Why wasn't Paul McGann the War Doctor?

possibly a few reasons...

1. He didn't want to do it
2. The BBC didn't ask him to do it
3. The BBC wanted a BIG name actor to do it to bolster the ratings

His audio stories are going to include modern elements from now on. One story has him meet River Song (with the neat twist that she can't reveal herself to him, because he doesn't know her yet!). Another has him meet Sontarans voiced by Dan Starkey, their main TV actor.

To be fair I thought his stories with Lucie Miller and the dark eyes box sets already felt more in line with the modern show than the classic series

I know it's been said many times elsewhere but I really wish Paul had had a proper crack at playing The Doctor on screen. I thought he was excellent in Night Of The Doctor and I know there are many fans who'd like to see him in another multi-doctor story. The Four Doctors, anyone?

I suppose the only issue would be, if he was great in that as well, would we just keep demanding more of him?

The key problem with such a series is that it wouldn't have its own identity in the way that Torchwood and SJA did. It would be the Doctor with companion(s) in the TARDIS, righting wrongs throughout time and space. It would be Doctor Who without the currently contracted actor as the Doctor. So it would inevitably be considered as a rival to the Moffat/Capaldi series.

While it's OK to have something like Big Finish for a small niche audience, live action Doctor Who needs to be BIG and SPECTACULAR. Which places it in direct competition with the main show.

If the rivalry issue could have been overcome, next year's rumoured gap year would have been a good time to do a flashback series up and running. I say that in the past tense because it's now probably far too late to start planning a new series for 2016 broadcast.

Yes, Eccleston was always the original choice for the role of the War Doctor, but he turned it down, hence some storyboards near to the final script still showing the Ninth Doctor with the Tenth and Eleventh.

Very shortly afterwards, John Hurt was cast and had to say yes very quickly. The idea wasn't exactly a last-minute one, but the casting may well have been. Moffat said that Eccleston turned down the role because it's not the sort of thing he does (i.e. return to a role), although there is evidence to the contrary (series 2 of Cracker and expressing an interest in returning to Heroes or Our Friends in the North).

It could've actually been for another reason, such a scheduling clashes (he was, I believe, still filming some of Thor 2) or, what I believe to be the reason: that he didn't want to play the War Doctor role if it would undo everything that his character of the Ninth Doctor had done in series 1 (2005).

For those who believe that the Eighth Doctor couldn't have pressed the button, let's not forget that if we are counting televised adventures only up to the beginning of 2013, McGann had only one, and most importantly, it was a regeneration story. In this story, the character hasn't even fully formed yet. People seem to base his "dashing, romantic" persona on that one appearance, which they shouldn't. Countless audio dramas have darkened his role; something which McGann always wanted to do in the first place.

The way I would've actually written it would be that McGann, Eccleston, Tennant and Smith would all be there to think about pressing the button, but McGann suddenly pushes it. He explains that because the Moment is psychologically linked with whoever possesses it, it can take on the form of whatever weapon the possessor wants. In the Doctor's case, pushing the Moment hides Gallifrey in an instant and lets the Daleks wipe themselves out. From there, the Doctors return to the art gallery and McGann goes off in his TARDIS, only to crash land on Earth, 2005, where he regenerates in Eccleston, finds a leather jacket at Henrik's and goes off to find some Autons. I wrote a full synopsis here:

http://gluben.tumblr.com/post/117182...-shouldve-gone

Imagine now if Eccleston had been asked to reprise the Ninth Doctor role but in a completely different capacity, with a separate storyline that links him to the others. Would he have accepted then? I'd like to think so, so long as he was given enough time to read a script. This is something else which probably stopped him returning, and even Tennant is on record as saying that he was annoyed to be kept waiting to the very last minute to be informed of being in the 50th (Eccleston obviously could not afford to do so). What if RTD and Moffat had co-written it, and decided the storyline a lot earlier, say, back in 2010? That should've been how it happened.

There was also a university event which McGann attended and questions were put to him by the audience and others. I wasn't there, but I asked the question of would he like to have played the role:

https://livelaughreadwrite.wordpress...t-by/#comments

His response:

"I do remember though that Paul said of course he’d have loved to have played the part of the War Doctor if it had worked out that way, but they got John Hurt in and he’s a brilliant actor and that’s what happened. Think he did comment as well on the fact that it was slightly unfortunate that there was no time to connect as such with the War Doctor because he was completely brand new to the show."

So I do think McGann should've been asked. It would've been a perfect link between the old and new series and provide both closure to his Eighth Doctor and a mirror image of the 1996 TV movie. That's the point really, that the Time War could've changed him into a much darker character, only to be redeemed at the end.

And for all of that, I think the 50th really killed off my last feelings of love for the show. The split series 6 was the start, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Judging purely on the TV Movie(which I like aside certain aspects) I don't really see the Eighth Doctor as the violent type who would go round blowing up and needlessly destroying things.

I saw him as curious mixture of Pertwee's and Troughton's Doctors. By that I mean he could do all the Pertwee action stuff like riding motorbikes but without the physical stuff like Venusian akido plus Troughton's childlike easy going innocence.

Therefore I think the correct decision was made not to make him the Doctor that fought the Time War, though I do think(much as I'm not a fan) it would have made sense if Eccleston has been that Doctor. Not only does it tie in nicely with the beginning of the New Series, I can believe the 9th Doctor could have fought the Time War much better than the 8th as he was a harder Doctor.

Plus for the 50th it would nice to have seen him back but he didn't and I can live with John Hurt playing that role as he did it very well.

For many though that's surely the whole point of being a soldier who "fought on the front line" (at the fall of Arcadia as the Doctor once confirmed). You're not just a public menace who goes around blowing stuff up, you're a genuine person with loves and likes and passions and families and friends and plans and ambitions and desires. You're called to war, and it's a service.

The conflicting thing with Moffat is that he tried to prove this point with Danny Pink to some extent - a regular guy, teaching Maths to kids. He wasn't a "PE teacher" like the Doctor (out-of-character, I may add) generalised him to be, he was meant to be someone who had loves and plans, but losses and secrets as well. Albeit I stick by my belief he was still a poorly handled character, but the message was clear as day - and in complete contrast with the message Moffat used to excuse McGann (or any 'regular' Doctor from the war).

In WW2, the troops weren't magically sourced from a military-themed fiction. They too were genuine people. You never see them as the violent type, and the overwhelming majority of them are not. That doesn't mean they were ever exempt from taking up arms and defending their liberties and families at all costs, and having to make tough decisions, often confronted with a battlefield fighting an enemy who also probably were in all cases genuine people as well.

I could excuse Moffat's argument on the matter if he were to point out it were a family show that didn't want to explore such dark, sombre themes - but the issue is that the show has been content to do so time and time again in the past.

But in Rose wasn't it shown that he had just regenerated?

It was only hinted at. The Doctor sees his own reflection and says "Oh! Could have been worse. Look at the ears."

This is what Moffat himself says:

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/what-if...50th-56889.htm

Not really.


Yes he looks in a mirror and comments on his appearance but people do that all the time. It doesn't mean they have just got a new face recently.

I know where you're going with your first point and to some extent I agree with what you're saying.

However, I think that with certain Doctors though you have a character that's been created and you know how those Doctors will react to certain situations, it becomes part of who they are.

For example, I couldn't imagine the Second, Fifth and due to his abhorrence of violence, the Seventh Doctor to a point not ever being able to fight in the Time War. It just so isn't their character.

It's like saying The Master and The Rani suddenly becoming compassionate and caring for everyone, it's not who they are.

I know underneath The Doctor is the same person from incarnation to incarnation but some Doctors, including the Eighth, were a little more passive than others and that's why I find the idea of them participating in any type of war just not really believable.

I do think though that with the added Time Lord-iness afforded to the character, that the Doctor could change in so many ways across a single regeneration that it'd be hard to pinpoint down a Doctor who was such a pacifist at heart that he couldn't commit to an act of war.

I mean as a comparison, Missy has shown great range in her character. Yes, she's fundamentally crazy, villainous and scheming but compare her role at the end of Series 8 where she's the Big Bad of the piece, to Series 9's opening story where through Clara's eyes she got to be the de facto Doctor - to a degree that I think she probably quite enjoyed it, and that human company, just as the Doctor does - I think the Doctor in a single regeneration (say, the Eighth Doctor) is capable of tremendous change. In a weird kind of way, everything Missy has done so far has been rooted in ideas that concern friendship...everything she did in Series 8, as maniacal as it was was because she craved the friendship she had with the Doctor (I guess it depends on whether, like me, you felt there was some sincerity to her plea of "I need my friend back"). Her role in Series 9 basically involved briefly befriending Clara, again in her own maniacal way (and I guess that depends on if you buy into the idea that the two had at least a basic mutual respect for each other's intelligence).

As comparisons goes, I feel a particular Doctor when driven to extremity over the course of time he has to endure in his lifespan, could very definitely go to war and do the things he did... but as acts of compassion, dignity and heroism at the heart of it all (rather than mad, raving, bonkers like Missy).

Again, no soldier in reality has had to drink a magic potion to alter themselves to equip them for war. All of our grandfather's who fought in world wars, it's impossible to think of them being capable of killing another person. And yet, many have. My sister's grandfather is a wonderful wouldn't-harm-a-fly, hippy kind of granddad. And yet he once killed people in a Kenyan village. He lives with that daily, but it's absolutely integral to him to remember that it really was him who did it - that he holds responsibility for that, and did it not out of malice but as part of a greater good.

Of course, for the sake of a family TV show again it's a very sombre topic to discuss at such length, but the fact I can't see the Eighth Doctor being capable of doing the things the War Doctor had to do is very much part of the reason why I feel I'd have much preferred them to go with it. For the sake of television drama it's a jackpot (even if we don't get to explore it very much...though I feel McGann would have been more than up to the challenge) and for the sake of the message behind it all, I feel it would have been a better direction too... just as personal preferences go

Because Moff wanted to rush in the no regenerations limit as soon as he got here.

Again, I'm not disputing what you say. I've met many a passive person who if pushed in a certain way can suddenly lash out and fight if it's something they believe in.

What I would say that you sometimes have to think of the TV Viewer. If during his time as The Doctor, Peter Davison had suddenly started doing venusian aikido, if he'd started hitting people with baseball bats, I would think that too far out from his basic character. How much change in a character would a TV viewer accept. Remember a lot of people(myself included) were unhappy with the way Tennant went all dark and moody in the specials. I found that a bit too radical a departure from his usual cheeky chappie routine.

Off course most of The Doctors had a progression in their during their respective era's...but not so much it was a distraction for the viewer.

Now if you showed a progression over a course of time to that point where he has to go to War, then that is more acceptable. If you saw the Eighth Doctor go down a path through events and circumstances over a long period that led him there, that makes things easier for the viewer. To do a sudden change of character and go to war, I still don't see it for those Doctors I mentioned.

I actually forgot to mention this in my previous post but I think the First Doctor, perhaps during an earlier point in his life, would definitely be one for war. Useful with a spade and some rock, I reckon the First Doctor as we first met him would have no qualms on the battlefield!

Now the Sixth Doctor, yes, I think he definitely would a Doctor for fighting in the Time War......

What no regeneration limit? Pretty sure the limit is still in place, The Doctor was given a new cycle much like previous Time Lords have been given. Its not a new idea or a Moffat idea.

As previously stated it was likely it was the 9th Doctor who ended the war (possibly after just regenerating) but CE turned down a return. The plot makes sense that The Doctor hid a previous life considering the horrors that he would have endured.

I would still love to see a current or future Doctor lite episode ... where say the Dr & his companion are stuck on a planet, and the episode is more or less him narrating one of Dr Eight's adventures with Lucie Miller.

Or maybe the current/future Doctor can find some way of saving Lucie's demise in To the Death, and link her back to McGann's Doctor?

Let's face it the actress who voiced Lucie Miller would easily boost the ratings for this show if they could grab her to replay that character on TV (alongside McGann's Doctor) instead of The Big Finish audios; and currently she would certainly boost ratings more than even Kylie Minogue in that Xmas Special managed.

The idea of reversing Lucie's death would go against the BBC's Royal Charter. A publicly-funded series can't rely on continuity from a commercial product.

While it might be a good idea to have Sheridan appear as Lucie, the only explanation we'll need is that she's someone who travelled with the Eighth Doctor. Her death would need to be adapted as a free-to-air TV episode before it could be reversed.

Of course, Big Finish could do their own resurrection story and then Lucie could just show up on TV with no explanation required. By the same token, BBC Books had to undo their own destruction of Gallifrey, so RTD could destroy it again for the TV audience.

Of course of the limit. But ol Moff wanted to be the one to solve the 13 lives scenario He rushed that and then he wanted to say the 10th fake gen counted. Kinda pissed me off he rushed that because he wanted to do it.