Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death (1999)

In the 1990s there were only three pieces of new Doctor Who, two of them were parodies.The Curse of Fatal Death written by (future show-runner) Steven Moffat is almost played straight but at that time Moffat was known more for his comedies and elements of comedy seep through.Rowan Atkinson plays the Ninth Doctor with Julia Sawalha playing Emma his companion and fiancée. Jonathan Pryce plays the Master with a side of ham and a piece of costume from his appearance in the Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies.The Master plans to eliminate his own foe, the Doctor has news to tell the Master and asks to meet him at a castle on the flatulent planet Tersurus. Both time lords have used timey-wimey to set up traps for one or another.The Doctor plans to retire from a life of saving planets in order to marry Emma however he is injured by the Daleks and swiftly goes through his regenerations. He changes to Richard E Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley where the Master takes a shine to her.The production here presumably done on a low budget and shot quickly is actually very good. Sets reused, some early CGI and an early look of some Moffat sci-fi tropes. However we get a tribute to what is now regarded as classic Doctor Who with music used from past Doctor Who.Looking back at it, I can only admire the refreshing take by Russell T Davies in reinvigorating Doctor Who and allowing Moffat room to develop his own brand of storytelling.

If you're a Doctor Who fan, you'll probably watch this regardless of how bad anyone says it is, because you're own opinions are not all that influenced by people telling you how bad something is; after all, you're a fan of Doctor Who. Kudos to you.Nonetheless, Doctor Who (and apparently all related media) has a tendency to get very dated, very fast. As far as comedy goes, the humor is quite below the levels of humor that recent Doctor Who episodes have engaged in. Pointing out the silliness of Daleks and the pompousness of the Master seems kind of tired, at this point.Don't expect much. It's light fare. Better than some of the Season Specials of the real show, but quite meager compared to the real deal.

I simply cannot understand how any Who fan, or just plain anyone could find this awful, lazy, poorly written abomination even remotely funny. It is so embarrassingly below par that it qualifies as a genuine tragedy. The potential for this was huge, it could have been great. What a shame that all that acting talent, the sets, the props, the goodwill of everyone involved was so pathetically wasted by a script that should have been burned.There is an obvious lack of any rigorous production and quality control here. Like those hammy Hollywood movies (mad mad mad world, casino royale) where the stars are just mugging for each other and 'having a great time' which basically means picking up a cheque for doing nothing.I could have written a better Who send-up in my sleep. In fact I have, while awake though. I did it in Year 10 in high school and performed it with a bunch of classmates. It was better, I look at it now and the gags are funnier. Steven Moffat YOU ARE A NO TALENT BUM! What a waste, what a wasted opportunity. Makes me want to cry....

Rowan Atkinson filled the role so well, there's some consideration that he will be picked for the new series... hey, he's got MY vote!Excellent performances throughout - Jon Pryce was great as the pseudo-Master (and had a somewhat striking resemblance to Roger Delgado) - and it was a nice surprise to see Joanna Lumley again. (It's ALWAYS nice to see Joanna Lumley...)If you got the video rather than just seeing it on the Beeb, you got to see the Lenny Henry sketch. I give that a thumbs-up as well, mainly because of Lenny Henry - his characterization reminded me of Gareth Blackstock (Chef!) and his delivery is flawless (of course, the parody script was quite goofy, but then it's supposed to be...)