50th Anniversary, the 11 Doctors?

[Cyke101]

I'm against recasting in general, but if they ever need to do it, I've always thought of Geoffrey Rush as Pertwee 2.0 (no offense to his son, of course).

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

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. 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.

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.

Much as I love Tennant's Doctor, I don't think he'd overshadow Smith. Smith has owned that role from the second he appeared onscreen.

I certainly agree. I've always said that Smith really throws into sharp relief that Tennant was just trying too hard. Smith makes it look completely effortless.

However, I am shocked that not everyone feels that way. Many of my friends still occasionally pine for Tennant to come back. My sister started with Smith, and yet when I asked her who her favorite Doctor was, she said, "David Tennant. Isn't he everyone's favorite?"

I think the best option is 8-11 and 1. 8-11 offer a good chance for closure to the Time War and the emotional scars it left on the Doctor (plus they all still look pretty much the same as they did when they appeared as the character), and 1 because it is the 50th anniversary of "The Doctor", not of 4 or 7 or the rest. If you are going to include anyone from before the time war, the first one has to be there.

Any 8-11 story needs the Time War in it, that much is certain to me.

Sly looks and sounds the same. 7-11

Yeah, Sylvester McCoy is one of those actors that still looks very similar to how he did 25 years ago, kinda like Bill Murray, Patrick Stewart, or Robert Picardo. He's always had something of a perpetually middle-aged look.

Another way to handle the aging thing is for the TARDIS to crash into some sort of temporal eddy that physically shatters the Doctor's psyche, populating the lower corridors of the TARDIS with projections of the Doctor's previous incarnations, some of them not quite as he remembers them.

 

[Stevil2001]

Well, Moffat covered it in "Time Crash," didn't he? I forget what the line was, but there was some kinda time gubbins what did it.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

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).

That being said, I've also heard mix reports about Eccleston's experience on the show and is reasons for departure but I think from all accounts he was proud to portray The Doctor.

 

[Tom]

Well its just a special not a return to the series, if offered enough money i think that Ecc would do it.

 

[Sindatur]

Hmmm...Only thing I've ever heard is that Eccelston doesn't like long term commitments and only wanted to do one series

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Well its just a special not a return to the series, if offered enough money i think that Ecc would do it.

Since Eccleston's issues were with Keith Boak and RTD, and neither are involved with Doctor Who any longer, it might not be that difficult to convince him if the money and the role is right.

 

[The Wormhole]

As I understand, Eccleston does like the show and is proud of have been the Doctor, so I wouldn't rule out a return appearance in the 50th anniversary.

 

[Tom]

Well if Ecc and Mcgann both do it, maybe at the very least there can be a flashback of 8 regenerating to 9, depending on the story. The whole 8's adventures and early 9 is a 'lost era' of Doctor Who that im sure any fan would love to see something of. Not saying it has to involve the Timewar heavily.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^I thought the general implication was that the Ninth Doctor was newly regenerated in the episode Rose, thus the bit where he looked in the mirror and commented on how he looked?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

That's the implication but there are plenty of people who are convinced otherwise. Like 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.

 

[Sindatur]

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)

 

[Tom]

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. Thats exactly why fans would love to see what happened there.

The other cool unknown is a younger 1st Doctor, that would be interesting as well but i can't see them going there.

 

[UssGlenn]

But could 9 have vistied these places with Rose and you just dont see her in the pics?, perhaps but who really knows. Thats exactly why fans would love to see what happened there.

That was a huge missed opportunity, now that you bring it up. Rose should have been in those pictures, just not front and center looking at the camera. The viewer should have seen her in the background/obscured/turned away etc. on a future viewing of the show.

 

[ClayinCA]

Or Rose could have been the person who took the pictures!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Well if Ecc and Mcgann both do it, maybe at the very least there can be a flashback of 8 regenerating to 9, depending on the story. The whole 8's adventures and early 9 is a 'lost era' of Doctor Who that im sure any fan would love to see something of. Not saying it has to involve the Timewar heavily.

I won't recapitulate my arguments against the idea of the 8-9 regeneration happening during or because of the Time War, or immediately prior to "Rose," even; some may think I'm a broken record on that point.

I will say that I think, at this point, that there's nothing gained by dramatizing the 8-9 regeneration unless it happened in the context of an ongoing line of audio adventures or comic books. Showing the regeneration in the context of a 50th-anniversary story doesn't make a great deal of sense for several reasons.

The main one -- it simply doesn't matter anymore. (I'm not sure that it ever did matter, except maybe to Scott Grey at DWM, and that ship sailed long ago.) While the eighth Doctor has an active fanbase thanks to Big Finish, the ninth Doctor is now a dead issue. From a fan standpoint, yes, it would be nice to have a dangling thread dealt with. But from a not-we standpoint, a regeneration would involve two Doctors that haven't been seen widely in many years, for a scene that has little to no bearing on where the series is now.

Secondly, the same argument DWM made against the regeneration in "The Flood" to RTD would apply to showing the regeneration in a one-off special -- there's neither room nor opportunity for follow-up in a post-regeneration story. 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.

While there's the satisfaction that one blank is filled in, there's the greater dissatisfaction of newly revealed blanks that would, in all likelihood, never be addressed. The 8-9 regeneration is of interest, but only to fans. Like the Time War itself, it's an idea that's best left to the fans to imagine for themselves. It simply doesn't matter to anyone else.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

As much as I hate to say it, I have to completely agree with Allyn. I want to see (or even just hear) the Time War and The Eighth Doctor's regeneration (either directly involved with the said war or not), there isn't going to be much meaning behind it other than being a check in the box. The only way it would work is if Big Finish were authorized to cover the Time War (which I think is the only way of going about telling its story), leads dramatically into the regeneration and get subsequent adventures with The Ninth Doctor (but that also is dependent on Big Finish getting license to tell his stories, too). It's a flight of fancy at this point, nothing more.

 

[Australis]

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.

 

[Tarek71]

Truthfully, it's not likely. Not remotely. But wouldn't that be something? Instead of a single special, though, how about an entire series, pairing up old Doctors a few at a time, with a big climax featuring them all.

Obviously 1, 2 and 3 couldn't participate, but imagine other actors standing in for them, in the style of Hurndall as Hartnell. Maybe Bill Nighy as 3 and I don't know, Alun Armstrong as 2?

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.

Then again, I wouldnt mind them being recast either. Im no purist on any of this.

 

[wamdue]

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.

I think you maybe on to something, but actually 1, 2 & 3 are not a problem.

1 is your example, he regenerated due to old age, so the idea that he could have exisited beyond his regeneration is false, same could be true for 2 & 3.

11: wheres my early selves
10: I, I mean we, are too old for them to still be here, there bodies would have regenerated due to old age.

I think your greater problem is trying to explain why Timelords apparntly get fatter as they get older, something that didnt happen to the 1st Doctor.

Ive always said that there is scope for the Classic Doctors appearing via the TARDIS hologram, exactly like 9 & 10 have done, the BBC has loads of footage of the old Doctors at hand, and should be able to edit it, in such a way that they can build a 3D model of each Doctor, add the "holographic effect" already seen, to cover any inprefections, and invite the older Doctors back to record a voice track.

If there are any futher problems you can have the hologram appear to stutter, fade in & out, go from black & white to colour, and explain it like this

Amy: Doctor why is the hologram doing that
theDoctor kicking the TARDIS: damm things on the blink, hits the TARDIS elsewhere with his thist.
Amy: where you have just made it worse now Doctor.

This will largley get around any problems, this could be used to show that the silent has been around, and following the Doctor, the Doctor has been aware of it, but not fully aware, so something like this

theOod: the silence is coming Doctor, its waited so long, its coming soon, fear the silence.
Doctor: the silence, that rings a bell, thanks Ood

the Doctors goes back into the TARDIS, walks over to the screen, switches it on, and says "checked TARDIS memory banks, show me entrys mentioning the silence, silence, anything silent esque.
Amy: TARDIS memory banks, very Star Trek
theDoctor offended: could Star Trek do this?, touches a button on the display, and a hologram is displayed in tthe TARDIS.

You now use you 3D models with holographic effect to show the previous Doctors mentioing "The Silence" briefly.


*fine I dont write a good 11th Doctor yet, but you get the gist*