1. Star Wars Prevented A Doctor Who Movie Being Made
An official Doctor Who film was released in 1996 starring Paul McGann as the Eight Doctor. Taking place before the Time War it saw the Doctor battling with the Master on Earth after his TARDIS crash landed. Long before that movie though Tom Baker and Ian Marter (who played Harry Sullivan) wrote a script for a Doctor Who film. It was set to feature robotic goblins and living scarecrows, an idea that was later reused to terrifying effect in The Family of Blood. Plans for the project got to an advanced stage. The screenplay was finalised and along with an agreement with the BBC over the rights to the show. Vincent Price was even set to star as the main villain. Unfortunately funding for the film was hard to come by. Most studios were uninterested in meeting the necessary cost for what they saw as a niche film, but Baker and Marter were still confident that a deal could be struck. The final nail in the coffin came from a newly released film that the production crew went to see. That film was Star Wars, whose vast scale and incredible special effects were a killing blow to any prospect of a Doctor Who movie. They felt that it would just pale in comparison to the science-fiction hit and abandoned their project. Remember to let us know in the comments if you have any interesting facts about the series.
