I am running a number of polls to discover the favourite story for each Doctor. This one is for the Eighth Doctor.

Please note: This does NOT include audio adventures.

This poll will be open for 7 days.

Lucie Miller / To the Death

Night is the better story but Paul is fantastic whenever he appears

No it isn't. It makes little to no sense unless you know about the plotline of the Brain of Morbius and you can't honestly tell me the Doctor would rather force a regeneration than get in the TARDIS. The girl was going to be in the crash anyway so his presence and subsequent sacrifice made no difference at all. Now had he been hit by a Dalek trying to save her it would be a different matter, but it was a fairly stupid and senseless way to go.

At least the TV Movie made sense.

Well, at least he didn't claim to be h*** h**** in the minisode. That makes considerably less sense than misjudging the timing of a spaceship crash.

Im a fan of the tv movie and even I feel night is better.

No, it wasn't. The Doctor had no idea how long the ship had until crash, and he was determined to convince Cass to get into the TARDIS - he wanted to save her, and bare in mind this Doctor has suffered more emotional loss pre-Time War than any other Classic incarnation. It's possible that he just about to retreat into the TARDIS when the ship actually crashed and just got the timing wrong.

And the Sisterhood was pretty well explained in the minisode. How much detail do you need from "cult that knows the secrets of regeneration" to understand it.

The TV Movie? Half-human on his mother's side? Master as a snake? The Doctor not checking the scanner to see where he is, but instead walks into an ongoing gunfight? Even the Eleventh, the clumsiest incarnation, takes better care than that! WHERE'S THE SENSE THERE?

EDIT: CoalHill took the words out of my mouth.

If anything, it made the opposite kind of sense as applying preceding Doctor Who knowledge would have made you more confused, not less.

I voted for the TV Movie as the criteria are opaque. So the only episode of Who made in the 1990s, that proved it could be a success if ever brought back, beats the cheap mini web episode that was an equally fantastic treat for fans but at a time when the programme has nothing to prove.

I'd have to vote the minisode cos of the lack of options here, but my favourite 8th Doctor story is The Chimes of Midnight.

Please note: The reason I have not included the audio adventures is because not all fans have listened to them.

not all fans will have seen every TV series either though, especially the early ones

Seriously, I get your point, but with Paul his finest work is in the audio books

voted for the night of the doctor. In eight minutes or so, it delivered a more exciting, coherent, and unamericanised story than the tv movie managed in 90 min's. The only thing that would have made night of the doctor better was if they would have added a line to explain that the half human thing from the tv movie was complete nonsense, by saying it was post regeneration confusion, or a joke or something.

Can we at least take a moment to acknowledge that the TV Movie is a lot more coherent with existing Who than it was planned to be? The team obviously worked hard to do what they could while being pulled in two directions at once — it was supposed to be accessible enough to make sense to a brand new, American (ie, no idea about the Tardis even) viewer, while also not doing too much to alienate classic fans. Rose possibly achieves that a little more successfully but we all know RTD is very good, don't we?

I really enjoyed the Night Of The Doctor Minisode, it was great to see McGann back but for content and story it has to be the TV Movie.

Seeing the 8th Doctor again, seeing him regenerate, the Sisterhood of Kahn etc: all great. But... really it wasn't a terribly impressive script. Actually it seemed a little like Steven Moffat had written it on the day it was shot.

There is some exruciating dialogue there: "I'm one of the nice ones". "Physician, heal thyself".

A nice little treat for the anniversary but as a (mini) episode in its own right not great.

Nonsense, some of the best dialogue in a regen episode. Second only to the 9-10 regenIMO

Okay, well, I could call your opinion 'nonsense' without saying anything further to back it up too, but I won't as I can't be bothered

If you like such hoary old cliches as 'physician, heal thyself' then fair enough. I, on the other hand, am pretty well read.

The TV Movie

Shada

I think the running time of the minisode necessitated a few "hoary old cliches", as most TV viewers born in the past 20 years may not be completely clued up on who 8 is.

There are a few wonderful moments in the TV Movie - most epically "these shoes!!" - but all the best bits don't add up to the running time of the minisode, which I enjoyed from start to finish, so I voted for that.

I voted for the TV movie. I thought McGann was great and looked great too and while the movie had its issues, I overall enjoyed it.

Also, while it was good to see McGann again in the mini episode, I didn't think the episode was particularly good. Also, I see no reason why John Hurt had to be the War Doctor and while I in general enjoyed his performance, I didn't find him particularly believable as this "battle-hardened warrior", he was more like one of Wilf's friends. McGann would have done just a good or even better job in "The Day of the Doctor".

1. Timing wasn't anything to do with it. He said he'd stay with her to the very end. It was self sacrifice.
2. The Sisterhood wasn't explained at all. I knew who they were as I watched Brain of Morbius. A lot fo people would have been like "who the hell were they?".
3. The half human argument has been raging for years, he could have been joking or lying to get trust. The Master as a snake makes sense as he's an alien who is trying to prolong his life however he can. I'll admit not checking the scanner was a bit dumb, but at least he didn't sacrifice himself needlessly.

I'm not saying Night was bad, far from it, but you can't compare 8 minutes to 90 minutes as it isn't long enough to tell a story, or build up to anything more than the basics.

6 minutes 49 seconds of drama really shows up 90 mins of tosh.

I loved the TV Movie at the time and I loved Night of the Doctor. Both of them were a real thrill but the movie was a thrill for longer so I'm voting for that!

Voted for the TV movie mainly because I thought that The Doctor sacrificing himself to save one person he had only met did not make sense. I felt it was deliberately written that way so as to force a regeneration into the Hurt Doctor. It felt rushed and too contrived for me.
The half human quote in the TV movie can easily be explained as The Doctor, still not fully recovered from his regenration was just confused, mainly because he had spent too much time on Earth. Any way, why shoudn't his mother have been human ? The Master/snake I agree was just rubbish and I'm sure like myself, lots of posters can think of a better way he could have regenerated/re-energised himself.