Doctor Who: The Movie  (Story #160, 1996)
Viewed 24 Apr 2012

Doctor/Companion: Eight, Grace Holloway, Chang Lee
Stars: Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook, Yee Jee Tso
Preceding Story: Survival (Seven, Ace)
Succeeding Story: Rose (Nine, Rose)
Notable Aspects:

• We’ve seen it before!
• Only on-screen appearance of Eight
• Broadcast mid-Hiatus; only new TV story in that 16 years

It’s a new year for the Nu-Views! What a crazy few months this has been. Nearly a third of the way into the year and we finally managed to get the Ladies together again. Well, most of us; jO couldn’t make it. But we’re back in business, and hopefully there will be more frequent Nu-Views in the coming months.

With all my recent chatter about Gally (well… within the last couple of months; this it the first time we’ve been together since then!), I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when jE requested we watch The Movie again. After all, even though I’d seen it some eight times before (~ahem~), they’d only seen it the once, and that was at the beginning of our WhoFest get-togethers, something like a year and a half ago. So, after spending some time regaling them with tales of Gallifrey One (if you haven’t read my posts yet, you can start here), we headed back to San Francisco, December 1999.

Vague memories began to emerge as the record skipped while the Doctor relaxed with his book and cuppa in the TARDIS. There were glimmers of recognition throughout, but much of it was like watching it for the first time again.

For me, the focus was mainly on performance. This time around I decided that what bugs me about Roberts’ portrayal of the Master is how often and how rapidly it switches between truly menacing and comic-book-caricature. For example, when he first encounters Lee in the TARDIS and mentally dominates him into approaching and handing over the Doctor’s things, the interchange goes like this.

Master (menacingly): “Give me the bag. … Where is he?”
Lee (feigning ignorance): “Who?”
Master (still menacing): “The man you stole these things from – where is he?”
Lee (with street-punk bravado): “Those are mine now. He’s dead!”
Master (over-the-top, unhinged): “He’s not dead!”
… (back to calm control) “He’s stolen my body.”

The delivery of the “you get to live” line shortly thereafter is one of the best villainous moments in the whole film. However, by the time we get to “I always dress for the occasion” (which Gally-goers will recognize is the popularly-accepted reason Roberts wasn’t present at the Movie Reunion Panel), he’s truly jumped the proverbial shark. It’s a shame, because the potential was certainly there.

But enough about my reactions. Back to the Ladies.

Clearly it’s been a while since we got together, since there was slightly less snark than usual. However, there were a few gems. The Ladies are good at picking up on the absurdities. For example, when Brian apparently threatens to leave Grace (over the phone), the Ladies are incredulous that he’d get so bent out of shape over her leaving the opera on a night she’s on call.  “Don’t date a cardiologist, then!”

Or after the Doctor has died on the table and Grace storms, “I want to see his X-rays now!” the Ladies wondered, “she didn’t want to see them before?!” Of course they also weren’t impressed with the way she was ready just to slice into him to figure out what’s wrong. Hello, aren’t there procedures that don’t  involve invasive surgery?

Poor Grace seemed to be the butt of most of the jokes. Why did she feel the need to shoot the motorcycle cop’s radio and ask him to pull out the keys – so the Doctor can just put the keys back in – instead of a simple, “step away from the bike”? At least we were able to give her a bit of dating advice. She thinks she’s finally found the right guy, but he’s from another planet. The Ladies’ take? “That’s the only way they are, baby.”

General reactions:

• jA – highly amused by the ’90s ambience
• jE – working hard to work around the plot holes
• mrfranklin – Paul McGann. Nuff said.

This was a really low-key viewing. Little details niggled, but overall we seemed to enjoy this story. Though I know people who dislike it intensely, we here in this little corner of fandom seem to have no problem with it. Maybe the next one will be more lively, with a larger contingent…

Verdict:  Thumbs up

Looking ahead:  It all depends on the poll results