Eighth Doctor...
Doctor Who: The Enemy Within (Episode 156) - The movie begins with the Seventh Doctor traveling to Gallifrey with the ashes of the Master, whom we are told in the opening narration has been put on trial by the Daleks and executed. His last request was that the Doctor return his remains to his home world.
However, it seems somehow that the Master has managed to keep himself alive, in the form of a disembodied snake-like creature. He breaks out of his urn and forces the TARDIS to land in San Fransisco in the year 1999, right in the middle of a gang war. Startled by his sudden appearance, the gang members fire on the Doctor, hitting him numerous time. He is taken to a hospital, but he dies because his physicians ignore his appeals that he is not physiologically human.
In the morgue the Doctor regenerates and manages to convince physician Grace Holloway that he is the same man she saw in the operating room. With her help he discovers that the Master is intent on opening the Eye of Harmony with which he hopes to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations. If the eye is opened for too long, it will also destroy the molecular structure of the planet. It's up to the Doctor and Grace to close they eye and stop the Master once and for all...
The TV movie's heart is in the right place, but ultimately it fails to capture the original essence of the classic series or put forth an intriguing story-line. Although it was thoughtful to give Sylvester McCoy a proper farewell, his actual exit is horrible. He is brutally shot down in a back alley like a criminal, and he dies pointlessly in a hospital without friends. There are major continuity problems like the Eye of Harmony being in the Doctor's TARDIS, and the notion that the Doctor is half-human was almost universally disliked by fans. The story works only on the most superficial of levels, and very much against the spirit of classic Who, focuses more on production and standard action fare than character development or a well plotted narrative. Although the TV movie was the only thing 90s Doctor Who fans had to keep them warm at night, the plot itself is disappointing, and if the series had started up again one wonders how good of a show it actually would have been.
However, it seems somehow that the Master has managed to keep himself alive, in the form of a disembodied snake-like creature. He breaks out of his urn and forces the TARDIS to land in San Fransisco in the year 1999, right in the middle of a gang war. Startled by his sudden appearance, the gang members fire on the Doctor, hitting him numerous time. He is taken to a hospital, but he dies because his physicians ignore his appeals that he is not physiologically human.
In the morgue the Doctor regenerates and manages to convince physician Grace Holloway that he is the same man she saw in the operating room. With her help he discovers that the Master is intent on opening the Eye of Harmony with which he hopes to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations. If the eye is opened for too long, it will also destroy the molecular structure of the planet. It's up to the Doctor and Grace to close they eye and stop the Master once and for all...
The TV movie's heart is in the right place, but ultimately it fails to capture the original essence of the classic series or put forth an intriguing story-line. Although it was thoughtful to give Sylvester McCoy a proper farewell, his actual exit is horrible. He is brutally shot down in a back alley like a criminal, and he dies pointlessly in a hospital without friends. There are major continuity problems like the Eye of Harmony being in the Doctor's TARDIS, and the notion that the Doctor is half-human was almost universally disliked by fans. The story works only on the most superficial of levels, and very much against the spirit of classic Who, focuses more on production and standard action fare than character development or a well plotted narrative. Although the TV movie was the only thing 90s Doctor Who fans had to keep them warm at night, the plot itself is disappointing, and if the series had started up again one wonders how good of a show it actually would have been.