![]() The movie certainly offers a peek at the recording of Doctor Who's iconic theme song, the design of the opening titles, shaping the interior of the TARDIS, Dalekmania, and even the departure of The Doctor's granddaughter Susan from the series. Much of An Adventure in Space and Time pits scrappy underdogs against a behemoth that at worst would like to see them fail and at best couldn't be bothered to care one way or the other. The stories it tells are very easily embraced. ![]() A familiarity with classic Who makes it that much more rewarding - especially its loving recreations of memorable moments from key, early adventures - but one needn't have tuned into Doctor Who at all to appreciate it. It shouldn't be mistaken as a feature-length love letter to Doctor Who on its fiftieth anniversary. He's certainly had the time to hone it to perfection, and An Adventure in Space and Time is indeed extraordinary. Mark Gatiss - a Doctor Who fanatic and accomplished writer and producer in his own right - had been trying to tell the story of the series' earliest days for the better part of twenty years. ![]() It's not a tenable situation, and like the man says, nothing gold can stay. Hartnell also butts heads with the new caretakers of the series, in part because of his irascible nature and partially because they don't share his same commitment and intense attention to detail. The grueling pace of production would batter a man a fraction of his age, and the series takes that much more of a toll with a debilitating illness and Hartnell's increasing propensity for flubbing his lines. The role may now be thought of as a mantle that's passed from actor to actor, but at the time, Hartnell was The Doctor - the one and only - and his devotion is unwavering. At the end of the day, though, the series is called "Doctor Who". Once Doctor Who is a runaway hit, though, the people behind it gradually drift away. For much of this time, the docudrama's attention is primarily divided among producer Lambert, director Hussein, and series lead William Hartnell (David Bradley). Next comes the series' unlikely stratospheric success, one that started with its second storyline and the introduction of Doctor Who's most iconic nemeses, the Daleks. The first order of business is getting Doctor Who off the ground at all, pitting the pluck and determination of a select few against a towering wall of indifference. Like most any good story, An Adventure in Space and Time is divided into three distinct acts. One mishap after another threaten to torpedo Doctor Who in its earliest days, before it was an institution and instead looked like some sort of all-but-stillborn boondoggle, destined for cancellation after a few short episodes. Critical designs and even scripts remain frustratingly out of reach. Their studio is a glorified walk-in closet. Lambert and Hussein have a concept whose scope and ambition dwarf the series' laughably tiny budget. ![]() Younger still is director Waris Hussein (Sacha Dhawan), an Indian struggling against no shortage of prejudices himself. Verity Lambert (Jessica Raine) has the distinction of being the first female producer at the BBC, and being an attractive twentysomething to boot, everyone snidely assumes she wasn't entirely vertical as she worked her way to the top. Newly-instated exec Sydney Newman (Brian Cox) has some ideas on how to fill it, but a science fiction program for kids? Something about time travel and secreted history lessons for the junior set? No one at the Beeb takes this "Doctor Who" project all that seriously, and the same goes for the young upstarts that Newman hires to bring his vision to TV. The crisis of the day isn't an Ice Warrior invasion but the BBC suffering from a gaping 25 minute hole in its schedule. This feature-length tale instead rings in Doctor Who's golden anniversary by turning the clock all the way back to 1963. No wibbly wobbly timey wimey at all, really. No stolen magic box that can pierce through five dimensions. Nevermind the coyly misleading cover art An Adventure in Space and Time isn't that kind of origin story.
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