Doctor Who The Lost Years: Here's a great idea, let's make the Doctor half human

Doctor Who left the air in 1989, not to return until 2005. During those years, there were occasional blips – rumors of a movie here and there – but little official action.

I was 20 when the show went off the air and 36 when it returned. There was a lot of time in between as I started on my career, moved house several times, and basically got on with my life.

I never lost my love during those years, though the interaction was not like it had been in the 1980s. The show was harder to find on TV, so it came down to the occasional video purchased (I had a copy of The Tomb of the Cybermen when it was finally made available), or spin off novel read. It wasn’t until the new show was announced in 2003 that my interest started to spike again.

So, apart from videos, novels and Big Finish (if they knew about it), what did fans have that was new and official during these years? Not much

1993: Dimensions in Time

For the 30^th anniversary, all viewers got (and in those pre Youtube days, it was basically those in Britain) was a 15-minute special broadcast during the annual Child in Need fundraiser on the BBC. It’s pretty awful. A bevy of old Doctors – the five survivors and the disembodied heads of Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell – teamed up with some companions on the Eastenders set to do battle with the Rani (oh no!) and some folks stuffed into classic monster costumes. None of this makes any sense, and the need to stuff so many people into a short time span means no one really gets a moment to be themselves. But hey, it originally was in 3D.

1996: Doctor Who: The Movie

There’s a pretty tortured history behind the making of this TV film/backdoor pilot, but the end result is a frustrating mess. As this was an American (Fox) coproduction, it was filmed in Vancouver, with a cast made up mainly of American/Canadian actors.

A key problem? Fans on both sides of the Atlantic tuned into the show because of its essential British vibe. Putting the Tardis in (faux) San Francisco just feels wrong. Also, that means we get Eric Roberts as the Master. Roberts can be a good actor. He isn’t here. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but he made me miss Anthony Ainley.

Beyond that, the show was far too steeped in Doctor Who lore for a new audience. Within the first ten minutes, there was more backstory than the opening of Dune. There are Time Lords, Daleks, the Master and Sylvester McCoy sipping tea (and not wearing the question-mark sweater; yes!) tossed at the audience all at once. Then Sylvester gets shot and transforms into Paul McGann. So our lead actor has been switched out in the first act. No wonder American audiences didn’t latch onto this reboot. In fact, one reason the new series started without a regeneration was because of the bad vibes from here. Best to start the show fresh and bring in the backstory as you go along. (The missing regenerations would finally be seen during  the 50^th anniversary episodes.)

McGann is the best thing going on here. He has a classic fussiness that fits in well with the history of the Doctors. His character – a bit pompous, but also loaded with potential of fun – is only hinted at here. It would take Big Finish’s audio plays to finally bring the character into his own. And when you listen, you don’t have to see the Lord Byron wig McGann was saddled with in the TV movie

2003: Scream of the Shalka

While McGann only had one official outing on the show, he is at least part of continuity. Richard E. Grant’s animated time on the Tardis in this web series has been relegated to a side story; an official alternative history if you will. At one time, the hope was that these Flash animations could turn into a new Doctor Who series. Instead, it is just a footnote.

Again, there’s some good here. Grant (who had played a version of the Doctor in the spoof Curse of the Fatal Death, scripted by future showrunner Steven Moffat) struggles for a time with his character, which fits in well with the back story – an isolated Doctor doing the bidding of the Time Lords with only a robot version of the Master (voiced by Derek Jacobi; now that’s a good idea for someone to play the character…) as company. As the story develops, the Doctor loosens up, as so does Grant. By the end, there’s a new companion, the hordes of evil have been defeated and the future looks bright.

Mind you, before the show was ever broadcast, the announcement came that Doctor Who was coming back for real to TV. For the creators of this – longtime fans all – that was a beautifully horrible announcement. Their efforts had been truncated, but the Doctor would live on where he belonged…

Next: it’s the Chris and Billie show