Production Code: TVM
First Transmitted
1 - 12/05/1996 (Canada) | 27/05/1996 20:30 (UK)
Plot
The Master is apparently exterminated by the Daleks on Skaro, and the Doctor agrees to take his remains back to Gallifrey in the TARDIS. The Master is not really dead, however, but has transformed into a shapeless morphant creature. He causes the TARDIS to make an emergency landing on Earth, in the city of San Francisco, in the year 1999.
The Doctor emerges from the ship to find himself in the midst of a street battle between rival gangs. He sustains gunshot wounds and, accompanied by young gang member Chang Lee, is taken to hospital for emergency treatment.
Surgeon Dr Grace Holloway attempts to save his life but, failing to understand his alien physiology, actually causes his 'death'. The Doctor later regenerates into his eighth physical form. The Master has meanwhile taken over the body of an ambulance driver named Bruce. This is just a temporary measure until he can achieve his ultimate goal: to inhabit the Doctor's body.
He gains access to the Doctor's TARDIS and, with lies and false promises, wins Chang Lee over to his side. The Doctor manages to convince Grace that he is the same man that she thought had died on her operating table, and that he is an alien Time Lord - albeit half-human on his mother's side.
Together they race against time to prevent the Master's scheme from bringing about the Earth's destruction at midnight on 31 December. They eventually succeed, and the Master is sucked into the Eye of Harmony within the TARDIS's cloister room. The Doctor bids farewell to Grace and Chang Lee - who ultimately saw the error of his ways - and departs in the TARDIS as the world celebrates the millenium.
Episode Endings
The new Doctor settles back in his armchair in the TARDIS control room to continue reading H G Wells' novel The Time Machine. The gramophone record that he is listening to suddenly gets stuck in a groove, as it did at the start of the adventure, and he exclaims: 'Oh no, not again!'
Dialogue Triumphs
Dr Grace Holloway : "But you have no recollection of family?"
The Doctor : "No. No wait... I do. I remember. We're lying back in the grass. It's a warm Gallifreyan night."
Dr Grace Holloway : "Gallifreyan?"
The Doctor : "Gallifrey! Yes, this must be where I live. Now, where is that?"
Dr Grace Holloway : "I've never heard of it. What do you remember?"
The Doctor : "A meteor storm! And the sky above us was dancing with lights - purple, green, brilliant yellow..."
The Doctor : "Grace, I came back to life before your eyes. I held back death. Look, I can't make your dream come true forever, but I can make it come true today."
The Master : "I always dress for the occasion."
The Doctor : "You want dominion over the living, yet all you do is kill!"
The Master : "Life is wasted on the living!"
Continuity
The Seventh Doctor now travels alone [various explanations for Ace's departure are given in books, webcasts, and comic strips - in several of them she dies].
The Daleks appear to have a legal system which includes trials and formal executions. They appear to have arranged with both the Time Lords and the Doctor for their mortal enemy to visit Skaro to collect the Master's mortal remains.
The Master's ashes have shape-changing abilities [Time Lords can obviously regenerate even when their bodies are severely destroyed, but are unable to regenerate into a full human body, assuming instead that of a snake-like being that can possess other beings].
We learn that Twentieth Century Earth is in the "Humanian Era". Other eras shown own the TARDIS's co-ordinates panel include the Sumaron Era and the Rassilon Era.
When searching for clothes in the hospital, the Doctor discovers a scarf similar to that worn by his fourth incarnation.
The Doctor has a new sonic screwdriver. The original was destroyed by the Terileptil leader in 17th century England. He also carries items associated with the Fourth Doctor, such as jelly babies and a yo-yo, and the Fifth Doctor's toolkit.
The Doctor is half human, on his mother's side. This is news to the Master. [And to us.]
The TARDIS has been impressively redesigned, and includes a [link to] the Eye of Harmony as a power source.
When the Eye of Harmony in the TARDIS is opened, it will have disastrous consequences unless it can be closed with a Beryllium clock. A Beryllium clock is being built at the Institute of Technological Advancement and Research in San Francisco as a way of celebrating the new millennium. Which [in this universe] takes place across the globe at exactly the same time.
The Doctor kisses a lady.
QV
Location
San Francisco, Earth, 1999.
Trivia
Sylvester McCoy gives a dignified performance in his last appearance as the seventh Doctor.
The Doctor's sonic screwdriver returns.
The movie was originally supposed to open with a voice-over monologue by the Master - hence the on-screen credit given to actor Gordon Tipple. In the version shown to test audiences this was replaced with one by Paul McGann as the Doctor. This too was eventually dropped and replaced with a different one by McGann when the producers concluded as a result of these screenings that American viewers unfamiliar with Doctor Who needed an introduction that would more clearly explain the premise to them.
Myth
This movie had the working title The Enemy Within. (Executive producer Philip Segal suggested to fans that if they wanted a title for the movie other than just Doctor Who, they could refer to it as Enemy Within. However neither Enemy Within nor The Enemy Within was ever used as a working title during production.)
Cast & Crew
Cast
The Doctor - Paul McGann
Dr Grace Holloway - Daphne Ashbrook
Chang Lee - Yee Jee Tso
Curtis - Dolores Drake
Dr Swift - Michael David Simms
Gareth - Jeremy Radick
Miranda - Eliza Roberts
Motorcycle Policeman - Bill Croft
News Anchor - Mi-Jung Lee
News Anchor - Joanna Piros
Pete - William Sasko
Professor Wagg - Dave Hurtubise
Salinger - John Novak
Security man - Dee Jay Jackson
Ted - Joel Wirkkunen
The Master - Eric Roberts
The Old Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
The Old Master - Gordon Tipple
Wheeler - Catherine Lough
Crew
Director - Geoffery Sax
The Enemy Within