New Adventures for the War Doctor in the Pipeline!

If you thought you’d never hear from the War Doctor ever again, your fears can now be allayed: Big Finish Productions has just announced a four-title series of brand-new audio adventures starring John Hurt as that most mysterious incarnation of the Doctor!

The War Doctor’s further adventures will debut in December and take us inside his Time War battles against the Daleks!

The first title “The War Doctor 1: Only the Monstrous,” and stars the voices of Hurt and Jacqueline Pearce — BLAKES 7’s Servalan and Chessene in the Colin Baker Sixth Doctor story, “The Two Doctors.”

Next will be “The War Doctor 2: Infernal Devices,” with cast and release date TBA. The other two installments are just listed as “Coming Soon.”

The 13 Doctors (Really) Save Gallifrey

I was thrilled when the Doctor called in his past (and future) incarnations to help save Gallifrey in the DOCTOR WHO 50th anniversary story “The Day of the Doctor,” but I was also disappointed that the sequence was so brief. Well, that problem has been solved by enterprising an enterprising YouTuber.

Yes, thanks to some clever splicing and re-editing, we have a meatier sequence of the Doctor helping himself! GALLIFREY FALLS NO MORE!

The Ninth Doctor Would Have Pushed the Button!

DOCTOR WHO show-runner Steven Moffat confirmed to Doctor Who Magazine that the original plan for the 50^th anniversary story, “The Day of the Doctor,” had Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor wiping out Time Lords and the Daleks to end the Time War — a job that eventually went to the newly created War Doctor (John Hurt).

But even in the beginning, Moffat knew there was a good chance his plans would have to change due to Eccleston’s famous reluctance to revisit the role:

“I was pretty certain Chris wouldn’t do it, although he did agree to a couple of meetings. So, instead, we had the challenge and excitement of introducing a BBC audience to a brand-new Doctor.”

Matt Smith IS… the 13th Doctor???

Despite what he’s said in the very recent past, DOCTOR WHO show-runner Steven Moffat now insists that Matt Smith is not the 11^th Doctor, but rather the 13^th and final incarnation of the Time Lord.

Moffat told the Radio Times:

“We’ll find out that Matt Smith is actually the 13th Doctor. Although everyone knows that the Doctor can only regenerate 12 times. The 12-regenerations limit is a central part of Doctor Who mythology – science fiction is all about rules, you can’t just casually break them. So if the Doctor can never change again, what’s Peter Capaldi doing in the Christmas Special?”

Huh?

Peter Capaldi: Gallifreyan Spring Chicken!

At age 55, Peter Capaldi was the oldest actor cast* in the lead role on DOCTOR WHO (until John Hurt, 73, became the War Doctor), but Capaldi insists that he’s actually too young for the role — a declaration backed up by show-runner Steven Moffat.

*Yes, I know William Hartnell also assumed the role at age 55, but this is neither here nor there.

More ‘Day of the Doctor’ Video Snippets!

It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times: The BBC is releasing a lot of video teasers for “The Day of the Doctor,” DOCTOR WHO’s 50^th anniversary story — but they are all so short!

Anyway, here are two new clips that feature companions Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman), along with the 11^th Doctor (Matt Smith) and the War Doctor (John Hurt). I prefer the lighthearted Clara piece, but there’s an interesting sense of dread in Rose’s clip.

As always, a SPOILER warning. Theses videos are exceedingly brief and innocuous, but still, sensitive viewers might consider them unacceptable spoilers, so view at your own risk.

Clara and the 11^th Doctor:

Rose and the War Doctor:

By now you should know “The Day of the Doctor” will be simulcast around the globe this Saturday. #SaveTheDay

Strax Reports on the Doctor and the Queen

Strax has filed another field report for the Sontaran military, this time looking at the Doctor’s once and future frenemy, Queen Elizabeth I.

For some reason, I never tie of Strax’s (Dan Starkey) inability to differentiate between human “boys” and “girls.” I chuckle every time. SONTAR HA!

The Doctors (Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt) will next encounter Good Queen Bess (Joanna Page) in “The Day of the Doctor,” the DOCTOR WHO 50th anniversary story, to be simulcast globally on Nov. 23.

Moffat Won’t Renumber the Doctors!

As we all saw (and if you didn’t, you’re a bad Whovian; consider yourself unceremoniously banished to E-Space) in the brilliant “The Night of the Doctor,” the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) regenerated into the character played by John Hurt — dubbed the War Doctor in the credits — during an in-continuity minisode that also saw the return of the Sisterhood of Karn.

My No. 1 fear — actually, my only fear, really — about DOCTOR WHO show-runner Steven Moffat inserting a previously unknown Doctor into continuity was that it would screw up the order of the Doctors, forcing us to retroactively renumber the Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith incarnations as the 10^th, 11^th and 12^th Doctors, respectively. I found that prospect revolting and unnecessary.

More ‘Day of the Doctor’ Photos

Here are a handful of new promotional photos teasing the DOCTOR WHO 50th anniversary story “The Day of the Doctor.”

This particular batch is notable for the clear looks at Billie Piper‘s Rose Tyler. This is definitely not the shopgirl that the Ninth Doctor met, nor is it the Rose the 10th Doctor knew. I think she comes from sometime after she was left on Pete’s World. And our assumption that she returns in this story with the 10th Doctor is wrong. Very wrong. She appears to be the companion of the Hurt Doctor, while 10 is traveling alone!

More photos to come!

A ‘Day of the Doctor’ Trailer? How About Three?

Well, the BBC and Steven Moffat certainly made us wait long enough — but the patience of DOCTOR WHO fans has been richly rewarded, with three — count ’em, three — mind-blasting trailers with footage from the 50th anniversary story, “The Day of the Doctor.” Each one contains different scenes and they get progressively longer and more awesome and altered my consciousness and really, why are you reading this instead of watching?!?!?!?!

First, a very short teaser, “That’s Not Possible”:

Next, a 40-second clip:

And now the piece de la resistance, the 1:20 extended trailer!

If just the trailers melted my brain like a peek into The Untempered Schism, what will happen when the story itself actually airs? I may end up in a madhouse, like some gibbering H.P. Lovecraft character…