Phil Edwards

I bought the DVD of this recently, not having seen it since it first went out in 1996. OK, it's a difficult one to review, in some respects, because it doesn't really know what it's supposed to be. As a stand-alone film it's average. A bit of action, and few chases, a bad guy, some romance, the usual TV movie stuff. If it came on TV on a Sunday afternoon I'd watch it and be adequately entertained. But...as a continuation of the Doctor Who story/canon it doesn't really work. McGann's Doctor isn't given enough time to attain "likeability" (not McGann's fault, he does well with what he has to work with), and he comes across as an odd combination of motorbike-riding action-man and wannabe "dashing hero" who's slightly lost and vulnerable. I guess they were going for an action-packed TV movie while. There are aspects of it that massively reference the previous Doctor Who back story, but also introducing new ideas about the Doctor being half-human. And this is where the confusion comes in. Either make it a feature length Doctor Who epidode in the traditional style, or make a stand-alone (off series) film like the two old Peter Cushing ones. Trying to combine the two just seems the worst of both worlds. But it's watchable, so I gave it an "average" 3 stars.