Doctor Who and the Holy Grail (1986)
not written by Chris Brainerd, Jennifer Adams, Rob Warnock, Mark Christensen
or Philip Kelley
directed by Jennifer Adams
A BBS-TV Production ©1986
plot | credits | memories
Plot in Pictures
Done in the style of an extended trailer, Holy Grail strings together familiar scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail with a Doctor Who twist.
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Our little band of Doctors ride through the forest. |
Sir Colin and Perry look for the Brigadier. |
"Brave, brave Sir Troughton...." |
The terrible Three-headed fan! |
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"She's an American! Burn her!" |
Sir Davison faces a little bit of the Peri (er, peril) |
Sir Colin, Sir Hartnell, and Perry tremble at the sight of... |
The horrible Dalek that says Ni! |
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"Right...on to the tale of Sir Pertwee...wait for it...." |
At the Bridge of Death, facing the Mara |
Sir Davison reads about the Holy Hand Grenade of Rasillon |
"Gallifrey!"
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Dancing to the Camelot (er, Gallifrey) song |
A instrumental bit in the song |
Posed as if they were really singing... |
Sir Colin and Perry between takes on Gallifrey |
Credits
Not Starring: |
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Sir Colin |
Steve Schiller |
Sir Davison |
Rob Warnock |
Sir Tom |
Pat Engle |
Sir Pertwee |
Chris Brainerd |
Sir Troughton |
Patrick Reardon |
Sir Hartnell |
Mark Christensen |
Perry |
Jennifer Adams |
Jamie |
Paul Vnuk |
The Master |
Jeff Sparrow |
Captain Yates |
Philip Kelley |
Sgt. Benton |
Eric Prellwitz |
Hardly Starring: |
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The Brigadier |
Charles Morley |
Rasputin |
Pat Engle |
Three Headed Fan |
Lloyd Baker |
200 Whooping Llamas |
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Not At All Starring: |
Will LaDuke Dennis Kytasaari Bonnie Langford John Nathan-Turner |
Crew: |
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Not Written By: |
Chris Brainerd Jennifer Adams Rob Warnock Mark Christensen or Philip Kelley |
Facilities Almost Provided By: |
Jones Intercable |
Not Produced By: |
Chris Brainerd |
Not Directed By: |
Jennifer Adams |
This is not a |
Federation BBS TV Prod. |
Not Copyright 1986 BBS |
Jennifer's Memories
We should have taken more than one day to film Doctor Who and the Holy Grail. Chris, though, wanted it to get done now now now because he was determined to release a Video'Zine with a new Federation production on it every two months. Cabaret! suffered from the rushing, and so did Holy Grail.
We filmed on Sunday, June 15, 1986, one day after Philip graduated Northwestern, and one year to the day after my own NU matriculation. We had a lot to film; we only got perhaps half of it finished. I'm not sure why, although since Pat Engle was around, he perhaps accounted for some of the delay. Instead of finishing up the next weekend, though, Chris decided we had to make do with what we had. He turned Holy Grail into an extended trailer— and it worked.
In a way, Holy Grail marked the end of an era. We lost several "original " members after that, mostly because they were off to school out of the area. Steve Schiller and Charles Morley (oh, and Lloyd Baker, too, but he doesn't exactly count) never appeared in another production. (Indeed, Steve disappeared so well that he didn't even appear in the episode of Thirteen Lives to Live on the Video'Zine that included Holy Grail.) Pat Reardon left us for grad school in Alabama, and although he appeared briefly in The Reign of Turner and the last episode of Thirteen Lives to Live, he has yet to have another major role.
We also welcomed a new Federation member in Holy Grail. Jeff Sparrow started off as the Master (and had great difficulty remembering the "bones of 50 men lie strewn about its lair" speech), and eventually became our seventh Doctor.
Holy Grail remains one of our most popular productions, and gets a good crowd reaction to this day. (It was last shown at The Thirteenth Floor of Gallifrey One in 2002, to a packed room).