited down version of the film.
 * The Doctor displays superhuman strength after his regeneration as he's able to pound down a thick steel door. He's never been shown displaying such physical strength before or since. Perhaps, like his ability to regrow a severed limb in The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor has augmented physical abilities in the minutes immediately after his regeneration. Also, immediately after regenerating, the fourth Doctor was able to chop a brick in half (DW: Robot).
 * Why would The Master speak with an American accent? Aside from the fact he initially impersonates Bruce and needs to keep his voice constant, his previous takeover of a person's body - Tremas - resulted in him speaking with the man's voice, so it may be a side-effect of the take over.
 * The Doctor died in his seventh incarnation in the BBC webcast Death Comes to Time. How can he be around to transport the Master's remains? Death Comes to Time is generally considered non-canonical for this reason, although the events of the story are referenced in a couple of novels nonetheless. It's possible DCTT references an alternate timeline, a concept brought into play in a major way during the 2008 season of the revived series.
 * A popular mistake often pointed out is that the Seventh Doctor holds the sonic screwdriver the wrong way round. However this could be a reason for the Master managing to escape the casket. The series has never been consistent in how the screwdriver has been used. Also, this is the first time a screwdriver had been seen since the Doctor's original one was destroyed in DW: The Visitation so perhaps it worked that way.
 * When the Master was executed, the Daleks sounded completly diffrent to what they should have sounded like, why did they sound this way? Every Dalek sounds different to another.
 * At the start of the film, why would the Daleks be trying the Master in a court of law for anything, crime or not? The primary objective of all Daleks, as stated directly in at least one episode (Dalek (TV story)) and in countless other appearances throughout the series, is to exterminate all other forms of life.  Why would the Daleks hold a trial of any kind, much less allow the Doctor, their greatest enemy, to come pick up and then transport the remains of the Master?

Continuity

 * NA: Lungbarrow sets up events for this story (including why the TARDIS interior looks the way it does, why the Doctor now has a sonic screwdriver and why the Doctor was rescuing the Master).
 * Several aspects of this story appear to be at variance with established Doctor Who continuity, most notably the assertion that the Doctor is half-human. Several BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures deal with this issue, notably EDA: Unnatural History, which also deals with the consequences of this adventure. DW: Journey's End later strongly indicates that the Doctor has never been half-human (or if he has, he is either denying it or has forgotten about it). The 2008-09 comic book series The Forgotten suggests that the Doctor made use of a Chameleon Arch to create a fiction about being half-human in order to distract the Master.
 * The Master has previously attempted to use the Eye of Harmony in DW: The Deadly Assassin.
 * BFA: The Apocalypse Element attempts to explain why the Eye of Harmony, Gallifreyan technology, could be opened only by a human eye.
 * The Master's statement that the Doctor made him waste all his lives has some grounding in MA: The Dark Path.
 * This is the last time the Master appears on-screen until DW: Utopia.
 * The cloister room, last seen DW: Logopolis, appears again, only with additional features, most notably the presence of the (an?) Eye of Harmony.
 * Chang Lee gets the honour of doing the "TARDIS runaround" (character goes inside, sees how big it is, comes back out and walks around the TARDIS, disbelievingly, before going back inside). Although rarely seen in the original series, this occurs several times in the BBC Wales series with Rose Tyler in DW: Rose and Donna Noble in DW: Turn Left.

Timeline

 * (Timeline refers to all Doctor Who media and attempts to place this story within the timeline)


 * Doctor Who (1996) occurs after: NA: Lungbarrow
 * Doctor Who (1996) occurs before: EDA: The Eight Doctors

For the Master

 * Doctor Who (1996) occurs after: (parts of) EDA: The Eight Doctors
 * Doctor Who (1996) occurs before: DWM: The Glorious Dead

DVD, Video, and Other Releases
DVD Releases

Released to DVD in the UK as Doctor Who: The Movie, this release was the fourth release of 2001.

Released:
 * Region 2 13th August 2001
 * PAL - BBC DVD BBCDVD1043

Contents:
 * Philip Segal - Talks about the making of the telemovie.
 * Electronic Press Kit - Cast & crew interviews/behind the scenes footage/tour of the TARDIS set.
 * Alternate/Extended Scenes
 * Music Feature - Songs from the story.
 * Music-only Option
 * Trailers
 * Photo Gallery
 * Production Subtitles
 * Easter Egg (The dedication to Jon Pertwee that proceeded the UK broadcast.)
 * Commentary: Geoffrey Sax

Rear Credits:
 * By Matthew Jacobs
 * Executive Producers: Alex Beaton & Philip Segal
 * Executive Producer for the BBC: Jo Wright
 * Produced: Peter V Ware
 * Co-Producer: Matthew Jacobs
 * Director: Geoffrey Sax
 * Incidental Music: John Debney, John Sponsler & Louis Febre

Notes: The 'Based on the BBC Television series' caption used for the US broadcast has been removed from the DVD.

Video Releases

Released as Doctor Who.

Released:
 * UK May 1996
 * PAL - BBC Video BBCV5882


 * Australia/NZ November 1996

Notes: Released in an edited form with the operating scene and gang gun battle trimmed.

North American release
Due to complicated licensing and ownership of the telefilm, no North American (a.k.a. Region 1) home video release has occurred in either VHS or DVD formats as of 2008, and no such release is pending. Ironically, several of the featurettes on the UK DVD were produced specifically for US audiences.

Soundtrack

 * see: Doctor Who - Original Soundtrack Recording

Novelisation

 * Main article: Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film

BBC Books published a novelisation of the telefilm ,written by Gary Russell. According to the introduction, it was written from the script without seeing the final production. The cover title is Doctor Who, but the spine title is Doctor Who - The Novel of the Film. Its publication marked the start of BBC Books' involvement with publishing Doctor Who fiction and the beginning of the end for Virgin Publishing's association with the franchise. It is also the first non-Virgin/Target publication of a story novelisation and the last such adaptation until the publication of Scream of the Shalka in 2004.

Press kit
To promote the film among North American media, Fox issued a small, coil-bound press booklet detailing the film and also explaining a bit of the history of Doctor Who.

Contents

 * Introduction, a brief explanation of the film and the concept.
 * Main credits: This is the only place where Paul McGann and Sylvester McCoy are actually credited as The Doctor and The Old Doctor, respectively, or Eric Roberts as The Master, Daphne Ashbrook as Grace Holloway, and Yee Jee Tso as Chang Lee, as they are not credited with their character names in the televised film. As in the film, John Debney receives sole music credit.
 * Production Notes: A primer on the concept of Doctor Who, including explanations of what regeneration is all about, what Time Lords are, The Master, etc., and includes actor comments on their characters.
 * About the Production: More on the making of the film, plus a discussion of the new TARDIS design, including a reference to the interior being covered by "round bells" (!).
 * History: Brief primer on the history of the series back to 1963.
 * Facts: Fast facts about the Doctor and the series. Interestingly, it makes reference to the Guinness Book of Records naming it the world's longest running SF series, even though official recognition of this would not occur until 2007. According to this section, the TV movie is the 695th installment of the television series.
 * Biographies: cast and crew biographies for the main actors.