How would you have handled the TV movie?

I'd still Hire Paul McGann as the Doctor

Of the people who actually auditioned? Yeah, I'd pick McGann still though I must adit Tony Head would run him close though at the time he was still too linked to the coffee ads before Buffy made him a star.

I'd have no references to the past bar The Doctor and the TARDIS - no Master, Daleks, Skaro and certainly no Sylvester McCoy.

I'd also reschedule the broadcast. It was up against the NBA Playoffs and the Roseanne ep where Dan had a heart attack - could have been the best tv movie ever and still suk in the ratings stateside.

It's funny but I think The Dying Days or more likely Sympathy for the Devil were perfect pilot film stories, but if you were trying to fix what we eventually got then you could probably do this as a check list:

* Leave the regeneration implied because at this stage it's not relevant to either returning or new audiences, do the Pertwee TARDIS tumble and have our hero just appear. In fact, have one of the subplots in the telefilm be him finding the TARDIS, a little bit of build up to it will help to establish how special it is. If you want to introduce the idea of total cellular renewal, hint at it at the end of the film when the Doctor appears to have perished saving the world.

* Involve characters rather than plot devices in the tale. Professor Wagg, Grace's boss and many others just turn up and disappear as the screenplay needs them with little explanation or often reason. If you're going to have Chang Lee chased by gang members, involve a bit of the local culture and show us why he was being chased or why Grace is on the board of trustees at the Institute for Advanced Sciences. Show us the lives each of these characters have outside of this film, it would have been interesting to see the Master quietly plotting for future escapades (e.g. to visit H.P. Lovecraft for his copy of the Necronomicon or contact the Krotons in the constellation of Damocles, etc.).

* Get a different director on board. As stunning as the film was, it has a very peculiar and surreal production style that takes you far outside of the narrative. It's trying to impress you with technique and noise rather than tell a good story. Someone sedate like Martin Campbell could make the show work without pushing all the visuals into the audience's face.

* They fumbled a bit with the casting as well. Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso are a perfect trio, but you need someone who is both saturnine and enchanting as the Master. Derek Jacobi seems a very decent fit, someone who could carry the character's menace in his own right rather than being a reflection of the current Doctor or the strange, Saturday morning matinee villain Roberts plays.

* That initial kiss between the Doctor and Grace is unimaginably awkward and forced. I think I would have preferred that yes romantic feelings develop between the two, but they're expressed as any Romanticist like the Eighth Doctor would. With a lot more subtlety, class and sophistication. I would have liked seeing the Doctor try to woo Grace to come along with him in the TARDIS just through his facial expressions before she asks him to come down with her to the New Year's Day parties.

* The heavy emphasis on Trek symbolism could be lost too: references to a cloaking device, the Doctor being half-human, San Francisco, etc. This isn't The Voyage Home.

* That being said, I do think Harlan Ellison would have been a perfect fit for an American-produced Doctor Who screenplay. He has that right edge of wit and sincerity that you would need if you were relaunching a popular franchise. Not to mention he's able to come up with lines like: "Calmly now, Archie. Tell us what seems to have unhinged you."

EDIT: Actually, I rather like the Leekey bible's The Claws of Axos in Revolutionary France idea, it'd be a nice demonstration of both the historical drama and futuristic science fiction stories that the classic series seemed to excel at. You could have Jim Henson's Creature Shop do the special effects work for the interior of the Axos creature (or its close equivalent).

The thing to remember, the Master has to be American. It was apart of the stipulation for the co-production with Fox. They were lucky enough to keep the actor for the Doctor British. So what American actor would work for the Master in the mid-90s.

It would be interesting. Of course, I have Criminal Minds Mandy in my head.

It would have made for an interesting dynamic between the two, the young Romantic versus the old detractor; idealism on one side and discipline on the other. Patinkin would certainly be able to handle the charm and economy of the character, but in a different way from his predecessors.

Oh, actually speaking of Command & Conquer actors (and barring the "must be American" caveat), I'd have liked to see Udo Kier have a stab at the role.