{"id":23029,"date":"2022-10-03T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T08:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1713313"},"modified":"2022-10-03T10:25:08","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T08:25:08","slug":"star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Trek\u2019s Leonard Nimoy nearly directed the Doctor Who TV movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Sabastian Astley\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 03 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Having premiered just over 25 years ago to a mixed reception, the 1996\u00a0Doctor Who<\/a> TV movie has slowly garnered an appreciation alongside a strong fandom for Paul McGann\u2019s Eighth Doctor, who made a brief return appearance as part of the show\u2019s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2013.<\/p>\n

Now, the TV movie has its own fandom-within-fandom, with screenwriter Matthew Jacobs and director Vanessa Yuille\u2019s upcoming documentary Doctor Who Am I<\/a> delving into the Whovians across the pond at conventions like Gallifrey One, as Jacobs\u2019 relationship with both fans of the movie and\u00a0Doctor Who\u00a0as a whole evolves.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a>, producer Philip Segal revealed that at one point, a very different director was in talks to helm the Eighth Doctor\u2019s first outing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had several meetings with Leonard Nimoy who wanted to direct it. I met with him at Amblin [Entertainment], and we had wonderful conversations. He was genuinely excited about the possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p dir=\""auto"\">While best known for his iconic role as Spock in <a title=\""\u200c"\" href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/star-trek-in-order-release-chronological\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""nofollow noopener noreferrer\" noopener=\"\" noreferrer=\"\" ugc=\"\">Star Trek<\/a>, Nimoy is no stranger to directing, having helmed Star Trek III and IV as well as Three Men and a Baby, which went on to become the highest-grossing film of 1987.<\/p>\n<p dir=\""auto"\">With an impressive track record not only with sci-fi fans but also at the box office, Nimoy might have seemed like a no-brainer to come on to direct. So, what happened?<\/p>\n<p dir=\""auto"\">\u201cFOX did not want him to do it. They were concerned it looked very kitsch to go, \u2018Aren\u2019t we clever? We\u2019ve got Spock from Star Trek directing.\u2019\u201d<\/p> <p dir=\""auto"\">Segal revealed that the TV movie\u2019s US broadcaster would only permit Nimoy to direct if he took a role in the TV movie, potentially as The Master: \u201cThat was just insulting to Leonard, because that wasn\u2019t the object of the exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\""auto"\">Ultimately, Geoffrey Sax would go on to become the director, but who knows what Leonard Nimoy\u2019s vision of Doctor Who might have looked like?<\/p>\n<p dir=\""auto"\"><strong>Doctor Who Am I is released in UK cinemas on 27th October, and on Blu-ray, DVD & digital download from 28th November.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\""auto"\"><strong>Doctor Who\u00a0is available to stream on\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episodes\/b006q2x0\/doctor-who"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">BBC iPlayer<\/a>\u00a0with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox \u2013 you can sign up for a\u00a0<a title=\""https:\/\/watch.britbox.co.uk\/"\" href=\"\/\/britbox.sjv.io\/c\/1236178\/1303835\/15931?subId1=radiotimes-1706039&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwatch.britbox.co.uk%2F"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener noopener noreferrer\" sponsored=\"\">7-day free trial here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Check out more of our\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Sci-Fi<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/radiotimes.com\/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener noopener noreferrer\" noreferrer=\"\" data-auth=\""NotApplicable"\" data-linkindex=\""0"\">subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/podcasts\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener noopener noreferrer\" noreferrer=\"\" data-auth=\""NotApplicable"\" data-linkindex=\""1"\">Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sabastian Astley Published: Monday, 03 October 2022 at 12:00 am Having premiered just over 25 years ago to a mixed reception, the 1996\u00a0Doctor Who TV movie has slowly garnered an appreciation alongside a strong fandom for Paul McGann\u2019s Eighth Doctor, who made a brief return appearance as part of the show\u2019s 50th anniversary celebrations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":23030,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie.jpg",1350,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie.jpg",1350,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/star-treks-leonard-nimoy-nearly-directed-the-doctor-who-tv-movie.jpg",1350,900,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Sabastian Astley Published: Monday, 03 October 2022 at 12:00 am Having premiered just over 25 years ago to a mixed reception, the 1996\u00a0Doctor Who TV movie has slowly garnered an appreciation alongside a strong fandom for Paul McGann\u2019s Eighth Doctor, who made a brief return appearance as part of the show\u2019s 50th anniversary celebrations…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/23029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}