Halfway out of the Dark by John Connors

It’s easier to watch the TV movie now. Free of the weight of expectation placed on it originally, it remains a curio, a sort of mid range Doctor Who story neither disaster nor classic, a cul-de-sac, a route for a journey never taken. In 1996 however it meant a lot more. For audiences starved of new TV Doctor Who, the movie was supposed to be the dawn of a new era, a pilot for a series that would be more expensive looking and popular than ever before. Its unique status meant it was under the critical microscope for longer than any individual episode of the show has ever been. It would be the `latest` episode for a whopping nine years before we saw Rose. We tend to forget in the UK it received very similar viewing figures (just over 9 million) and had it been solely up to the BBC would probably have gone to a series. However it was expected to perform the impossible in the States where the show had never been more than a minor cult so was deemed a failure. Perhaps it’s re-release as part of the first Revalidations box set will allow a proper re-basement of the production. There’s an excellent documentary included that details the complex journey it took to arrive on our screens and the affection the players have for the series.  Of course, we should never upgrade a story just because of the love and effort that went into it, nor because of its significant place in the canon.