I love Doctor Who and that should come to no shock since I’ve posted about the show a couple of times now. Today, I was surprised to read on a couple of various blogs that David Yates (the director of four Harry Potter movies) has decided/begun to make a Doctor Who movie!
(more after the break)
As surprised as I was, my opinions on this are currently mixed. That’s a really bad thing, though, since it is in it’s very early planning stages. David Yates is a great director and he did a really good job with the Harry Potter movies. My cynicism comes from the fact that I just don’t know how well the TV show would translate to the big screen.
The first big question for me is who would play the Doctor? David Yates has said that he wants to start fresh with the movies. So I’m guessing that there will be a new actor playing the Doctor. But this leaves me with more questions. What Doctor, chronologically, will this be? Will this be even canon to the TV series? Or is there now going to be TV canon and movie canon? Or by start fresh does he mean he going make this the “First Doctor”? (at least according the movie’s canon)
My second question, I’m curious about is the transition from TV to movie screen. Will this work? How will it work? The plot is about a 900-year-old man flying around in his spaceship (that’s shaped like a police box and is bigger on the inside) through time and space. This sounds like an awesome concept on paper BECAUSE IT IS! And it works as a TV show. But can it work as a two- to three-hour feature film? People are going to pay money to see it, that’s a given. But will it be any good?
I remember a certain TV movie that aired on Fox in the 1990’s that was pretty horrible.
I think for it to work it should be its own thing. Don’t go too far into the show’s long history. New people would just get too confused. If people like this movie enough they will want to know more about it and they will watch the show. I guess what I’m saying is that you need to keep it accessible. Following the journey with a new companion would be the perfect way to do this. They should use the first season of the new series with Christopher Eccleston as a good example to keep it simple yet engaging for a new audience.
It is going to be two to three years until we see anything from this movie (if it actually comes out). I still have more questions about the idea, but I’m excited that a movie about Doctor Who could happen.