Doctor Who: The Movie

Doctor Who or Doctor Who: The Movie was a Science Fiction Adventure film and the first film in the Doctor Who: Motion Picture franchise. It was produced by Paramount Pictures and BBC Films and was released first everywhere on the 23rd November 2003. The film was produced to celebrate Doctor Who's 40th Anniversary and is the final story for Jim Broadbent as the Eleventh Doctor, Alan Dale as Riddell and Robert Bathurst as Flo.

## Doctor Who: The Movie

### Written by

Russell T Davies, Nicholas Meyer and David Renwick

### Box Office

US$53,398,518

Synopsis

Omega created Time Machines, and his experiments will not be in vain. The Doctors past are intertwined in Omega's experiments. The fate of time, and The Doctor, are in bounds.

Plot

The TARDIS flies around in space, then straight into a vortex that has opened up as it flies through it and then the camera flies straight into the TARDIS through it’s keyhole into a gigantic console room. The Eleventh Doctor, The Tenth Doctor, Riddell, Flo, Alison Cheney and The Master are standing by the console. Suddenly the TARDIS grounds to a halt, the time rotor stops moving and the lights go dark. A blue beam pulls the TARDIS out of the vortex as it’s pulled into normal space into a gigantic orange planet, Gallifrey.  The beam then pulls the TARDIS closer to the surface. Flo asks the Doctors what’s going on. They explains that it feels like a type 70 time beam from Gallifrey. They tells her then that Rassilon will be wishing to see them both. The TARDIS is pulled right through onto the planet as it flies towards the citadel. A small hatch opens up in the glass dome and the TARDIS is pulled through that before it’s pulled right down to the bottom of the citadel where a small hatch opens and the TARDIS is pulled through that into a giant hanger decorated with the Seal of Rassilon.

The proceeding scenes see the Doctors and the companions speaking to Rassilon, who is now in charge of Gallifrey. He explains about the distortions in time. However, because of the distortions, the Doctor’s first three incarnations have been erased from history and pretty soon the same will happen to the other Doctors. Rassilon explains that he has pinpointed the main distortion points and each incarnation must go back to one of these points and rectify them. After they have all left, Rassilon walks out of the hanger and into a small closed-off room. Sitting on the throne there is The Rani. He tells her that she must find The Rogue to stop this once and for all.

In a dark science laboratory that looks as if it’s falling apart, the door swings open and Omega walks in. He walks over to his equipment and sits down as he buries his head in his work. Suddenly a gust of wind flows past his face and he looks up and then walks to the door and closes it. But another gust of wind flows past his face. He looks confused and then there’s another and another until its a constant. Then he hears a noise, it sounds like an engine. He looks up as the TARDIS materialises. Omega looks amazed as it becomes solid. He walks around it until he gets to the door. He’s about to open it when it opens as the Doctor, Flo and Riddell walk out. The Doctor turns to Omega, believing to have startled him before recognising him. The Doctor, Flo and Riddell then attempt to ensure that Omega goes ahead with his time travel experiment and they help him out. This plot-line goes throughout the film until about 20 minutes until the end when the experiment is conducted and Omega starts to be engulfed by anti-matter and he vanishes. This is of course all intercut with other plot-lines that the film follows. One of them however, invades this situation. Mid-way through, Omega is attacked by a squadron of Cybermen who are only to be defeated by UNIT. The Doctor explains that the time distortions are indeed getting much worse.

With the Eighth Doctor, people from many different time-periods break through into modern-day Newcastle as they eventually repair that distortion only after the Eighth Doctor has a sword fight with a medieval knight. Similarly, the Fourth Doctor and Romana end up on an intergalactic hub planet and spend their time tracking down a crime lord who has been selling time to different people. In the end, the Doctor seizes his operations and ends up closing the time distortions he caused there.

For the Fifth Doctor, he's in an alien religious order who have been worshipping a Dalek who has fallen through time to them. He, of course, ends the Dalek’s plans and sends it back where it came from.

The Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown are on a prison planet where they discover that the prisoner’s minds have been wired into a computer interface. They discover that both the Rogue and the Master are behind this as they have already ‘fixed’ the distortion and have done this by using the prisoner’s brains. The Doctor explains that the distortion is still here and they have caused it. He then proceeds to out-smart them both which allows him to release the prisoners.

The Seventh Doctor finds his distortion of Gallifrey’s neighbouring planet of Karn. He is greeted by the sisterhood who are in deep meditation; trying to find the source of the distortion themselves. The Doctor and Ace explore the outskirts of the Sisterhood’s temple where they find a crashed ship with a body in, the body of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Doctor tries to revive him but fails. The Brigadier is dead on Karn and there is nothing the Doctor can do about it. Before he can do much mourning, a creature appears out from behind the ship and pounces on the Doctor and Ace, they managed to break free killing the creature but before it reaches its point of death, both it and the Brigadier fade into thin air.

The Ninth Doctor and Ruby are on the planet Skaro, home of the Daleks. Straight after landing, they are taken prisoner by them and taken to the Emperor, however this Emperor is different; he seems to be telepathic as he invades the Doctor’s mind and exposes his worst fears. The Doctor uses that to his advantage and starts looking into the Emperor’s mind. He starts reversing all the damage that has been done through the combined minds of both a time lord and a Dalek and causes the Emperor to fade out of existence. The Daleks reach to attack the Doctor but a snap of electricity takes them both.

The Tenth Doctor, Alison and The Master land on a planet of Female dominance where the male gender is being oppressed and the female reign supreme. Alison is appalled by the prejudice in their society but the Doctor refuses to do anything as that will be interfering in a societal step that happens in every culture. Before he help a rebellion gain power, the same snap of electricity takes the Doctor and they appear once more in the hangar. All the other Doctors are also there except for the Eleventh incarnation.

Back to Omega’s Laboratory after the time-travel experiment, Rassilon appears before the Doctor and tells him there is one thing more that he must do. He explains that although the timeline has been rectified, it must all be tied together. He tells the Doctor that he must return to Gallifrey with him and use the Sufricq device. The Doctor tells him that it’s forbidden and refuses to use it but Rassilon grabs onto him and his companions and with a burst of electricity they move to the throne room on Gallifrey which now holds the Sufricq device in the middle. The moves the Doctor over to it and tells him that he must use it for Gallifrey. The Doctor refuses but Rassilon forces him onto the device and the Doctor screams in agony. Flashing through all of time in a montage; constantly appearing and disappearing. The Doctor is seen lying on the floor, presumed to be dead with Rassilon, the Rani and the Rogue looking over him. The Keeper states he has done it. A yellow glow covers the Doctor’s face as he regenerates into his next incarnation: the Twelfth Doctor.

Rassilon, Riddell and Flo enter the hanger. Rassilon tells the rest of the Doctors that they have done it and that he thanks them deeply. Rassilon clicks his fingers and they all disappear back to their own TARDISes in their own times. They walk back into the throne room where he tells the Doctor that this is now his and he is Lord President of Gallifrey. The Doctor forbids this, but the Keeper tells him that as of now he is sworn to never leave Gallifrey and if he did he would be erased from history with the Sufricq device. The Doctor runs for his TARDIS! A bolt of electricity start going towards The Doctor, but Randell jumps in the way, killing him. He get into the TARDIS, and Dematerializes without Flo. The Doctor then remorse about his companions, thinking Flo is dead.

Cast

The Doctor - Jim Broadbent

The Doctor - Richard E. Grant

The Doctor - Rowan Aktison

The Doctor - Richard Griffiths

The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy

The Doctor - Colin Baker

The Doctor - Peter Davison

The Doctor - Tom Baker

The Rouge - Don Warrington

The Master - Derek Jacobi

The Rani - Kate O'Mara

Omega - Patrick Stewart

Rassilon - Anna Hope

Riddell - Alan Dale

Flo - Robert Bathurst

Alison Cheney - Sophie Okonedo

The Master - Aidan Gillen

Ruby Pax - Julia Sawalha

Bernice Summerfield - Julia Ormond

Ace McShane - Sophie Aldred

Melanie Bush - Bonnie Langford

Nyssa - Sarah Sutton

Romana - Mary Tamm

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney

Captain Mike Yates - Richard Franklin

Sergeant John Benton - John Levene

Ian Chesterton - William Russell

Susan Campbell - Carole Ann Ford

Katie Tollinger - Julia Sawalha

Sarah Jane Smith - Elisabeth Sladen

Jo Jones - Katy Manning

Doctor Elizabeth Shaw - Caroline John

Voice of K-9 - John Leeson

Voice of the Daleks - Nicholas Briggs

Michael - Robert Eggworth

Dasyt'op - Fredrick Boulevard

Francis - Christopher Biggins

Timelord #1 - Patrick Alexander

Timelord #2 - Graham Samuels

And Introducing Hugh Grant as the Doctor

Crew

Doctor Who Created by Sydney Newman, Donald Wilson and C.E. Webber

Executive Producers - David Renwick, David M. Thompson and Ira Steven Behr

Director - Nicholas Meyer

Producer - Tony Redston

Screenplay by Russell T Davies & Nicholas Meyer

Story by Russell T Davies & Nicholas Meyer

additional material by David Renwick

Director of Photography - Jeffrey L. Kimball

Production Designer - Edward Thomas

Visual Effects - Industrial Light & Magic

Make-Up Designer - Davy Jones

Casting Director - Andy Pryor

Music - Murray Gold

Costume Designer - Lucinda Wright

Edited by - Dallas Puett

Special Effects - Bryan Stanislas

Original Theme Music - Ron Grainer

Title Music - Murray Gold

Title Sequence designed by Tiger Hare Studios

With thanks to Verity Lambert, Terrance Dicks and Clayton Hickman

Memorable Quotes

To be added.

Background Information

Development

To be added.

Pre-Production

To be added.

Production

To be added.

Post-Production

To be added.

Reaction

Doctor Who premiered in cinemas on 21 November 2003, number one at the box office. With a budget of around US$120,000,000, it opened on 3,337 screens and went on to garner US$173,398,518 domestically. This gave the film a gross margin of 30.8%, a markup of 44.5% and a gross profit of US$53,398,518.

Story Notes

This is the final story to feature the Eleventh Doctor and the first to feature the Twelfth Doctor.

This is the first story to feature Bessie since Battlefield in Season 26.

This also marks the first and, so far, only time that a Doctor has met a villain who he wouldn't properly meet until a future incarnation, in this case the Sixth Doctor meeting the Rogue.

This is the first story to feature an Emperor Dalek since The Evil Of The Daleks in Season 4.

The Fifth Doctor's subplot is based on an unproduced story named 'The Elite' that was proposed for Season 20.

In the original unmade TV version of this plot the Fifth Doctor would have made Animal Baloons, in the subplot he goes around sharing Chocolate.

A new arrangement of the theme tune composed by Murray Gold was used for the movie for both the opening and closing credits.

The 2003 re-release of the Elton John song Rocket Man was used for the end credits and features in the scene where Omega launches Pathfinder.

This film began a tradition of the Doctor regenerating in each new film, this was done by Paramount to keep continuity between the films so that they would be easily accessible for non-fans.

Continuity

Rassilon has been acting as Lord President since the failed Destruction of Gallifrey by The Watcher.

When The Watcher was killed it caused severe time distortions to occur all throughout time and space.

The Third Doctor had intended to take Sarah Jane Smith on a visit to Florena.

Tegan refers to her possession by the Mara and her subsequent attempt to kill the Fifth Doctor.

Awards and Honours

To be added.

Promotion

TV Spots

During the lead up to the film, a 60 second TV spot was broadcasted on both BBC One and UPN.