4. It Partly Canonises The Big Finish Audios
What is and isn't canon has always been a shaky issue for Doctor Who. It's been on our screens for fifty years, spans quite a few different mediums, and there has never been any clearly defined structure of canon as with other franchises. Not to mention that a huge amount of stuff has been retconned and reinstated repeatedly since 1963. So when it comes to the Big Finish audios (licensed audio plays featuring past Doctors and Companions), the assumption has always been that they are non-canon in relation to the TV series. Well not anymore. Right before his Regeneration, the Eighth Doctor salutes and says goodbye to C'rizz, Charley Pollard, Lucie Miller, Tamsin Drew, and Molly O'Sullivan. These five were some of the Eighth Doctor's companions during his ongoing Big Finish era and the Eighth Doctor namechecking them has now officially made their existence canon in mainstream Who. Although these characters being mentioned isn't exactly everything by Big Finish being integrated fully into Doctor Who, it's a sign of the different ways of telling a Doctor Who story being drawn closer together than ever before. Also, does this that mean that Frobisher the talking penguin could be making his TV debut at some point? I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and say maybe.