The Wild Doctor Who Movie That Was Never Made

"Doctor Who" is probably one of the most chaotic media franchises ever created, and we don't say that lightly. This is a franchise that has tons of lost episodes because of shoddy recording methods, as well as several plotlines that have either been drastically reduced in scope or completely cut altogether. It's kind of a miracle that it has lasted in popularity and relevance for as long as it has.

Arguably the most chaotic aspect of the franchise is its continuity, which can charitably be described as flimsy. Look, when you've gone through as many actors for one character as the titular Doctor has, that's bound to happen. Despite this, it has been somewhat easy to break up the franchise's extensive history by assigning certain eras to certain actors playing the character. From William Hartnell to Jodie Whittaker, there have been 13 major Doctors that have been the face of the series, with Ncuti Gatwa on track to become the Fourteenth Doctor.

However, there are still some Doctors that don't fit within the main story, the most recent of which was Jo Martin's incarnation tentatively named the Fugitive Doctor. One of these Doctors had his own duology of theatrical films back in the mid-1960s, but what many people didn't know until recently is that there was supposed to be a third, and it sounds just as bizarre as you might expect.

In order to understand how strange this movie would've been, it's important to have a basic understanding of the movies that this one was slated to follow up on. "Dr Who and the Daleks" and "Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D." were the first feature adaptations of "Doctor Who" stories, notably the season 1 serials "The Daleks" and "The Dalek Invasion of Earth." There were a few key differences between the original serials and their film adaptations, the most important being that these movies were the first pieces of "Doctor Who" media to ever be shot in color. Oh, and none of the main cast from the actual first season reprised their roles. Rather, the Peter Cushing-led movies were a loose interpretation of the "Doctor Who" canon — instead of an alien, the Doctor was an eccentric human inventor from the far future — that were made to cash in on the "Dalekmania" sweeping the U.K. in the '60s. Basically, think of these movies more as side quests to the original series rather than important entries in regards to the series' plot.

Anyways, the movies were not particularly reviewed favorably when they were released, resulting in their original fate being semi-forgotten among most "Doctor Who" fans. However, the films have recently been given a new lease on life after receiving a 4K remaster and a theatrical re-release.

The lukewarm critical reception didn't mean it wasn't a profitable venture, though. "Dr. Who and the Daleks" made enough money for a sequel to be greenlit, resulting in the release of "Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D." the following year. It also had a mixed response, likely causing a third movie to not be greenlit.

However, before the plans were officially scrapped, there was going to be another entry in the film series, the details of which were outlined in The Telegraph. For reasons that are still not entirely clear, this third version was going to drop Cushing's iteration of the Doctor entirely. Instead, a new Doctor would be cast, possibly explained away with the character's usual regeneration.

This newly-cast Doctor wouldn't be the only version of the character to appear in the film. Both Jon Pertwee (Three) and Tom Baker (Four) were considered to reprise their versions of the Doctor, but the two weren't supposed to actually share the screen together — it would either be one or the other alongside the new film-only Doctor. How deep these conversations had gone, though, has not yet been revealed, although they could not have been talked about seriously for very long.

As for the film's plot, it would involve a villain so heinous that it is arguably eviler than the Daleks or the Cybermen: flesh-eating crabs the size of cows. Need we say any more?