Why the lack of Classic characters?

[Green Lantern]

Been reading on some posts here talking about having McGann instead of Hurt. This could have actually been a great idea. Having a doctor as the actual villain, would be great. Would show us that the time war was so catastrophic, a romantic, young, and polite man would become bitter and do some things so bad, all future doctors look down on him. I think that would have had much more of an impact, plus McGann would have played an outstanding evil doctor. He could wear his 2010 redesigned outfit. That would have been great, plus we'd have gotten our fill of the classic series.

As for old companions, I think Jamie should return for one episode outside the 50th. The doctor and his assistant at the time would go to Scotland somewhere in the lifespan of Jamie's, and the Doctor would bump into him as an old man, but of course after the events of the War Games, Jamie has no memory of the doctor, plus he's regenerated like ten times since their last meeting. The episode would go with the doctor becoming a bit emotional in the episode, and Jamie isn't the nicest guy to him as some war has made him a bit more bitter. But a bit like the Master in Utopia, he starts to get flashbacks of his time in the TARDIS (plus we get to see old scenes from the sixties!!!!!). The episode would be a little bit like that Van Gogh one, you know, more emotional and such. Eventually, some alien or threat (maybe a full historical episode?) end up with Jamie getting shot or something, and he dies in the Doctors arms, and in the last moments remembers the Doctor and everything. Then Jamie dies in the Doctors arms and the doctor starts crying. So yeah, basically it would be a very emotional episode and a good nod to the classic series.
Would have been great with Matt Smith due to the fact he's so alike to the second Doctor, but unfortunately that won't happen. But it could work with Capaldi too.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Been reading on some posts here talking about having McGann instead of Hurt. This could have actually been a great idea. Having a doctor as the actual villain, would be great. Would show us that the time war was so catastrophic, a romantic, young, and polite man would become bitter and do some things so bad, all future doctors look down on him. I think that would have had much more of an impact, plus McGann would have played an outstanding evil doctor. He could wear his 2010 redesigned outfit. That would have been great, plus we'd have gotten our fill of the classic series.

How would you feel if they turned your favorite Doctor into a villain, so vile that the other Doctors prefer to think he never existed?

 

[diankra]

The 'old Jamie' storyline's been done, in a 6th Doctor DWM comic strip back in 87. Even the dying heroically bit.

 

[Green Lantern]

Been reading on some posts here talking about having McGann instead of Hurt. This could have actually been a great idea. Having a doctor as the actual villain, would be great. Would show us that the time war was so catastrophic, a romantic, young, and polite man would become bitter and do some things so bad, all future doctors look down on him. I think that would have had much more of an impact, plus McGann would have played an outstanding evil doctor. He could wear his 2010 redesigned outfit. That would have been great, plus we'd have gotten our fill of the classic series.

How would you feel if they turned your favorite Doctor into a villain, so vile that the other Doctors prefer to think he never existed?

Joint favourite. Slightly closer to second than first actually..........

But I think if done right and written well, it could work. Would bring back some edgy and unpredictable nature back to the show. Besides, I'd just be glad Paul McGann was back and written well.

 

[Green Lantern]

The 'old Jamie' storyline's been done, in a 6th Doctor DWM comic strip back in 87. Even the dying heroically bit.

Really? Sounds good. Would be good if it was made into an episode though. Remember, Human Nature/Family of Blood and Blink originated or at least heavily based on Doctor Who comics, and look how popular they were.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

As for old companions, I think Jamie should return for one episode outside the 50th. The doctor and his assistant at the time would go to Scotland somewhere in the lifespan of Jamie's, and the Doctor would bump into him as an old man, but of course after the events of the War Games, Jamie has no memory of the doctor, plus he's regenerated like ten times since their last meeting. The episode would go with the doctor becoming a bit emotional in the episode, and Jamie isn't the nicest guy to him as some war has made him a bit more bitter. But a bit like the Master in Utopia, he starts to get flashbacks of his time in the TARDIS (plus we get to see old scenes from the sixties!!!!!). The episode would be a little bit like that Van Gogh one, you know, more emotional and such. Eventually, some alien or threat (maybe a full historical episode?) end up with Jamie getting shot or something, and he dies in the Doctors arms, and in the last moments remembers the Doctor and everything. Then Jamie dies in the Doctors arms and the doctor starts crying. So yeah, basically it would be a very emotional episode and a good nod to the classic series.

I plotted out a PDA about a decade ago that was very similar to this. Jamie, now in his mid-fifties, lives in Revolutionary New York City while it's under British occupation. He and the sixth Doctor find themselves on opposite sides; Jamie has become a staunch Loyalist (he remembers how close he came to dying at Culloden), while the sixth Doctor, who sides with upsetting the old order, sides with the rebelling colonials. Jamie never remembers that he traveled with the second Doctor or met the sixth Doctor.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Given that the Eighth Doctor has already been shown onscreen in the likes of The Next Doctor, the idea of an incarnation who The Doctor has blanked out and isn't entitled to be called The Doctor isn't really applicable to him. I would love to see McGann back but the Hurt incarnation doesn't seem to work with a previously known Doctor.

 

[Green Lantern]

As for old companions, I think Jamie should return for one episode outside the 50th. The doctor and his assistant at the time would go to Scotland somewhere in the lifespan of Jamie's, and the Doctor would bump into him as an old man, but of course after the events of the War Games, Jamie has no memory of the doctor, plus he's regenerated like ten times since their last meeting. The episode would go with the doctor becoming a bit emotional in the episode, and Jamie isn't the nicest guy to him as some war has made him a bit more bitter. But a bit like the Master in Utopia, he starts to get flashbacks of his time in the TARDIS (plus we get to see old scenes from the sixties!!!!!). The episode would be a little bit like that Van Gogh one, you know, more emotional and such. Eventually, some alien or threat (maybe a full historical episode?) end up with Jamie getting shot or something, and he dies in the Doctors arms, and in the last moments remembers the Doctor and everything. Then Jamie dies in the Doctors arms and the doctor starts crying. So yeah, basically it would be a very emotional episode and a good nod to the classic series.

I plotted out a PDA about a decade ago that was very similar to this. Jamie, now in his mid-fifties, lives in Revolutionary New York City while it's under British occupation. He and the sixth Doctor find themselves on opposite sides; Jamie has become a staunch Loyalist (he remembers how close he came to dying at Culloden), while the sixth Doctor, who sides with upsetting the old order, sides with the rebelling colonials. Jamie never remembers that he traveled with the second Doctor or met the sixth Doctor.

Sounds an awful lot like that comic DianKra mentioned.

 

[Green Lantern]

Given that the Eighth Doctor has already been shown onscreen in the likes of The Next Doctor, the idea of an incarnation who The Doctor has blanked out and isn't entitled to be called The Doctor isn't really applicable to him. I would love to see McGann back but the Hurt incarnation doesn't seem to work with a previously known Doctor.

He wouldn't be completely forgotten like Hurt, he'd just be "Here's the Sixth Doctor, wacky clothes bla bla bla, here's the seventh doctor, the intellectual type near the end, oh, and here's the eight doctor..... andway, the ninth doctor who wore bla bla bla..."

Plus anything that happened in his eighth incarnation is never really mentioned much.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Sounds an awful lot like that comic DianKra mentioned.

I hadn't read "The World Shapers" at the time, and the PDA wasn't at all compatible with it.

In "The World Shapers," Jamie does remember (the mindwipe didn't work), and he lives alone in the Highlands because everyone thinks he's mad. It's an incredibly fanwanky piece of work from Grant Morrison (Marinus=Mondas, and it explains a reference in "The Invasion"). However, it does have some interesting ideas, like the final fate of the Cybermen and what happens to a dying TARDIS.

Me? I just wanted to write a story about the Doctor and the American Revolution.

 

[Green Lantern]

Ah right. That's brilliant! So if three people have thought of it surely it should be used at some point.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

To me, it really is the biggest missed opportunity for the 50th - the lack of Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. I really think he should've been in there, perhaps as a contrasting figure to how the Doctor got to be after the Time War.

Ah, well.

 

[Green Lantern]

Thing is, I'm not sure who to blame, Moffat or the BBC.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I don't know how much can Moffat be blamed, but BBC may not enjoy the association to a TV Movie that, for all intents and purposes, failed to re-launch Doctor Who as a show back in the late '90's.

 

[Pavonis]

It may have failed to relaunch DW, but the BBC apparently hasn't had any qualms about acknowledging its existence. The Eighth Doctor has been featured in all retrospectives of the Doctor (e.g., "The Next Doctor", "The Eleventh Hour", etc). So it may not be anything that someone actively prevented, just something that didn't come together.

 

[Noddy]

I'll be severely peeved if no one from before 2005 appears in the special. I'm quite frankly appalled whenever I hear anyone saying that Ten, Rose, Zygons and UNIT is good enough.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

^I'll almost give them UNIT IF Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter appears. (Or they bring back Benton somehow. I've got an idea that Benton comes back to UNIT as the Minister of Alien Defense. It would be a way to put him in charge of UNIT while side-stepping the fact that he's not a commissioned officer.)

The 'old Jamie' storyline's been done, in a 6th Doctor DWM comic strip back in 87. Even the dying heroically bit.

Really? Sounds good. Would be good if it was made into an episode though. Remember, Human Nature/Family of Blood and Blink originated or at least heavily based on Doctor Who comics, and look how popular they were.

"Human Nature" was based on a Virgin New Adventures novel of the same name by Paul Cornell. There are other bits of the new series that have taken less obvious cues from the novels. The destruction of Gallifrey happened in the 8th Doctor novels first. And the Cybermen in a parallel universe plot of "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel" is very similar to the 7th Doctor novel "Loving the Alien."

As a huge fan of the 8th Doctor, I wouldn't mind at all if the 8th Doctor did bad stuff during the Time War. I'd just be happy that Paul McGann was being acknowledged at all. Plus, if you listen to audios like "Zagreus" & "The Natural History of Fear," no one does evil like Paul McGann.

I was also hoping that David Bradley would show up as the 1st Doctor in the 50th anniversary special. I think it would be a nice touch for the youngest looking Doctor to meet up with the oldest looking Doctor. (It might even help the younger viewers acclimate to an older Doctor leading up to the Peter Capaldi era.)

 

[Iamnotspock]

"Well, d'you know, all I've ever revealed about what we're doing in [The Day of the Doctor] is anything that we filmed outside. I notice people are making up stuff about who or what is or is not in that special; you're just going to have to wait till November to find out the truth.

Most of [the rumours] are quite fanciful, and some of them are entertainingly angry - people who make up their own theories about what is or is not in the special, and then make a Youtube film about how angry they are about their own theory. If you're ever bored of an evening, I recommend it as a form of self-entertainment." - Steven Moffat, TV Baftas, 2013.

Why don't we have this discussion in late November, if it's still relevant?

 

[Brendan Moody]

Well, DWM confirmed that there were no classic Doctors in the special, so either they were lying (which seems pointless when they could have said nothing at all) or there are in fact no classic Doctors in the special, and Moffat is taking his usual PR approach of making hinty statements that create expectations he knows won't be met. Or there's a single pre-2005 companion standing in for the entire classic run.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'll be severely peeved if no one from before 2005 appears in the special. I'm quite frankly appalled whenever I hear anyone saying that Ten, Rose, Zygons and UNIT is good enough.

As a practical matter, there's unlikely to be much, if anything, pre-2005 in the anniversary special. It's a problem of budget. The anniversary special is 75 minutes and in 3-D, all made (per Moffat) on the budget for a standard length episode. Simply due to the budget, it's unlikely there will be many guest stars. (I suspect River Song is the most likely unannounced guest star.)

To be honest, because of the budget and the need to stretch it to the breaking point, I'm expecting something on the scale of "Waters of Mars" -- a couple of sets and a small cast, essentially a bottle episode.