That's not going to happen, the tallk at the start of filming was that they were going to film for a year, filming two seasons and there's been no official talk of Matt Smith leaving the show.
I suspect Matt Smith will leave sometime after the 50th Anniversary. Which will be almost 4 years in the role.
Well, that's pretty much a given, no? The only question is WHEN. Personally I hope he stays a full year after the 50th, or at least regenerate as a mid-season finale. I think the 50th anniversary is too special to be all about one Doctor changing into another while (probably) having some other Doctors to share the spotlight during his exit. Mark
They could have done a future incarnation story where something happens to the current Doctor at the end that makes it uncertain if he would regenerate into the future Doctor he had an adventure with. Like TNG's 'All Good Things", where they told us the future we saw may not happen like that after all.
Don't get me wrong. I love Matt Smith and I don't want him to leave ever! (Of course, 5 years ago, I said the same thing about David Tennant. 3 years ago, not so much.) I'm just saying that, when he does leave, whenever that is, I think they should do it like that.
They're never going to muddle the publicity value of a new Doctor's first appearance by offhandedly sticking it in the middle of the previous Doctor's final lap; that would detract from the event feel of each.
This. How about a story where Eleven somehome starts being drawn back through his own timeline, basically switching places briefly with each incarnation (with the old Doctors being pulled forward to the modern console room), not finding a solution until he arrives back at his beginning. Naturally the scenes with actors who've passed away would happen offscreen. With some creative writing, it could explain that his companions suffer from the aging effect we saw in Time Crash.
Here's my idea... (not all thought out yet, but basic): The TARDIS accidently goes to future at the point the universe has expended all it's energy (it is bounced back to an earlier time). This causes the start of the Big Crunch, only because the TARDIS was present, it is accelerated. Multiple universes are combining, including universes where 4 didn't "die" when he did in ours (explains Tom Baker's age) and (whatever doctors are returning didn't "die" and regen when they did in our universe). Any companions can be brought back with the same explanation. I'll hold my solution to myself for now.... just in case SM hears of this and wants to make me an offer
^^^ Both really good ideas, though Photoman15's sounds a little like something DC would/did do in one or more of the Crisis storylines I once posted something like, if the TARDIS had the flu and kept changing console rooms or generally rearranging itself in it's fever state, at least we could see some of the old ones. I'd love to see #4's Victorian console room in the episode where Matt & Jenna are dressed for that period. Maybe the TARDIS decides to dress up for the occasion too.
Funny thing is I never read the DC Crisis stuff. I came up with mine because when my 3 year old niece was little I used to ask her: "At the end of the universe, when it expends all its energy and starts collapsing into a singularity known as the Big Crunch, will time go backward or forward?" And she would make me repeat it everytime I saw her. The othe day she asked me if I remembered the question and to post it on her facebook. (She's 23 now). That's how I came up with my premise.
The only reason I used multiple universes is to explain why Doc 4 looks older (and whoever else). I don't like the shorted time-differential from TIME CRASH. If I can come up with another reason why previous doctors look older, I'd use that. The problem still remains the same, stop the Big Crunch from happening.
Why not? It's simple, it can be explained in one short sentence, it works, it deals with the problem without lingering on it. What's not to like?
For a bizarre, mad moment when we first learned about Jenna Louise-Coleman being the new companion, I half imagined that was exactly what Moffat had in mind for the 50th anniversary - that the amnesia-ridden, ultra-mysterious, extremely-fast-talking/thinking "Clara" turns out to be a Watcher-like projection (think Cho-Je in Planet of the Spiders) that Eleven regenerates into at the end of the 50th Anniversary episode! And of course, keep it ultra-secret like the River/Melody reveal to just blindside everybody!
Someone had a link on here a couple of years ago to an online comic called 'The Ten Doctors', see if you can finds it, it's pretty good. Also Babelcolour's efforts are noteworthy as well.
When? In Time Crash? I don't think you've quite understood what Moffat was getting at. The two Doctors being in close proximity "shorted out the time differential" so that the fifth Doctor aged rapidly in order to "catch up" with his future self. The fifth Doctor looks the age he would look now if he had lived to that point in the timeline without regenerating.