Dr. Who continuity

[Jem'hadar]

FYI,

BBC responds to fan concerns about Dr. Who continuity
The BBC message boards have been alive recently with speculation about whether or not the BBC is disowning the 1996 Paul McGann TV Movie.
http://www.enworld.org/scifi/modules...rder=0&thold=0

[Sea Tyger]

Wow...a little BSG-like rabid response, eh?

[Phantom]

That's too bad, McGann did a good job. I did have a few problems with the movie (the Daleks as galactic judges, and a few quirks with The Masters personality) overall it was entertaining.

I just hope when/if this new series comes out it will make its way to Canada.

[Capt.Hunter]

One of the good things about Doctor Who is it has inbuilt mechanisms to prevent continuity errors - the timeline can be rewritten. Whilst this applies in theory to shows like Enterprise, the thing with DW is that changes to the Doctor's own history are actually the source for new stories rather than a way around them (hence the myriad New and Missing Adventures novels). Doctor Who has the quintessentially British trait of not taking itself too seriously (though recent series like Hercules, Xena and Buffy have achieved the same). The McGann movie was good (I enjoyed his portrayal - Hartnell, Davidson and McCoy rolled into one) but was too glib - too eager to change the established for the new whilst name-dropping inconsequentials. Changing the TARDIS' "chameleon circuit" for a "cloaking device" to grab the attention of Trekkies underestimates the audiences' intelligence - how many of you would have guessed what a chameleon circuit does from the name? How many would've thought "but hang on! a cloaking device makes a ship invisible, but we can still see the TARDIS!!!". The Doctor being half-human. All pointless. A good story, but easily overlooked as a "potential timeline" for the new series.

I'm going to come out and say it - I don't think series like Doctor Who or Red Dwarf can be made in an American format. Not that American TV can't churn out good series - I love CSI and Law & Order. But there is something in Sci-Fi that knows it has bad SFX but doesn't mind as long as it can tell a story that appeals to me, as a Brit, more than Trek. B5 managed this, but still didn't make quite the impact Who or Blake's Seven did.

Confession time - Doctor Who is my all-time favourite Sci-Fi hero. Why? He doesn't treat life - any life - as worthy of death. Too many Sci-Fi heroes will kill to defend their ideals. The Doctor would rather die than do that - because that is his ideal. To him, it's small, beautiful moments that make life worth living. A daisy holds the secret of the universe itself. If the Beeb can hang on to that aspect of the Doctor, then I don't care if the movie is ignored.