TV on Tape: Doctor Who Movie Review

In the late ‘70s, American science-fiction fans began hearing a lot about a strange British television show called Doctor Who. Pictures in sf magazines showed a tall man with a mop of curly hair and an apparently endless scarf, usually standing beside what looked like a blue telephone booth.

This fellow was pretty far removed from the conventional American science-fiction hero, who, from Captain Video to Captain Kirk, has usually been military. But plenty of fans were intrigued and began tuning in when the show appeared on their local channels. The man in the scarf was Tom Baker, and for many he was the first glimpse of a most unusual hero known only as the Doctor.

The show's history had quite a bit more to it than Tom Baker, however. It was the oldest-running science-fiction show in the world, having begun broadcasting in England in 1963 and ended (perhaps) in 1989. The show was originally conceived by the BBC as an “adventure in time and space” and in fact is still regarded in its native country as a children's show, though certainly a remarkable one. The Doctor, as originally played by British character actor William Hartnell, was an elderly, slightly crotchety scientific genius who traveled the cosmos in an enormous time-and-space machine that was somehow contained within an ordinary “police call-box.” This was the TARDIS ("Time and Relative Dimensions in Space"), probably the show's most recognizable icon. Doctor Who quickly became a beloved fixture of British culture. The TARDIS allowed the Doctor and his companions (and he had a total of 33 over the course of the series) to travel anywhere from Aztec Mexico to alien planets thousands of years in the future. The stories were always fast-moving and imaginative, and over time the show developed an internal mythology that was as far-ranging as it was colorful.

At first the Doctor's identity (and that of his “granddaughter” Susan) was left vague. But by the time the aging Hartnell was ready to leave the show in 1966, things had firmed up somewhat. The Doctor was not a human being at all, but a rebel “Time Lord,” one of an immensely advanced race of beings from the planet Gallifrey. Time Lords have two hearts and also the enviable ability to “regenerate” their bodies when critically injured. Hartnell was thus able to relinquish the role of the Doctor to the younger Patrick Troughton, who gave the role a gentler, more humorous touch. In 1970, the tall, imposing Jon Pertwee took over, playing the Doctor as a theatrical dandy. Most of the shows in the Pertwee years were set on Earth, with the Doctor collaborating with a paramilitary organization called UNIT. 1974 saw the advent of Tom Baker, who with his slightly off-kilter humor is still THE Doctor to many fans. In 1982, Peter Davidson, the youngest man to play the Doctor, took the role. He was followed by the burlier, slightly more acerbic Colin Baker in 1984, and then in 1987 by Sylvester McCoy, who seemed to echo Troughton's whimsical approach.

The Doctor in all his incarnations fought a galaxy of monsters and villains from all time and space. Probably the most famous were the Daleks, mutant creatures encased in robot shells, who were intent on conquering the universe. Fans who didn't find the Daleks frightening enough could take their pick of the Cybermen, the Ice Warriors, the Sontarans, the Draconians, and a host of others.

Doctor Who ended in 1989 with McCoy facing his old nemesis and fellow Time-Lord the Master one last time. But by the time this book hits the shelves a new Doctor Who movie will have aired on Fox Television, featuring Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor. If the movie does well, the series may be revived. The Doctor's adventures, it would seem, are far from over.

1963-89/C GB Selected cast: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy. VHS FOX, MOV