BBC Developing a 'Dr. Who' Movie - Finally

We might get a Dr. Who movie, and very likely, it would star David Tennant, the actor who really helped resurrect the series on the BBC in the past few years. Tennant recently filmed his final episodes of the series, and Matt Smith will take over the role for the next official season. But it could be that a movie was part of Tennant's thinking all along. The BBC (via Filmonic) reports that, "Tennant will firstly appear in three [Dr. Who] specials, starting with The Waters of Mars in November. Meanwhile, Doctor Who may be heading for the big screen after a spokeswoman for BBC Films confirmed that “a script is in development”. Now, that doesn't mean a movie will definitely happen or that Tennant will star. It could be Smith, I suppose. But this series doesn't have a concrete timeline, where stuff that happened when Tom Baker was the Doctor in residence has anything to do with what Tennant encountered. So that means, a movie franchise could live independently of the TV series. And if you look at it from the Beeb's perspective, if you're going to launch the first Dr. Who movie in over 30 years, you would probably want to use arguably the best guy to play the character rather than an upstart who is really an unknown quantity. There's no question the prospects are better now for a movie than they have been in a long time, and there's no question that the film is decidely a more interesting proposition with Tennant in the TARDIS.

Comments

[knives]

I say Eccleston for the movie.
Well it could happen.

[eastephie123]

I'm such a fangirl that I would see the Doctor Who movie no matter who stars. Having said that....David Tennant, David Tennant, DAVID TENNANT!!!

[Troff]

The whole of Sarah Jane's appearance; not to mention the Peter Davison appearance and Davros appearance pretty much disproves the "where stuff that happened when Tom Baker was the Doctor in residence has anything to do with what Tennant encountered" point.

[Get The Big Picture]

Troff -

Are you saying that there's not an episode of the new Doctor Who that isn't predicated by the older series? That nothing in the 40-plus-year history of the character has ever been redesigned? I'm not saying they're completely new universes each time, just that there's less of that connective tissue than, say, the new Star Trek is accused of gnawing through.

[Orinn]

Tennant has made me a fan and I wlil now watch whatever doctor who movie. But I just cant imagine the replacement doctor who being anywhere near as good as Tennant.

[BBCAmericaWatcher]

Hey, I totally adore BOTH Eccleston AND David Tennant. I'm a hardcore long-time Yank fan (who got addicted during the excellent Tom Baker era) and I think both those guys have done a fab job of it. Too bad Eccleston didn't do more. I totally love David Tennant and am lapping it up, but I do think Chris Eccleston did an awesome job with his brief tenure too. (I also think Eccleston's death scene in Cracker was one of the most awesome moments I've ever seen on TV and I thank him for that) All Hail both these great guys!