Before they actually go and announce the identity of the 12th Doctor tonight and crush all my dreams, I make this one last appeal... If the title didn't make the fact perfectly clear, there are spoilers to be found here. Some of them are from 1986, but still. Not everybody may have gotten around to seeing Trial of a Timelord in its entirety yet, and they may still be harboring some hope that it all resolves in a satisfying and interesting way. (About that...) In any case - Here be Spoilers, Matey. Arggh. Yo ho ho, or does nobody actually say that? Ahem. OK, starting now. Last chance to miss out on anything that the title of this article didn't already spoil for you. Are we all emotionally prepared? OK, on your own head be it from this point forward. There's been a great deal of speculation, obviously, following the reveal at the end of The Name of the Doctor that John Hurt was in fact The Doctor. Most of the discussion has revolved around where exactly in the numbering system John Hurt was going to fall. General consensus seems to feel that he's probably between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston, making him roughly speaking the Eighth and a half Doctor or thereabouts. Curiously, a lot of the anxiety around the revelation of the John Hurt Doctor seems to focus on the implications for the numbering scheme, which frankly says a lot about us as a fan group. I haven't actually seen the Comic Con footage because it appears that a stern warning from Stephen Moffat is curiously effective... But still, that's the kind of thing that leads to suddenly having Jenna Louise-Coleman in Asylum of the Daleks without warning so I'm sort of for that. In any case - I haven't seen the Comic Con trailer, but from what I've heard the general implication is that John Hurt's Doctor appears to be fighting the Time War against the Daleks, lending credence to the 8 1/2 theory. But Stephen and crew have misled us before, and clearly there is a better choice.
Matt Smith should regenerate into John Hurt this Christmas. Here's why...