The Faces of the Doctor
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Craig 4 years, 2 months ago.
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Anonymous @
For the Eighth month, we consider the Eighth Doctor played briefly on screen by Paul McGann. Your thoughts on him, and any of his predecessors are welcome.
Alas – the BBC AI report on the movie is not available. Viewing figures were 9.3 million with an AI of 77.
Those watching “Talons” in our recent retrospective will have the DVD of the movie in the Regenerations Box set. Those wishing to access it elsewhere may be interested in the Netflix free months trial for which you’d have access to the movie and others. Or try here in short chunks.
“Who am I? WHO…AM…I?!”
The Eighth Doctor goes through an identity crisis in the Movie. Ironic.
Paul McGann. The Eighth Doctor. The one from “The Movie”. The mistake that shows “those Damn Americans can’t be trusted with Doctor Who”.
To be honest – that’s often the reaction any discussion on McGann gets. Such is the reputation of his single screen outing, and some pretty crude assumptions, it can be difficult to separate the reality from fiction. To separate the Face and his performance from a multitude of other issues that surround it.
I remember being cautiously excited by the prospect of the Doctors return. I may not have been if the full story of its 5 year tale of Development Hell had been known (skip down to the production notes in this well researched TARDIS wiki entry). What we did know was that the main creatives were Philip Segal (Brit abroad Doctor Who fan), Brit Writer Matthew Jacobs (who had visited the set of The Gunfighters as a boy, as his father was appearing in it), Brit Director Geoffrey Sax, and with an Executive Producer from BBC Enterprises to oversee things on behalf of the rights holders interests.
Clan McGann were pretty well known as versatile actors. Paul in particular had a wide range of well known work, that were very different in style so he didn’t seem pigeon holed. I was delighted by the announcement.
Byronesque object of desire? Or “looking like a great big ponce” (Lucie Miller)After watching it, I read the reviews, the fanzines, and the early internet talkboards. Personally I’d winced at all the “Daleks killed the Master on Skaro and handed his remains to the Doctor” stuff. Had my Jaw dropped (in stunned disbelief) at the half human reveal and had begun to seriously upgrade Ainley as the Master after seeing Eric Roberts (Roberts has described his own performance as “cartoon terrible”). None of those were the main talking point though. Can you guess what was?
The Doctor had kissed a Lady, which was officially A BAD THING. My god, the drivel written about that was incredible. It looks so innocent these days. In addition, the early internet action was as insanely creative in trying to pick faults as it is today. My favourite being “Since when has the Doctor rode around on a motorbike?”.
Let’s look at the positive though. The Seventh Doctor gets a regeneration! Sylvester thinks that may have been a mistake (for an initial story) these days, but I don’t think any story in this format was ever in danger of progressing to a series. So hurrah to him for doing it, and he was splendid. I loved the TARDIS redesign as old sexy sets the desktop to Gothic Steampunk. Some of the direction is great. I thought McGann himself was the best thing about it though. Regeneration stories can be tricky, but he races through post regenerative memory loss and gradual recovery with a balance of whimsy and growing confidence (although there were a couple of OTT moments where he was asked by Sax to “amp it up”). It also contains a fair few callouts to the old series in the same way Series 7 has (the Bike scene written as a tribute to Pertwee, whose memory the film is dedicated to, as he died shortly before it was completed).
With an audience of over nine-million in the UK and AI rating of 77 (easily better than the last years of the BG era), if it had gone to a series, I’m pretty sure the BBC would have supported it. While I would have welcomed Doctor Eight, I didn’t think much of Segals vision of what he wanted for the show. A peculiar mixture of high budget restagings of old stories (Tomb of the Cybermen and The Gunfighters were two identified) and odd new concepts such as parallel universe “Spider Daleks”.
Maybe it would have been great? The things that annoy fans don’t seem to trouble the bigger “lump” of people referred to as casual viewers. Take out the couple of fan-baity things, and what do you have? A Regeneration tale, which although drawing on too many established tropes of 90s US TV, is slightly more adept than stories like Time and the Rani and The Twin Dilemma. I certainly find it easier to revisit than those monstrosities.
Poor Eight. Few will champion him as their favourite Doctor. Time was too short. No schoolkids really grew up with him as “their” screen Doctor. Rather than evidence of automatic US failure though, I’d see the tale more of a cautionary one of transferring a property to Co-production status and, in new territory, assuming a change in tone and direction is necessary based on some pretty vague evidence. Such as assuming the “Spock effect” (that an audience wouldn’t identify with an alien character, so let’s make him half human) still held true in the 90s as when it was “established” in the 60s.
It’s a tale that may resonate with RTD now. So adept in the revival of Doctor Who in 2005, just consider the results of (cough) Miracle Day (spit). Similar issues, similar results.
I’d love to see McGann get some more screen time as the Doctor. I stated in our audio adventures thread early in the year that an appearance in the 50th would be a treat for me. For all the faults of the film, his feels like a performance that would easily fit in with the AG Doctors. His tangent off-topic at the end of this clip, and his absolute glee about his new shoes just feels very Doctorish.
“I AM THE DOCTOR!”
The Eighth Doctor. Possibly inspiring Murray Gold a decade and a bit later.
Paul McGann, like Sylvester before him, seemed to be the Doctor for a long time, as the comics started a successful run as the BBC continued it’s cold war on fans/put a series which was in danger of eating itself out of its misery* (Delete according to taste) by refusing to renew the licence for Virgin to publish Doctor Who novels. BBC in-house publishing continued the adventures of the Eighth, with additional new stories for old Doctors. I find them a mxed bag again, but some familiar names from the old Virgin range started to crop up. Rereading a few to review Eights period it struck me that they haven’t aged as badly as the Virgin novels.
What’s interesting is that for one appearance, both comics and books do capture a lot of what his only appearance on screen was all about, and then develop it in individual ways. I think he certainly made an impression. In concepts, the writers seemed to seize on that kiss and play with the notion. Companions who actually lust after the Doctor, while he remains cheerfully unaware of the effect he’s having – that really started here. Other concepts, like the Doctor creating semi-sentient computer code to do his bidding, and foreshadowings of a great “Time War” that would consume Gallifrey actually started in the late nineties/early naughties in book form.
Before the decision was made to bring the show back, Big Finish approached McGann about adding to their old Doctors audio range. He threw himself into them with apparent gusto. Collecting them can be an expensive hobby, but his main audio series have been broadcast on Radio 7, BBC4xtra. Just after Christmas, it’s a rare treat. More Doctor Who is always welcome.
In these, I think he gives a good account of what his Doctor could be. It’s like the movie, in that he’s whimsical, passionate, and occasionally very funny. It’s also complimented by him being maddening, not afraid to lie to his companions, and all manner of new quirks. Audio plays are not to everyone’s taste, but his are some of the best things Big Finish have produced in my opinion. A hybrid of the BG era informed with more of an AG philosophy in structure and scope. Not every story is a winner, but that’s always been the case.
He’s been aided by a fantastic companion in the last few series by Sheridan Smith as “Lucie Miller”. A remarkable story with a tragic end.
So – after the 50th and after we’ve seen Eleven regenerate in the Christmas special, it’s hopeful that the radio will be blessed with the return of the Eighth Doctor in the short “Dark Eyes” series. Lucie is gone, and the Doctor has boasted to the Daleks about his early opportunity to destroy them and the Time Lords intention to wipe them out at birth, confessing “I wish I’d done it” and it all seems to be going to a bad place. Bring on the makeover!
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