# Movies and Pilots that were supposed to be a series but weren't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650 "2020-11-03T15:08:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/81 "2020-11-20T19:49:32Z")
Definitely canon. Note that Sylvester McCoy was in the it, regenerating to McGann. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/82 "2020-11-20T20:09:15Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > There was a made-for-TV movie of the Doctor Who series in 1996. It was intended to be a pilot for an American-made version of the series, which had been discontinued in the U.K. some years earlier. The 1996 version was shown on Fox, and I was one of the few people who watched it. Due to low ratings, the idea of a new series was dropped. (It was later revived in 2005). > > But I think it’s still considered canon. Paul McGann is credited as the Eighth Doctor. I saw it too. I even recorded it for my dad who had to be somewhere that night and missed it. When he came home he asked me what I thought of it. “It wasn’t half bad. It wasn’t half good, either.” He agreed with me after he watched it. We never spoke of it again. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/83 "2020-11-20T20:57:55Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > But I think it’s still considered canon. Paul McGann is credited as the Eighth Doctor. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Definitely canon. Note that Sylvester McCoy was in the it, regenerating to McGann. Yes, definitely canon. The 2005 “NuWho” revival continued counting the Doctor’s regenerations from McGann’s Doctor, they’ve shown brief snippets from the movie as memories/flashbacks/visions of the past, and Paul McGann reprised the role in the 2013 mini-episode “The Night of the Doctor”, which firmly places him in the NuWho continuity. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/84 "2020-11-20T22:20:13Z")
Although they ignored the Doctor being half human, so the movie is almost semi-cannon. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/85 "2020-11-20T22:42:01Z")
During the course of the series there have been plenty of things introduced in one story that were flat out ignored by later stories. Nothing unusual there. It’s still canon. (And I can’t think of anything in NuWho that actually contradicts it. It just hasn’t been mentioned again.) And as a lifelong fan of Doctor Who, I saw the movie on its first UK broadcast. I thought it was very enjoyable, and was hopeful that there would be more to follow. It’s better than anything in the Colin Baker or McCoy years, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/86 "2020-11-20T23:19:21Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Although they ignored the Doctor being half human, so the movie is almost semi-cannon. Well, the Doctor _says_ he’s half-human in the movie, but as we all know, the Doctor lies. I actually have this whole elaborate theory (which I may have shared on this board) to reconcile that statement as a sort of half-truth. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > During the course of the series there have been plenty of things introduced in one story that were flat out ignored by later stories. Nothing unusual there. It’s still canon. (And I can’t think of anything in NuWho that actually contradicts it. It just hasn’t been mentioned again.) Not only does nothing in NuWho contradict it, there are a number of bits of evidence _supporting_ it, or at least supporting it being kinda sorta true. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/87 "2020-11-21T00:21:05Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > I actually have this whole elaborate theory (which I may have shared on this board) to reconcile that statement as a sort of half-truth. Please do share. You could do so in this thread: # [What is a show/movie theory that you came up with?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-show-movie-theory-that-you-came-up-with/920922) ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/88 "2020-11-21T00:49:07Z")
I did: > [@What is a show/movie theory that you came up with?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-show-movie-theory-that-you-came-up-with/920922/22): > > Speak of Doctor Who: Gallifreyans/Time Lords are humans. To start with the obvious, Time Lords are externally indistinguishable from Earth humans. But there’s more. In the Fox Doctor Who TV movie, The Doctor says he’s half-human. Even though it was Fox, that Doctor has now been firmly established in the continuity of the BBC series. We all know that The Doctor lies, but it would be really out of character for him to lie just to get into a companion’s pants, so there must be something to that s… ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/89 "2020-11-22T01:46:28Z")
Well remember, the most recent revelation is that the Doctor isn’t a Galifrayian but was found by them. The Doctor is some kind of eternally regenerating being from some other world or even universe. And there are versions of the Doctor that the current one (relative to us) isn’t aware of. Personally I think that this plot element is causing the show to somewhat go off the rails, but that’s for another thread. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/90 "2020-11-22T01:54:59Z")
That’s from the latest season? I finally gave up after Jodie Whittaker’s first season. That’s…just dumb. Really, really dumb. It throws out almost 60 years of continuity. I guess, maybe, the Doctor imprinted on Gallifreyans, or something, so that’s why s/he seems to share their biology? I…ugh. I think I’m glad I gave up on the show before they came up with that. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/91 "2020-11-22T02:23:30Z")
Yeah, Galifrayians got their regeneration ability from studying the Doctor. They limited it to 12 for some reason, but apparently the Doctor doesn’t have a limit. And in the last episode (I think) of the latest season she ran into a black woman who was also the Doctor, although they didn’t recognize each other. Like I said, off the rails. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/92 "2020-11-22T05:16:35Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Well remember, the most recent revelation is that the Doctor isn’t a Galifrayian but was found by them. Of course, the most recent revelation was from the Master and he lies more than the Doctor does. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/93 "2020-11-22T11:43:50Z")
Yeah, but in this case it seems he isn’t. And for some reason, perhaps because he’s even crazier than his previous incarnations, this revelation about the Doctor really, really pisses him off. ---
**Author:** ![TimothyNewsome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@TimothyNewsome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimothyNewsome)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/94 "2020-11-22T12:21:39Z")
During one of the final seasons of TV’s long-running “Frasier” there was a 10 or so episode arc that featured Frasier (played by Kelsey Grammer) reuniting with the prom queen (she was named Lana and was played by Jean Smart) from his high-school days whom he had always longed for but never dated, who was now a single mom to a goofy, moronic slacker/stoner son named Kirby, who Frasier attempted to mentor in order to impress Lana. Some of the episodes were really entertaining, some not so much, but it was 100% clear that this was an attempt to start a spin-off from “Frasier”, which was of course itself originally a spin-off show from “Cheers”. I don’t know if anyone else remembers this, but I thought it would be a good example for this topic. ---
**Author:** ![TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiberiusNeroClaudius)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/95 "2020-11-22T13:28:17Z")
It doesn’t look like we will get the third of Jeff Shaara’s Civil War trilogy “To The Last Full Measure” to complete “Gettysburg “ and “Gods and Generals”. Too much squabbling over rights and money for a “Roger Rabbit” sequel or series. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/96 "2020-11-22T16:43:32Z")
Michael Weston played a private investigator named Lucas Douglas on a few episodes of _House_. Apparently _House_ producer David Shore planned a spin-off show with the character as the lead in 2008, but it never went into production. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/97 "2020-11-22T17:06:58Z")
> [@TimothyNewsome](#): > > During one of the final seasons of TV’s long-running “Frasier” there was a 10 or so episode arc that featured Frasier (played by Kelsey Grammer) reuniting with the prom queen (she was named Lana and was played by Jean Smart) from his high-school days whom he had always longed for but never dated, who was now a single mom to a goofy, moronic slacker/stoner son named Kirby, who Frasier attempted to mentor in order to impress Lana. > > Some of the episodes were really entertaining, some not so much, but it was 100% clear that this was an attempt to start a spin-off from “Frasier”, which was of course itself originally a spin-off show from “Cheers”. Was it? I didn’t get that impression. Have you seen that from an official source, or just your own guess? During the run of the show there were a number of arcs where a new character was introduced, and interacted with Frasier for a few episodes, then moved on. They didn’t get spin-offs either. Is there any reason to think the Lana arc was any different to the rest? Welcome to the forum. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay here. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/98 "2020-11-22T20:38:01Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Yeah, but in this case it seems he isn’t. And for some reason, perhaps because he’s even crazier than his previous incarnations, this revelation about the Doctor really, really pisses him off. Or he invented the whole “not really from Gallifrey” thing just to mess with the Doctor’s head. He does that. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/99 "2020-11-22T21:15:00Z")
Since we are talking about failed pilots, there was a failed pilot spin-off from Doctor Who, as well as two successful ones. K9 had a failed pilot in 1981 called ‘K-9 and Company’, with Sarah-Jane Smith as one of the characters. That came to nothing, but Sarah-Jane got her own series several decades later, as did Jack Harkness. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650/100 "2020-11-22T21:18:31Z")
> [@TimothyNewsome](#): > > During one of the final seasons of TV’s long-running “Frasier” there was a 10 or so episode arc that featured Frasier (played by Kelsey Grammer) reuniting with the prom queen (she was named Lana and was played by Jean Smart) from his high-school days whom he had always longed for but never dated, who was now a single mom to a goofy, moronic slacker/stoner son named Kirby, who Frasier attempted to mentor in order to impress Lana. What I noticed was that Kirby looked to me like Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons, who was voiced by Kelsey Grammer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-and-pilots-that-were-supposed-to-be-a-series-but-werent/924650.md?page=6)