8. Sylvester McCoy Is Clearly Paranoid (Or Lazy)
Story: The TV Movie (1996) - Sylvester McCoy/Paul McGann
Usage Rating: Davies ("Look! The Sonic Screwdriver!")
Nyssa Scale: 5 - TOTALLY unnecessary to the movie There's a lot of fun to be had watching the TV movie if you know how to do it. You can spot the blatantly reused "X-Files" sets in Vancouver. (I like to think down the hospital hall from McGann regenerating is Fox Mulder chasing answers while Scully's on life-support - Same set. You can tell.) You can load up on drinks and do a shot every time it looks like Chang Lee and the Eric Roberts Master are just going say to hell with it and start making out. Or, you can watch the movie and just quietly see how it was doomed to fail from the start. It's a perfect storm of trying too hard or too little. Had this movie come out on the heels of the Classic Series cancellation, or in the midst of the revived series, it'd fare just fine. In fact, it probably would've needed to explain less than it does. But marooned almost 8 years outside of either series, it's VERY hard to understand for an outsider - And the weird thing is, there's LOTS of references there that only the very dedicated fan would pick up. So, McCoy shows up in the TARDIS, which is some nice continuity. He has a bowl of Jelly Babies, which is....well, maybe he's feeling nostalgic. But he also uses the Sonic Screwdriver, a device he never had at any point during his regular broadcast stories. And he uses it to... lock a box. Now, the box does have the Master's remains in it. And those remains do end up causing a lot of trouble. But he didn't know that. He clearly thought he was just picking them up from the Daleks (Which was probably the most tense extradition scene EVER) and then dropping them off on Gallifrey. At no point did he expect trickery from beyond the grave or any trouble to emerge from within that box. So why did he lock it? Because then he could use the Sonic Screwdriver. Seeing as it's NEVER used again in the film. McGann collects it at the conclusion, but inbetween it's stolen by Chang Lee (with yet MORE Jelly Babies - It's as though McCoy had a sad day or two where he just REALLY missed being the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker). McCoy was a very cunning, scheming Doctor - if there was ever a Doctor who didn't need a device for quick escapes, it was him. Giving him a tool was only ever going to see it used as such - And he doesn't even need it for that. Even Liz Shaw wasn't as lazy as McCoy is here. The Sonic Screwdriver, along with the Neutron Ram, references to Rassilon, and "Kraalian Time" simply didn't need to be in this movie. But there they are for the "fan". Uh, gee. Thanks.