This isn't a documentary on Doctor Who. Or on the other hand it is, depending on how you look at Doctor Who. This is a documentary about fandom, the people who took Doctor Who from a British children's show to an international sensation.
So would Doctor Who be Doctor Who without the fans?
As advertised, this is viewed primarily from the perspective of a screenwriter who wrote a largely unpopular movie that tried to Americanize Doctor Who-- and failed. So what? It came back in 2005 and was a fine smash hit for several years and added some Doctors to the lineup.
What this really focuses on is what kept Doctor Who alive for those years. While fans may seem a little "bonkers" to other people-- those same people may themselves be bonkers about football or car races or fishing or whatever they're obsessive about.
If anyone has been part of fandom, they'll recognize the authentic accuracy of this presentation. It is true-to-heart. Unlike some other documentaries I've seen, this explores what it really means to escape into science fiction conventions and leave the real world behind for a while. It speaks of the camaraderie. It takes Doctor Who out of the studio and out of the historical documentary (although there is a bit of that)... and it puts it right in the middle of fandom.
Anyone looking for a history of Doctor Who is watching the wrong film. That's not what this was advertised to be. It is an introspection by a writer, by actors, and one writer who avoided fandom for years, was introduced to it and gradually comes to understand what it's all about. This is a fascinating dive into culture, and it gets up close and personal with both the people involved in the movie... and people who both loved and hated it.
But beyond the movie, it focuses on the fans themselves and why they stuck with Doctor Who despite a mixed-reception movie... and the changes that this show-- a mere science fantasy-- has made in their lives. Good or bad, beneficial or not, it presents these things as they really are, no "staged drama", bias or glossing things over. Above all what I appreciated was the honesty and the accuracy.
Probably one of the best documentaries I've seen when it comes to telling things like they really are. Watching this reminds me of the pre-Covid days when I attended conventions, and it's a bit nostalgic. It reminds me when I myself dressed up as the 4th Doctor because I physically resembled him a bit... and made a big hit at a convention with 100,000+ attendees.
That's what it's all about-- just throwing the outside world away for a while and having a bit of fun. Isn't that what any type entertainment is about?
