DOCTOR WHO: Galactic Crossroads

 

Doctor Who: Galactic Crossroads drew heavily from TV's Sliders and the film Time Bandits. In the S&N Films adventure, Doctor Who, along with his sarcastic teen companion, Laura, encounters a junction point in time and space controlled by a brain-like being known as Brök. The duo slip in and out of portals, each one taking them to a strange new planet. Eventually, they are joined by Captain Blain, a space pirate in the employ of Brök. The Doctor and Laura soon take it upon themselves to stop Blain's pillaging of the galaxy and shut down Brök's operation for good. But first, they must survive the deadly obstacles the malevolent brain places in their path.

The project was a tour de force for S&N's resident set-designer, Rich Spotts. In fact, much of the plot was written around various ideas Rich had been incubating for quite some time. Proving himself a veritable MacGyver of movie production, Rich managed to scrape together the most innocuous of materials to create some impressive designs. Among them were a full-scale recreation of the exterior of an enormous interstellar craft, an undersea cave, and the story's primary villain, the crystalline/organic brain-like creature, Brök. Rich also developed an impressive system for underwater videotaping.

Owing to the great number of locations required to realize the epic number of worlds the Doctor and Laura would encounter through the course of their adventure, Galactic Crossroads was a logistical nightmare. This problem was alleviated somewhat by keeping the cast down to a minimum, with only four human actors plus a cameo by Rich as a bewildered pedestrian.

To create the oceanic world in which Laura becomes separated from the Doctor, the cast traveled to the New Jersey shore. The overcast skies created a suitably more alien, less beach holiday look. It was here that Robin Niles, playing Laura, was required to wade into the ocean and get pulled out into the murky depths by a powerful rip tide. Suffering from severe sunburn at the time, Robin was none-too-enthused by the prospect, but dutifully obeyed the orders of her director, Steve Niles. Following take-after-take of painful rolling about in the crashing waves, Robin retired to the shower rooms with her sister where she was heard to remark, "I HATE Steve."

 

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