10 Moments That Changed Doctor Who Forever
5. Crash-Landing On Karn
Released as a surprise minisode in the lead-up to Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary, The Night of the Doctor finally answered a question that had been hanging over the fandom since the show’s 2005 return: how did Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor end up regenerating into Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor?
The answer? He didn't.
After failing to save gunship pilot Cass, the Eighth Doctor finds himself crash-landed on the planet Karn, where the mysterious Sisterhood of Karn offer him the chance to determine the nature of his next incarnation.
Realising that he can’t stop the Time War while continuing to act as he always has, the Doctor asks to become a warrior, and John Hurt’s War Doctor is born.
Interestingly, the Doctor had no idea he was going to land on Karn – it was complete coincidence. Had Cass’s ship crashed on literally any other planet in the galaxy, the Eighth Doctor would never have been granted the ability to influence his regeneration, the War Doctor would never have existed, and the Time War would've ended up playing out very differently indeed.