Is there any reason McGann couldn't have starred in nuWho?

[StCoop]

I'm pretty sure if he hadn't wanted to do it RTD would have found someone else, and probably had a whole list of people lined up

IIRC, a certain D. Tennant Esq. was #2 on the list...

Hugh Grant was in talks for the role but turned it down and said later that he regretted it.

And who can forget the Daily Mail announcing that Bill Nighy had got the job on the same day the BBC announced it was Eccleston.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Two points: There is no 'regeneration limit.' As with everything else in Who, the details only matter insofar as they service the story at hand. Everything is fungible. Second, McGann brought nothing to the table. He played The Doctor for an hour in an entirely forgettable television movie. Eccleston brought a raw physicality to the role and took The Doctor to places that he'd never been before. He was the perfect choice to bring Doctor Who back to the screens for a new audience.

So yes: There are plenty of reasons why McGann didn't, and shouldn't have, played The Doctor in the series revival. We're much better off that he didn't.

All absolutely true.

 

[StCoop]

Secondly, I disagree, I think McGann was a great Doctor, he brought together the best qualities of his predecessors and you can actually see hints of the Eighth Doctor in the performances of Ten and Eleven.

I think he's great too and the last series of 8th Doctor stories from BF was better than the first series and a half of the 11th Doctor but... as far as the General Public go he's the guy who played the part for an hour in 1996.

 

[Sindatur]

Hugh Grant was in talks for the role but turned it down and said later that he regretted it.

Phew, thank Goodness we dodged that bullet

 

[Starkers]

Actually I think Grant would have made a great Doctor, I just don't think he'd have made a great ninth Doctor without some major tinkering in terms of the whole Time War story.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Two points: There is no 'regeneration limit.' As with everything else in Who, the details only matter insofar as they service the story at hand. Everything is fungible. Second, McGann brought nothing to the table. He played The Doctor for an hour in an entirely forgettable television movie.

I shall respond to your two points. One, I hope they don't throw away the regeneration rule, I actually think it's a novel idea and would feel a tad cheated if they just toss it out to get more life out of the show.

They might not throw it out (ie, ignore it) but they WILL find a reason to get around it. The show is far to successful to just go... "well, we've hit the limit, time to close the doors..."

 

[Morpheus 02]

I 'd like to McGann in a multiple doctors episode, but AGED older than he is now...that way, he could theoretically do some more guest episodes, without having to explain away his age. His version could be really elderly before regenerating.

i'd also like to add a young 1st doctor in the mix as well.


In the previous mutiple doctor episodes, do they remember that they've seen themselves before? How do they know it's another them (at least the older seeing newer versions)?

 

[Sindatur]

Actually I think Grant would have made a great Doctor, I just don't think he'd have made a great ninth Doctor without some major tinkering in terms of the whole Time War story.

There are very few actors I have a passionate dislike for, but, hugh Grant is one. I just really, really dislike seeing him in anything

I would love to see McGann in a multiple Doctor story myself

Morpheus 02, they do not remember after the fact that they've met their future selves. I'm not sure about the 5 Doctors and the 2 Doctors, because it's been so long since I've seen them, but, Troughton and Hartnell knew who Pertwee was in the 3 Doctors.

 

[chardman]

While not a huge fan of the Doctor Who film, I am kind of a fan of McGann's Doctor, And judging from the popularity of the DW audio dramas he's been in, I guess I'm not alone. One thing I'd love to see, that would firmly cement McGann's place as Number 8, for the average viewer, is for him to appear in a Two-Doctors-style crossover episode of some kind. Maybe not a full-blown ep like the original "The Two Doctors" with Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton, but at least a short for C-I-N like "Time Crash" with Tennant and Davidson.

 

[Iamnotspock]

I could be wrong, but I thought the reason they hadn't brought him back was the same reason there was no Region 1 DVD release until just recently - there were rights issues with Fox and Universal prohibiting them from using that specific version of the Doctor on screen.

And since it was on-screen rights only, Big Finish could feel free to use McGann in the audios ... but somehow, the other characters introduced in the audio, including Grace, are still tied up and can't be used. That's why even though they brought in the actress to reunite with McGann, she was playing an unrelated character.

I don't think so. AIUI the Doctor is the Doctor, and the overall rights to the character are owned by the BBC and have been since the rights reverted solely back to them from Fox around... ooh, 1997 I think. I believe the rights issues apply only to secondary characters introduced in the TVM like Grace and Chang Lee. If the BBC were unable to use the eighth Doctor then I can't imagine Big Finish would be allowed to either!

 

[chardman]

I realize in the states the feeling was that the Doctor Who tv-movie was a failure. But from my understanding it was a pretty big hit in the UK.

Looking at that, and considering many people who dislike the movie say that McGann was the best part about it, is there any reason he was never approached to reprise the role as the Doctor?

I mean there's nothing about the first season that necessitates that the Doctor of that series be the ninth Doctor. It could have easily been McGann's Doctor and nothing would have changed drastically.

At the very least they'd only be on regeneration 10 now and still have some more room until they have to stretch credibility and explain why the Doctor can regenerate after his 13th life.

I think number 13 should be somewhat a look-alike for William Hartnell, implying that somehow the Doctor has come full circle, and essentially started all over again, with 12 wholly new regenerations ahead of him. And because time isn't fixed, and since the times and circumstances of these 12 new regenerations won't be the same as they originally were, these subsequent regenerations won't necessarily need to mimic any of the previous 12 incarnations.

 

[od0_ital]

...
In the previous mutiple doctor episodes, do they remember that they've seen themselves before? How do they know it's another them (at least the older seeing newer versions)?

Well, in the "five & dime" Children in Need special, the 5th Doctor's memory of the 10th Doctor's actions is what saved the day.

So, there's that...

And the 1st Doctor had negative comments about the 2nd & 3rd Doctors in The Three Doctors.

 

[Starkers]

Yes but 10 didn't remember that right away so there was some timey wimeyness at work.

 

[OmahaStar]

Yes but 10 didn't remember that right away so there was some timey wimeyness at work.

To be fair, from his perspective, it probably happened 500 years earlier. It took a minute or two to jog the brain and dig up that old conversation.

I am impressed how Time Crash fit so well with The Two Doctors. In both cases, there was a reason in dialog why the Doctor did - or did not - remember the adventure, from his previous incarnation.

In the Three Doctors and Five Doctors, since the First Doctor had already gone through the adventure, the others should have already remembered it, and knew how it would end. But it was never addressed.

 

[Iamnotspock]

In the Three Doctors and Five Doctors, since the First Doctor had already gone through the adventure, the others should have already remembered it, and knew how it would end. But it was never addressed.

I like the fanon speculation that the Time Lords wiped the memories of everyone involved in The Three... and ...Five Doctors, hence why Sarah-Jane doesn't seem to remember the events of The Five Doctors in School Reunion either.

 

[od0_ital]

^

Why wouldn't she? She commented that he'd regenerated, and then got pissed about bein' left in the wrong town.

The Five Doctors would have picked up after the 4th Doctor dropped her off, but she still had reason to get mad & had the time to vent about it!

Yeah, that's it...

 

[Stevil2001]

She also says, "I thought you died."

 

[OmahaStar]

^

Why wouldn't she? She commented that he'd regenerated, and then got pissed about bein' left in the wrong town.

The Five Doctors would have picked up after the 4th Doctor dropped her off, but she still had reason to get mad & had the time to vent about it!

Yeah, that's it...

Because she met the Fifth Doctor in the Five Doctors. The event must have been wiped from her mind, because when she meets Ten, she has no idea that Four has regenerated - she thought Four (the last Doctor she remembered meeting) had died.

 

[captcalhoun]

and Ten tells her he's regenerated 'half a dozen times' since they last met. 4+6 = 10.

 

[Whofan]

I wouldn't say Mcgann brought nothing new-his Doctor seemed to have sort of an innocence and lust for life to him. His Doctor also had a tendency to actually tell people about their future, something other Doctors tend to shy from.