6 Doctor Who Movies That Almost Happened

From 1988, through the show's cancellation and into the 90s, we saw the most active era to produce a Doctor Who feature. In 1988, independent corporation, The Daltenreys Group, tried to produce a film outside of the BBC that likely would have been non-canon and served as a reboot of the then-dwindling show.

Coinciding with Daltenreys, producer Phillip Segal began his long and arduous journey to produce his own Who venture that was designed as a continuation. This ultimately took form as the 1996 TV movie, but it initially went through some fascinating iterations.

In the early 90s while working for Amblin Entertainment, Segal's ambitions caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, who supposedly enjoyed the premise of the show. While he never fully committed to the project (eventually bowing out completely), his albeit loose involvement significantly fired up the BBC's interest and, for the first time in a while, garnered huge public attention for the franchise.

The project in question at this point was to involve a Gallifrey-centric plot regarding the Doctor and Cardinal Borusa (now inexplicably the Doctor's Grandfather) on a quest to find Ulysses: the Doctor's father. Some twists and time-jumping were also thrown in, including CG spider-Daleks, Churchill, World War II, and The Master revealed as The Doctor's brother.

While sounding quite overstuffed, a story involving the Doctor's parentage would have no doubt hurt the mystique of the character, and fortunately was halted. Budgets were slashed, various screenwriters were hired and the project ultimately got whittled down to the TV movie we all know (but few love). Though before it's New Years/beryllium clock story arc, it was to involve The Master raising the dead on Halloween night.