With an estimated budget of $130 million, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer has come in for criticism that might seem to be unwarranted.

It should be clear that the film was aimed directly at the hearts and minds of 10-12-year-old boys of all ages and sexes. It was, after all, a science-fiction action-adventure film built on the background of entertainment that began in the early 1960s and had to accommodate the accretion of mythos that has accumulated since that entertainment’s introduction. That's tricky.

It had to be all-ages.

It had to have special effects to accommodate the SF plot elements that have contributed to the success of the attraction.

It had to involve or acknowledge about 45 years of backlog material.

Nevertheless, it had to be viewer-friendly for first-time audiences.

None of that is easy – but the FF film wasn't the only entertainment of the year that coped with those requirements. Produced by BBC Wales, in September 2003, the return of Doctor Who to British television was announced. That announcement included the notation that no budget had been set at that point. Since then, the series has gone through three successful seasons, and, though no details of the program’s budget have been announced, it's generally agreed that the TV show runs under tight fiscal controls. Consider, then (and, yes, I'll get to the point shortly), what holds true for both the $130 million FF sequel and the two-part end of the second season of Doctor Who, which aired in this country close to the time of FF2:

Target audience: All ages, starting as young as 5 (MPAA guidelines for FF were "PG" for "sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo"; they'd be roughly the same for the TV show, with perhaps less "adult" language)

Menace: Civilization-destroying in scope, based on forces that made their debuts in the 1960s — with repeated appearances since

Focal characters: A team with access to science-fictional tools to combat the menace

Romance: One of the primary story elements, leading focal characters to do what they do

Family: Another story element, leading focal characters to do what they do

Fanbase concerns: Faithfulness to decades of backstory

Special effects: Necessary for telling the tale

Setting: Earth

Events: Result in a turning point for the characters

Time to tell the story: An hour and a half

There are also (and this is the point) contrasts:

The chemistry between David Tennant’s Doctor and Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler is believable throughout the story. Reed and Sue? Do you believe in the relationship? (The image below is a promo for the season with the next Companion, by the way -- still running on cable -- with yet another strong relationship.)

The Doctor Who script sparkles, surprises, and maintains a tension through the climax, while who didn't sit through FF waiting for the next unsurprising speech or plot development?

Doctor Who aims for — and achieves — emotional high points in addition to the sheer adventure story. Did anyone in the FF audience hold his breath? Or let fall a tear?

No, I wasn't able to get a dollar (or pounds) figure for the cost of the two-part U.K. 2006 close of the new Doctor Who series’ second season: "Army of Ghosts" (July 1) and "Doomsday" (July 8). However, a BBC Worldwide spokesperson did tell me, "Fair to say it's a fraction of the Fantastic Four figure you provided."

So here’s my question: Why couldn't $130 million bring the theater audience of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer a fraction of the entertainment I found in a TV two-parter? Any ideas?