When Paul McGann popped up with his "Not the one you were expecting" line, every Old-Who fan squealed, because 1) he was robbed, 2) he's awesome, and 3) we instantly realized what was about to go down. It was amazing of them to give us closure for 8 for the 50th anniversary.
Fact. I was just a casual Old-Who fan, not really getting hooked until New Who, but my inner child squealed with delight upon seeing 8. They have done such a good job of not only paying homage to Old-Who, but bringing things full circle, like Sara Jane's reappearance, now this, not to mention what happens in future episodes (from the viewpoint of this video).
The 8th Doctor. He has the unique distinction of being the longest reigning Doctor (from the 1996 movie all the way till Eccleston's potrayal in 2005), and also the shortest run as the movie and this minisode is it. :)
Nigel A though doesn’t Hurt have the shortest reign? Both in length of appearances (less than a year between his first appearance and regen) and time (Day of the Doctor only being 72 minutes, plus tiny appearances in this and Name)?
Well... If you include books and audios, and if we’re including this short we might as well, the 8th Doctor has a ton of stories. He mentions a lot of his companions from the Big Finish audios in this minisode.
@@sallyatticum An 8th Doctor Special would be a great way to keep fans happy during a series hiatus (such as this year). They really should do that - as you say, he's not getting any younger
2 stories are tied to this minisode, the 1996 McGann TV film, and the 4th Doctor story "The Brain of Morbius" that takes places in this planet w/ the sisterhood and Sarah Jane ☺❤
The Eighth Doctor! One of my favorite Doctors, actually, even though he had a total of less than 2 hours of screen time. Eight was the Doctor when Classic Who was cancelled, between then and the reboot of the show. He has a lot of material in Audio adventures, which I definitely recommend you check out sometime! I'm so exciiiited!!!!
Eye of Horus Well, yes, I know; it was a grammatical mistake. I meant to put that he was the doctor for most of the period that doctor who was off the air
I love the 8th Doctor. He was my first official Doctor. This was only the second time the 8th Doctor was seen on screen. He mostly exists in the Big Finish audio stories. I remember watching the Doctor Who movie with him back in 1996.
I like the Eighth Doctor played by Paul McGann. Wished he had a full run on the show like 10 and 11. The best we got is his series of Big Finish audios which are considered canon.
Not considered canon, they are (since he lists the names of his companions in this tv episode). Its a fact that they are canon. as canon as the tv show, as canon as love and monsters and the doctor falls and the bells of saint john
Defo recommend you watch the Doctor Who Movie from the 90's with Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. I'll be the first to say it, the movie's story isn't the best, but his performance in that and in this make him worthy enough of a full series if you ask me, and he was well and truly robbed of that.
@@AC-gb7do They should give him a spin-off called "Doctor Who: Eighth Doctor Adventures" or something like that and it could air while the main series is off air. That way we'd get Doctor Who nearly all year round!
My best friend and I literally screamed with McGann on screen. Before the episode came out, Moffat made a tweet about one of The Doctors appearing in the special without clarifying. Almost everyone assumed this would be an intro the War Doctor.
Short but sweet! god seeing Paul McGann as the Doctor again takes me right back to my early teens, back to when I had my whole life ahead of me, lol, where has the time gone, I can’t believe that was nearly 23 years ago now. At least they managed to tie in classic Who with how we got to Doctor Who 2005 with the whole 50th anniversary compilation, if you class the Paul McGann Doctor Who film as classic Who that is, I do because you got to see the regeneration from sylvester McCoy Doctor to Paul McGann Doctor, we got the blanks filled in about how Paul McGann Doctor got to Christopher Ecclestone Doctor, it always bugged me that we never got to see it when first episode of Doctor Who 2005 aired, it was just like, Christopher Ecclestone is the Doctor, it didn’t follow how it had always worked, lol, I felt robbed, but they finally fixed that.......kinda.......with the Day of the Doctor, I could finally let it go, my favourite Doctor Who episode too 😁
Paul Mcgann as the Doctor was Such a lost moment in Doctor Who History!! His Bbc audios are THE BEST DOCTOR WHO of them all l, I truly wish they could go back and make these episodes so theres continuity..plus HE'S SOO DAMNED GOOD AT IT!! ...What a shame!!!..Ty Paul Mcgann for your contributions to such an amazing sci-fi series!!!
Man the dialogue in this short is pure fire and I love it. I see many have pointed out that this Doctor is the 8th, the Doctor from the Doctor Who Movie in the 90s. If you'd like to know more about the Sisterhood of Karn then you may check out the classic Doctor Who episode 'the Brain of Morbius' they are an offshoot of Time-Lords, a "sister" race.
The original run of the show, 1963-89, spanned seven Doctors. In 1996, there was an attempt to revive DW as a UK/US co-production between the BBC, Fox and Universal. There was a pilot TV movie that introduced Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, but it didn't get the ratings in the States to lead to a new series. McGann went on to play the role in a (still-running) series of audio plays from Big Finish Productions, which are acknowledged here by his listing of his audio companions - Charley, C'Rizz, Lucie, Tamsin, Molly. The Sisterhood of Karn - essentially a coven of space witches on the planet Karn - first appeared in the 1976 Fourth Doctor story 'The Brain of Morbius'.
No offence, I didn't notice your hair at all lol The Doctor & Clara escaping his timestream - 'I highly doubt they'd gloss over it' ...Err, well...lol.
I am a casual Doctor Who fan. I quite enjoy the show. I can remember a few of the episodes, but certainly not by heart or anything and certainly not all of them... And I definitely, absolutely, 100% did NOT giggle like a five year old when Paul McGann appeared. Nope. No Sir. Not me.
If you do want a Classic Who primer, the BBC actually picked out a series of episodes to get people up to speed on the past Doctors leading into the anniversary. Each serial is about 2 hours long, so if you want to look at them, I do recommend all of these. 1: The Aztecs 2: Tomb of the Cybermen 3: Spearhead from Space 4: Pyramid of Mars 5: Earthshock (NOTE: If you watch this one, go into it as blind as possible, for your own sake) 6: Vengeance on Varos 7: Remembrance of the Daleks 8: The TV Movie
Hmm. I did think it'd be a bit of an issue not seeing the 1996 TV movie. Still, you seemed to enjoy it, so that's what matters. :) You'll have seen it by now so it's not that big a deal but I actually thought the same thing about the War Doctor being the bad guy in "Day of the Doctor". I was a little disappointed that he wasn't, just because I thought that would've been cool, but I changed my mind on that pretty quickly and really love the episode.
You don't recognize him because he was only the Doctor on a Fox Television movie that was supposed to be a reboot in the mid 90's. He is featured in the audiobook series It had Julie Robert's brother Eric in a pivotal role. For a while "Doctor Who" fans fought over if he's run was canon, now we pretend that we were nice to him all along but at the time he felt a lot of backlash because the "Americans" and "Australians" were producing his run.
Produced by a British-American, written by a Brit, directed by a Brit, starring a Brit. Anyone that thought it had nothing to do with us was kidding themselves, it was always very much a BBC co-production. Personally, I enjoyed the 1996 movie. Far from perfect but it felt like Who to me and McGann was great.
@@anonymes2884 okay fine, we will ignore the fact that it was leased by Rupert Murdoch an Australian who owned Fox Television an American television channel and state that you are correct. I cannot debate feelings all I have are the actual facts of having gone through it and being able to look it up.
@@somedudeontwitterstalkedme3829 Oh _that's_ where you got Australian from, was wondering about that ;). As I say, the TV movie was instigated by Philip Segal (British-American producer), directed by Geoffrey Sax and written/co-produced by Matthew Jacobs (both British). And sure, via News Corp, Rupert Murdoch owned Fox TV. But he doesn't own the BBC or Universal (who put up the other half of the money). News Corp also owns HarperCollins, does that mean every book they publish is somehow partly Australian ? Clearly not i'd say. Personally, I only remember people being worried about the American involvement at the time. The Australian involvement, such as it was, didn't feature in any discussions I recall. Maybe your experience was different though.
@@anonymes2884 that is all that I am saying. If you wish now in 2019 and to try and use logic to believe that people would be rational is missing my point. Doctor Who fans complain about whatever they can. Doctor Who fans hate the present, worry about the future and extol the virtues of it's past more then any other fanbase. We are like children with a toy at the playground, there is very little rational in the thought process of if their information is correct, as fans we take the narrative that fits our narrative and press that. The movie was vilified, it was argued that it was not canon in some circles People complained about an American playing a pivotal role (Julie Roberts brother, trying not to spoil anything). The writing The show-running all the excuses people use every time there is a drastic change on a show about "constant change" All you have to do is go look at the customer reviews at that time, they look pretty similar except for some of the terms people use.
He was the Eighth Doctor. The Big Finish episodes (audio specials) deal with the names he was listing, before he drank that elixir. They were his companions. Fun fact 1: That was filmed a few days after they had wrapped production of "The Day Of The Doctor." Fun fact 2: That minisode first aired online the day of Paul McGann's birthday.
@@monsterlair It was revealed that Ohila faked the Elixir because she knew the Doctor would refuse to fight by choice. So she basically convinced him that the Elixir would be responsible for anything he does but really just gave him lemonade.
Paul McGann is the 8th Doctor who up till this point only had one on screen appearance in the 1996 TV movie, but has had a fantastic series of adventures thanks to the Big Finish audio dramas. I almost meet Jon Hurt just before he died, so gutting as I thought he was a brilliant actor and would have loved to have told him so.
Whostorian Info: 1.The Sisterhood of Karn live on Karn in the same star system as Gallifrey. They appeared previously in the 4th Doctor story "The Brain of Morbius". This oldster never thought we would see them again. 2.That was the 8th Doctor. He was in the 1996 movie pilot which was all he got till now. The names he mentioned were companions from various unofficial/semi-oficcial Big Finish Audio sound adventures. Sorta like Old Time Radio shows, Audio only is STILL A THING in England.
The Sisterhood was a lot more primitive back then, highly superstitious and spent the entire serial trying to kill the Doctor, still that was one of my favorite from Baker's era
That's Steve from the home office. He fixes the Tardis when it needs repairs. People below are saying that it's the 8th Doctor, but that was Bill S. Preston Esq.
Paul McGann is the 8th doctor. You started watching with the 9th doctor and in between is the War doctor. This was actually filmed specifically for the 50th anniversary even though McGann is much older now but he still plays the Doctor brilliantly.
The comment "Not the one you were expecting" is soooo meta, no one knew this was happening, they managed to keep it a complete secert. Also the companions he lists at the end, only one of them appeared on screen (in the movie) the rest are from Big Finish. So in one line they made 1000s of hours of aww and brilliant Who content cannon (we 90% where sure it was, but it nice to hear it confirmed)
Paul McGann was the Doctor from the American-made movie, as well as several audio books. This minisode made many Whovians VERY happy :) And then it made us sad cause we'll probably never see him on screen again :(
Don't think it's been mentioned but the names he rattled off before drinking the elixir were the names of his various companions throughout the audio plays.
I saw the Eighth Doctor movie when it first aired; I was in no way prepared for this. When Paul McGann suddenly showed up, I literally pointed at the screen and shrieked. I never once dared to dream we'd have a tie-in or resolution to the Eighth Doctor’s story on TV, but I forgot that Moffat is a god.
In 1996, a writer friend of mine who has had published Dr Who novels got sent a copy of the writers guide for the (then) proposed show. Tardis console room was massive, Daleks could fly & the Cybermen looked like the Borg. Oh well, never happened!.
"I highly doubt they'd be like 'gloss over it'" You'd like to think so... Apparently stories don't need endings any more because we can just assume it'll all work out.
"the 8th doctor" into "the war doctor" his 9th regeneration, but "Doctor No More" it was his version of "the man with no name" he hated what he needed to do during the time war.
Paul McGann's doctor, either in the movie or audiobooks was always superb. His outing on the big screen was so brief but the audio series by Big Finish (occasionally aired on BBC radio) are marvellous.
Loved your reaction, can’t wait for the next one 😄 It was so satisfying to finally see 8th Doctor regenerate after all those years 😂 (Also I met him December last year, he was great 😂☺️)
To answer your question...Paul McGann was the 8th Doctor, he was only in the TV movie prior to this mini episode...leads into the Day of the Doctor (obviously)
Ah, the Eighth Doctor. The numbered predecessor to Christopher Eccleston, and MY first Doctor. Without McGann, I wouldn’t have been familiar with Doctor Who, and would have been more reluctant to start when Eccleston started. Like others here, I highly suggest watching the TV Movie - McGann’s only other broadcast adventure. And as for what’s to come, you’re in for a surprise. It is a good adventure in and of it’s own, and is a hallmark for the 50 years of Doctor Who, hearkening back to the classic era here and there, and recent series history. I think you’re going to enjoy it. And I’ll be waiting for the reaction.
PPS: Just a quick note to congratulate you on crossing the 10,000+ subscribers mark (including me too from here on in, to boot!) - couldn't happen to a nicer reactor, yes? Also, and I hope you don't mind, but here's yet another recommendation for Future Shayla's Who minisodes-and-other-extras Roundup Reactions list, namely 'The Curse of Fatal Death' Comic Relief Special from 1999; it's Steven Moffat's first Who-related work for TV, you don't need to know anything that you don't already know about Classic Who to enjoy it, and trust me, it really is a whole LOT of fun, yes?!
I screamed when I saw the 8th doctor back after all these years. I did not like the 1996 movie, but I liked Paul McGann’s doctor and when doctor who was off the air McGann did loads of audio stories which I highly recommend (memory lane is a personal fav). I was completely unspoiled and had no idea he was coming back for the minisode. And we got to see him regenerate! The Sisterhood of Karen is from the classic series. They look all “double double toil and trouble” but they have advanced regeneration science and can assist timelords who have trouble in regeneration. This minisode was a gift to the classic fans.
The Great Intelligence doesn't have a physical form, it can only take over a body. Also 'The Snowmen' was a prequel to Doctor Who tv serial 'The Web of Fear', that's why they commented on The London Underground and that tin Doctor Who held with the map on it, so couldn't possibly be dead.
Hey Shayla, glad you worked out the War Doctor bit. So as you haven't watched much classic Who, here's what just happened. Years and year and years ago, the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker, him with the long scarf and very distinctive voice and love of Jelly babies) was forced to land on mysterious planet by the Time Lords to do some dirty work for them. While there he battles an evil bad guy (called Morbius) but also meets young Ohila and the Sisterhood of Karn, originally from Gallifrey and guardians of the Elixir of Life. Fast forward a few hundred years, the 8th Doctor crash lands on Karn again, 'dies-ish' as you've just seen, is 're-awoken' and makes a choice which will prove very significant to the Doctors timeline and well ..... well looking forward to seeing your reaction to what happened next basically! Oh Paul McGann had a very short run as the Doctor, just a joint US-UK BBC TV Movie that had hoped to kick off Docotr Who for real on US TV. This minisode was a welcome and surprise reprirve for us all at the time, we literally had no idea it was in the making till it got released and were just happy to see Paul get some Who time and his regeneration scene finally :) Till this minisode and the John Hurt Scene in Night of the Doctor, well we all thought McGann had regenerated into the 9th Doctor...... Glad you were excited by John Hurt, sadly there was other reasons why John was chosen, but let's ignore that as John Hurt was a fantastic actor and a fantastic War Doctor :)
When you watched name of the doctor and it had clips from old episodes, you saw the seventh doctor hanging from a cliff, he turns into 8 in the movie as has been pointed out
There was rumours that we were getting a Paul McGann spinoff called "The Time War" with the same production budget and everything as regular Doctor Who and we would finally see one of the most lore-heavy wars ever known to sci-fi, save the Battle of Wolf 359 or Sector 001 from Star Trek or the Rebels vs the Empire in Star Wars
It was fantastic to see the Eighth Doctor again. Such a shame we never got more of Paul McGann's Doctor on TV. The biggest treat for me was the return of the Sisterhood of Karn(last seen in 1976) totally didn't see that coming! Also lovely to see his transition into the War Doctor. Great reaction Shayla ☺
There's a LOT going on here in this short minisode. 1.) 8th Doctor that hadn't been seen since the 90s. 2.) The 4th Doctor (along with Sarah Jane Smith) came to the Planet Karn and meet the immortal sisterhood in the 70s episode "The Brain of Mobius" 3.) The whole "War Doctor" and the need for this minisode was a result of Doctor Who not being able to get the 9th Doctor to come back as he's still not happy with them with his falling out that lead to him only having one season as the sassy 9th Doctor. So instead of having a back story with the 9th they brought back the 8th and created a whole new doctor to tell the story they wanted to tell in the 50th Anniversary special.
Great reaction! Man, I had really hoped that they would bring Paul McGann back for a full series, but they did this instead. He was brilliant in this. My son was home, visiting from the military and I watched this on my computer. I actually squealed when I saw McGann. I was so excited. hahahah. My poor son, in the other room, thought I'd lost my mind. He went to comic con with me where they simulcast the 50th Anniversary special. He was so confused by the size and enthusiasm of the fandom.
@@DalekWindmill You wanted to pause her without even having seen her series? Peter Capaldi only really came into his character in his second series. Most, if not all, of Jodie's were written before anyone saw her in the role. I think once people start writing with her Doctor in mind, so they can take advantage of her personality and her strengths, she will come into her own. Just like Peter did.
@@DalekWindmill Interesting. I think Jodie's has a very classic vibe. We'd gotten used to the new series having a sort of romantic action hero feel during David Tennant's era and more fantasy during Matt Smith's. Capaldi's, I feel, was a mixed bag. I thought Moffat didn't know what to do with Peter. I like the feel of Jodie's stories, I just think they haven't used her to good effect. She is athletic, but they don't have her using that, other than slow running (so Graham could keep up?) She could be doing stunts, like Tennant did. That would be so much more exciting! I could see McGann doing some specials between series, but they would need a whole other crew to do his series. Besides, I'd rather have him full time.
Paul McGann played the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 TV movie. Due to low ratings, the BBC didn’t commission a full series. It’s very unfortunate fans never got the chance to see him in more DW adventures, but least he has done several Big Finish audio stories. .
The Eighth Doctor is pretty fantastic. He did the TV movie in the 90's and this in live action but this makes all of his Audio dramas from Big Box canon (when he listed most of his companions, there are more made after this minisode) and about 90% are, as I said, fantastic! Wish they would give the main series a break and in the middle do a mini season or whatever with the Eighth Doctor
Paul McGann! The Film Doctor who did 14+ SEASONS OF AUDIO DRAMAS finally got his Regeneration scene! Also, the Sisterhood of Karn appeared in the early 80s, as Fourth Doctor antagonists! Can't wait for tomorrow! Here we go! -"Ren".
Now you've finally seen the 8th Doctor! The Doctor who bridges the gap between the classic series and the new. I've always liked Paul McGann's Doctor. So sad he didn't get more screen time as 8. Only his initial feature length tele-movie and this. But there's always all his (Big finish Audio) radio Doctor Who Adventures to listen to, which are great as well.
If you're interested, there's a RU-vidr called Batmanmarch. Using action figures, he's made an 8th Doctor series (3 seasons and a 2 part special). It tells what could've happened if he fought in the Time War and there was no War Doctor, which is what many Doctor Who fans assumed before this. It's worth watching, trust me. It's well written, well made and there are scenes that will make you laugh and cry.
Paul McGann, the 8th Dcotor. He makes such a strong impression in such a short time. It's one of the biggest missed opportunities that he never got a proper TV series because he only had the one movie and this short minisode. The good thing is that he has many, many Big Finish audio stories. In fact, the funny thing is that technically McGann has more stories than any other Doctor because of how many audios he's done. I can't wait for the 50th now, it's going to be so awesome! I will say though that don't expect any explanation for how Clara and the Doctor got out of his time stream. It's funny you said that they couldn't possible gloss over that, lol. Shayla, it's post series 5 Moffat era, OF COURSE they'll gloss over some things and pretend we won't notice or hope we won't remember. I'm so glad you're getting past series 6 and 7, easily the lowest period of the show for me until series 11.
I honestly don't think that Moffat could remember a lot of what he himself had written. In particular,in series 6 he put so many plot convolutions in,he genuinely seemed to have written himself into a corner by the time he got to the Finale.
@@iansmith4023 Oh I know, believe me. I've written several lengthy comments on the subject. You must have seen at least one of them? Thankfully, he seemed to be rejuvenated from series 8 onward and improved significantly imo, until he washed almost all of it down the drain again with the S9 finale....It's good that he finished fairly strong with S10 though.
@@Mrazmatmahmood He could come up with some REALLY good (and often surprising) ideas - but,imo,there should have been someone above him in the production hierarchy with a big black marker pen - someone who could go through his scripts and say to him: "THIS is a great idea, Stephen; we'll do that. THAT idea,on the other hand,just has to go!" Unfortunately,he had full creative control, it seemed.
i'd go with all the people suggesting it, to go watch the 1996 doctor who movie. It's light hearted and fun yet serious, just like the 8th doctor is. And once you've seen the film, you'll beg for more 8th doctor action, he's a great incarnation. John Hurt's version is basically the incarnation of the doctor who did unspeakable things and no longer carried the title of Doctor because of it. BTW, if you have too much editing to do for the 50th episode, do it 2 parts if it makes it easier :)
Tomorrow bout to be lit! Edit: Paul was the doctor in a lone doctor who movie in 1996 I believe is when it came out and then doctor who was off the air till 2005 so we figured that 9 came next, until the war doctor showed up. That means since the 10th used 2 regenerations and then you add the war doctor that means that 11 is technically on the last cycle of his regenerations. Can't wait to see your reaction!
I remember all of fandom losing our shit when this went out. All we knew was we were gonna get some kind of RU-vid things as a prequel to the 50th but it was only when McGann says "Not the one you were expecting," in this that a collective SQUEEE arose throughout the world, and everyone got instantly jazzed for the anniversary who wasn't already. Heeeeee!!!!
It's just a shame that Paul McGann never really got a fair shot as the Doctor as I believe he could have been one of the best doctors but at least we got him in the Big finish audio adventures with The Chimes Of Midnight being one of my favourite episodes.
He’s the 8th Doctor, the Americans tried making a Doctor who film well before Russell T Davies and the BBC in the U.K had any ideas of bringing it back for real with the 9th doctor and Rose. But it pretty much failed. Therefore the 8th Doctor wasn’t ever canon until the BBC show made it so in...the next doctor I think? Where they officially showed that the 8th Doctor was an official face and regeneration of the Doctor in the info stamp sequence. (I might be wrong). But in the mean time, the eighth doctor had been having lots of audio adventures on big finish that people really loved and became popular as a result of those rather than the film. I think the sisterhood of Khan are from those audio adventures and in this mini episode he references all of his companions from those adventures as a little nod to the fans and it also now makes those audio episodes canon. So this episode both stands alone and connects to the audios . It was created as a 50th anniversary treat, to give the eighth doctor some love and to explain where John Hurts regeneration fits into the Doctor sequence.
The 8th Doctor's image appeared before that, in John Smith's "Journal of Impossible Things" from 'Human Nature' and the Sisterhood of Karn are from classic Who ('The Brain of Morbius'). 8's existence was always canon to me (though I reserve wiggle room on _that_ specific pronouncement which shall remain nameless to avoid spoilers ;), just as Eccleston's Doctor was always the 9th in my mind. I'm _very_ over the debate in general but to me the consensus for Who has long been that there basically isn't a canon in any official sense (in the way that there _is_ for e.g. 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek') so it's not really worth worrying about. But if you consider "on screen" to be "canon" then, being pedantic, 'Night of...' only _actually_ canonises companions/friends with those names (not necessarily all the adventures they appear in or even that they're the same characters).
@@fortyfive4840 When I first watched The Movie,I wasn't as much of a fan;and it didn't really bother me. Now,it's one of my biggest annoyances. It's great that many fans can embrace that particular contradiction - but I'm afraid that I can only accept it as some sort of joke on the doctor's part. Nonetheless,after having read some of the plot synopses of the rejected movie scripts, it's safe to say that it could have been a heck of a lot worse! 7 Hour's reaction will be fascinating. I'm a huge fan of his reactions. Sesska did a great reaction to it as well - but Blind Waves was (unsurprisingly) the funniest
You have seen the most important episode of modern Who. By remembering, the eighth Doctors´s Companions on Screen, Moffat made all of Big Finish canon :) You should listen to the Audios of 8. and War-Doctor. After Tom Baker, McGann and Hurt are by far the best Doctors, their Audios are amazing.
Ah yes this reminds me when you watch past doctor who because of Karn and the sister hood I recommend The Brain Of Morbius is included. The sisterhood seemed to appear more during Moffat era so may have a larger role in future seasons
So in case you were not made aware, this miniepisode focused on the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann. Until this miniepisode, no one really knew how the Eighth Doctor's regeneration went. We thought Eight regenerated into Nine, that McGann turned into Eccleston. We didn't know about a secret incarnation that the Doctor kept... well... secret. Eight's regeneration was never revealed, until this miniepisode where we found out that McGann's Doctor turned into John Hurt's Warrior. Then, in the Day of the Doctor we saw that Hurt's War Doctor turns into Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. So the numbering of incarnations and regenerations gets a bump up, but not the numbering of Doctors. The Doctor's numbering stays the same, with "War Doctor" in between "Eight" and "Nine". It's a rather clever solution that Moffat thought up to keep the numbering in tact. Interestingly, the only video performances of the Eighth Doctor that we now have as of yet are the beginning of this Doctor i.e. the 1996 TV movie, and his death i.e. this mini-episode. The rest of Eighth Doctor's adventures continue in expanded universe media such as books, audio plays and comics. The Big Finish audio adventures are considered semi-canon. All the rest has no canon confirmation.
Hahahaha Moffat actually never bothered to find away to get them out of the timestream because he couldn’t figure it out and didn’t think that it was important so you will never know how they got out.
It was crazy to finally have the then missing regeneration of the Eighth Doctor. I had the privilege to meet Paul McGann twice at a con and on the first time I met him, he told me that he went to Cardiff and signed in under a false name at the hotel to make sure that no one knew he was there until the broadcast of this minisode.
Yesssss, Shayla's long-awaited 50th Anniversary Who-Reactaganza has begun!!! As for this particular minisode , I'm really glad you liked Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor...I could stress the fact that he had the whole 'shortest/longest tenure as the Doctor' thing thanks to Big Finish etc., or the fact that you really need to watch/react to the 1996 TV Movie starring his Doctor at some point, but as other commentators have repeatedly reiterated both of these points already, I'd just like to mention the fact that I actually met Paul McGann himself at a signing in Cardiff once, and he seemed like a really nice bloke!
If you have a Spotify I recommend you to listen to 8th doctor audio adventures on big finish. Spotify has 19 audio drama episodes with Paul McGann as the doctor. I fell in love immediately and now he become my favourite doctor who right beside David Tennat
If you ever want to take a crash course in Classic Who, watch An Adventure in Space and Time (which you may already be planning to do) which tells the story of how the original series was conceived and produced. Then watch the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors, which (sort of) features the first five incarnations of The Doctor together in one story. After that, watch the 1996 made for TV movie (called Doctor Who: The Movie) which features the 7th and 8th Doctors and was the last onscreen appearance of The Doctor before the 2005 reboot series. Lastly, for shits and a lot of giggles, go to the BBC's website where you can find The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot which features the actors who played the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th Doctors (as well as some other familiar faces) all playing themselves in a humorous special that was produced in conjunction with the 50th anniversary.
