Peter Cushing played Dr. Who. But it wasn’t on television. Cushing starred as a version of the Time Lord in two films released on the big screen. Unfortunately, a third planned Dr. Who film was never made because of the lackluster response to the second film. New details have now been revealed regarding what this third movie would have been about.
Dr. Who?
In 1964, Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg purchased the Dr. Who film rights from writer Terry Nation. Two films, 1965’s Dr. Who and the Daleks and its 1966 sequel Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., were loosely based on Nation’s scripts from the long-running BBC sci-fi series. Subotsky and Rosenberg, however, purchased the rights for three Dalek stories. (For the low price of £500.) The first film did well in the UK and around the world, leading to the sequel. The sequel got a bigger budget but underperformed. This put an end to plans for a third film which was thought to have been based on the 1965 Doctor Who serial “The Chase.”
That never stopped Subotsky from thinking about making a third film featuring his version of the time traveler. His film version was not a mysterious alien Time Lord known as the Doctor. Instead, he was just an eccentric human inventor actually named Dr. Who.
An Adventure Now Lost
At a screening of the first two films at the British Film Institute, Subotsky’s sons, Sergei and Dmitri, shared the long-thought lost plans for the third film. This third movie would have been titled Dr. Who’s Greatest Adventure, and the Daleks would not have appeared. It would feature two Dr. Whos, a younger and an older version.
Subotsky also planned on recasting Cushing. He was considering either the then-current BBC Doctor Tom Baker or his immediate predecessor Jon Pertwee. They would have starred alongside a younger unknown actor playing the younger version of the character. Oh, and it would have giant monster crabs.
You see, Subotsky wanted to adapt a script based on the 1976 pulp horror story Night of the Crabs by Guy N Smith. He had been trying to make a film based on Smith’s story for some time but couldn’t get it off the ground. Merging it with a third Dr. Who film would be a “Hail Mary” attempt to get it made. But even the popularity of the BBC series could not get it done.
Giant monster crabs did feature in Doctor Who. The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) fought giant crabs in the 1967 serial “The Macra Terror.” A version of the Macra also appeared in the 2007 episode “Gridlock.” That story featured David Tennant‘s Tenth Doctor on New Earth (actually, it was New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New, New Earth) in the year 5 Billion.
While a third Dr. Who film will never be seen, both Dalek films have received a polished fully restored 4K Ultra HD release which you can now enjoy.
