DOCTOR WHO to hit the big screen, Harry Potter director to helm it

DOCTOR WHO to regenerate into the silver screen
by Reymundo Salao

Unbeknownst to many, it is actually the longest running sci-fi TV series and the most successful science fiction series of all time, in terms of its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales, iTunes traffic, and "illegal downloads". Many of you may probably think that Star Wars and Star Trek hold that title. Well, it's actually being held by a British TV series that many of you may not be too familiar with: DOCTOR WHO.

DOCTOR WHO is about to be made into a movie, and BBC is eyeing director David Yates to helm its adaptation. Yates has directed the last four Harry Potter movies which were well-made enough to make the entire Harry Potter film series arguably become the most successful film saga since Star Wars.



"We're looking at writers now. We're going to spend two to three years to get it right," he said. "It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena." Yates is developing the movie alongside Jane Tranter, head of the LA-based BBC Worldwide.

Looks like Yates will be taking this project very seriously. And he should do so because Doctor Who has become an institution and almost a purely historical material which has spanned from the 60's till now.

DOCTOR WHO is about the journeys and adventures of a time-travelling "Time Lord" who calls himself "The Doctor", facing various crises, from killer aliens, planet destroying monsters, apocalyptic phenomenon, or any other peril he and his companion would get into. This series began in 1963, lay dormant around the 90s, then had its major resurgence in 2005 under writers Russel T. Davies and Steven Moffat's watch. The series has been a hit since that time till the present. 

Yates made clear that his movie adaptation would not follow on from the current TV series, but would take a completely fresh approach to the material. "Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch," he said.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's bad because the Moffat and Davies series had such a rich, faithful, and magnificent job with how the it has evolved from its classic form to its modern form, what they have established has become part of Doctor Who canon. It would be unwise to stray off too far off from what they have already done. On the other hand, it's a good thing in the sense that we get to see the world of DOCTOR WHO from a fresh perspective, and the world of Doctor Who has different worlds, and alternate realities anyway, which may allow for such new version of Doctor Who to actually coexist with the one that has been created by Davies and Moffat.

SOURCE: Variety