The Night of the Doctor

8th doctor best doctor no arguments

It’s only two scenes, but it’s perfect. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect slice of Doctor Who. When I first watched this, in November 2013, I had to keep pausing it to run around the house in excitement, before going back to the beginning, getting slightly further into the episode, then doing the same thing again.

I have such uncomplicated feelings towards this marvellous performance from a Doctor who has had far too little screen time. This was his defining moment, many year’s after his character’s conception. This is what we think about first, when we think about the Eighth Doctor.

Epic return of the best doctor to the screen after years of Big Finish audios.

Shows the extent the time war has on this pacifist shows his willingness to end the war.

References audio companions until the point of release.

Charley, C'rizz, Lucie, Tamsin, Molly, friends, companions I've known, I salute you. And Cass, I apologise.

Physician, heal thyself.

Amazing last words from an amazing Doctor

Physician, heal thyself

Prerequisites: The Name of the Doctor gives context as to why this exists at all, and the TV Movie provides the only other televised appearance of the Eighth Doctor (at least in person).

Since the last time I saw this, I've listened to almost all of 8's audios with Big Finish, and yeah this is peak. McGann effortlessly 'is' the Doctor here, and nearly every line he delivers is wonderful. Hands down, this is one of my favorite regeneration scenes in the show, and I love almost everything about it. McGann should been the character the War Doctor became, if Moffat had to go down this route, this is the absolute best result we could've gotten, and for that, I'm beyond grateful.

I have very complex feelings about Night of the Doctor. On one hand, the reviews are correct in saying this is a tight, well-performed story. on the other, because of the BBC meddling, the 8th Doctor didn't get the exit he deserved and as a result, Dark Eyes 1 was the last time 8 had any character development. Afterward, he would remain a sad static character and his arc leading up to him ending the time war would be thrown out. 8 was replaced with someone so tame as a warrior they might as well not have him regenerate at all. In short, there's better stories that cover 8's change and even gives us a better ending for him

In 2013, Doctor Who celebrated its 50th Anniversary and Steven Moffat decided to do something us Whovians had been waiting a long time for: the Eighth Doctor's regeneration. Only it was a little different from what we expected, as instead of Christopher Eccleston being the next Doctor, it was John Hurt.

Night of the Doctor was an eight minute minisode released on BBC Red Button and iPlayer and told the story of the Doctor (Paul McGann) trying to rescue spaceship pilot Cass (Emma Campbell Jones) from her crashing spaceship. He fails and the spaceship plummets to Karn with Cass dead and only the Sisterhood there to save the Doctor. It's a relatively simple story but it doesn't need to be complex for this. This was a milestone for the show after all, given it was one of the biggest unseen moments of the show. It's incredibly in-character for this Doctor to sacrifice himself to save a woman he'd never even met; this is exactly how you would imagine Paul McGann's Doctor would go. Not for some big universe-destroying event or a massive climatic battle, not for some enormous story centred around the mythology of the series...but in a failed attempt to save a woman in a crashing spaceship. This ultimately feels more like a classic series regeneration, which were less climaxes of big story arcs but rather more self-contained.

It's also brilliant the reason why Cass won't let herself be saved. You see, because of the Time War she sees both Time Lords and the Daleks to be pretty much the same. This is hugely convincing and shows the horrors of the Time War through one simple exchange as the Doctor tries to persuade her he's not like the others.

Cass: Is this a TARDIS?

The Doctor: Yes, but you'll be perfectly safe, I promise you.

Cass: Don't touch me!

The Doctor: I'm not part of the war. I swear to you, I never was.

Cass: You're a Time Lord.

The Doctor: Yes, I'm a Time Lord, but I'm one of the nice ones.

The fact that Cass won't even let the Doctor touch her shows just how devastating the Time War has become. It's powerful stuff and wonderful writing from Steven Moffat. When I was at university, one of my lecturers  said that when you write dialogue, you should write dialogue that you can 'see', and this is certainly the case here.

The scene with the Sisterhood of Karn is great too, as it also highlights the horrors of the Time War. It's heart-breaking to see this man who has dedicated his life to travelling around the universe helping different civilisations and fighting the monsters decide he has no choice but to basically become a monster (or, as Sisterhood call it, a warrior) himself. It also gives a nice fan theory for why the Doctor's regeneration is always shown through golden energy now: the effect of the potion from Ohila and the Sisterhood of Karn.

Paul McGann is absolutely at his best here. He gives a stunning performance as a desperate man taking desperate measures he really doesn't want to take. Paul McGann is even given one of the best final lines of any Doctor in 'Physician, heal thyself' and it's great to see the Big Finish companions made canonical when he lists them before drinking the potion. Emma Campbell-Jones and the Sisterhood of jar are great too but completely outshone by Paul McGann. It is a shame he didn't appear in Day Of The Doctor also.

Overall, Night Of The Doctor is the perfect regeneration story for Paul McGann that nicely explores the impact the Time War has had on something even as simple as touching someone. This may be only a minisode but in those eight minutes it establishes itself as bonafide classic.