Doctor Who: A Retrospective Of The 50th Anniversary Year (Part 1)

Which Doctors? Doctor Who?

John Hurt Doctor Who That cliff hanger of course being...John Hurt. As the Doctor. Wait? WHAT?! Admittedly, it got kind of spoiled by tidbits on the Internet in the week before the final episode ended, but there's no denying the beauty of that cliff-hanger. If the resolution is any good, only time will tell (the 23rd November to be precise). I'm going to go into that cinema blindly optimistic. Moffat at his writing best. Tennant and Smith sharing the screen together. John friggin' Hurt! Now that is something special. As to who John Hurt's Doctor is...well that is great cause for speculation. (That word pops again and will continue to reoccur over the next few pages). Personally, I want to know as little as possible. Seemingly a mash up of the Eighth and Ninth Doctor's costumes. A darker Doctor that even the Eleventh tried to hide away from. A Doctor tied to the Time War? Never was the phrase 'Doctor Who' summed up more than in Hurt's mysterious character. It's also a question we've encountered in the show. (The Daleks in 'Asylum Of The Daleks' for example). But mostly, that question has been asked when the Internet goes into overdrive with rumours and discussions over which Classic Who Doctors are going to make their on-screen comeback. Well unfortunately William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee are dead, so they're ruled out. (Though as I said before, we got a great little First Doctor scene in the opening of 'In The Name Of The Doctor'). As to the living Doctors...well they're the obvious changed looks since they last played the titular character on screen. They're certainly a lot older too. Moffat rose to that challenge beautifully in 'Time Crash'. However he seems to have gone with the stance of let's make a great story rather than have a greatest hits tribute episode (like 'The Five Doctors' for example), which I have no issue with. The 50th is deserving of a great story, and it's just a shame we can't have a little of both €“ though I even hesitate to write that statement. We haven't arrived at November 23rd, so there may be some surprises in store yet. Talking of 'Time Crash', I do wonder if the Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor may have some part to play yet. After all, why would he announce on breakfast television that he had his own copy of 'The Day Of The Doctor' if he didn't have at least a tiny cameo? And as for Paul McGann. (Great Doctor, shame about the TV movie but listen to the audios instead). Well there's always this Twitter nugget to fuel the fires of fan speculation from the man himself... "Not sure. It sounds something like, 'McGann's in the 50th Special'..." Rumours persist of a regeneration scene being secretly filmed. Though regeneration into which Doctor? As for the rest...the vocalised disappointment of Tom Baker, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy may signify a complete lack of involvement in the 50th, or it may be a hoax in lieu of something bigger. Fans can fear not however. Doctors Four to Eight will be back to celebrate the 50th, with their Big Finish audio adventure 'The Light At The End'. I'm looking forward to listening to it, and if they're not returning to our screens any time soon, will that be enough to satisfy our appetites? One things for sure though...I don't think we're going to see the Ninth Doctor any time soon.
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A writer for Whatculture since May 2013, I also write for TheRichest.com and am the TV editor and writer for Thedigitalfix.com . I wrote two plays for the Greater Manchester Horror Fringe in 2013, the first an adaption of Simon Clark's 'Swallowing A Dirty Seed' and my own original sci-fi horror play 'Centurion', which had an 8/10* review from Starburst magazine! (http://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/eventsupcoming-genre-events/6960-event-review-centurion) I also wrote an episode for online comedy series Supermarket Matters in 2012. I aim to achieve my goal for writing for television (and get my novels published) but in the meantime I'll continue to write about those TV shows I love! Follow me on Twitter @BazGreenland and like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BazGreenlandWriter