A film, also known as a movie or a flick, (AUDIO: A Life in the Day) was a type of recorded audiovisual entertainment, described by Donna Noble as "talking pictures". (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp) On Earth, films were often shown in cinemas. (TV: Out of Time, From Out of the Rain) According to the Twelfth Doctor, watching movies was a way to "pass the time". (TV: Smile)
It could also be used to describe a non-fictional educational presentation. (TV: Detained [+]Loading...["Detained (TV story)"], The Beast Below [+]Loading...["The Beast Below (TV story)"])
History
The emergence of film as a leisure activity occurred at some point between 1918 and 1939. (PROSE: A History of Humankind)
Whilst in 1881 the Twelfth Doctor claimed, Frozen was a film which featured an "eternal winter". (TV: Empress of Mars)
In 1921, Martin Donaldson took Liv Chenka to see a silent film starring Buster Keaton. (AUDIO: A Life in the Day)
Also in 1921 the First Doctor, Sara Kingdom and Steven Taylor briefly visited a Hollywood film set. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Loading...["The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)"])
Bette Davis provided incidental music for movies between 1938 and 1953. (PROSE: The Blue Angel [+]Loading...["The Blue Angel (novel)"]
In 1953, Emma-Louise Cowell was an avid cinema goer. She particularly loved musicals. She and her best friend Kate went to see Calamity Jane five times and Emma later purchased the soundtrack LP. After she and Diane Holmes were accidentally sent through the Cardiff Rift more than 50 years into the future, they were both astonished that films were sold in boxes, namely DVDs, and people could watch them at home. (TV: Out of Time [+]Loading...["Out of Time (TV story)"])
Alan Sillitoe's novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was made into a film in the 1960s. (PROSE: Time and Relative)
In 1979 The Muppet Movie came out. (TV: Tooth and Claw [+]Loading...["Tooth and Claw (TV story)"])
Alien was a series of films within the horror science fiction genre. (COMIC: Fire and Brimstone [+]Loading...["Fire and Brimstone (comic story)"], TV: Last Christmas [+]Loading...["Last Christmas (TV story)"])
The Terminator was a 20th century film which featured "killer robots" "messing around with time". When Bill Potts noted this to the Twelfth Doctor, he announced that he would put it on his list. (TV: Empress of Mars)
In the 1990s through into the 2000s Jackie Tyler would watch movies Cliff Richard movies on Bank Holiday Mondays with her daughter. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern [+]Loading...["The Idiot's Lantern (TV story)"])
In the late 2000s, the Night Travellers were freed in the Electro, a cinema built upon the Cardiff Rift, after a film reel depicting them was played. (TV: From Out of the Rain)
By the 2010s, films could be streamed online, (AUDIO: Beachhead) often on Netflix. (AUDIO: Orr, TV: The Pilot, PROSE: Diamond Dogs, TV: Resolution)
In 2016 Ram Singh considered The Lord of the Rings to be an old film. (TV: Brave-ish Heart [+]Loading...["Brave-ish Heart (TV story)"]
Fitz Kreiner saw all nine Star Wars films at a cinema in the 2040s. (PROSE: The Last Resort)
In 2069 Harvey a movie from 1950 was broadcast on television in ReMode 3D. (PROSE: Alien Bodies [+]Loading...["Alien Bodies (novel)"])
In 3099 a Fomasi representative for Twin Suns Lodge used a voice that sounded like Al Pacino in the movie Scarface. (PROSE: Placebo Effect [+]Loading...["Placebo Effect (novel)"])
Flemming believed that a film based on the Crash of the Byzantium had been made by 5343. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
Adaption
The Thirteenth Doctor commented that Stephen King movies were nothing like the books. (TV: Legend of the Sea Devils [+]Loading...["Legend of the Sea Devils (TV story)"])
Culture
When she was in Regency England Bill Potts commented it was a "bit more black than they show in the movies". (TV: Thin Ice [+]Loading...["Thin Ice (TV story)"])
According to a TV show on Channel 4 in 1997 there was a leading theory that in the 1990s that Jack the Ripper was a gay American serial killer, because people in the 1990s had watched too many gay-American-serial-killer movies. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two [+]Loading...["Interference - Book Two (novel)"])
Americans were known for their movie productions in the 2010s. (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"])
Agatha Ellis thought cappuccinos only existed in film. (PROSE: Curtain Call)
Reviews
In Pete's World, film reviews were one of the options for content to be downloaded to a Cybus EarPod user's brain with the daily download. (PROSE: EarPod)
Species
Selyoids could live on celluloid film, and manipulate the emotions of those who viewed a movie on which they were stored. (PROSE: Dying in the Sun)
See also
- Photographic film was also referred to as film and could come in varieties such as that which is sensitive to infrared. (TV: The Invasion [+]Loading...["The Invasion (TV story)"])
- The Nestene's Auto-jet ejected a thin plastic 'film' onto a target's nose and moth preventing them from breathing. (TV: Terror of the Autons [+]Loading...["Terror of the Autons (TV story)"])
- Microfilm
Genres of movies
Behind the scenes
Theatrical films
The Doctor Who universe has had two films released theatrically; Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D..
Direct-to-Video films
Multiple direct-to-video films, using characters and settings from the Doctor Who universe, have been released. Although none to date have featured the Doctor, many are notable for featuring companions, such as Liz Shaw and John Benton.
| Film | Doctor Who universe characters | Written by | Production company | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wartime | John Benton | Andy Lane, Helen Stirling | Reeltime Pictures | 1987 |
| P.R.O.B.E.: The Zero Imperative | Liz Shaw | Mark Gatiss | BBV Productions | 1994 |
| Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans | Sontarans | Terrance Dicks | Reeltime Pictures | |
| P.R.O.B.E.: The Devil of Winterborne | Liz Shaw | Mark Gatiss | BBV Productions | 1995 |
| Downtime | The Brigadier, Sarah Jane Smith, Victoria Waterfield | Marc Platt | Reeltime Pictures | |
| P.R.O.B.E.: Unnatural Selection | Liz Shaw | Mark Gatiss | BBV Productions | 1996 |
| P.R.O.B.E.: Ghosts of Winterborne | ||||
| Auton | Autons | Nicholas Briggs | 1997 | |
| Auton 2: Sentinel | 1998 | |||
| Auton 3: Awakening | Arthur Wallis, Paul Ebbs | 1999 | ||
| Dæmos Rising | Kate Stewart, Dæmons | David J Howe | Reeltime Pictures | 2004 |
| Zygon: When Being You Just Isn't Enough | Zygons | Lance Parkin, Jonathan Blum, Bill Baggs | BBV Productions | 2008 |
| P.R.O.B.E.: When to Die | Liz Shaw | Bill Baggs | 2015 | |
| Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor | Sil | Philip Martin | Reeltime Pictures | 2019 |
Television film
A television movie of Doctor Who was broadcast in 1996.