History Recap / DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Grace comes off a bit like this; one minute, she's floating the possibility that the man with two hearts and blood that is 'not blood' is some kind of (presumably hyper-advanced) 'weird genetics experiment'. The next minute, when he's claiming to be an alien, she's screaming that he's a lunatic and running away from him in terror. Oh, like ''your'' explanation made any more sense, Grace?

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: The Doctor hears that an ambulance summoned to take him to a psychiatric ward has arrived, and happily concludes that it's going to take him straight to the beryllium clock he needs to save the day.

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: The Doctor gets a bit hysterical immediately after he realises the Master's loose, in his TARDIS and planning to suck the Earth through a black hole and steal his body. Unfortunately, this doesn't help him convince Grace of this. Although to be fair to him, he'd just very suddenly recovered all his memories and was presumably knocked a bit out of joint; his later attempts at trying to convince her of this are a lot calmer, but by this point she's not believing a word he says.

** Secondly, the Eighth Doctor tries to persuade Grace that he's both an alien, and that the world is going to be destroyed at midnight if she doesn't help him. She tries to get him committed, and it takes getting acidic vomit being spat on her arm by a dead paramedic with unnaturally green eyes possessed by an evil Time Lord to convince her that maybe there's some validity to his story.

** Mildly averted when the Doctor installs the beryllium clock and closes the Eye of Harmony, but still doesn't avert the vaguely defined universal disaster. When Grace protests that it's only 11:48, the Doctor replies, "Yes, but there's no context!"

* BookEnds: At the beginning and the end, both the Seventh Doctor and the Eighth Doctor sit down to read ''TheTimeMachine'' and listen to a jazz record -- which begins to skip, [[{{Foreshadowing}} suggesting that]] [[AndTheAdventureContinues trouble's afoot]]...

* NinetiesAdventureSeries: Has style of one

** Mildly averted when the Doctor installs the beryllium clock and closes the Eye of Harmony, but still doesn't avert the vaguely defined universal disaster. When Grace protests that it's only 11:48, the Doctor replies, "Yes, but there's no context!"
* YourMileageMayVary: Opinion varies wildly as to whether the movie is what almost killed the series off for good or was an acceptable addition to the canon. The same can be said of Eric Roberts' performance as the Master and those kissing scenes.

** Mildly averted when the Doctor installs the beryllium clock and closes the Eye of Harmony, but still doesn't avert the vaguely defined universal disaster. When Grace protests that it's only 11:48, the Doctor replies, "Yes, but there's no context!"

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/EightTardis_6717.jpg
[[caption-width:341:[[SceneryPorn Ain't they]] [[{{Bishonen}} pretty...]] ]]

And yet it's remarkable how true to the old series the movie ''was'' (that is, not screwing up as much), considering that [[TheyJustDidntCare some of the early scripts]] were about the Doctor as a kid, running around Gallifrey like a Time Lord {{Dennis The Menace|UK}}, aided and abetted by his brother, the Master...

** Mildly averted when the Doctor installs the beryllium clock and closes the Eye of Harmony, but still doesn't avert the vaguely defined universal disaster. When Grace protests that it's only 11:48, the Doctor replies, "Yes, but there's no context!"
* WTHCastingAgency: ''Eric Roberts'' as the freaking ''Master''? Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley are in a bar somewhere in the afterlife, drinking to forget this ever happened.
** Even ''DoctorWhoMagazine'' has said that better casting was done on the Master's CGI lizard-snake form.

* ForgotICouldFly: "We're ''in an ambulance''."

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tvmovie_9429.jpg

* BigDamnMovie: Inversion. This is probably one of the more simpler stories in Doctor Who, not to mention being shorter than many classic series (and a couple of new series) serials.

-->-- The Doctor takes a brief moment away from remembering his dark past to rejoice on how [[CrowningMomentOfFunny awesome the shoes he just got are.]]

In spite of the rather sad version of the Master[[hottip:*:Seriously, the actor believed that ''cheesy camp'' was the best way to play the character - not ''menacing ham''. This ''does'' make a difference, believe it or not.]] and the continuity errors that the ''DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse''[[hottip:*:Which itself made an absolute hellhole out of the Eighth Doctor's timeline because the producers of each media in the Expanded Universe at the time couldn't agree on the canonicity of the other medias compared to their own. Well, that's what you get with this movie being his only TV adventure.]] had to fix, this movie wasn't that bad at all. Paul [=McGann=] did a pretty awesome job as the Doctor: most Doctors take a few stories to really settle into the role, but Paul [=McGann=]'s Doctor leapt onto the screen fully formed. The companions weren't overly annoying and... well... ok, so the Seventh Doctor went out for no fucking reason, but it's still [[YourMileageMayVary a somewhat enjoyable movie (or painfully dull cash-in]]).

[[NoExportForYou Unavailable for many years in America]]: rights belong to {{Fox}}, {{Universal}} and {{the BBC}} - and none of them have airing or DVD rights in the USA. Until recently, that is. 2Entertain and Universal have worked out a deal. A Region 1 DVD release is expected within the next twelve months.

This is considered canon by most of the production staff; RussellTDavies specifically mentioned this story when promoting the revived show in 2005, and clips or sketches of [=McGann=] as the Eighth Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E8HumanNature have]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E14TheNextDoctor been]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E01TheEleventhHour seen]] in the new series. The Tenth Doctor also mentioned in he's regenerated "half a dozen" times since [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear the Fourth Doctor left behind Sarah Jane]] when [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E3SchoolReunion he reunites with her]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger Craig stated that the Doctor he lived with was the Eleventh after their psychic headbutts]], cementing that there is in fact an Eighth Doctor.

* BigDamnMovie: Inversion. This is probably one of the more simpler stories in Doctor Who.

* FridgeLogic: Why did the Doctor have all that crazy bondage gear on the TARDIS? And if it wasn't originally there, where the hell did the Master find it? It seemed to serve an oddly specific purpose, and even Seven wasn't likely to want to steal someone else's regenerations.
** Since when did the Daleks hold trials for their foes? OK Davros got one but that was special. More than that though, given the nature of The Master's last request the Daleks must have '''DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS''' with Galifrey. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? My sense metre is reading 0.00.
*** Since [[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E6RevelationOfTheDaleks Revelation of the Daleks]]. [[FridgeBrilliance Presumably they were angry with his failure in in]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace Frontier in Space]].

* LoveItOrHateIt: Some fans hate it, some fans love it. And some fans refuse to admit it even exists - but ''most'' agree that Paul [=McGann=] was a good Doctor, and that the Master was painfully bad.

* {{Narm}}: Grace's Dramatic Opera Dress Slo-Mo Running[[{{Tradesnark}} ™]] has been cited a few times. The Master in general.

* TheScrappy: Roberts' portrayal of the Master is widely hated by everyone. Also to a lesser extent, Chang Lee.
** Actually, there are any number of fans who enjoy Roberts' portrayal, particularly in retrospect after John Simm's hyperactive version of the character.

* [[SpecialEffectFailure Voice Effect Failure]]: The producers made a particularly bad choice by deciding to simply use [[WallBanger high-pitched chipmunk voices]] for Daleks, rather than their iconic ring modulator voices.

* WhatTheHellHero: Grace is the first companion to actually ''kill'' the Doctor. To be fair, she had no idea she was operating on an alien.

*** Jump 9 years later, and try telling that to [[DracoInLeatherPants the fans]] of [[DannyPhantom that other time-travelling being of pure bastardry portrayed by Roberts]].[[hottip:*:In other words, Roberts did learn a thing or two from his brief stint as the Master when voicing [[CompleteMonster the even more abhorrent]] Dark Danny. As in, not resorting to ''cheesy camp''.]]

<<|Recap/DoctorWho|>>

** Actually, there are any number of fans who enjoy Roberts' portrayal, particularly in retrospect after we got John Simm's hyperactive version.

* FanNickname: Eight is known in segments of the fandom as "The Oncoming Pretty".

* NoExportForYou: Despite being partially an American production, for legal reasons the TVM has never been released on home video in the United States, until the recent announcement that 2Entertainment and Universal have finally hammered out a deal. A Region 1 DVD release is expected at some point in the next twelve months.

* NoExportForYou: Despite being partially an American production, for legal reasons the TVM has never been released on home video in the United States, and may well never be.

[[NoExportForYou Just don't expect it in America]]: rights belong to {{Fox}}, {{Universal}} and {{the BBC}} - and none of them have airing or DVD rights in the USA.

And yet it's remarkable how true to the old series the movie ''was'' (that is, not screwing up as much), considering that [[TheyJustDidntCare some of the early scripts]] were about the Doctor as a kid, running around Gallifrey like a Time Lord {{Dennis The Menace|UK}}, aided and abetted by his brother, the Master... [[SoYeah yeah.]]

* AwesomeAnachronisticApparel: The Eighth Doctor's outfit is full Victorian; he stole it from a man going to a fancy-dress ball.