Is it beyond the realm of possibility that Capaldi makes an appearance in the special?

Something along the lines of the 11th Doctor being shown a glimpse of his future, and him realising that his time is almost up.

Just a guess, but I'm almost certain he will, it's the sort of timey-wimey device Moffat loves.

He might well appear. Personally I'd rather he didn't.

Not a chance. That regeneration moment and reveal is one of the most powerful tools in the shows arsenal and they wont want to spoil or dilute it with an early look. There is enough to cram into seventy five minutes as it is. Capaldi debut is at Xmas.

Would Moff pull the same trick twice? Early companion reveal, early Doctor reveal... possibly.

I doubt if he's going to make a surprise guest appearance, but we might get a nod of some kind. For example, if he'd been cast and announced before Name of the Doctor, we could have had a few seconds with Clara in his timeline (that doesn't really make sense to that story, just an example).

We probably won't see 12. However there will probably be forshadowing of what is to come.
He has allready seen his destiny at trenzalore. GI warned him he will be darker and eventually die in battle.

Silly old GI then threw himself into the Doctor's timelime and started changing that "destiny". Clara may have been able to ensure that the Doctor wasn't killed before his time but we don't know that the timeline was completely and exactly restored in full and with no alterations or glitches at all.

With the timeline not fully restored and with alterations and glitches there, that could be interesting for future stories.

Maybe an appearance by the 12th could be kept small, like him introducing himself as the Doctor somewhere in the background or him just running past like the old Doctors in 'the name of the Doctor'.

Also, that would be the first time a future Doctor appears before the generation into him has happened. I'm interested in seeing it in small amounts.

When do the Blackpool Illuminations get put up? Sometime this month?


If people remember there was speculation based on the fact they have created 11 Doctor Illuminations plus a mysterious 12th one.



Now this was long before Matt announced he was leaving but it does seem Capaldi was chosen some time before the announcement.


So if they are going with a Capaldi Illumination it does suggest he could be appearing earlier than Christmas.



Edit
Just checked and the switch on was back in August, guess there was no 12th Doctor Illumination after all.

He will be if the big surprise is Matt regenerates at the end of the 50th. Very easy to spend a few grand on a great wiggy toupee for Matt and have him leg around a field waving his Chronic Screwdriver around with Jenna and a few crew about for the day. Makes me suspicious. Probably load of codswallop on my part. No sign of anything else much but a Chrimbo hat out of a cracker.

The Day of the Doctor... Big day.. everything goes well... everything resolved just over an hour in then....... Wooomph.... Doc 11 takes a surprise blast of something and is forced to regenerate from his injuries or to rid his bonce of Cyberinfiltration. Peter Capaldi jumps straight up... looks direcly into camera and says menacingly... "Right, that's it" and starts walking toward the camera.. with Jenna being ignored for the moment by 12s wrath, hot on his heels with mouth open.... Music.End credits... Roll on Christmas....

sigh.. I can dream lol

big Matt Smith fan but would love something like this to happen to suprise us all.

It would be awesome if it opened with Capaldi.

Technically, the Watcher, was a manifestation of the 5th Doctor which appeared prior to the 4th Doctor's regeneration. It wasn't fully formed enough to make out that it was Davison but that was the idea.

I wouldn't worry about Matt's hair being short - his Doctor has had scruffy hair, long hair and beards throughout his tenure so another hairdo will be completely in character.

For all we know, Matt may have had it cut short BECAUSE it was required for his final appearences in DW. I can think of a few million storylines that would work with or need his hair being short (or even falling out completely).

Characters in series like this tend not to make dramatic changes to their appearence during a series - so it might also give an opening for a bit of "excitement" for eveyone involved to be able to show the floppy-haired Doctor with short hair (not something easily or convincingly achieved with wigs)

I beg to differ! Besides, he was wearing a wig on the set whilst fiming. This we already know. And for a more close up look...

I don't think he will to be honest.

We'll see him briefly at Christmas though.

I think you misread what I wrote.

I said that it's difficult to make someone with a lot of hair look like they have little or no hair.

(I avoid saying LONG hair because the same applies to volume - try bunging a "bald wing" over a massive afro, for example.)

It's far easier - and more convincing - to use a wig or extensions to lengthen hair than it is to try and hide a mass of hair without making the wearer's head look like a reject from a Klingon's home movie.

I don't really count that as 'the Doctor', I count as 'the Watcher'. I know what the idea was.

Anyway, what I really meant to say was, it would be the first time the actual actor/doctor appears before regeneration took place.

Didn't something similar happen with the two Tibetan monks in Planet Of The Spiders??

Not impossible, but highly improbable.

I just looked it up on the Wiki and, yes, the Abbot K'anpo Rimpoche was a Time Lord and former mentor of the Doctor who merged with his assistant Cho Je in order to regenerate. Apparently Cho Je was a projection of K'anpo's self.

So, yes, there's plenty of precedent for having a projection of the next incarnation around to facilitate a regeneration

It was required for his work outside of Doctor Who actually, he cropped it for a movie.

That's just what Moffat wants you to think

Moff man of mystery storyline s!

Just saw a thread about "The Doctor: His Lives and Times" and had a thought...

If they put Peter C in the Anniversary episode, they'd pretty-much be forced to include him in any "First 50 Years" merchandising, promos etc - and I get the impression that stuff was all planned and signed for long before he was even cast.

Can you imagine the reaction if hardcore fans buy "A complete history" book or similar only to find that it fails to mention a major character like the 12th Doctor who DID appear during those 50 years?

I reckon they'll say that the first 50 years is Bill > Matt - and not risk complicating matters. In fact, I can't see them doing ANYTHING that is hugely significant in terms of DW "lore" - so no "half human" or "The Tardis is actually the Doctor's Mother's soul and the Master is his brother" garbage to re-write that history.

That's a new one, isn't it?