So, there are rumours that a Doctor Who movie may be in the works. I mean, there are always rumours that a Doctor Who movie is in the works (anyone remember the one featuring Johnny Depp that would be “out by Christmas” about 5 years ago?), but this one has more legs than usual.
You may also have heard that a lot of people are not in favour of this movie. “Why?” I hear you ask –“that sounds like a fantastic idea!” Well let me explain...
You may also have heard that a lot of people are not in favour of this movie. “Why?” I hear you ask –“that sounds like a fantastic idea!” Well let me explain...
David Yates, best known for directing the last 4 Harry Potter movies, says:
"Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch,"
To me, this shows a complete lack of understanding of the strengths of the show. Doctor Who is a show that continually reinvents itself. The Doctor can travel anywhere in time and space – one week you can be watching a western, the next a political thriller set in space, the week after an alien invasion of contemporary London – and the main character can change his appearance whenever the actor playing him chooses to leave. This is not a show that requires a hard reboot for a stand-alone movie. Removing the film from the continuality of the show would undercut the character for no gain at all.
Yates, despite making 4 of the most successful movies of all time (and don’t forget these were Harry Potter films – a chimpanzee could have directed them and they’d still make $100million each), is not that experienced a director. Take away the Potter movies and he’s most famous for directing The Bill (ok, ok he directed the fantastic State of Play TV series but anyway let me get on with my character assassination). I’m not sure he has the skill or imagination to do a Doctor Who movie justice.
Harry Potter may be fantasy, but it isn’t that wide in scope – the books are pretty similar in overall tone and breadth. I’m worried we’d get a film about a chisel-jawed superhero in a magic box, with none of the elements that make Doctor Who the show it is.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t make a Doctor Who movie. I’d love to see one. But it has to be a proper Doctor Who movie, one that ties into the series and builds what came before, rather than sweeping it under the carpet. Imagine seeing the Time War on the big screen. That’s something that the BBC could never do justice to on their budget. A war set across all of time and space – that would me awesome!
You could finally see how Paul McGann died and regenerated into Chris Ecclestone (he might have said he’d never do the show again, but I reckon he’d change his mind pretty quickly for a big budget movie).
You could have all the living Doctors (either digitally de-aged or their ages hand waved away by ripples in the time/space continuum due to the War) working together to save the entire universe. It would be a fantastic celebration of the show around its 50th anniversary . Wouldn’t you rather see that than something that sounds like a cash-in on the BBC’s biggest cash-cow?
We’ve already seen that Doctor Who movie in the sixties and it wasn’t good - and that only had 2 years worth of history to ignore and contradict.
That said, all this worry could be for nothing – I’m still waiting for Tom Baker’s ‘Doctor Who Meets Scratchman’ to come out ...
Gareth
"Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch,"
To me, this shows a complete lack of understanding of the strengths of the show. Doctor Who is a show that continually reinvents itself. The Doctor can travel anywhere in time and space – one week you can be watching a western, the next a political thriller set in space, the week after an alien invasion of contemporary London – and the main character can change his appearance whenever the actor playing him chooses to leave. This is not a show that requires a hard reboot for a stand-alone movie. Removing the film from the continuality of the show would undercut the character for no gain at all.
Yates, despite making 4 of the most successful movies of all time (and don’t forget these were Harry Potter films – a chimpanzee could have directed them and they’d still make $100million each), is not that experienced a director. Take away the Potter movies and he’s most famous for directing The Bill (ok, ok he directed the fantastic State of Play TV series but anyway let me get on with my character assassination). I’m not sure he has the skill or imagination to do a Doctor Who movie justice.
Harry Potter may be fantasy, but it isn’t that wide in scope – the books are pretty similar in overall tone and breadth. I’m worried we’d get a film about a chisel-jawed superhero in a magic box, with none of the elements that make Doctor Who the show it is.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t make a Doctor Who movie. I’d love to see one. But it has to be a proper Doctor Who movie, one that ties into the series and builds what came before, rather than sweeping it under the carpet. Imagine seeing the Time War on the big screen. That’s something that the BBC could never do justice to on their budget. A war set across all of time and space – that would me awesome!
You could finally see how Paul McGann died and regenerated into Chris Ecclestone (he might have said he’d never do the show again, but I reckon he’d change his mind pretty quickly for a big budget movie).
You could have all the living Doctors (either digitally de-aged or their ages hand waved away by ripples in the time/space continuum due to the War) working together to save the entire universe. It would be a fantastic celebration of the show around its 50th anniversary . Wouldn’t you rather see that than something that sounds like a cash-in on the BBC’s biggest cash-cow?
We’ve already seen that Doctor Who movie in the sixties and it wasn’t good - and that only had 2 years worth of history to ignore and contradict.
That said, all this worry could be for nothing – I’m still waiting for Tom Baker’s ‘Doctor Who Meets Scratchman’ to come out ...
Gareth
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