View source for Who's Next - Fox Movie Puts a New High-Tech Shine on Old Sci-Fi Icon

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| publication = Sun-Sentinel
| file = 1996-05-14 South Florida Sun Sentinel.pdf
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| date = 1996-05-14
| author = Tom Jicha
| pages = 1E
| language = English
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| categories = TV movie
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It might strike Dr. Who loyalists as heresy, but until tonight's Fox TV movie, I had never seen a single episode of the venerable British sci-fi drama. This doesn't put me in a distinct minority. Fact is, as passionate as Whovians are (the show gained its cult U.S. following during intermittent runs on PBS), there aren't enough of them to generate a rating sufficient to beat Kirk. So if the first new Dr. Who in seven years is to trigger a revival, the movie will have to attract and hold about 1 0 first-timers for every loyalist.

Alas, the structure of the movie doesn't make this difficult; it makes it all but impossible. The history and quirks of the characters are interspersed via exposition throughout, but some key background information is withheld until a point at which Dr. Who neophytes will be maddeningly confused and frustrated.

More's the pity. The 724th installment of the world's longest running sci-fi series (Dr. Who premiered in Great Britain in 1963) is a rousing, rollicking adventure, even from a first-timer's vantage point

The special effects in the previous Dr. Who episodes are reportedly really cheesy, which is part of the series' campy appeal. Not so in the Fox movie; it is top-shelf high-tech from the opening titles through the nerve-jangling climax. (Purists will probably complain that it's too commercial.)

With so much going for it, Dr. Who would be well advised to follow the lead of British dramas on PBS and provide a host to set the stage. Since Fox has announced no such plans, we'll provide this service.

Dr. Who is a time traveler from a planet called Gallifrey. He cruises the universe in a container known as the Tardis (for Time and Relative Dimension in Space). The exterior is that of a British police call box - essentially a port-a-john with a phone. Wondrously, the interior is as opulent and huge as the lobby of Caesar's Palace. (Don't ask questions; just go with it.)

The Doctor has 13 lives and has used just over half of them. Every time he dies, he regenerates into a new body and picks up where he left off. (It's kind of like what NYPD Blue did with Jimmy Smits and David Caruso, although more imaginatively explained.) This has allowed eight different actors to play the role. The seventh, Sylvester McCoy, appears in the film to provide an orderly transition to No. 8, Paul McGann.

Dr. Who's mortal enemy is another time traveler, an intergalactic outlaw called The Master. As the film opens, The Master has run out of lives and is being transported back to the home planet for eternal imprisonment. But the Gallifreyian equivalent of a Transylvanian spike through the heart has been overlooked.

Before you can say, "Can you believe millions believe this?" The Master has sabotaged the Tardis, forced a crash landing in San Francisco two days before the millennium and slithered into the body of a paramedic played by Eric Roberts.

Like so many others, Dr. Who winds up leaving his heart in San Francisco. Fortunately, another of his unique traits is that he has two. The gorgeous doctor who treats him doesn't know this and is so bummed out at losing him on the operating table, she agrees to join his pursuit of The Master.

Daphne Ashbrook plays the physician, Grace Holloway, who shows up for surgery in an only-on-Fox bosom-accentuating gown.

Actually, it is in Dr. Holloway's interest to assist Dr. Who no matter how she feels about him. The Master plans to implode Earth at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.

It's as hokey as it sounds, but with a generous suspension of disbelief, it's grand fun

Caption: PHOTOFox photo(color) Paul MaGann is the eighth Dr. Who, a British creation who has been time-traveling since 1963.

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