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50th Anniversary, the 11 Doctors?

I keep hearing conflicting things about Eccleston. Some say that getting him to come back would be about as difficult as convincing Tom Baker to come back. Most of the stuff I've read indicates that while he had some major issues with the production staff at the time and is generally disinclined towards regular TV work, that he would be amenable to appearing in a multi-Doctor special.
Interestingly, Eccleston was interviewed by Graham Norton today about his time on Doctor Who. He talked about why he was interested in the role and what he wanted from the role. And even though he thinks Moffat is brilliant (he says that Moffat's two-parter was the best of his season), he indicates that he's done with the role and won't return, even for the 50th-anniversary.
 
Interestingly, Eccleston was interviewed by Graham Norton today about his time on Doctor Who. He talked about why he was interested in the role and what he wanted from the role. And even though he thinks Moffat is brilliant (he says that Moffat's two-parter was the best of his season), he indicates that he's done with the role and won't return, even for the 50th-anniversary.

And while I'm sure some people will think he'll change his mind, he won't. That's not the sort of person he is.
 
Wow, that's disappointing. He sounds absolutely sincere in his declaration about not coming back. I understand where he's coming from but it's still disappointing.
 
Well, it's pretty much what I expected. So, I suppose, if there is a multiple Doctors show, it'll just be 10 and 11, then, huh? The others seem a bit too old to retake their roles. I know they didn't care about such "minor" details in the old show and there's Peter Davison's appearance in Time Crash, but I think you can't do things like that with today's audience for a full-length episode.
 
Well, it's pretty much what I expected. So, I suppose, if there is a multiple Doctors show, it'll just be 10 and 11, then, huh? The others seem a bit too old to retake their roles. I know they didn't care about such "minor" details in the old show and there's Peter Davison's appearance in Time Crash, but I think you can't do things like that with today's audience for a full-length episode.

They could still use Paul McGann he still looks more or less like he did in 1996.
 
We don't even know how McGann's Doctor looked after his first adventure, so no problems there. I see no particular reason they couldn't use McCoy and Davison again, with the same "Oops, look at that, accidentally aged you a bit, sorry 'bout that" handwave they did in "Time Crash." Colin Baker, well, he's gotten very overweight in his old age, from what I understand, which makes me wonder if he'd even want to come back -- but if he did, no reason they couldn't use the same handwave for that, too. Tom Baker might just bee too old to play the part, though, except maybe as a "The Three Doctors"-esque cameo.
 
Here's the easy way: the TARDIS hits a temporal eddy, as someone above said, but it causes the Doctor's different versions to manifest themselves as if they never regenerated, just kept going on as they were. Where that places 1-3, I'm not sure. Sort of an alt.universe thing.

As I understand it, that was the basic concept behind the never-produced Dark Dimension 30th anniversary TV movie, which was how Tom Baker was going to be allowed to reprise the Fourth Doctor in a way that made sense (though interestingly there was no talk of a similar thing for Jon Pertwee who was also going to be involved).

Personally, I think multi-Doctor stories have been done, and don't need to be done again. It's sort of like time travel stories sending the heroes back to try and interfere with JFK's assassination; it's been done (and even Doctor Who has done it, both in novel form ("Who Killed Kennedy") and implied in "Rose").

I'd rather see a very strong standalone story that showcases why people have loved this show for 50 years. Something on par with Blink. In fact, in my opinion, Blink was the perfect 50th anniversary Doctor Who story, even though he barely appears in it. Why do you think when a newbie asks "where do I start", 99% of fans say "Watch Blink"?

The bottom line for me is you can't do a 50th anniversary story as a multi-Doctor story unless you have all 11 Doctors involved. And no bloody paper mache heads like they used in Dimensions in Time will do. And if the BBC says it's too expensive to spend the money to animate the missing episodes for DVD, they sure as heck won't spring for photo-real CG recreations of Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee (and imagine the licensing costs). And Eccleston has said time and again he doesn't want to play the role again...

No, let BBC Books give us an 11 Doctors extravaganza. Let Big Finish (if they still have the license in 2013) unite Mssrs T Baker, Davison, C Baker, McCoy and McGann in some audio drama. Let the TV series look to the future. I think the 50th anniversary story would be the perfect time to introduce the 12th Doctor, for example...(prepares to duck).

Alex
 
I'd rather see a very strong standalone story that showcases why people have loved this show for 50 years. Something on par with Blink. In fact, in my opinion, Blink was the perfect 50th anniversary Doctor Who story, even though he barely appears in it. Why do you think when a newbie asks "where do I start", 99% of fans say "Watch Blink"?

Alex

You don't do anniversary stories for newbies, the idea is to celebrate howeve long a show has been on the air. At the very least any anniversary Dr. Who story needs to have the Doctor in it and Blink didn't fill that bill since he was just barely in it. Rememberance Of The Daleks was a great anniversary story it was filled with nods and references to the entire series and yet didn't have a past Doctor in it.
 
You know, I'd love to see a series of anniversary stories teaming up different Doctors (and maybe companions). Five/Seven, Six/Ten, Eight/Eleven, something like that.

Even better: Seven/River. That would be epic.
 
Why do you think when a newbie asks "where do I start", 99% of fans say "Watch Blink"?
Really? I wouldn't. Definitely "Rose". Not the best story, but the best introduction.
 
He's ok with signing for fans too (ie free) he signed 4 cards for me when I wrote to him last year at the theatre. He's not done a big collectors event yet AFAIK.
 
He just meant he doesn't want people to make a buck from it by having him sign tons of stuff they sell on e-bay later on. But he's ok with signing stuff otherwise.
 
First, it sucks that Eccelston doesn't want to come back. I'd hope that come the 50th anniversary he might see the historical and cultural impact the show has had and be a part of it in some fashion. Didn't Tom Baker later regret not being in "The Five Doctors?"

At any rate, if they can't get any combination of previous doctors, I wouldn't be averse to some sort of multi-part story done "Trials and Tribblations" style.

Baring that, maybe a more quiet and reflective episode that features Ian, one of the first companions, having one last adventure or conversation with the Doctor and possibly passing away. Ignore the SJA reference to them and use Ian once more before that actor passes away. I'm still pissed at them for not getting the Brig on nuWho!
 
Why do you think when a newbie asks "where do I start", 99% of fans say "Watch Blink"?
Really? I wouldn't. Definitely "Rose". Not the best story, but the best introduction.


Agreed. Blink is awesome and that's why it gets recommended. But it's not a great introductory ep as it doesn't "introduce" anything. Not like "Rose" or "Smith and Jones" or "The Eleventh Hour".
 
Baring that, maybe a more quiet and reflective episode that features Ian, one of the first companions, having one last adventure or conversation with the Doctor and possibly passing away.
I really want to see this and whether or not it's the 50th Anniversary special or not doesn't matter. I would love to see the juxtaposition of having old Ian interacting with a young-looking Doctor. Because Ian doesn't know about regeneration, the whole thing can start off with him being confused why this young whippersnapper is bugging him...until The Doctor calls him Chesterfield (or something similar). :D
 
11th Doctor: "Chesterfield!... Chesserman!... 500 years of maturity and I still can't get that name right."

In any case, there's no way that Ecclestone will ever return to Who and Tennant would only overshadow Smith this close to the re-casting, so I doubt very highly we'll see a multi-Doctor show anytime soon.

I keep hearing conflicting things about Eccleston. Some say that getting him to come back would be about as difficult as convincing Tom Baker to come back.
Which isn't say much anymore now that Baker is finally doing Big Finish audio plays after 12 years of asying no and is fully embracing them (he's coming out with 18 discs worth of audio plays next year). ;)

Yeah, but it took over 20 years!

That's the implication but there are plenty of people who are convinced otherwise. Life anything unseen or unexplained, there's going to be people who see it differently. I certainly don't begrudge them of the belief that The Ninth Doctor isn't newly regenerated, even if I don't agree.
Yea, I too believe is newly regenerated, but, who knows how long after his generation it's been since he saw himself (or he may have simply been too despondent for months or years after his regeneration to notice what he looked like)

Also Clive's pic's of the ninth doctor to Rose shows he has been to a few more places possibly before rose. But could 9 have vistied these places with Rose and you just dont see her in the pics?, perhaps but who really knows.

Another theory I've heard is that, in between when Rose 1st turns him down and when he comes back and mentions to her that it's also a time machine in "Rose," he went off and had some random adventures.

In a way, I suppose when it comes to finding gaps in the Doctor's timeline to stick new stories, any time the TARDIS dematerializes without a human companion aboard is fair game.

RTD wouldn't allow DWM to pair the ninth Doctor with Destrii, and it's unlikely that Eccleston would come back for an extended period so he could have a post-regeneration story.

I thought that RTD was fine with the magazine doing 9th Doctor comic stories with Destrii. Rather, it was some of the higher-ups at the BBC that insisted that any 9th Doctor comics at that point feature Rose.

Well it wont be long before you can have very convincing digital copies of the actors looking as they were at the time, interacting with live actors. Its not quite there yet, but thats a possibility down the road. Though I think alot of fans wouldnt be thrilled with that either. Im sure it would be ok for the living actors. They could still provide the voice and yet appear as they did then.

Even now, it could be done with some success. Especially if they are seen on a screen, or in some way that obscures it. Maybe some of the older ones are on a screen in a different Tardis, and so the fact that their faces arent quite right isnt so obvious. Its a thought anyway.

I don't think you could ever do it convincingly on a BBC television budget.

Part of me likes the simplicity of having all of the Doctors around somewhere but only a handful end up meeting up with each other, and then some only making contact via audio link.

Tennant: "But where's what's-his-name? Number 4? Scarf man?"
C. Baker (comm): "Oh, he's here. He's just not talking to any of us."
Davison (comm): "My fault, actually. He's still mad at me for unraveling his scarf."
C. Baker (comm): "Also, there's some bloke in a leather jacket sulking in a corner. He's not one of ours, is he?"
Tennant & Smith: (Sigh.) "Yes."
Smith: "I'm surprised 5 & 6 aren't making progress with him. I thought he liked blondes."

Didn't Tom Baker later regret not being in "The Five Doctors?"

I hadn't heard that. Like I say, I've never seen any evidence that he plays well with other Doctors.
 
I thought that RTD was fine with the magazine doing 9th Doctor comic stories with Destrii. Rather, it was some of the higher-ups at the BBC that insisted that any 9th Doctor comics at that point feature Rose.
Technically, it was RTD and Julie Gardner that vetoed the ninth Doctor and Destrii. To quote RTD:
To stop any suspense. The new comic strip will have to include Rose. Continuity will have to jump to present-day TV-compatible Ninth Doctor and Rose-time.
[SNIP]
It's the image. The icon. The Doctor and Rose. That IS the series. And DWM is the series. And the comic strip is the series. I can rationalise this on many many pages, but I absolutely trust my gut instincts.
[SNIP]
Now we're heading for another bump. Wham, Rose will be there. And yes, time will have passed, and the Doctor's suddenly the last of the Time Lords, and the Daleks killed his people, and onward they will sail.
RTD later came up with a convoluted plan to regenerate the Doctor but have him in an indeterminate state long enough for him to drop off Destrii before he finally turned into Eccleston. So, yes, in a way, RTD was okay with the ninth Doctor and Destrii, but this ninth Doctor wouldn't have been recognizable. For DWM, if it had Eccleston in it, it also had to have Rose. Destrii wasn't an option with an Eccleston ninth Doctor.
 
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