Though I did love the Doctor forcing the motorbike cop to back down by threatening to shoot... himself.
Well... THAT was different! :-)
- Thread starter Timelord79 (he/him)
- Start date
Though I did love the Doctor forcing the motorbike cop to back down by threatening to shoot... himself.
Like everyone else, I thought Paul McGann was fantastic but got the short end of the stick storywise (hmmm...just like Colin Baker but at least McGann's costume was awesome). I've only heard McGann in Shada (which I love) but I did recently pick up "The Zygon Who Fell to Earth" (as part the big audio purchase I recently made during my visit to Sydney) so I'm looking forward to hearing him again.
I'm with The on this one - that console room is my favourite of the lot.
It just looked more mystical, especially with it's size, while still having alien and human elements. The collection of stuff was a nice touch as well considering Eight seemed to have sticky fingers
The half human thing - kinda agree with the arch as the best explanation. It could have been intentional to further explore humanity, seeing as he spent so much time with them, or just a way to lock other Timelords out (the Rani, Master etc).
The line about his mother could easily have been a joke... but the whole idea of him being half human, while controversial, would certainly explain why he can't seem to leave Earth alone.
As for the movie itself, the more I've watched it the more I can enjoy it for what it is. It's no masterpiece, but it's not all bad either. It has it's moments, but it could have been better - like so many things.
It just looked more mystical, especially with it's size, while still having alien and human elements. The collection of stuff was a nice touch as well considering Eight seemed to have sticky fingers
The half human thing - kinda agree with the arch as the best explanation. It could have been intentional to further explore humanity, seeing as he spent so much time with them, or just a way to lock other Timelords out (the Rani, Master etc).
The line about his mother could easily have been a joke... but the whole idea of him being half human, while controversial, would certainly explain why he can't seem to leave Earth alone.
As for the movie itself, the more I've watched it the more I can enjoy it for what it is. It's no masterpiece, but it's not all bad either. It has it's moments, but it could have been better - like so many things.
Actually, if Tom Baker had had his way one of his early stories was going to feature a gag in which the Doctor went to grab a pair of boots from a clothes closet ... which would been filmed at Westminster Abbey or some similar cathedral. As it was, the later Tom Bakers featured the Cloister Room (also in the TVM) and there really isn't much difference except the TVM had more money to work with so we saw more of the room. The idea of the interior of the TARDIS being changeable dates back to I believe the Tom Baker era too, and was confirmed in Time Crash when Davison mentioned to Tennant how the "desktop theme" of the TARDIS console room had been changed.
The earlier shows also featured furniture as well. But I think the idea was to get the Doctor out of the TARDIS as much as possible. Having such frills might have made it too tempting to base a show all within the TARDIS (I'm sure had Fox gone to series with McGann we'd have had at least one or more such "bottle" episodes to save money).
As it is, McGann is actually the most prolific of all the Doctors, because since 2000 he has been performing in fully licensed audio dramas for Big Finish as the Doctor, most recently in a series of dramas being aired by BBC Radio. We never got to see him on TV again, true, but there's plenty to hear from him.
There have been several attempts to rationalize this (which by all accounts was just tossed into stir the pot a bit for US viewers). Several novels have put forward theories, while the Big Finish drama The Apocalypse Element suggested it was related to something that happened with the Sixth Doctor and the Daleks. Most recently, the IDW Comics mini-series The Forgotten suggested it was all a ruse to fool the Master and involved the use of the Chameleon Arch.
So there's plenty of ways around it. And, frankly, it's no less ridiculous than what the Cartmel Masterplan suggested (I'll let you research that one on your own).
RTD hasn't ignored it. As mentioned above he's tossed in a couple of off-hand remarks about it. The fact is the show hasn't had a need to address it up to now.
Alex
My favorite example of this is in "The Parting of the Ways," when the Emperor Dalek reveals he has been creating new Daleks from human survivors. Rose says, "So the Daleks are part human...?" At which point all the Daleks in the ship go bat-shit crazy hysterical and start screaming, "DO-NOT-BLASPHEME! DO-NOT-BLASPHEME!"
There's a line from McGann in the Movie that reminds me so much of his performances in the BF audios. No surprise, I guess, since it's the same actor playing the same character, but this stands out for me. It's after the Eye of Harmony scene and Grace has run back to her house and the Doctor is outside her front door. He says something like "Let me inside, Grace, and we can talk about this." Cool.
On the saubject of 'Bruce' does anyone else agree that Eric Roberts wasn't that bad as the Master?
Yeah, that's what I meant. They just got terminology confused, is all.
And surely Wales was 'invented' a few thousand years before you was born?
ETA: Ahh I get it now, that was a new series reference! The rats maze is a little slow today..
You take your time. 
Okay, maybe I mis-worded it. While I think it's apparent that he's made jokes and hints about the whole thing, he has ignored it as far as pointedly addressing. The Doctor is pretty much proven to be all Time Lord during RTD's era, and that's all I meant about it...
Personally, I would agree with the caveat that his interpretation is far more acceptable now that we've had Yana and Simms. Before, when I first watched him back in '96, the only Masters I could compare him to were the Delgado/Ainley template, and the "disfigured one". He was such a contrast...and lacked any British refinement to the portrayal...that the camp was too brutal to digest.
As time has passed, and we've been given a broader view of The Master, Eric Roberts doesn't stand-out as much. He may have been camp, but he was certainly the most violently menacing version. He would be a brilliant Master to put up against the 9th Doctor. It would be a practical fist-fight...
Personally, I would agree with the caveat that his interpretation is far more acceptable now that we've had Yana and Simms. Before, when I first watched him back in '96, the only Masters I could compare him to were the Delgado/Ainley template, and the "disfigured one". He was such a contrast...and lacked any British refinement to the portrayal...that the camp was too brutal to digest.
As time has passed, and we've been given a broader view of The Master, Eric Roberts doesn't stand-out as much. He may have been camp, but he was certainly the most violently menacing version. He would be a brilliant Master to put up against the 9th Doctor. It would be a practical fist-fight...
I liked the way Eric Roberts played it, on the whole (and given the way the character was written). He does Ok with the early bits when the Master is basically being written as a Terminator-variant, and then he goes to town with the camp bit in the TARDIS and has some fun (fun, within reason, being essential to good Doctor Who).
ISTR that he was the one member of the American cast whose reaction was: "Doctor Who? What's the part?", followed, "The Master? Oh, yes!" He'd been at a drama school in London in the mid-1970s, and had watched Doctor Who and remembered seeing The Deadly Assassin, you see...
Remember, the Master is "the camp one"
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