Doctor Who: A Retrospective Of The Anniversary Year (Part 2)

Night Of The Doctor

Night Of The Doctor There have been rumours that he filmed a regeneration scene for months now. Most assumed that if we were extremely lucky, he'd pop up for 30 seconds in the pre-title sequence. If we were even luckier he'd appear for about a minute in a pre-50th sketch for Children In Need. But this shows that dreams do come true! But over six minutes of Eighth Doctor goodness? This was something altogether more awesome. The climatic moment where the Doctor willingly joined the Time War. Yes...it looks like we're going to finally get some of that action on screen come November 23rd. More significantly, he didn't regenerate until Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. No, apparently, he's not the Ninth at all. John Hurt's Doctor, introduced in the closing moment of series 7 finale is. More importantly, he's referred to here as THE WAR DOCTOR! It was a beautiful sketch. I loved the Doctor listening off all things he could still do in the four minutes before his death. The reappearance of the Sisterhood of Karn, who established themselves in Timelord mythology during the excellent Fourth Doctor story 'The Brain Of Morbius'. The idea that the Doctor could 'choose' to be old. Young. A man. A woman. The general sense of desperation that the Time War was bringing to the galaxy. And we're left with some intriguing questions too. 1) The reflection we saw of the War Doctor was not John Hurt as we saw him last. This was a younger version. How long was he the Doctor and how much death and destruction did he cause as the warrior Doctor? 2) Eccleston is the ninth, Tennant the Eleventh, Smith the Twelfth. So we're right on track for the Valeyard then? 3) Furthermore, Peter Capaldi is the Thirteenth and final regeneration. Where does that take the character and the show in general? Lots of fun things to consider as we head towards the 50th anniversary. Now is the time for comments and speculation! Let the debate begin!
Contributor
Contributor

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