Having someone just walk up and kill the Doctor would certainly be an interesting take for the next regeneration, but more importantly than anything else you have to remember this is a family show and cold blooded murder plays a lot differently than evil plots to destroy the world.
wasnt the 7th / 8th Doctor caused in part by a gun shot, and equal parts Doctors not knowing how to operate on a Time Lord?
But to be fair, how many Doctor Who fans will even acknowledge the existence of that unmentionable TV movie with a certain time traveler?
well im not one of those. The fact we saw 7 regenerated into 8 is more than enough for me, to say nothing of the fact that the 8th Doctor featured in The Journal of Impossible Things, The Next Doctor & Elventh Hour, means that for me there is no question that the 8th Doctor did happen, and that he was played by Paul McGann.
That was more of a trigger happy kid though, it wasn't someone killing The Doctor with premeditated intent. The astronaut is closer, but we don't know the context yet, which will almost certainly change how that scene plays.
The Daleks have technically hit the Doctor twice and yet, he found a way out of it-first with the phony regeneration, and then by rebooting the universe. The Daleks seem to have trouble with Time Lords. They disintegrated the master into ashes and yet he still managed to survive as a snake/worm thing. The Dalek beam, according to Rememberance of the Daleks, seems to mainly 'mix' one's organs-fatally in at least one version of their setting (and this of course explains all the Dalek kills in the series-there doesn't seem to be any external injuries on their victims). However I can see the Doctor regenerating from something like that, since regeneration replaces all the cells.
I was rewatching some of the trailers for the season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48hM83hN-SU Is it possible that the Celestial Toymaker has a new body (at some point in the trailer you see a funny looking clown holding a balloon and also a creepy puppet) and is going to be back to playing with the Doctor? I mean he is one of six guardians known as the Crystal Guardian of Dreams...which could be a reference to the Dreamlord in Amy's Choice.
Being several weeks old now, does this episode thread still need to be pinned? Maybe we could get Torchwood up top now.
No official word yet, but, the popular estimation seems to be it will be about the second week of September.
at least the wait till the Christmas episode wont be too long. maybe we should just have one episdoe every 4 weeks, that way we are never months away from a new episode, no I hate that idea.