Squeal! A prequel for the 50th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ episode, ‘The Day of the Doctor’, has been released and is appropriately titled ‘The Night of the Doctor’. There are some major spoilers here, so if you were planning on watching ‘The Day of the Doctor’ cold (which would then behoove me to ask “Really?”), then you may want to jump to the next story.
Those who have been waiting… Allons-y!
First, here’s the 7 minute minisode that will bring a lot of answers to those wondering about where John Hurt’s Doctor really fits in. Watch it then we’ll dish after the video:
Surprise! Paul McGann reprises his role as the Eighth Doctor! While the 1996 ‘Doctor Who’ film did not sit well with the fans, no one can deny here that McGann does play the Doctor very well. And he should too! He’s continued his Eighth incarnation through the Big Finish audio dramas, and in fact, those names that you hear him call out before he drinks the Elixir (Charlie, C’rizz, Lucy, Tasmin, Molly) are characters from those dramas.
Whovians familiar with the classic ‘Doctor Who’ episodes will remember the Sisterhood of Karn from the 1976 Tom Baker run ‘The Brain of Morbius’. They were the guardians of the Sacred Flame and were able to make an Elixir of Life, water which when heated by the flame is said to help Time Lords who were in dire need – especially when going through stressful regenerations like the one seen here. (By the way, did you catch the fact that the Elixir was able to allow the Time Lord to specifically pick their regeneration? Could a female Doctor be seen down the line? But I digress…)
We also get a clear picture of who John Hurt’s Doctor is. He is clearly the Eighth Doctor’s regeneration “forged in fire” and has become the War Doctor. So now we know that Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor is really the 10th Doctor, David Tennant is the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith is the 12th and Peter Capaldi is the 13th. Yes, I’m pretty sure many of you figured that out but it’s nice to have concrete evidence. Question is, where does the Valeyard fit into all this?
The celebration of the 50th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’ is starting off in grand style and I can’t wait to see what other trinkets the BBC will have for us Whovians. How about you?
