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Offically titled only Doctor Who, the TV Movie produced in 1996 was the result of a joint development effort by the BBC, Fox Television and Universal Studios.

Background

British ex-patriot producer Philip Segal had been promoting the idea of bringing a new Doctor Who series to American network television for several years and the BBC had been eagerly searching for partners with which to share the hefty costs of developing science fiction television. Segal finally convinced the Fox Network to agree to commissioning a "backdoor" pilot movie. Providing American ratings for the movie were good, Fox promised to do a second movie and then perhaps transfer the show to series development.

A new actor, Paul McGann, was cast in the title role, though Sylvester McCoy returned for a brief reprisal of his role as the seventh incarnation of the Doctor. Eric Roberts was cast to play long time arch enemy the Master. Two new companions were also created for the movie: Dr. Grace Holloway (played by Daphne Ashbrook) and street kid Chang Lee (played by Yee Jee Tso).

The TV-movie aired on the Fox Network on June 14, 1996, and on the BBC thirteen days later. Although it earned ratings of about 9 million viewers in England, higher ratings than the series had achieved in the last decade of its production, it only achieved about a 9% share in the States, significantly below the 12% that Segal figured he needed to continue production and the 17% he had hoped for. Fan dreams of a new series would therefore have to wait many years for another deal by another producer.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Synopsis

While transporting the remains of the Master home to Gallifrey, the Doctor is forced to make an emergency landing in the San Francisco of late 1999. Stepping out of the TARDIS, he finds himself in the crossfire of a violent gang war. Young gang member Chang Lee helps to get the injured Doctor to the hospital. Physicians there, unaware and unwilling to believe that the Doctor is an alien, hasten the Doctor's decline rather than help, resulting in the Doctor's regeneration into his eighth incarnation. Meanwhile, the Master is not nearly as deceased as was previously believed and he plans to ensure his future survival by stealing the Doctor's body. Unfortunately, his plan to do so involves destroying the planet.

Controversy

Among fans, the TV movie is perhaps the most controversial of the Doctor's televised adventures. Although most fans like Paul McGann's portrayal of the Doctor, the movie itself had several other elements that were not well received. Among these:

• For the first time in the series' history, the Doctor claimed to be "half human on my mother's side." Previously, the Doctor had simply identified himself as an alien and had never mentioned human parentage (though he had also never explicitly denied it). Some fans thought that bringing this aspect of the character in after 26 seasons of the program changed the character too much. New series producer Russell T. Davies would later poke fun at negative fan reaction to this revelation by having the Daleks bristle at the suggestion that they had now become half human (in 2005's "Parting of the Ways").

• The Doctor shared a kiss with his leading lady. Although this has become commonplace in the new series, it was something that had never occurred in the classic series. In the classic series, the Doctor had often been either a father figure to his companions or simply a somewhat distant and impossible to fathom friend. This development seemed a rather jarring change in the character to many fans.

• The fact that the movie was an American production, co-produced by the BBC and that it included typical U.S. TV elements such as car chases and gunfights led to the accusation that the movie had been too Americanized.

• The Time Lord power source known as the The Eye of Harmony was portrayed as being inside the Doctor's TARDIS rather than on Gallifrey. The BBC would later state this the Eye in the Doctor's TARDIS was merely a link to the one on Gallifrey.

• For the first time, the Master was portrayed by an American actor. Some fans (particularly British ones) were annoyed by the character's sudden change in accent .

• The effect used for the voices of the Daleks was inconsistent with what had been used in the past (and now in the new series as well).

Trivia

It's a common myth that the film's title was "The Enemy Within." This seems to have grown out of a chat that producer Philip Segal had with fans on AOL during the film's pre-production. When pressed for a title to the movie, Segal stated that the name of the film was really simply "Doctor Who," but if fans really wanted a name for the story, they could use "The Enemy Within." The film itself never had this title and the BBC never refers to it as such.