Story 241 (Prequel) - The Night of the Doctor

 

In which the pilot of a crashing spaceship - a young woman named Cass - is suddenly confronted by a stranger on her craft. This is the Doctor, in his Eighth incarnation. The Last Great Time War is at its height, affecting the entire universe. Cass explains that she teleported her crew off the stricken ship, but she is left behind. The Doctor tells her that he can save her, and takes her to a chamber towards the rear of the vessel where his TARDIS is parked. On discovering that this object is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, Cass is horrified. She realises that it is a TARDIS, and that the Doctor must be a Time Lord. She refuses to go with him - arguing that the Time Lords are just as bad as the Daleks. Both races are equally responsible for mass bloodshed in her view. Cass returns to the bridge and locks herself in, with the Doctor trying to argue that he is not like his fellows. To prove this, he tells her that he will not desert her - even as the ship heads towards destruction on a nearby planet.

The Doctor knows that this is the planet Karn, which he has previously visited. It is home to the Sisterhood, who worship the Sacred Flame which produces the Elixir of Life.

The ship crashes.

The Doctor wakes to find himself in the temple of the Sisterhood. Cass is here, but she is too badly wounded to save. The leader of the Sisterhood - Ohila - tells the Doctor that he died in the crash. They gave him a little of the Elixir to bring him back to life, but this incarnation is dying. He has but a few minutes. The Sisterhood believe that the Doctor is the only person who can bring the Time War to an end and save them all. His failure to save Cass weighing heavily on his mind, he decides to renounce his neutrality. He can no longer sit back and watch the universe being torn apart. Ohila informs him that he can use the Elixir to influence his next regeneration, affecting what sort of a person he will be. He decides that he can no longer be a Doctor in times of war, but instead must become a Warrior. He regenerates, taking on the appearance of the individual whom Clara had earlier glimpsed inside the Doctor's time stream...

The Night of the Doctor was written by Steven Moffat, and was initially released on the BBC Red Button service on 14th November 2013. Seven minutes long, it acts as a prequel to the forthcoming 50th Anniversary story, The Day of the Doctor, and shows how the unknown incarnation of the Doctor seen in the closing moments of the Series 7 finale - played by John Hurt - came into being. 

When Rose was first broadcast, it was suggested that the Doctor had only recently regenerated - as he appears to be noticing his ears for the first time in a mirror. Therefore, it wasn't known conclusively if this had been the incarnation who had fought in the Time War, and brought it to its genocidal conclusion. Steven Moffat had initially wanted to bring Eccleston, Tennant and Smith together to form a new "Three Doctors" for the anniversary, but Eccleston had eventually declined to return. If the Ninth Doctor hadn't fought in the war, then it must have been the Eighth - but Moffat simply couldn't see that particular incarnation being capable of such a thing. He therefore decided to create a new, interim Doctor who was a fighter - and who therefore didn't see himself as being worthy of the "Doctor" title.

Paul McGann was invited back to portray the Eighth Doctor, 17 years after last playing the character on screen. He had, of course, been playing the Doctor for many years on audio during this period. Not only was McGann being brought back in from the cold, as far as the TV series was concerned, this mini adventure also allowed him a conclusion, with a regeneration. Hurt does not appear, apart from use of his features from one of his earlier movies.

Being the big anniversary season, Moffat made the fan-pleasing decision to set the regeneration against a backdrop from the classic era of the series (namely the much loved Hinchcliffe-Holmes Gothic period). In The Brain of Morbius, it is stated that the Sisterhood sometimes help Time Lords regenerate with their Elixir. The Sisterhood appear here, with a leader called Ohila. She is played by Clare Higgins. On our last visit to Karn, the Sisterhood had just been taken over by a character named Ohica, so not the same person. Presumably the Sisterhood took the Doctor's advice on board and no longer have leaders who want to stay in post forever.

Being a seven minute short, there is only one other guest artist. Playing Cass is Emma Campbell-Jones.

Overall, it packs a punch well above its weight. Great to see McGann return as the Doctor, even if it's just to kill him off, and the inclusion of Karn and the Sisterhood is a lovely touch for older fans.

Things you might like to know:

• The Eighth Doctor's last words are "Physician, heal thyself". This comes from the Bible (Luke 4:23). Luke was a doctor. 
• Things the Doctor claims he could do in four minutes: knitting, watching television, chess, and reading.
• The Doctor does not have any travelling companion at this time. As he "dies" it is his companions whom he recalls. This is a list of his Big Finish audio companions. A nice touch, except that it means that any later companion added to the audio range is ignored.
• Talking of Big Finish, they continue to release Eighth Doctor audios, so these all have to take place prior to this - and they are denied the chance of having their own regeneration.
• Doctor Who Magazine had considered a regeneration for the Eighth Doctor into the Ninth Doctor at the conclusion of the epic Cyberman comic strip The Flood, but the BBC scuppered this by insisting that the Ninth Doctor should only ever bee seen with Rose as a companion.
• The CGI TARDIS seen in space is the Matt Smith one, with a St John Ambulance Maltese Cross emblem, but the physical prop in Cass's ship is the one that was created for the War Doctor in The Day of the Doctor, which doesn't have the emblem.
• Russell T Davies wrote a short story for the anniversary in which the Eighth Doctor did fight in the Time War, and regenerated directly into the Ninth. It was due to be published in DWM in 2013. However, as it clashed with Moffat's minisode it was withheld - eventually seeing release in 2020.