TV Movie, Episode 1 | 1 part | First broadcast: 12 May 1996 (Canada) / 14 May 1996 (US) / 27 May 1996 (UK) | Writer: Matthew Jacobs | Director: Geoffrey Sax
Cast
- Paul McGann as the Doctor
- Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor (regenerating)
- Daphne Ashbrook as Dr. Grace Holloway
- Eric Roberts as the Master
- Yee Jee Tso as Chang Lee
Summary
Transporting the remains of his old adversary the Master back to Gallifrey, the Doctor is sabotaged mid-flight when the Master, reduced to a shapeshifting ooze, escapes his casket and forces an emergency landing in San Francisco on the eve of the millennium. Fatally wounded and misdiagnosed by well-meaning surgeon Grace Holloway, the Seventh Doctor dies on the operating table and regenerates into his eighth incarnation, waking with amnesia. As the Master possesses a paramedic’s body and manipulates street kid Chang Lee into helping him steal the Doctor’s remaining lives, the newly regenerated Doctor and Grace race to stop the Master from tearing open the TARDIS’s Eye of Harmony and unravelling reality itself before the stroke of midnight.
Interesting Facts
- This was the first attempt to revive Doctor Who after its 1989 cancellation, made as a Fox/BBC/Universal co-production intended as a backdoor pilot for a new American-produced series.
- Paul McGann’s televised debut as the Eighth Doctor would remain his only on-screen appearance in the role for 17 years, until his surprise return in the 2013 minisode “The Night of the Doctor.”
- The film was shot on 35mm in Vancouver, British Columbia, making it the only Doctor Who production filmed in North America.
- Despite strong UK ratings, disappointing American viewership meant Fox did not commission a full series, and the show would not properly return until its 2005 BBC revival.
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