- 2 minutes ago
Those Doctor Who video games, movies, and shows that the BBC probably wishes it could exterminate.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00With Doctor Who having one of the largest, most enduring fanbases in pop culture,
00:04any project bearing that brand name is guaranteed to be given a great deal of attention.
00:09But what isn't guaranteed is that the projects themselves will be popular or high quality,
00:14or that the fanbase will respond to them in a positive manner.
00:18Indeed, with so many spin-off shows, video games, comics, movies, audio dramas and animations
00:23having been produced throughout Doctor Who's long 60-year lifespan,
00:27it's inevitable that there are some the BBC probably wants you to forget.
00:31So with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Who Culture,
00:34and here are 10 Doctor Who flops the BBC has buried.
00:38Number 10. Destiny of the Doctors
00:40Doctor Who hasn't had the best of luck in the video game space.
00:44Though things are looking more positive lately with Maze Theory's solid work on The Lonely Assassins
00:49and The Edge of Reality, the majority of previous titles, from old-school fare like The First Adventure
00:55to the recent MMO Worlds in Time, have either reviewed poorly, flopped or disappointed fans.
01:01Sometimes all three.
01:02But while we're singling out individual projects, one of the most notable failures in Doctor Who's gaming catalogue
01:08is the 1997 release Destiny of the Doctors, which initially showed a lot of promise due to the involvement
01:14of several actors from the show, including Tom Baker, Anthony Ainley, and Nicholas Courtney,
01:20alongside Terence Dix, one of Doctor Who's very best writers.
01:24Unfortunately, though, the final product proved a big letdown.
01:28Bizarrely, the player didn't even control the Doctor, instead stepping into the shoes of a jellyfish-like alien called the Grark.
01:34And despite having a limitless universe to explore, the game also took place in dull, repetitive environments.
01:40But arguably, its worst offence was its sleep-inducing gameplay, which didn't come anywhere close to capturing
01:46the excitement or wonder of the show.
01:49All you really need to know is that one of the game's more favourable reviews labelled it a piece of crap.
01:54So it really isn't surprising that this underwhelming title has essentially been discarded from Doctor Who memory.
02:009. The TV Movie
02:02The TV movie was one of several unusual Doctor Who projects produced during the wilderness years.
02:07The period of time when the show was off the air between 1989 and 2005.
02:12Though the BBC was involved in making it, the TV movie was mostly an American-led production,
02:17with the Fox network reportedly considering a full series, but only if this backdoor pilot proved a success.
02:24And because that series never did materialise, it's clear that the parties involved felt that the TV movie
02:29didn't strike the chords they wanted it to, whether from a ratings, critical, or fan-pleasing perspective.
02:34It's not terrible by any means. Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor is actually rather wonderful,
02:39and it's worth watching for him alone.
02:41But the TV movie is widely considered the black sheep of Doctor Who's mainline television outings.
02:47What's more, the fact that the BBC decided to go in a new direction with Doctor Who in the years after the TV movie aired
02:53makes it clear that the corporation considered it something of a failed experiment.
02:578. Class
02:59Modern Doctor Who spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures enjoyed a great deal of success during their lifetimes,
03:05so hopes were high that 2016's class would be able to capture that same magic.
03:11And though the eight-episode series, which centres on a group of students battling aliens at the Hooniverse's iconic Cole Hill School,
03:18received positive reviews and a favourable fan response,
03:21it never felt like a core part of the Doctor Who world in the same way that those aforementioned spin-offs did.
03:27And its initial broadcast on BBC Three almost made it feel like the BBC had zero confidence in it,
03:33like the broadcaster was sending it out to die.
03:36And that's exactly what it did.
03:37Class was cancelled after one series due to consistently poor ratings throughout its run,
03:43with the BBC giving it very little time in the spotlight since.
03:46Fans don't talk about it all that much either, probably because very few of them have seen it.
03:51And though Class did receive the Big Finish audio treatment in 2018,
03:56that did very little to revive interest in the property.
03:597. Scream of the Schalke
04:01Another project produced during the wilderness years,
04:04animated webcast Scream of the Schalke aired six episodes as part of Doctor Who's 40th anniversary celebrations.
04:10Featuring the voices of Richard E. Grant as the 9th Doctor
04:14and Sophie Okonedo as his companion Allison,
04:17Scream of the Schalke represented Doctor Who's big leap into the animated medium.
04:21And though certainly a decent effort considering its obvious budget restrictions,
04:25the miniseries had slowly but surely been swept under the rug as the years have ticked by.
04:30While fans generally appreciate Scream of the Schalke,
04:33it didn't exactly set the world on fire when it released in 2003.
04:37But even more damning is the fact that the BBC literally did bury it
04:41when the company completely ignored its events come the 2005 revival.
04:46Richard E. Grant's 9th Doctor was stricken from canon and recast,
04:50enter Christopher Eccleston,
04:51and the entire series is no longer considered a proper part of the Doctor Who timeline.
04:56It didn't help Schalke's case that revival mastermind Russell T. Davies apparently dislikes the series.
05:02He reportedly called Grant's Doctor terrible,
05:05dooming this animated effort to be remembered as a sidelined wilderness project forevermore.
05:106. The K-9 Spin-Off Series
05:13When K-9 returned to Doctor Who in the second series of the revival,
05:16it was hoped that we'd continue to see more of the beloved Robo-Mutt.
05:20And we did.
05:20The very next year, K-9 appeared in a spin-off show that was adored by fans and was a ratings hit,
05:26cementing his position as one of the greatest Doctor Who companions ever.
05:30We're talking, of course, about the Sarah Jane adventures,
05:33because the words adored and hit cannot be used to describe the other K-9 spin-off we're actually here to talk about.
05:39K-9, as it was titled, is the TV equivalent of a knock-off food brand.
05:43Sure, it did star K-9, and it was even developed by Bob Baker,
05:47the man who created the cyber-dog way back in the 1970s.
05:51But on the other hand, the show wasn't considered a part of Doctor Who canon.
05:55It was produced without any input from the BBC,
05:57and K-9's hideous redesign made him look like a discount wannabe version of our favourite talking pooch.
06:03That redesign was one of many sticking points fans had with the show,
06:07and a second series never materialised.
06:10It was a baffling decision to go ahead with this Elseworld spin-off in the first place,
06:14because fans were already getting a K-9 fix on the Sarah Jane adventures.
06:18You know, that proper official Doctor Who spin-off.
06:21And with no support from the BBC, this particular K-9 outing was doomed from the start.
06:26Number 5. The Infinite Quest and Dreamland
06:29Doctor Who hit its stride in the animated realm
06:32when it started reconstructing missing episodes for a whole new generation to enjoy.
06:37But it wasn't too long ago that the BBC churned out a pair of awful cartoons that are best left forgotten.
06:42Released in 2007 and 2009 respectively,
06:46The Infinite Quest and Dreamland star David Tennant's 10th Doctor
06:50on a pair of standalone adventures separate from the storylines of the main show.
06:55Though the basic idea had promise, and Tennant acquits himself admirably,
06:59these animated escapades received heavy criticism for their lacklustre execution,
07:04mainly down to their stiff, janky, and painfully low-budget visuals,
07:08which makes them almost unbearable to sit through.
07:10At a time when Doctor Who was firing on all cylinders under showrunner Russell T. Davies
07:15and leading man Tennant, The Infinite Quest and Dreamland were comparative misfires
07:20that failed to satisfy from a quality perspective,
07:23and also couldn't generate the level of buzz you'd expect from an official 10th Doctor-led spin-off.
07:28It's telling that the BBC hasn't really tried anything like this since,
07:32and you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who looks back on these outings with a great deal of fondness.
07:37Number 4. Doctor Who Return to Earth
07:39A Doctor Who game on the Nintendo Wii sounds like a great idea on paper,
07:43allowing players to wave around the Wii remote like a sonic screwdriver.
07:47And though we did actually get a Doctor Who game on the Wii back in 2010,
07:52the world would have been a better place if it never saw the light of day.
07:56Doctor Who Return to Earth features Matt Smith and Karen Gillan as the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond,
08:01telling an original story revolving around the Daleks, the Cybermen,
08:05and a dangerous device called the Time Axis.
08:07The potential was high, and with a reported £10 million contract in play,
08:12the devs at Asylum Entertainment had more than enough money to realise the game's ambition.
08:17Unfortunately, though, that's not how it went.
08:19With unimpressive sales figures and 1 out of 10 review scores galore,
08:24Return to Earth might be one of the worst games in the entire Wii library.
08:28With the BBC reportedly eager to make games for the Wii's large family audience,
08:32it tells you all you need to know about how embarrassing Return to Earth was for them,
08:37that it was Doctor Who's last outing on the beloved Nintendo system.
08:41Number 3. Dimensions in Time
08:43The BBC was clearly scrambling to keep Doctor Who relevant during the wilderness years,
08:48prompting them to do all sorts of weird and unexpected things.
08:51The pinnacle of that weirdness was the 1993 Children in Need special Dimensions in Time,
08:56which combined the pulpy, fantastical, timey-wimey world of Doctor Who
09:00with the chip shops, pubs, and laundrettes of EastEnders.
09:04Bringing back the first seven Doctors in a story that saw them join forces with the EastEnders crew
09:08in an effort to stop the Rani,
09:11the resulting project is a cringe-fest from start to finish.
09:14With frustratingly cheap production values, even by Doctor Who standards,
09:19a nonsensical plot,
09:20and the nightmarish floating heads of the first and second Doctors,
09:23which hilariously bounce around the screen like the old DVD logo,
09:27Dimensions in Time was a misguided effort on just about every level.
09:31Considering that Dimensions in Time is one of the most-watched Doctor Who stories ever,
09:35all it did was solidify the public perception of Doctor Who at the time,
09:39that the show was a joke.
09:41You won't find many fans who'll come to its defence,
09:43and the BBC, unsurprisingly, hasn't been eager to put it out on streaming.
09:47Number 2. Downtime and Deimos Rising
09:50Another weird Wilderness Years project, Downtime, like The Canine Show,
09:54was produced without the BBC's input, so it was essentially buried from the start.
09:59Released in 1995, this unofficial Doctor Who movie angled itself as a sequel to the second Doctor stories,
10:05The Abominable Snowman and The Web of Fear,
10:07bringing back Nicholas Courtney and Elizabeth Sladen to reprise their roles from the show,
10:12and also introducing the Brigadier's daughter, Kate Stewart.
10:15Downtime was followed by a sequel, Deimos Rising, in 2004,
10:20another unofficial project that did away with pretty much all recognisable Doctor Who connections,
10:25including Courtney and Sladen, and instead continued Kate's story.
10:29Unofficial productions rarely manage to overcome that barrier of feeling like cheap knock-offs,
10:34and that's exactly how Downtime and Deimos Rising come off.
10:37Though Downtime fares the best, it also feels the more official of the two,
10:41thanks to the involvement of Courtney and Sladen, Deimos Rising is absolutely terrible,
10:46and it's no surprise that most fans don't even know these direct-to-video oddities exist.
10:50Understandably, the BBC completely ignored these projects come the 2005 revival,
10:55and Kate was recast for her reintroduction in Series 7's The Power of Three.
11:001. Doctor in Distress
11:02The following quote from Ian Levine, music producer, Doctor Who superfan,
11:06and the guy who co-wrote Doctor in Distress,
11:09perfectly encapsulates the general feeling towards the ill-conceived 1985 charity single.
11:15He stated,
11:16For those unaware, Doctor Who in Distress was produced when the show was put on hiatus in the mid-1980s.
11:34The song was intended as a protest against that decision,
11:38with the hope being that the BBC would take note and bring Doctor Who back.
11:41And while Doctor Who did ultimately return, it's fair to say that Doctor in Distress was not one of the reasons why.
11:47The song was universally panned, it failed to chart in the UK,
11:51and incredibly, the BBC downright refused to play it on its radio stations.
11:55In short, the whole thing was an unmitigated disaster.
11:59The only good thing to come of it was that it served as a stepping stone in the career of legendary film composer Han Zimmer,
12:05who played the music for the song.
12:07Not exactly his finest day at the office.
12:09And that concludes our list.
12:11If you can think of any other Doctor Who flops, then do let us know in the comments below.
12:15And while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
12:19Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there,
12:21and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
12:25I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of Riversong herself,
12:29goodbye, sweeties.
Recommended
13:05
|
Up next
15:53
8:08
4:01
1:36
1:13
1:37
1:59
12:08
10:16
8:48
9:48
24:52
10:18
Be the first to comment