I'm excited about all of the possibilities. Unlike many here, I'm not pretending to "know" what will happen. But, it's fun thinking that there could be something truly surprising! Mr Awe
Exactly. Except that it wouldn't be kicking over any 'canon', certainly not in the way that Bob Holmes would apply his 'personal canon ' (ie, "What I remember") and shake up the series as a result. So, the Doctor has an incarnation that's been locked off from his memory, and Matt becomes the 12th Doctor. Or the 13th, counting the Stolen Earth regen, and the regen limit issue has to be addressed in the 50th anniversary special, maybe? All fun. If done well.
It's probably unlikely Hurt will be the "real" Ninth Doctor purely for pragmatic reasons - it would instantly render all Ninth Doctor merchandise incorrectly labelled. In this case, even if Moffat wanted to do it, the Brand would prevent him from doing so.
Worldwide doesn't have that kind of veto power. I agree it would cause merchandising problems, but I don't think they would be insurmountable, especially if BBC Worldwide gave guidance to their licensees so that they're all on the same page. And I'm not sure how big a problem it would be. How much brand new tenth Doctor merchandise is on the market that says "Tenth Doctor" on the package? I actually think it would be Doctor Who Magazine that would have the hardest time. They would either adjust or they would put their head in the sand like an ostrich. (Personally, I think the latter is most likely; DWM uses an entirely different series nomenclature from everyone else in the world.)
The most amusing part of DWM's own take on things is the insistence, 20 years on and long after everyone else has decided to ignore them, on using the early story titles that David Howe insisted were right 'cos he'd found some paperwork that 'proved' it... hence 100,000BC (inaccurate and boring), The Daleks (a breach of the Howe rules under which it should be The Mutants, but as that would be confusing they can be ignored, which shows how pointless they are), and Inside the Spaceship (accurate, but incredibly boring).
Is there much of that anymore? If I was Mr Character Options I'd be drooling at the thought of getting to repackage my old stock and resell it to obsessive collectors.
To be honest, I've been thinking of the shows by the calendar year they air in. It really is easier that way, especially since Moffat took over.
They list the years though. so 1st Doctor 1963-1966 8th Doctor 1996 9th Doctor 2013 10th Doctor 2005 Doesn't really work. There's enough 10th Doctor and especially this year 11 Doctors merchandise this year. Not to mention various flashback sequences - even if the Doctor forgot a life its the one we're sure the Daleks would know. And the other thing is, even if it was to get at Chris, it would be a greater insult to Paul creating a new Time War Doctor.
How is revealing that John Hurt fought the Time War an "insult to Paul [McGann]"? I realize that many fans assume that McGann's Doctor fought the Time War, but that has only ever been an assumption. The television series itself is agnostic on the point.
Well, no, there's nothing to prevent McGann from being the Time War Doctor, and indeed tie-in material such as IDW's The Forgotten comic series and BBC's TARDIS handbook say McGann was the Time War Doctor. But if Moffat wants to say it was actually another Doctor, than that's not really insulting to McGann. Hell, RTD always said he intended the Time War to have been fought by the Ninth Doctor. If it's true that Hurt is the Time War Doctor and that his role was originally meant to be Eccleston, than it would mean that Moffat intended to follow through with that. Why do I get the feeling this special is going to generate a lot of canon vs fanon debates?
I must be blind, but I could see McGann being a younger version of Eccleston's regen cycle--I can only assume that Tom Baker's version had traveled for awhile to account for the "Face of Evil."
Even though McGann is older than Eccleston? Although, I suppose McGann was younger when he filmed the TV movie than Eccleston was when he filmed season 1, though not by much.
So, he'd have gotten himself a northern accent in the later years?! I don't buy it. Besides, Ecclestons ears are way too big to have stayed hidden under McGann's wig. Anyway, I don't think Eccleston's Doctor being the one of the Time War doesn't make sense, because in "Rose", when he was in Rose's apartment, he apparently sees himself in the mirror for the first time, indicating his last regeneration to have happened just before the episode started. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFuWOF8wqSc
Was that line actually written or did Eccleston just ad-lib it on set? I agree that if RTD meant what he said that it was the Ninth Doctor that fought the Time War wouldn't make sense if he wrote that line. But it's possible Eccleston thought it up on the spot and it was kept in because everyone else liked it.