Howling:The Night of The Doctor

Before you read further, please make sure you have seen the mini-episode. This thread will contain major spoilers. The mini-episode can be found on BBC iplayer.

Spoilers Ahead



To put it simply, the mini-episode was amazing. I haven't even seen the TV Movie but in six minutes Paul managed to convince me that he was thoroughly worthy of being a Doctor. I love how the first half is a twist on the scenario of The Doctor finding a potential companion, sweeping the off their feet and taking them to his TARDIS, complete with the "bigger on the inside reaction". And the way he stays on the ship as it is crashing says so much about this Doctor in a really clever way. I am so pleased that we all finally know how 8 regenerated, too. The Sisterhood of Karn were an interesting presence too. I'm starting to think they may be the way round the regeneration limit - maybe they give Hurt unlimited regenerations for fighting or something. Apparently there was a line about the Big Finish audios too, which is a nice way of "canonising" them. I hope the BBC consider doing more with Paul McGann, because he has a lot of potential. Anyway, what were your thoughts on this episode? Personally, I now know for a fact that the 50th is in good hands, and am sure there will be more surprises in store for fans. 87.102.91.126talk to me 17:14, November 15, 2013 (UTC)

I completely agree with this. While the clues were always there that McGann was producing something in secret, this definitely came as a surprise. I'd personally have been happy enough with just the final two minutes, but we were given 8 full minutes which wove a brilliant and original story around his regeneration.

The link to the audios was short and simple; merely a namecheck of his more popular Big Finish companions. What I also particularly liked (and which I've yet to see posted anywhere else) is the symmetry this forms with the end of the TV Movie - Grace and Chang Lee were revived by the TARDIS and the Doctor remarked they'd both been somewhere he'd never been (truly dead). He finally got to go there at the end of his life (well, afterwards) before he regenerated into Hurt.

The BBC itself is suitably impressed with the performance of this minisode and it's appreciation by the fans and casual viewers alike. Over a million views on YouTube in one day is definitely something to be proud of. There are unconfirmed mutterings over on Gallifrey Base that BBC Worldwide called a meeting to discuss the unexpected popularity of this minisode; let's hope this leads to a spin-off series or a movie. Darren.pobatti ☎  17:04, November 16, 2013 (UTC)