Proper endings for Colin Baker and Mcgann's Doctors?

[Whofan]

Colin Baker and Paul Mcgann unfortunately never really had a great 'final adventure' to go out on, and neither filmed a regeneration. Although it's presumed that the Rani's attack caused the Sixth Doctor to regenerate, and that Paul Mcgann's Doctor regenerated during the Time War, I still wonder what could've been with their regenerations and a proper 'send off' story. Attempts have been made with the novels of course, such as Spiral Scratch and Time's Champion, and apparentally Doctor Who Magazine's comic was going to feature the Mcgann/Eccleston regeneration, but it was veteod by the BBC.

I think the original plan for Colin would've been for him to continue fighting the Valeyard in the Matrix, with a cliffhanger for the next season. Instead, we got the "Carrot juice" and a semi-cliffhanger with the Valeyard having escaped and posessing the Keeper, and then of course "Time and the Rani".

Also of course had the series not been revived, it's possible there would have been a Mcgann/Richard E. Grant regeneration in one of the novels or Big Finish, since REG/Shalka Doctor was at the time, the 'official' Ninth Doctor until the new series retconned it.

Any thoughts on what could have been a proper exit for these Doctors?

 

[I am not Spock]

Is there any way to shoehorn the REG Scream of the Shalka Doctor into the canon of the series? I quite liked those cartoons. Fan theory has Peter Cushing's Doctor explained as being the older Doc Ten.2 from 'Journey's End'.

 

[Rarewolf]

Fan theory has Peter Cushing's Doctor explained as being the older Doc Ten.2 from 'Journey's End'.

I'd never heard that until a few days ago.

Shalka is regarded as an Unbound 'What If' story now by its writer.

The Unbounds were an audio series for the 40th Anniversary - What if
the Doctor never left Gallifrey,
arrived later for his exile on Earth,
Killed for the greater good,
lost to the Valeyard,
was a failed work of fiction,
regenerated into a woman.

Two of those featured David Tennant, the later making his debut as a Timelord.

I haven't given up hope Colin and Paul will be given a decent finale script to do on audio one day. Unlikely, but not entirely impossible yet.

 

[Stevil2001]

...and apparentally Doctor Who Magazine's comic was going to feature the Mcgann/Eccleston regeneration, but it was veteod by the BBC.

Not quite. The BBC (especially Davies) was fully keen for DWM to handle the regeneration, and DWM was happy to do it. The caveat was that they'd initially planned on doing a "Ninth Doctor: Year One" series, showing the ninth Doctor's adventures with then-companion Destrii. But the BBC nixed that, saying that the ninth Doctor needed to be portrayed with Rose. This would mean that Destrii's story would have to be cut short, and the DWM team decided that they'd rather leave Destrii and the eighth Doctor's adventures open-ended, and so they voluntarily gave up the chance to do the regeneration to leave open the possibility of further adventures for the duo.

Also of course had the series not been revived, it's possible there would have been a Mcgann/Richard E. Grant regeneration in one of the novels or Big Finish, since REG/Shalka Doctor was at the time, the 'official' Ninth Doctor until the new series retconned it.

Gary Russell stated several times that Big Finish had nothing and would have nothing to do with Richard E. Grant. But there was a moment during Zagreus when I thought he had been trying to trick us by saying that and Paul McGann was about to change...

 

[23skidoo]

I think the original plan for Colin would've been for him to continue fighting the Valeyard in the Matrix, with a cliffhanger for the next season. Instead, we got the "Carrot juice" and a semi-cliffhanger with the Valeyard having escaped and posessing the Keeper, and then of course "Time and the Rani".

As far as I know, there never was much more of a plan beyond what you saw on screen. When Colin Baker filmed "carrot juice" and it was broadcast, everyone - Baker, and John Nathan-Turner included - expected Season 24 to continue with Baker. A storyline was even planned to explain how Mel first joined the Doctor (this is discussed by JNT in his book The Companions). But the BBC ordered Baker fired, and he was invited back to film either a couple of episodes or an extended version of what ended up on tape. He naturally told the BBC to F-off and so they improvised. Though by "improvised" they still had months to plan the regeneration, so they could have come up with something a little better, even if McCoy had been forced to wear the wig.

Also of course had the series not been revived, it's possible there would have been a Mcgann/Richard E. Grant regeneration in one of the novels or Big Finish, since REG/Shalka Doctor was at the time, the 'official' Ninth Doctor until the new series retconned it.

There's an interesting DWM expose waiting to be written about exactly what happened. Someone must have been pretty upset at seeing the Grant Doctor "decanonized" so quickly. Big Finish and the BBC were even going to do a DVD, which ended up being cancelled. Someone lost good money on the deal.

Is there any way to shoehorn the REG Scream of the Shalka Doctor into the canon of the series? I quite liked those cartoons. Fan theory has Peter Cushing's Doctor explained as being the older Doc Ten.2 from 'Journey's End'.

I can't remember if it was an Eighth Doctor novel by BBC Books or a Big Finish audio, but there was one story that suggested that the Shalka Doctor (as he's called), as well as Rowan Atkinson's Ninth Doctor from Steven Moffat's "Curse of Fatal Death" actually exist in canon, in alternate realities. Cushing's Doctor has also been accounted for in some books; my favorite being I Am the Doctor by John Peel which suggests Barbara Wright wrote memoirs of her travels with the Doctor, changing some details (which resulted in the original Doctor Who and the Daleks novel, and IIRC the Cushing movies).

My end of the day opinion is there's really no point in wishing for a better ending for Colin Baker's Doctor. It is what it is, and to borrow some phrasing from The Next Doctor, some days you just have to trip over a brick. As for McGann, I love the fact we don't know what happened to him. So much of the Doctor's mystery has been removed over the years. This is a case where they put it back. Maybe when Paul McGann finally tires of doing audios for Big Finish, they'll do "The End". Or maybe someday BBC Books will start publishing past Doctors novels again and give us the crossover. But until that happens, I'm quite happy DWM never filled in this blank in the Doctor's history.

I'd hate to find out he actually survived the Time War perfectly fine, only to trip over a brick outside Henrik's department store while chasing Autons...

Alex

 

[Anwar]

I like to think that it was the final battle of the Time War that caused the 8th's regeneration.

 

[Sindatur]

I like to think that it was the final battle of the Time War that caused the 8th's regeneration.

I've always felt what we've seen on screen has told us that the Doctor believed whatever Dues Ex Machina/Doomsday Device he used to end the Time War, he expected would kill him too, but, somehow, he was outside outside enough, and instead of being killed/Locked in time/erased/whatever, he was regenrated.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I like to think that it was the final battle of the Time War that caused the 8th's regeneration.

I've always felt what we've seen on screen has told us that the Doctor believed whatever Dues Ex Machina/Doomsday Device he used to end the Time War, he expected would kill him too, but, somehow, he was outside outside enough, and instead of being killed/Locked in time/erased/whatever, he was regenrated.

Yeah, those ideas always worked for me. I figured the Ninth Doctor's survival guilt was a result of having to live with what he had done at the end of his previous incarnation.

As far as the Sixth Doctor's demise, I admit it wasn't the most heroic way for a Doctor to go, but I do realize that not every death can be spectacular. Sometimes, it may be as pathetic as tripping over a brick...

 

[Skellington]

I'm quite happy with the thought of Eight surviving the Time War only to trip over a cable in the TARDIS or something and become Nine. Of course, since the war wasn't televised it's quite possible that it was Nine who ended it and hence his reckless streak in season one of NuWho.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

Of course, since the war wasn't televised it's quite possible that it was Nine who ended it and hence his reckless streak in season one of NuWho.

Which seems to have been what Russell Davies originally intended too - hence his suggestion that DWM depict the eighth/ninth regeneration in the comic strip, long before the Time War started.

There's a proper ending for the sixth Doctor in the novel "Spiral Scratch".