Harry Potter Director Helms Doctor Who Movie

[Marshall Honorof]

Harry Potter Director Helms Doctor Who Movie

A new Doctor Who feature film is in the works, and David Yates of Harry Potter fame wants to bring it to the big screen.

It's time for a serious confession: The first time I ever watched an episode of Doctor Who, the campy, smart, ridiculously long-running [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZqv0j8Nfr8] British sci-fi series was two days ago. For a new fan - even one who enjoyed the show, like me - getting into an IP with four decades of backstory is a daunting prospect. Luckily, David Yates, director of the four most recent Harry Potter movies, has joined forces with BBC Worldwide to take a stab at adapting the Doctor's adventures for the big screen. While Doctor Who has already provided a few feature films, this would be the first one to see a theatrical release in almost fifty years.

Longtime fans may be distressed (and new fans may be relieved) to learn that Yates has no intention of connecting his new film with the current show's continuity. "[Recent series writers] Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch," says Yates. The director has every intention of staying true to the spirit of the source material: the story of a time-traveling, tweed-clad adventurer who fights evil wherever - and whenever - it occurs, armed with a sidekick and a surprisingly versatile screwdriver. Still, some changes will be in order, especially to fit it into a two-hour format. "It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena."

The good Doctor has already starred in three feature films: two in the 1960s that made it to theaters, and one in the 1990s that did not. Yates's ace in the hole for this project comes in the form of Jane Tranter, a powerful British producer. Tranter has some impressive projects to her name, including the 2005 miniseries Rome and the 1999 BBC production of David Copperfield. Furthermore, she proved her Doctor Who prowess by producing two episodes of the series spinoff Torchwood. There's no guarantee that the movie will see the light of day, but Yates and Tranter working together will make a powerful case for it.

There's no doubt that some Doctor Who fans will see the film as a godsend, while others will await an impending disaster. In my case, I'll have to watch quite a few more episodes before I'm educated enough to have an opinion on it. Sitting on the couch while watching hours upon hours of charming British sci-fi is a tough job, but I think I'm just the man to do it.

Source: Variety [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118046098]

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[Vault Citizen]

Longtime fans may be distressed (and new fans may be relieved) to learn that Yates has no intention of connecting his new film with the current show's continuity. "[Recent series writers] Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch," says Yates. The director has every intention of staying true to the spirit of the source material: the story of a time-traveling, tweed-clad adventurer who fights evil wherever - and whenever - it occurs, armed with a sidekick and a surprisingly versatile screwdriver. Still, some changes will be in order, especially to fit it into a two-hour format. "It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena."

And that is the sentence that immediately killed my enthusiasm for this movie, I'll probably be excited again closer to the time but for me this paragraph has ruined a lot of the point of such a movie. The little doctor who fan inside of me is saying "continuity or GTFO"

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I'm going to predict a 6/10 already. It will be nothing special. But it might make more people interested in the series.

 

[Seventh Actuality]

Furthermore, she proved her Doctor Who prowess by producing two series of the series spinoff Torchwood.

PffftttAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH...awww, damn. Torchwood. That's real good.

On a serious note: this is pointless, will probably come to nothing and if it does come out stands a good chance of being worse than nothing. Russel T Davies already wasted three whole seasons of DW showing us what it would look like under the control of people who desperately want to be Hollywood with all of their talentless little hearts. Now that Steven Moffat has finally turned the show into something reliably watchable again, they want to do...this?

Ah, well. It probably won't make the actual show slip back into Shitsville, and it might get some people into DW. Hell, it's not inconcievable that it could maybe be good, just so unlikely that I don't know why you'd bother. The two movies with Peter Cushing were what got me into Doctor Who as a kid, after all.

 

[Sucal]

YES!!!!

Make it a big hollywood movie. Gotta americanise it though, otherwise the producers won't quite be able to understand.

Sonic screw driver? Who needs that, the doctor can operate with a laser canon or a bazooka right? Daleks in tin cans? Oh no, we can't have that, our Hero needs a love interest. Only the male daleks live in the cans, while the females look suspiciously like DD blond haired and blue eyed american ex porn stars who want to try and go legit. Oh and we need to pretend we are a series art-house movie, the ocsars love that crap. So lets make the Daleks all black... or museum. Actually lets make it both, make museum tincan daleks, that's all edgy, hip and rad isn't it.

I mean, its a science fiction movie right? That means stuff needs to blow up... someone fire that British guy, get Micheal bay in here. Ok, now we have an director, and a plot (Daleks evil, doctor blow them up and steal all their women) we need a star. Hmm, a fussy old British man in a tweed coat? As our action hero, I think not. We need someone who can put butts in seats, someone who can we rely on to attract an audience for a sequel. That Bielber kid is free isn't he? Throw in a couple of shirtless scenes, after inserting one into the trailer and we will have a hit for sure.

Now our budget is starting to run over a little, so lets get some corporate sponsorship and make some of our money spent on this crap back. Tea, fish fingers and custard? How are we meant to sell that crap.

Mountain dew and twinkies are more like it, someone get Pepsi-Co on the phone, get them to make a special limited edition collector cans for the nerds to collect.

Gentlemen, I think we have a hit in our hands. Just to make sure, lets give them a 3 month time limit, and secretly cut the budget by 75% the day before shooting starts.

 

[wooty]

Huh, Dr who movie. Well at least it may turn these forums attention away from skyrim for a few weeks.

 

[Plinglebob]

The only Doctor Who movie I'd be interested in would be a two hour "Time War" starring Paul McGann (with a cameo from Chris Eccleston). That said, David Yates did a fairly decent job with the Harry Potter films and Torchwood was watchable so I doubt it would be a train wreck.

YES!!!!

Shhh, you'll give them ideas.

 

[bladecuttersedge]

Not fitting into the continuity...I smell a hollywood reboot a coming. Will be interesting to see the outcome, but I can't say I'm looking forward to the movie.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

THE ONLY good thing that might come of this is that we get back story on Gallifrey. We'll get a Gallifreyan society that has depth. Otherwise this is going to be just another failing "time travel" movie like that movie that desperately wanted to capture Harry Potter's lightning in a bottle "The Seeker" (Not that badass Sam Raimi series, but the one about the little boy) or that last Michael Crighton film Timeline. It's going to be instantly forgettable and will probably kill any chance of an American Doctor Who series. Besides, I can already see someone whispering JOHNNY DEPP's name all over this project. Which will make me physically ILL.


I wish we could just sit down with Hollywood execs and forge out a deal. We will go watch and support certain movies and they do not touch certain properties in return. No Doctor Who. No Spawn movie. More Indiana Jones. And Shia Lebouf MUST be black-listed.

If only, if only.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

No thanks Hollwood, Russel T Davies already turned it into a Hollywood-esque story of star-crossed lovers and people hated that aspect of it. We're perfectly fine with Stephen Moffatt (a life-long fan I might add) being in charge, we don't need you thinking you could do better.

Not every British TV show needs to remade by you guys you know, you can leave some things alone.

 

[TimeLord]

No!

No canon means no good to many like myself. The Doctor Who movie of Paul McGann fame showed us just how a movie can go haywire with fans (half human my regenerating ass!). No input from Moffat or RTD could be catastrophic. Not using recent series actors doesn't have to be a deal breaker but capturing the spirit of Doctor Who does!

Will the Doctor carry a gun in the movie?
I wouldn't put it past them!

Basically this movie has the upmost potential to be a complete waste of time, ideas, money and will do good to never be released or get crushed by the overwhelming fan rage that long term fans like myself will direct until someone with actual connections to the BBC series at least advises Yates of the good and the bad.

Also, speaking of the BBC, I really hope they have the good sense not to license this out to Yates and his crew.

On a seperate tangent, this opertunity could be used to get a Time War movie going. Ever since 2005 many fans have liked the idea of expanding the Time War story to fill the void between 8 and 9. It could be so brilliant! Have the Doctor (McGann is getting on a bit age wise so I could accept a new actor to play 8) start the war an angry genocidal mad man (Gates of Elissyum) and them develop him into the more pacifist Doctor we know today (Davros/Nightmare Child scenario etc) but in the end he must still use "The Moment" to destroy the Time Lords and the Daleks. Hell! Even have a Master cameo of him fleeing at the taking of the Crucible! And finish with a short cameo from Eccleston as 8 regenerates into him. Since it has been accepted that 9 in Rose is very close to post regeneration to the point of not knowing what he looks like I can see this working.

I'll take my 50 million to make that film thanks.

 

[EvilPicnic]

Mmmmmmmrrrr...

I am extremely ambivalent (in the sense of having contradictory thoughts) but my feelings can basically be summed up as:

"continuity or GTFO"

The DW films in the 60s were superior to the series at the time and were basically just episodes transferred to big screen on an increased budget (and in colour!) but have been completely disregarded by the fan community since (much like the Shalka Doctor) because they are emphatically non-canon (and in a series where contradictions are often explained away with a hand-wave it takes a LOT to be non-canon).

It would be okay in principle if the film attracted more attention and budget to the main TV series, but I would have no interest in watching the thing.

What I WANT from a Doctor Who film is Paul McGann as Eight. The guy was was a fantastic Doctor, is still involved in the audio adventures and was the only good thing about the TV Movie (which is example of how NOT to do this sort of thing...) And he said in an interview not long ago that he would do it, 'As long as he didn't have to wear a wig'. I would love that. And with Eight it doesn't necessarily have to be connected to Nu Who itself at all if they don't want it to be.

But then they will probably want a bigger name, and a younger, more kid-friendly Doctor. Star Trek just about managed it. I suppose if they have to have a new Hollywood-worthy actor they could make him the Valeyard or something, but...but... no fuck it, McGann or nothing.

We need to start a petition...

 

[Sabrestar]

Well, I look at it this way. Being non-canon is probably at least harmless, the Peter Cushing movies were non-canon and they didn't hurt themselves or the series. The danger of a non-canon movie, though, especially in Hollywood's hands, is that it turns into a parallel series of several movies, creating is own continuity that gradually pulls further and further away from "mainline" continuity. Then eventually someone decides to make a big-budget "crossover" to reunite them all, which just makes things more complicated, &c.

Of course, Doctor Who Magazine has kept up an alternate storyline in their comics for a long time, and that's never been a problem.

I think this is a dangerous idea, but I'm not willing to write it off yet. As a fan who falls full-scale on the "classic Who" side of the Broken Base, I can accept the influx of fans that the new series brought as a good thing, regardless of any opinions I have about the series on its own. A movie could pull off the same trick, so I won't condemn it right away. (I'll wait till I know more.)

The only Doctor Who movie I'd be interested in would be a two hour "Time War" starring Paul McGann (with a cameo from Chris Eccleston).

Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes. Do this. McGann's take remains my favourite portrayal of the Doctor (regardless of the issues the movie had, fanon and Fox can explain away most of those anyway) and his version definitely needs more love. And this story needs to be told. And this coming from someone who hates the whole Time-War-as-escape-clause plothook that RTD and crew have used it for in the new series. It would be nice to see it done, provided it's done very well.

 

[Zach of Fables]

I got a very bad feeling about the claim that it is out of continuity. Doctor Who is a show that is easy to fit into continuity, so really what is so freaking hard about having Matt Smith or David Tennant star in it?

At the best, it will be very confusing. At the worst, it will be totally frak everything up. I suppose what is most likely is that it will be in the style of the 1991 Paul McGann movie.

Still, I'm glad Americans aren't the ones doing it. And I remain excited that the movie will work out in the end.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

Mm...This isn't going to end well.
At least it hasn't been bought up by hollywood, and BBC films is going for it.
That's... a bit better, right?

 

[D0WNT0WN]

Hmmm...

I have seen the previous Doctor Who movies and I found them to be a giant meh, The Doctor doesnt really translate well to the big screen.

 

[repeating integers]

THE ONLY good thing that might come of this is that we get back story on Gallifrey. We'll get a Gallifreyan society that has depth. Otherwise this is going to be just another failing "time travel" movie like that movie that desperately wanted to capture Harry Potter's lightning in a bottle "The Seeker" (Not that badass Sam Raimi series, but the one about the little boy) or that last Michael Crighton film Timeline. It's going to be instantly forgettable and will probably kill any chance of an American Doctor Who series. Besides, I can already see someone whispering JOHNNY DEPP's name all over this project. Which will make me physically ILL.

What? I've always thought Johnny Depp was perfect to play the Doctor.

 

[AnneSQF]

The only Doctor Who movie I'd be interested in would be a two hour "Time War" starring Paul McGann (with a cameo from Chris Eccleston).

THIS THIS THIS! For the love of all that is right THIS!

I'm excited although I know I shouldn't be. Not yet. But as long as they learn from their mistakes in the 8th-Doctor-movie it might be good.

Oh please, be good!