30 years ago, Doctor Who: The Movie was broadcast on UK TV!
The movie began life when Amblin's Philip Segal took the idea to director Steven Spielberg (Jaws), who ultimately passed on the project. Segal, who had worked on seaQuest DSV, Earth 2 and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, partnered with Universal and Fox.
There was fevered press speculation about spider-like Daleks created with computer-generated imagery (CGI), as seen in Babylon 5 and seaQuest DSV.
In the weeks leading up to its eagerly anticipated premiere, I was scrambling to finish my final year dissertation (should have written about Doctor Who and Star Wars, but that’s a story for another time) and edit my video major for an undergraduate course in BA (Hons) Media Production at Bournemouth University.
The Anglo-American co-production is somewhat of a curiosity decades before Disney+, as it failed to relaunch Doctor Who before Russell T Davies’ successful reboot in 2005. Whilst it was a ratings success on this side of the Atlantic, the Fox Network did not order a full series despite The X-Files' popularity. However, it gave fans (myself included) Sylvester McCoy’s swansong as the Seventh Doctor and introduced Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.
McGann channelled H.G. Wells’ Victoriana as the titular Time Lord and has subsequently reprised the role on television and for Big Finish (I’ve never listened to any of the audiobooks).
Eric Roberts, brother of Oscar-winner Julia Roberts, played The Master, which was stipulated for the US market.
That day in 1996 was the first and last time I watched Doctor Who: The Movie! Watching with housemates was a poignant farewell to 3 years of university life. I'm looking forward to watching the remastered movie in 4K UHD on Blu-ray.
What are your memories of watching Doctor Who: The Movie? Let me know in the comments below.
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