It’s taken a long time for that most British, and most qualitatively varied of shows, Doctor Who, to live down the reputation of the largely scorned 1996 film Doctor Who -The Movie. After the show had spiralled out of broad audience favour in the late ’80s, and the fallow drought which followed, the attempt to revitalise, or even regenerate the franchise managed to all but kill it off for good. Despite some solid work from Paul McGann as the eighth Doctor, and some objectively naff direction at times, the blame has largely fallen on the shoulders of writer Matthew Jacobs, or at least, that’s how he sees it.
Doctor Who Am I? is a new documentary film following the now much older screenwriter as he embarks on his first ever Who convention tour in America. Beset with no small measure of trepidation, an occasional wryly sarcastic demeanour, and a surprising fragility, Jacobs sets out to face not only the fans, but to confront his own history with Who, as well as the strange beast that is American fandom.
How much you engage with this documentary is largely going to rely on your own relationship with the Who franchise. A relative newbie or complete uninitiate will likely find all this rather quaint. Particularly as this deals almost exclusively with the era prior to the 2005 reboot at the hands of Russell T. Davies. Whereas this is in many ways a love letter to classic Who, but also a self-bestowed absolution for imagined sins for all of those involved with the 1996 film. The irony being that most fans have not only come to embrace McGann’s Doctor both in his fleeting appearances since then, and in his long standing participation in the Big Finish audiobook series. If anything, McGann himself comes across as something of a practical figure in the documentary; grounded, unfazed, and absolutely humble to a fault.
But really, while this documentary may dress itself up as a Doctor Who property, it’s almost as much about Jacobs and his relationship with his parents. His youthful trauma after his mother’s suicide and his relationship with his actor father, Anthony Jacobs, who once starred as Doc Holliday in an early Who episode. It all makes for an emotive and interesting watch, but ultimately the two halves of the documentary don’t marry up all that well, and the very jumbled chronology of the piece point to a story found in the edit, rather than a gradual discovery and search for inner meaning.
That said, this will be is a mini-delight to Whovians, especially those who have a fondness for McGann and the ’96 film, and to those fellow fans one cannot help but recommend this. To the rest, it will likely stand as an interesting diversion, with some fun trivia.
Available in selected cinemas from Thu 27 Oct and on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Download from Mon 28 Nov