have been wondering since day of the doctor why they could not have used the eccleston part of the footage from 9-10 regeneration ad reversed it, then stuck it on the the end of the war doctor regeneration e.g war doctor starts to regenerate, then use that old footage in reverse so instead of eccleston going into a regeneration it looks like him coming out of the regeneration. I know they would have had to alter the background but i'm sure they can do that these day's, and the best part is that it is footage the already own so presumably would have needed no consent from eccleston himself

It wouldn't really add anything because he wouldn't be able to say anything. Plus the effects they used i 2005 look a bit dated compared to those used in TDOTD

It wouldn't matter if he couldn't say anything, the point would be that you would have seen his face, and the whole thing would feel complete.It may have looked slightly shoddy to some effects purist's but I don't see anyone saying the appearance of doctors 1-9 in name of the doctor and time of the doctor 'didn't add anything' just because some of the footage was a bit shoddy

I see what you mean. Align John Hurt up with that shot of Christopher Eccleston. Get the HD version similar to the BluRay release, but prior to adding the old effects. They must have the version where he just stands there, so they could then add the effects. They must have details of his exact location and what not because they stored it for David Tennant to align himself later. Align John Hurt to that, play the clip in reverse, and use new effects to transform him.

Hmm, that's very clever.

I'd be surprised if nobody tries something vaguely similar for YouTube.

the very fact that you say that is proof of what Im saying. If someone can probably do it on you tube, and I can come up with the idea to do it, then I wonder why, with a production crew that's probably made up of lots of different, proffesionally creative people, then why did no one involved in the making come up with the same idea, I mean, not trying to sound smug or anything but it came to me the same night as it was on, when i was reflecting on my dissapointment that the regeneration was not seen to go all the way(was not a member on this forum at the time and have been posting about more current stuff since I came on so have only just remembered to breach the subject). hopefully, maybe one day, someone can release a digitally remastered version with this added

They might be holding out hope that Eccleston will soften up someday and return to film some post-regeneration dialogue.

I agree the idea of using unedited footage shot of Ecclestone, for the Ecclestone to Tennant regen scene, to finish John Hurts War Doctor regen scene, wouldve been a very good idea!

There is (or was as far as the 50th was concerned) to use Eccleston for any extra dialogue, a voice artist would do, as long as he had his back to camera or was off camera. Also a double could have been used filmed from behind? Its not like the would need him for a whole episode, just a 2-3min scene!

Pretty sure there was one up on youtube within days (if not hours) of the Special.

could merge both of the idea's and have reversed footage to show eccleston come out of the regeneration, then focus on on the console and and a hand appears and it and pan away to show a eccleston double (who is only seen from behind, as you said) is the owner of the hand, then he presses a couple more buttons and levers, the tardis start's to dematerialise and as we see an exterior shot of the tardis dematerialisation, we hear the new doctor shout 'fantastic!'(thinking about it they've got recording's of him saying fantastic so my proposed scene wouldn't even require a voice double)

I was sure i read an intervieew with a visual effects bloke somewhere that a longer version of that scene, where you do see the regeneration was produced, but when it aired, it was cut short.

Cant remember where i seen it.

No idea if it's reversed footage of 9's regeneration or Eccleston's face from some other scene but this is an extended version of the War Doctor regeneration.

cant believe it, that was near enough what I just described as what should have been. does anyone know if that was what the production team actually made and if so why in the hell they be so stupid as to they cut it short when it was so important.

edit: reading the info on it, seems like it was made by the you tube user who posted it but really that just goes to show it can be done. is no one else annoyed how easy it can be done and yet they didn't?

You would need the actors permission to feature his likeness in that way.

don't think he'd be too bothered about giving permission as his only grudge was against filming new stuff, but anyway I wouldn't think they would need it, because it's footage, owned by them already, that he was paid for at the time

It's fan made.



They used Eccleston's face and voice in the saving Gallifrey scene so they could have used it in the Regen scene as well.


I think the clip has to be over 9 seconds (or something like that) for actual permission to be required.

I'm pretty sure that didn't use any footage reversal. It just morphs into an image of Eccleston, which is why it cuts away so quickly. Footage reversal in general looks poor: motion blur runs backwards, things like sleeves continuously accelerate away from gravity, actor movements ramp up slowly then end suddenly rather than the reverse, etc. There'd also be costume issues.

I read a rumour that the production team had a longer version that went through to the full Eccleston but decided not to use it for dramatic purposes. They wanted the scene to end with you thinking they'd just cut away on the verge of something. It may or may not be true.

okay,thanks for that, but in that case isn't annoyed that it can obviously easily be done (that video looked perfect) and yet they didn't?

Nope not annoyed, it makes no difference either way. I think sometimes its better in the imagination than put onscreen

Yeah, I wouldn't exactly describe myself as annoyed. It was unnecessary to the plot to show the sequence. It would therefore have slowed down the story.

Playing to the fans is a sure way to secure yourself a dwindling audience.

Well there was a way they couldve got round that, have John Hurt's regen scene in a separate minisode, that couldve been on red button (interspersed with 5ish Doctors Rebooted) and on iPlayer straight after the 50th!

They couldve played to the fans all they wanted then and it wouldnt have affected the 50th rating in any way!

They essentially did this for the McGann to Hurt regen in Night of the Doctor, so I dont see why they couldnt have done it for Hurt to Eccleston?

In the same way that his holiness McGann was finally rewarded with a regen scene, for the fans (albeit as minisode rather than on TV) i feel we are entitdled to be rewarded with a proper regen scene into Eccleston, BUT like TEDR said perhaps it may have been confusing to the non-regular watching fan in DOTD on such a big occasion for the show, the remainder of the scene could be a future minisode.

In answer to the OP remember the interior of Hurts' TARDIS was significantly different to Ecclestons, it must be really tricky to reverse Eccleston on that basis I would imagine. Getting Tennant to stand in the same place would have been easier for the reason that the TARDIS was the same.

EDIT: lotjrw - great minds think alike? Err and maybe so do we(!)

but the point is, they did show the sequence, they just stupidly cut it short. I don't think an extra 2-3 second's for the eccleston face to appear would have 'slowed down the story', and would have given satisfaction of the knowledge of a full set of regeneration's start to finish for each doctor. As it stand's the fact that the end of the regeneration was cut off is a glaring whole for any loyal fan, and in my opinion was done needlessly

Careful how you use that word!

I expect it was done for the sake of focus - the episode was being watched by people who weren't all big fans. Obviously they would know that the Doctor regenerates, but they wouldn't know the significance of the new character appearing in Hurt's place.

They perhaps felt that it was one more fan service that they didn't want to explain, particularly right at the end of the episode, when they also have the job of re-introducing a version of Tom Baker.