Thanks for the info. I always wondered about that. That footage of the Spider Dalek appeared on the British Channel 4 show called 'Gamestation' years back.
Big Finish did them and I love the design. Would love to see them in live action.
YT.
I loved those miniseries. I have them on DVD. I think you can still find the set on Amazon. You could for awhile at least.
Nice to hear that directly from the guys who made the movie. It's a shame we never got to see those 6 episodes, but that would have probably meant no, or at least a very different, New Series, and I would hate to lose that.
I was a little shocked when I saw the books and audio dramas all used different companions, and none of them brought back Grace.
There were a few questionable things if they had gone forward, like they would've explored the Doctor's human side along with that opening the door to a relationship with Grace. But Grace would've definitely been in those 6 episodes. Not sure about Chang Lee. He didn't come up. They also wanted to do an entirely TARDIS based story involving its vast interior (I think they just had a general idea of that but no more specifics).
One of the first Eighth Doctor novels was originally written to include Grace and had to be rewritten once it was clear they wouldn’t get permission to use the character.
Big Finish have used Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso in other roles, including playing a pair of UNIT officers in a story that “reunited” them with (a different version of) the Master.
Big Finish have used Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso in other roles, including playing a pair of UNIT officers in a story that “reunited” them with (a different version of) the Master.
Edit: Brendan beat me to it by seconds. 
Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso did do a few Big Finishes as different characters, one of which was a loose sequel to the TVM.
Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso did do a few Big Finishes as different characters, one of which was a loose sequel to the TVM.
Ah, that would explain it then. I always forget that the movie was a coproduction, although I had thought it was with Fox.
In the group chat with Segal and Jacobs, Segal indicated that the BBC executives were very much against the production, suggesting they're trying to sabotage it. And he stopped just short of blaming them for somehow nixing the 6 episode deal that was already in place.
But, yeah, BBC were definitely involved and still owned the rights.
Doctor Who Magazine used Grace in the comic strip, and then was told not to. She returned for a cameo later in the last eighth Doctor story before the new series.
She also appeared in IDW's Prisoners of Time, in a nicely whimsical story drawn by Roger Langridge.
I'm not sure I trust Segal on this. A production deal for a movie with an option to produce six episodes if picked up for series, got it. But Segal historically has oversold what Fox was willing to do... which was nothing. They commissioned the movie as a one-off movie. Segal can call it a "backdoor pilot" all he wants, but it wasn't produced for Fox as a pilot. The six episode option, sure, it gave him room to say to Fox, "If you like this, there's an option for more," but Fox wasn't interested and the BBC didn't want to go it alone. The BBC couldn't really sabotage something that wasn't going to happen anyway.
Fair enough. I don't know the full story and I'm just reporting what he said at that session.
Nice find, thanks!
That said, those scenes were actually painful to watch. "Give him the key!" Ugh...
Given its placement opposite a juggernaut sitcom at the time, was the TVM placed opposite it because FOX might have lost interest? (Or thought the TVM would be a really big draw from "the other networks".) From the TVM, I vaguely recall some technobabble, overly long freeway chase scenes, and really bad jokes for which not all were deliberately self-aware.
Then again, they chose to give "Sliders" a third season and turn it into inane movie of the week ripoffs.
"In 1996, the Fox Network approached the BBC with a simple request: 35 new shows to fill a few holes in their programming lineup."
Seriously, though, wacky space alien adventure seems like decent enough counter-programming to "Did Dan survive his heart attack on 'Rosanne'?" to make sense to a network, even if it didn't actually work (though it's unclear that Fox would've known that the penultimate episode of that season of "Rosanne" would be such a big deal when they were laying out their schedule).
Also, it's been thirty years and I'm still not sure whether or not Dan survived his heart attack on "Rosanne." They keep changing their mind about it!
didn't they short of that with the remake/reboot/whatever it was and the heart attack was fatal the last season was the dream cliche.
First he lived, then they had the wacky last season where they won the lottery, then the series finale said that whole season was Rosanne writing a story about what if her life hadn't sucked and Dan was actually dead (along with various other differences in the show from what "really" happened), then they revived the series and ignored everything about the last season, both the lottery stuff and the final-scene retcons, so Dan was alive, then Rosanne (the real person, not the character) shot her mouth off and got fired, so they rebooted the show again with Rosanne being dead, and also ignoring elements of the original series as far back as season six.
It makes Doctor Who's continuity look straightforward by comparison.
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