Getting Acquainted With “Doctor Who” – The Eighth and War Doctors

To prepare for Doctor Who’s arrival on Disney+ later this year, and as Laughing Place’s resident Doctor Who expert, I wanted to do a series of articles to get Disney fans acquainted with the world of the traveling Time Lord. 1989 brought about the end of the classic run of Doctor Who with more of a whimper than a bang. While it wouldn’t be until 2005 that the new series began, that wouldn’t be the first attempt to revive the show. Cut to 1996 and the Doctor Who TV movie, planned to serve as a backdoor pilot, starring Paul McGann as the Doctor.

In this article, we’re also going to cover the next incarnation of the Doctor in the show’s lore – the War Doctor. Also appearing as a one-off version of the Doctor in 2013’s 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” the War Doctor was the incarnation who fought in the Time War – a long-ranging (mostly off-screen) battle between the Time Lords and the Daleks.

Seeing as both the Eighth and War Doctors only had one true appearance (save for a couple of minisodes), this article will be a little different. We’ll just be discussing their on-screen appearances. However, both Doctors stories have been greatly expanded through the world of Big Finish, a company that has produced official Doctor Who audio stories since 1999.

Doctor Who: The TV Movie

After 7 years away from our TV screens, the Doctor finally returned with Paul McGann as the latest incarnation. Co-produced by the BBC and Fox, this ever-so-slightly Americanized TV movie was designed to serve as a backdoor pilot to a new series. Unfortunately, while popular in the UK, the US airings weren’t so popular, so Fox declined to move forward with a series.

I’m not the biggest fan of the TV movie. It definitely has some good things going for it, mainly McGann as the Doctor, who despite only appearing for about ¾ of the film, puts in a great, and even memorable performance as the Doctor – one that has been greatly expanded upon in the audio format. The Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, returns at the beginning for a regeneration scene, which actually ends up taking up a good 30 minutes of the film. While it’s nice to see the closure of McCoy’s era, it does take away from McGann’s impact and from the fresh start the film should have had.

The big bad in the story is the Master, who was executed by the Daleks, but has returned as some sort of snake that can possess people. He ends up taking over the body of an ambulance driver in San Francisco (played by Eric Roberts), which is where the bulk of the film takes place. Roberts’ performance at first is pretty good, but he ends up going far too campy and melodramatic towards the end.

The TV Movie also received a lot of flack at the time for showing a more romantic side to the Doctor, with him kissing Grace Holloway (Daphne Ashbrook). If fans didn’t like it then, they certainly wouldn’t like what’s to come in the new series. And that’s just what the TV Movie is to be honest, a good bridge to the new series. Perhaps we wouldn’t have got the hugely successful revival if not for the failures of the 1996 reboot. It tried some new things, some of which stuck, and remains a hugely interesting footnote in the long history of Doctor Who.

The Night of the Doctor

Perhaps one of the best surprises ever pulled off by Doctor Who was the release of this surprise minisode in the lead-up to the show’s 50th anniversary in 2013. “The Night of the Doctor” served as a precursor to the full-length “The Day of the Doctor” by setting up the beginnings of the War Doctor, who was first teased in the 7th season finale. More importantly though, we got the surprise of Paul McGann’s Doctor, returning for the final appearance of his Doctor’s life.

“The Night of the Doctor” shows the Doctor, initially as his usual self, in the midst of a battle in the early days of the Time War. Eventually he realizes that the universe doesn’t have as much need for a Doctor anymore, and with some help from the Sisterhood of Karn, begins a forced regeneration into a warrior – John Hurt’s War Doctor.

Despite only being about 7 minutes long, this was an incredible piece of writing from the legendary Steven Moffat, with McGann putting in a wonderful performance. It does a great job setting up the War Doctor while bringing a sad end to the life of the Eighth Doctor. The whole minisode is available to watch on YouTube, so I’ve included it below for your viewing pleasure.

The Day of the Doctor

I’m not going to talk too much about “The Day of the Doctor” as a whole here (don’t worry, we’ll come back to it in a couple of months). Rather, I just want to focus on the War Doctor’s involvement in the story. I think it was a stroke of genius on Steven Moffat’s part to invent a version of the Doctor who participated in the Time War, one who did not consider himself the Doctor, due to some of the acts he had to partake in.

For years after, the Doctor believed that he had pressed the button that destroyed all the Daleks and Time Lords at the end of the Time War, and that guilt lay heavy upon him during the early years of the revival. “The Day of the Doctor” takes that concept and spins it on its head, revealing that the Doctor was in fact able to save Gallifrey while destroying the Daleks at the same time. The concept worked well within the confines of this story, but didn’t necessarily work as well moving forward.

John Hurt gave a great characterization of a truly broken Doctor, one who needed a little inspiration from his future selves. After a few years of younger Doctors in the form of David Tennant and Matt Smith, it was nice to see an older take on the character. But while grumpy and a little disheveled, the War Doctor is still undoubtedly the Doctor! Below is one of my favorite scenes with the War Doctor, where he talks with the Moment (the sentient form of the device that will end the Time War) who takes the form of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper).

Classic episodes of Doctor Who from 1963-1989 are available to stream on BritBox, while the modern series is on HBO Max. Beginning later this year, all new episodes of Doctor Who will be available on Disney+.