Doctor Who (film) - Plot

Plot

As the film opens, The Master has been tried on Skaro and found guilty of a "list of evil crimes". His death sentence at the hands of the Daleks has been carried out. His last wish was for his remains to be returned to Gallifrey by his archenemy, the Doctor, currently in his seventh incarnation.

During the trip back to Gallifrey in the Doctor's TARDIS, the vessel shakes, causing the box containing the Master's remains to shatter and allowing a sentient ooze to escape from it. The ooze enters the TARDIS controls and forces an emergency landing in Chinatown in San Francisco, California on New Year's Eve 1999. As the Doctor steps from the TARDIS to find his bearings, he is shot by a gang who are chasing down Chang Lee, a young Chinese-American man. Lee calls for an ambulance, and the Doctor is rushed to a nearby hospital. The surgeons find, through X-rays, that the Doctor has two hearts, but they assume the X-ray image is a double exposure. As cardiologist Dr Grace Holloway starts to operate with a cardiac probe, the Doctor wakes up, tells her that he needs a beryllium atomic clock, and then falls into a seizure, eventually flat-lining. Dr Holloway declares the Doctor dead, and his body is placed into a morgue. Lee steals the Doctor's possessions, including the TARDIS key, and runs off. Meanwhile, the ooze, which had stowed itself away on the ambulance, attacks and takes over the body of the ambulance driver, Bruce. When Bruce's wife questions his odd behaviour, the Master, now controlling his body, murders her.

Late in the night, the Doctor regenerates into a new body, and leaves the morgue in a state of confusion, donning parts of costumes intended for the New Year's party later that night. He follows Dr Holloway as she leaves the hospital, and convinces her that he is the same man she operated on earlier. Dr Holloway, who has resigned from her job at the hospital, after the hospital covering up the Doctor's presence there, takes the Doctor home. Meanwhile, Lee has returned to the TARDIS with the key, and entered the time machine. The Master arrives soon afterwards and tells Lee that the Doctor stole the TARDIS from him, as well as his body, which he wants to retrieve. He convinces Lee to open the Eye of Harmony, thanks to his human retinal pattern. The Doctor recovers his memory and tries to keep his own eyes shut to prevent the Master from seeing through them, as that would allow him to take over the Doctor's body. The Doctor also warns Dr Holloway that if they do not shut the Eye before midnight, the entire planet may be sucked into it, and that to close it, he needs an atomic clock. Dr Holloway disbelieves the Doctor initially, but when he demonstrates that the nature of reality is already changing by walking through her bay windows without breaking them, she agrees to take him to the unveiling of an atomic clock at the San Francisco Institute of Technological Advancement and Research. They are given a lift to the Institute in an ambulance driven by Lee and the Master, whom the Doctor does not yet recognise. However, when the Master removes his sunglasses, revealing non-human eyes, the Doctor and Dr Holloway abandon the ambulance and steal a police motorcycle, but not before the Master is able to shoot Dr Holloway's wrist with a strange, bile-like fluid.

At the Institute, the Doctor and Dr Holloway manage to collect the integrated circuit chip with the atomic clock mechanism by subterfuge, and make their way back to the TARDIS. Once there, the Doctor is able to install the chip and close the Eye, but discovers that that Eye has been open far too long, and that they must revert time to before the Eye was opened to prevent the destruction of the Earth. However, before the Doctor can route power to the TARDIS, the Master is able to use the bile on Dr Holloway's wrist to control her, and forces her to knock out the Doctor. The Doctor is chained above the Eye, his eyes forced open so as to allow the Master to take his remaining regenerations. When the Doctor awakes, he tries to talk Lee out of the Master's spell but to no avail; however, when the Master lies to Lee in order to get him to open the Eye again, Lee refuses, causing the Master to break his neck. The Master then uses his control of Dr Holloway to open the Eye, though this breaks his control of her. While the Master begins the process of transferring the Doctor's remaining regenerations to him, Dr Holloway is able to connect the last power circuit in the console room, sending the TARDIS into a time-holding pattern just moments after the turn of midnight, staving off destruction of the Earth. When Dr Holloway tries to return to help the Doctor, she is thrown over a balcony and killed by the Master, but her interference has given the Doctor enough time to push the Master into the Eye itself, apparently killing him. The action causes the Eye to close, and time to revert back to a few moments before midnight, bringing both Dr Holloway and Lee back to life.

As the three recover, they find the world is safe. As Lee departs after returning the rest of the Doctor's possessions, the Doctor warns him not to be in San Francisco next year during New Year's Eve. The Doctor then asks Dr Holloway to travel with him in the TARDIS, but she politely refuses and also leaves. The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and pilots off to a new adventure.