1996 marked the release of one of the greatest movies of all time. No, not Muppet Treasure Island. Or Space Jam.
Yes, the Doctor Who TV Movie.
It’s got everything you could ever want from a Doctor Who production – questionable CGI, weird dialogue, overdramatic actors, and a flock of chickens. I watch it every single year to celebrate the New Year holiday.
I was about a year-and-a-half old when it aired, making the TV Movie a Millennial, like me: awkward, low budget, underappreciated, and blamed for everything that goes wrong.
The TVM is hated as fervently as it is beloved. In some ways, I understand where its critics are coming from. Doctor Who had been off the air for six years and nothing could ever live up to fans’ expectations. This very awkward, very American, extremely cheesy movie was never going to be the film people wanted it to be.
For all its infamy, so many fans talk about the first time they watched the TV Movie. Everyone has a story or a memory: seeing it at home live on television, borrowing a VHS recording from a friend, or watching the film in a pub surrounded by fellow fans. One such night is behind the historic PMEB (the Paul McGann Estrogen Brigade).
When I became active in Doctor Who fandom, I was introduced to the TVM as the butt of every joke. It was the worst of the worst, the biggest disappointment, and the reason Americans should never be allowed to touch Doctor Who.
My mom had watched Doctor Who on PBS in the 80’s and introduced me to Eccleston when the SciFi Channel began airing the new series in 2006. (She probably would have seen the TV Movie if it hadn’t aired the same time as Roseanne.) I watched a little bit of Classic Who here and there, but nothing really clicked for me for a long time.
The ‘American movie’ always intrigued me, mostly because so many people online hated it so much. And god, is Doctor Who fandom devoted to hating things. The scars of disappointment from 1996 still haven’t healed, but the film has managed to earn a devoted fanbase nonetheless. And it deserves it.
I was 13 or 14 when I first watched the TVM on my family’s tiny computer screen, the pixellated stream constantly buffering. It was cheesy and silly, and the plot didn’t entirely make sense to me. I absolutely loved it.
It’s apparent why I love it, now: this movie is so nineties, and it’s beautiful. From the hazy lighting to the bad CGI, the modern San Francisco setting, the romance, Paul McGann’s sensual Doctor and Daphne Ashbrook’s headstrong Grace, this is not Classic Who. This sounds more like New Who, 9 years before ‘Rose’ aired.
The TV Movie has more in common with Buffy or Xena: Warrior Princess than season 26 (except for the disappointing lack of lesbians). My deep love for the 90s fantasy shows I grew up with informed my love for Doctor Who. A sloppy plot and some overzealous acting don’t ruin the magic of the gothic TARDIS sets, the perfectly cast leads, or the sweeping music.
I’ve watched the TVM dozens of times since that first day: as my partner’s first Classic story, at a Who-themed party I threw in high school, with internet friends on AIM and Twitter, at a NYE party with three of my exes… Every rewatch is laced with memories of every person I’ve shared the film with.
It’s not perfect – maybe not even technically good – but stories don’t have power because of their special effects or perfect writing. They don’t have to be flawless. They’re important to us because of what they mean. The TV Movie is a holiday tradition, one that has brought me together with people I love and introduced me to so many others I never would have met. It isn’t just another story about the Doctor saving the world, it’s the story of how he loses memories of who he is and remembers that he’s filled with hope and love – love for the Earth, love for his friends, and even love for his enemies.
That one movie has inspired so much love for the Eighth Doctor, Grace, Chang Lee, and Roberts’ Master (who made a comeback in Big Finish’s Master! earlier this year). Some of the best times I’ve had in Doctor Who fandom have been with Eight fangirls and stans. My very first Doctor Who convention was Chicago TARDIS in 2009, where I was lucky enough to meet Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook, and Yee Jee Tso. As starstruck as I was at 15, they were kind enough to make me feel comfortable and ask me my own thoughts about their movie.
I have so many memories of my early days in fandom, feeling awkward and shy, not sure where I fit in, intimidated by Classic Who fans and gatekeeping. In the TVM, I didn’t just find a movie I enjoyed, but people to enjoy it with. I made new friends who took me under their wing. They introduced me to Big Finish, showed me Who lore and stories, and shared their amazing fic, art, and costumes. They bridged the gap between the intimidating Classic series and my love for New Who. Even now, I find myself making new friends because of our shared love of the TV Movie and the Eighth Doctor. (Mostly through memes.)
The TV Movie is the ultimate bridge from Classic to New. It was Doctor Who‘s first step into the 21st century – four years early – while keeping another foot firmly planted in the show’s history. Accidentally or on purpose, the film focuses on memory loss while relying on nostalgia to inform its backstory. Now, it’s become a point of nostalgia itself. It isn’t known as a reboot, as it was intended, but a Classic story.
It’s a story that came to me at the right time, one that I find myself coming back to again and again. Each time, it means something different.
Looking back at the TV Movie 25 years later, with 16 years since ‘Rose’ brought Doctor Who back to television, it doesn’t fit into either the “Classic” or “New” niche perfectly. The TVM came to screens when fandom was slowly transitioning to online spaces, in the middle of a ‘Wilderness’ period where fans were producing more fanworks (licensed or not) than ever. The new millennium was coming, producers chose to jump ahead into it early and leave the past behind.
The world was rapidly changing, and Doctor Who changed with it. Sounds like a Millennial to me.
Sarah Urbank 
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