In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Okay, I watched this quite a while ago and the reason is that I am becoming a fan of Doctor Who, old and new. William Hartnell's Doctor is actually one of the few that takes a bit of time to get used to. If you haven't seen them then... He isn't as likable of a character as his later incarnations. Why am I bringing this up? Well if this movie can get me teary eyed about Hartnell leaving then I congratulate them for succeeding as well as they did.It's 1963 and Sydney Newman, being a well respected show-runner has a new vision in mind for a kids show to pass the time, nothing really special. About a centuries old alien that takes his granddaughter and her 2 Earth teachers on adventures on any point in the universe at any time, at first it doesn't go right with the original pilot having an almost unlikeable title character so after re-shooting the Kennedy Assassination occurs, so they decide to do what they can to make sure it lasts past them in cavemen times trying to search for fire again. So their next story, much to the dismay of Newman is about intergalactic exterminating aliens, They're called Daleks. You wouldn't know them. The rest seems to be history.Before I start giving this praise across the board on other things. The casting is brilliant. Everyone looks like the people they're playing and David Bradley does an A+ performance as William Hartnell, getting down the mannerisms and the way he talked to a tee. If anyone didn't do a good job, it was the guy they got to play Patrick Troughton. They look nothing alike, I don't think he even acted like him, either his persona of The Doctor or otherwise (I've seen interviews with him). But the best thing about this movie is by far how they portrayed Hartnell, not only in acting but in writing. You feel the fact that while Hartnell was a grumpy old man, he towards the end loved doing the show and to see him want to go on but has to face up to the fact that he can't, it's done perfectly. Actually, maybe not perfectly but I'll get to that.Probably the worst thing about it is that it drops some hints towards the new show and the fact that yes, Doctor Who is the most replaceable TV character of all time. Repeatedly Hartnell says he's irreplaceable even dropping it in conversation, It just sounds very stilted and it's almost like "Yes, we get it!". Oh and I also didn't like the Matt Smith cameo. I get it was the whole "look how far this show has come" but he's just thrown in there. Maybe something better would be that he looks at all the Doctors from 3 onwards to 11, I don't know - I just think it dated an otherwise timeless television movie.So, I would recommend it to anyone who's a fan of either show, people wanting to see a phenomenally well done underdog story or people wanting to see a well done true story movie, even if sometimes it took liberties with that happened. Either way, most of my complaints were me nitpicking because there is a lot that this does right.

For the 50th anniversary of the first screening of Dr Who on the BBC, infamously on the night of the JFK assassination, co-show-runner of the current globally successful re-boot of the programme, Mark Gatiss wrote and produced this gently reverent story of the initial conception and creation of the show.To be truthful there's not that much of a story or too much drama either but with its accurate recreation of the time and respectful tributes to key figures like the veteran actor William Hartnell who played the first Doctor, larger-than-life commissioning producer Sydney Lotterby, his protégé, young go-ahead female producer Verity Lambert and the young Indian director of the first show Waris Hussein, it was always watchable and entertaining.Conventionally told in chronological order, covering the time from 1963 up to Hartnell's departure from the show in 1966 to make way for the younger Patrick Troughton, there were nevertheless some nice ideas here, the passage of time denoted by a time-machine chronometer and the annual publicity photo-shoots for the Doctor's new companions, a great "from-the-floorboards-up" view of the operation of the first Dalek and the modest but effective display of the quickening popularity of the show amongst the young (a mother calling in her children playing outside to see "that programme you liked"). This was nicely rounded off at the finish with Hartnell slipping away quietly from an end-of-show party to the set of the TARDIS and looking across to see Matt Smith, the current incarnation opposite him, carrying the show onto new generations.Sentimental it may have been at times but as someone who grew up with the series in my own teenage years (although Troughton and Jon Pertwee were more "my" Doctors), this was a well-made and well-acted tribute to a British TV institution which you didn't have be a Whovian anorak to appreciate.

Overall, this is a very well-done movie detailing the early days of the Doctor Who series. It is well written, well acted - especially by a touching David Bradley and a sharp, funny Brian Cox - and moves well.In fact, I would argue that, even though it sometimes relies on a little Whovian knowledge on the part of the viewer, this is a solid portrayal of an adventure in broadcasting that is fun even if you aren't a Doctor Who fan.And that's why the last part of the movie bugs me. First off, near the end there's a cameo that makes no sense in terms of the movie itself. That is, if you haven't been watching Doctor Who the last few years you'll be perplexed. It's out of place, because there's no setup for it and it is there as very much a fan thing instead of a movie thing. It undercuts the emotional power of the scene and, even if you know who the actor is, just seems weird and pointless.After the movie ends, there is an immediate mini-documentary on William Hartnell. I don't know if this is officially part of the movie or just something the BBC stuck in to fill in the time, but if the former, it's a problem yet again. It's not that it's uninteresting, but that it once again says, "this wasn't a real movie, it was just this thing to appeal to Doctor Who fans."This movie is good enough that it didn't need to pander to its likely audience. And it doesn't, until the last 15 minutes.

While I WAS familiar with the David Tennant version of DR. WHO, I wasn't an avid viewer (primarily, I think, because the series simply wasn't being shown on any of the lousy pay television systems to which I'd subscribed over the years). I DID, however, come across the original series at the local library and I checked it out out of curiosity. Like DARK SHADOWS (the original black and white series), DR. WHO (the William Hartnell version) was a low budget but endlessly imaginative affair. For the record, it was Hartnell who made the show worth watching and justifiably his legacy lives on. The final scene, with Hartnell seeing the then-latest reincarnation of The Doctor- Matt Smith- was powerfully poignant- as was the scene where Hartnell echoed David Tennant's last line before his own reincarnation. It's too bad we have nothing similar being done to commemorate the enduring charm of the American series DARK SHADOWS...