Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: The Movie (1999)

Better Late Then Never

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Colleen is providing medical services to the Queen of England (how absurd) and so she and Andrew do not appear in this movie. Nor does Matthew or Hank. Michaela and Sully take the lead roles. We see plenty of Cloud Dancing, Jake, Robert E, Horace, and Brian. We also see some of the Reverend, Loren Bray, Grace, and Dorothy. DISCREPANCIES: Katie should be about 6 years old by now, not 4. Grace should have a child by now, given that she was pregnant in the final episode, but I saw no sign of any black child in this movie. Jake spoke no Spanish, despite his marriage to a Spanish señora (absent from the movie). Edison's light bulb was not invented until 1879, two years after this movie is dated, so the opening scenes regarding copper wires and copper mining could not have occurred yet.QUIBBLES: Once again, it is Sully's characterization that bugs me. Why didn't he respond to the direct threat of "dire consequences" and take steps to protect his family? (He makes the same mistake in the next movie). Why did he totally ignore the threat, not even telling Michaela about it? The least he could have done was to keep his family nearby, under close watch. But no, instead he left little Katie at home that same night, with only Horace babysitting. When Katie was kidnapped, Michaela blamed Sully for not telling her about the threat. His response was to say she takes risks all the time, like when she treats patients with contagious diseases, or secretly helps the natives. What a crock! Later, when Sully rescues Katie, he takes no precautions. He leaves the door wide open. He doesn't first check that the coast is clear. He doesn't wait until the entire household is asleep. This reckless behavior made no sense, given his previous characterization as a stealthy sneaky operative.Sully leaves Katie in the hands of a strange woman, while he takes care of a dangerous matter. There's no way he'd do that, in a foreign country, after he'd lost his daughter for two months, and knowing first-hand how corrupt were the Mexican justice system and military. He would have taken Katie with him, and tucked her out of sight a short distance away. He might have brought the woman along as babysitter.I liked the prison break-out scene. And the scene with the bandits.But what are the chances that another little girl would look so much like Katie, and that Michaela herself would be fooled? The clothing alone would have provided a huge clue.

I can always count on Dr.Quinn Medicine Woman to make me laugh. Hysterically. I won't even bother to recount the - excuse me for swearing - 'plot' of his movie. But I can tell you that 'I love you', 'I love you mommy' and 'I love you pappy' is about as deep as it gets.However, raise a glass with me and toast the blatant anachronisms, Jane Seymour's distinctly 20th Century hair and make-up (her mascara is piled on so thick that it resembles spider legs), the clichéd plots, the tweeness, the simplistic and vomit-inducing moral sentiments, the silly storylines etc.etc.etc. This is US TV at its lowest common denominator. No punch, no guts, no edge, utterly unmemorable. I'd like to personally shake the hand of the person that decided it was time to pull the plug. It is, always has been and remains, the televisual equivalent of valium.

After watching DQMW, The Movie, I thought of all the series episodes that led up to it. The movie was great - even for those who might never have experienced the six years of the evolving story of Dr. Mike and Sully. To us, the consummate fans, the missing factor was the gap, the three years of missing documentation of those years and a few missing cast members. Since CBS has given them a go-ahead for a second movie, I hope that it will get better promotion and become a real audience grabber leading to a string of 2 hour specials. Matlock and Columbo did it as did Cagney and Lacey.

I saw this film, and thought it was pretty good. Being a fan of "Dr. Quinn," I was pretty ticked off when they took the series off of CBS. The movie plot was excellent, it was fast-paced, and all turned out well in the end. Worth watching, especially if you're a fan. :)