Okay, now that everyone has seen and freaked out over “The Night of the Doctor,” can we just talk for a minute about how Paul McGann is finally the Doctor on screen for the first time in seventeen years, and for the first time within the actual arc of the television show, and everything is beautiful and nothing hurts?
I mean, other than everything in that minisode. (Spoilers ahead for all the other crazy things that happen in the minisode!)
So… let’s talk about Paul McGann and the Eighth Doctor. Let’s talk about the fact that while the movie was certainly ridiculous, his portrayal of Eight was gorgeous. How his audio dramas for Big Finish have only strengthened his hold on the character. How after all this time, he stepped right back into the role on screen effortlessly, at an emotional climactic peak for the whole of the character and sold it.
Why can’t they just give us some damned episodes with the Eighth Doctor?
I know logistically why this is a problem. When one actor is the Doctor, it’s their role. You have to let them be the Doctor. You can’t keep crossing over or under them and talking about yesteryear because it’s not fair to the current guy holding the role. It’s the real reason why we don’t get multiple Doctor episodes every season; you have to love the one you’re with while he’s there.
But Paul McGann is an excellent Doctor, and the only actor who didn’t get close to his fair share of screentime in the part. (Colin Baker was kicked off rather unceremoniously, but he had the part for a few years, and Christopher Eccleston chose to leave, no matter how many of us wish there was more of him.) He had one messy movie script that was never going to turn into a revival of the show anyway. And the audio plays are great, but it’s not the same as watching the Doctor—his Doctor—run around, and eventually lose the velvet costume frock coat, and have Charley cut his hair one day because the length is getting silly even to him.
I’m not even going to get into the fact that all of his audio companions have now been canonized (sorry, I’ll just be screaming over in another room), so they have a fantastic pool of actresses to choose from. Just gonna leave that here….
If a show is out of the question, what about the occasional special? They could give him an hour or two while we’re waiting for new seasons. Let a specific showrunner be in charge of it, like Toby Whithouse or Mark Gatiss, and have them in touch with Moffat to make sure everything jives. Every once in a while, Eight’s arcs could play into what the current Doctor was doing was fun. No need for crossovers, just a random shoutout now and then.
Because it’s sad that we’ve only seen his beginning and end on screen. That bouyant excitable thing who kissed his first companion because his shoes were so comfy, followed by someone so broken that he is prepared to say that the universe no longer needs a man like him. Where is the in-between? Don’t we deserve that journey too? I’d take that over knowing Time War specifics any day of the week.
We now know that it was the Eighth Doctor who truly did make the most difficult choice of all—the choice to become someone who could fight a war and end it. Would any other Doctor have made that decision? I suppose we’ll never know. But I would like to know him better for it.
Wouldn’t you?
Emmet Asher-Perrin is giving a heads up that between Thor 2 and this, she’s just going to be a bumbling, weepy wreck for the forseeable future. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
Yes! Also, does anyone know where we can find a copy of the Eight Doctor’s movie?
I’ve always thought a five-episode minseries would be good – something that could air between seasons of regular Doctor Who. Sort of like “Children of Earth” was for Torchwood – a short, one-off special series that brings some closure to the character. Anything to get Paul McGann back on TV for a few more adventures!
(And, yes, I screamed for joy when he referenced his Big Finish companions!)
Where is Paul McGann’s spinnoff? Apperently in the same place as tor.com’s usual consideration about putting spoilers before the cut!
As for finding a copy of McGann’s movie, it is available on DVD, and I’d suggest, if you aren’t familiar with classic Who, to get the first second DVD set of BBCA’s “The Doctor Revisited” series, which will give you a short documentary about each Doctor and one complete classic story. The first set is Doctors 1-4 and the second is 5-8.
There is also a set for 9-11, but if you are familiar with new Who, you probably don’t need the documentaries, and would be better off buying the full season DVD sets if you want to build up a library of episodes.
He’s been brilliantly playing Eight for yrs now at Big Finish Audio (@bigfinish). The companions he namchecked are from these adventures, and are now (YAY!!) cannon. Check them out.
I am completely unfamiliar with McGann’s Doctor, movie or audio, but I love the idea of specials with him in between seasons.
I think it would be interesting to do the ocassional special between seasons, if it’s something that explains, foreshadows or even just plays with the upcoming or previous seasons. “What the heck happened to Eight?” has been a mystery that’s powered the show since it rebooted. Revealing it slowly in the narrative has been a great way to drive the plot and reveal character, but now I think we can let some cats out of their bags. But the stories have to be really good, and not merely arc-fulfilling contrivances.
I almost fell off my chair when I saw him, and then again when he mentioned Charley and C’Rizz and all the rest. I would LOVE a spinoff series with him, and since the show always goes on and on about time being all wibbly wobbly, I don’t see why this would be an issue. Someone start a petition or fan campaign or something!!
Since Moffat and/or the BBC seem to be doling out Dr. Who episodes at a rate of 6 per year (a ridiculous schedule for us Americans), why not have a series of “Lost Doctor” adventures. Maybe 4 one-shot specials like they did with Tennant? Or at least a couple of Christmas specials. More Who is always better.
So, so, so glad I saw it without spoilers. Jaw. Floor. Complete disbelief.
And when he mentioned the companions…Jaw. Floor. Again.
Excuse me, I think it’s dusty in here. Or I have the sniffles. Give me a minute.
I’ve wanted to see more of the 8th Doctor since watching his movie on DVD last year. McGann was a great Doctor.
I watched this, like, 20 hundred times.
YOU GUYS WHAT IF THIS IS JUST THE FIRST TEASER WHAT IF THEY SHOW JOHN HURT GOING BACK IN TIME TO TRY AND GET HELP FROM ALL THE OTHER CLASSIC DOCTORS BUT THEY REFUSE BECAUSE HE IS A CRAZY PERSON.
Seriously, War Doctor would be no different than the Master to the first 7 Doctors. They certainly wouldn’t help him. Ten and Eleven only would because they know they already have.
Unspoiled and *so* glad. I had to pause the video while I gathered myself.
For those of you who want to get into the audios, huzzah! If you get no other, get “The Chimes of Midnight” (8/Charley).
@1 The Doctors Revisited episode of Number Eight is re-airing this Monday the 18th on BBCA at 4:30pm and in HD so it may be even better looking than a DVD. It’ll be a 30 minute special talking about Eight and then the 2-hour movie immediately after.
I know because I was interested to finally see it even before seeing this minisode and set my recording. After the minisode, I’m really excited to see where this Doctor began, because his ending was spectacular.
Side note: I have 42 Doctor Who related things recording over the next two weeks thanks to all the reruns of things in glorious HD. I had to watch all of Series 7 in SD because UVerse was dumb for a long time.
TorChris, that’s an interesting theory. However, wouldn’t it be kind of disappointing if the classic Doctors were only included for 10 seconds each to say “get lost”? Maybe worse than not having them at all?
I mean, I get that the show is so beloved that people want to see it no matter what, just like (some) people loved Natalie Cole’s duet with her dead dad, or dead Tupac in a new music video. But really, that doesn’t stir me. I’d rather see three doctors doing something awesome than 11 doctors shouting “no” “but you don’t understand the crisis” “no” etc at each other.
But sure, maybe they did do it? One more week.
So this was cool, but it’s almost a shame that Christopher Eccleston would not return for this special. Looks like they had a great part for him to play.
But it will be fun to see Hurt as a Doctor.
For a minisode, they did about as much as they could to elegantly explain what justified the Doctor to take the War Doctor regeneration.
The Doctor runs into a plucky young woman who wants to explore the universe. And the universe has reached a state where she tells him she’d rather die than come with him. And then does so. That’s distilling the entire Who formula into a two-minute scene and then instantly taking it to the darkest point possible. Short of giving McGann his own series, there is no more efficient way to justify whatever the character does next.
“You can’t keep crossing over or under them and talking about yesteryear because it’s not fair to the current guy holding the role.”
Oh, I think “talking about yesteryear” might be the perfect solution. I could easily imagine scenarios where 12 is trying to work his way out of a situation, and it turns out to be very similar to, or involving the same people as, something that happened to 8 ages ago, but for some reason the memories of that experience have been “locked,” until this new situation shakes them loose…
I’d love a spin-off with Paul McGann – he is so fantastic in the role and *agree with everything else Emmet Asher-Perrin said.* Pretty much my only reason to post is to add my yay to the chorus!
Back when Tennant took a year off from the series to do stage work, I thought that what they should’ve done to fill the gap was do a “flashback” season of McGann episodes. Instead we just got a smattering of specials.
“He had one messy movie script that was never going to turn into a revival of the show anyway.”
I just read in a comment to another Tor.com post that FOX was willing to take it to series, but it came down to a choice between it and Sliders. So it came close.
@14: “However, wouldn’t it be kind of disappointing if the classic Doctors were only included for 10 seconds each to say “get lost”? Maybe worse than not having them at all?”
It would only work if it included a surprise cameo by Wolverine.
I would love to see more of McGann, as an actor, regardless of the roles he plays, he has always been a favorite of mine. In the mean time, I have started to seek out 8th Doctor audio dramas. And that little prequel was made of awesome!
Some sort of Eighth Doctor spin-off would be brilliant! So many possibilities which could be explored! Who knows, the interest generated by the mini episode may get enough attention to get something done.
As much as I loved McGann’s return on screen, I will have to say that it’s too bad we couldn’t have had Izzy, Kroton and Destrii mentioned as companions too. They were involved in birlliant stories which deserve some recognition.
Number 8’s film has never made it to british tv (freeview of fta) as far as i know. As drwho was a kiddies tv show back then with wonky sets i see no demand expect for the die hard fans which i am not one of those.
Rest assured, the 8th will grace our screens again. There is no way anyone involved in Dr Who can fail to see the impact bringing him back for this mini episode has just had on the value of the property. If Dr Who was floating on the stock market, it’s value would of just spiked massively, perhaps to its highest point since Who was bought back to our screens for this generation. In fact, I’m quite confident you’ll see 8 in episodes with the New Doctor next year. And I suspect discussions may be taking place right now about creating a mini series with 8, under the guise of a ‘prequel to the Time War’. I can imagine this will deal with the Doctor doing his best to help displaced alien races, and the general fall-out from an erupting universal war he is steadfastly refusing to be directly involved in.
Trip, I love your optimism, but remember that the BBC is not a publicly traded company whose executives keep one eye always on the stock price. It’s capable of making brilliant and terrible decisions in equal number, plus, making a series of “Lost Doctor” adventures would require the considerable input of a limit resource (Steve Moffat) who is already running two other TV series. Not saying it can’t happen, and I would love it if it did, but it won’t be as easy as you hope.
This minisode planted an amazing idea for an ongoing series. A Doctor on the fringes of a war, helping those he can while fighting to keep people from refusing his help becuase the Time Lords are being regarded worse and worse throughout the universe.
@24: I agree a McGann spinoff is a bit pie-in-the-sky at this point, but just speaking hypothetically, why assume it would have to be run by Moffat? If anything, it would benefit from having a different creative voice guiding it, in order to distinguish it from the flagship series. Certainly there’d have to be coordination between Moffat and whoever ran the spinoff, but he wouldn’t have to do it all himself. (After all, RTD kept running The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood after Moffat took over DW.) Maybe Mark Gatiss could do it — he’s written a number of McGann stories for Big Finish, and he and Moffat are established collaborators.
Re 21: yes, and there’s Sam, Fitz, Anji, Compassion, Trix…. Getting to be a long list, but something like Charley, Lucie, Izzy, and Fitz would do.
The Doctor Who movie with Paul McGann did screen on BBC One on the 27th of May, 1996. It had over 9 million viewers. Unfortunately*, as it only had 5.6 million in the US, they decided against taking it to series.
*YMMV
The main show wouldn’t do it for the reasons mentioned, but there’s no reason BBC America (which can commission shows off its own backs and fund them, like ORPHAN BLACK) can’t do such a series themselves. It’d also be fitting since McGann’s Doctor originated with American money and the same thing could continue it.
I agree with the poster who suggested a five episode mini series. I feel like that would be enough to explore the character without having to go too overboard on production.
Historically, the BBC has disliked this sort of brand ‘dilution’. When the show was relaunched, they even stopped publishing the novels.
This attitude seems to be changing now. But I cannot see them filming with two Doctors. What would be interesting (and cheaper) would be to use the BF adventures as the soundtracks for some animated films. And the eighth Doctor would be an excellent place to start.
YEAH THIS. All of it.
This was the greatest Doctor Who episode in the last ten years. McGann should be given more screen time in some capacity. Period.
There’s a petition and Facebook page for this!
http://www.change.org/petitions/steven-moffat-paul-mcgann-create-a-series-of-live-action-eighth-doctor-adventures
https://www.facebook.com/McGannDoctorWebSeries
I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Wait, I already do.
Well, can I have your babies, then?
Just interviewed Matthew Jacobs, who wrote McGann’s Doctor Who TV movie. He’s also game for more and has a lot to say about why the TV movie turned out as it did. http://www.standbyformindcontrol.com/2013/11/doctor-who-indiana-jones-a-pornographer-and-rabbi-walk-into-a-bar/
I’ve wondered why certain of the “lost” episodes couldn’t simply be remade (if anyone has seen “The Power of the Daleks Reimagined” they know what a treat it was). Paul did a Big Finish “remake/completion” of the story Shada once; wouldn’t it be interesting to bring him back to do remakes of other lost episodes (“Marco Polo” and “The Celestial Toymaker” for example, partly because they SCREAM to be in colour) on CBBC? Remember, those old stories came from a time when DW was considered a “kiddie” program…
I completely agree!
A short spin-off series like “Children of Earth” would be just FANTASTIC.
It would be enough to give McGann some well deserved screen time and it wouldn’t hinder our new Doctor.
Also… the McGann movie may not have been great, but after years of NO Dr. Who at all… I was thrilled. I liked it started with Doctor 7 (which I thought was classy) and while the movie was problematic it was still better than SOME Dr. Who episodes (even better than some from the new series *cough* Love and Monsters *cough*)
More McGann Please!
thank you for loving the 8th doctor. his early big finish stories are very cheap to download. i cant recommend them enough. paul was also good in the horatio hornblower series
I kind of wonder if they could have someone like SyFy Channel co-produce with BBC a 13 episode limited series called “The 8th Doctor”, like with Fox when it came to the 1996 movie, where SyFy Channel handles the budget and production while BBC gets to approve the scripts.
I bought the 50th Anniversary disc just to have the “Night of the Doctor” on blu-ray.
I’ve purchased soooooo many of his audio dramas since and I’d settle just to have those animated (easier to share with others than pure audio).
I want more 8th doctor bad.