My Whovian Adventure Part 9

Oh, the Eighth Doctor. Yet more proof that the series has been left in some very incapable hands at times. My issues with the show have never been about the performance of the Doctors themselves. No, not even the Sixth. Ridiculous costume choices, boring story lines, awful companions and poor character arcs were the problem. And the Eighth Doctor was no different. 

 
Paul McGann played the Eighth Doctor, very well in my opinion, in a one-off TV movie created with the intention of regenerating (pardon the pun) the series. It didn't work, but it was once again more due to poor production choices than anything Paul McGann did. He was kind of wonderful actually, almost a perfect segue from Classic to Modern Who. In an effort to appeal to a wider audience, they, regrettably, made everyone with the exception of the Doctor American. It lost some of its charm and authenticity for me there. And they gave him really stupid hair.



There's a lot going on here in only 90 minutes. The Seventh Doctor appears, gets shot and taken to hospital where he 'dies' and then regenerates in the freezer of the morgue. He then stumbles around wrapped in a sheet in his typical regeneration haze, not knowing who he is or what he's doing. He meets up with Dr. Grace Holloway, who thinks he's crazy.In the meantime, the Master is at it again, this time in the form of Eric Roberts, who has always rubbed me the wrong way to begin with. Add some Asian gangs, an atomic clock, car chases, explosions and it starts to feel more like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie than Doctor Who.

By the time the Doctor figures out who he is and forms a plan to save the world yet again, the movie is at least half over. He also gets a bit ripped off in the companion department. He gets saddled with 2 rather poor excuses for companions, who never travel in the TARDIS and who spend most of the movie either working for the enemy or trying to have him arrested. And then in the end they both die...but are somehow brought back. I'm still not entirely sure how.

Grace is the first person he tries to get help from, but she thinks he's crazy and locks him out of her house. Eventually though, she comes around and even earns the distinct honour of being the first companion to smooch the Doctor. GASP!! She's ok, but I've seen far too many companions to be impressed by her. Although to be fair, she didn't get much opportunity to shine in this 90 minute movie.

This is Chang Lee. He is there in the alley when the Seventh Doctor gets shot, and goes to the hospital with him...where he promptly tries to steal the Doctor's stuff when he finds out he's dead. He then teams up with the Master and becomes his lackey, until he realizes the Master doesn't care about him and joins the Doctor. He's pretty boring.








I'm not going to list 5 things about the Eighth Doctor, because I've pretty much told you all you need to know. This movie suffers from too much story in too little time. It was like they tried to fill the gap between 1989 and 1996 and squeeze a whole 4-5 episode story arc into an hour and a half of television time, when most of the people watching would have no idea what was happening. The jump from the style of the Seventh to the Eighth Doctor is a huge one, and the jump from the Eighth to the Ninth is just as big, but at least the Eighth serves as some kind of a bridge between the two eras. The Eighth Doctor continues on in written stories for the next decade, so is allowed to grow a bit more, although not on screen. The show continues to struggle to find its place through these years and into the Ninth years, finally coming into its own during the Tenth Doctor's years. But more on that later...