Media Essays: The Eighth Doctor: A Hopeful Ending

Written by The Wandering Fox

Teddy: I think McGann was right.

Freddy: About what?

Teddy: About Wandering Fox being a zealot!

Freddy: Well he was joking.

Teddy: I know that’s Paul’s humour, but I think he was right! This guy doesn’t stop banging on about the Eighth Doctor! I’m surprised the Media Man hadn’t stuck a clamp on his mouth!

Freddy: Oh come on, if it’s something he loves he should get to say it. Besides, he hasn’t just got the Eighth Doctor to talk about! He’s gonna get his Sixth Doctor figure back out to stand with a Pinhead figure!

That is very true! I’ll get that Pinhead figure!

Oh well, if I’m a Eighth Doctor zealot then so be it XD but yes, I met Paul and he was lovely, we had a lovely laugh and he cheekily called me a zealot XD

But yes, to those of you that are familiar with me, you know I’m a Doctor Who fan and my Doctor Who posts rarely get big numbers. Yeah, sad. But hey, I love the Eighth Doctor, hated what Night of the Doctor did and I’ve been a stubborn fanboy of Eight ever since. Which is why I’m here to tell you in more detail how I feel with Doctor Who now and where i feel can close the book on it and discard bits and pieces of it. And how I would’ve given the Eighth Doctor a more happier ending.

Where Am I Now With Doctor Who?

I really don’t give much of a care about Doctor Who in regards to its upcoming Christmas special, nor do I have faith in what they do with it beyond. I stuck through the Whittaker era after I stepped out from the Twelfth Doctor’s point in the show. Needless to say Whitaker’s era was memorable for the wrong reasons, though there were bits of it that I liked. Then came RTD returning and I dumbly thought he’d make the show better. But then came Destination Skaro and everything after was just some cringe inducing, bastardising, immature and lacklustre show that crushed me enough that I bailed out after Empire of Death. I’ve dipped back into Classic Who from rewatching lots of Pertwee and Tom Baker and watched a few Troughton stories I never watched. Big Finish has been a nice place to go to, their earlier audios are really good and gave us what masterful Doctors Colin Baker and Paul McGann really were and I’ve collected many Eighth Doctor audios, but I may start looking for more Sixth Doctor audios as well, even his weaker ones like Pier Pressure just to hear Doug Bradley in it.

But Russell’s damage to the show wasn’t just him alone. There was Chibnall with his rubbish script work and lore shattering stories. But Steven Moffat is to blame as well, he introduced a lot of stuff that Chibnall and RTD ran with, be it retconning Classic lore like Clara is the reason why the Doctor left Gallifrey in the right TARDIS or introducing the War Doctor or wasting Gallifrey or making the Doctor a simp. Now I could’ve easily just cut Doctor Who off after Tennant’s first era. But because RTD came back and wrecked the ending of series 4, then went on to continue wrecking Classic lore and characters, I had it then. I decided this:

The Eighth Doctor is where I stop Doctor Who at.

“WHAT!? YOU’RE GONNA WRITE OFF ALL OF MODERN WHO!?”

No, not all of Modern Who. Just the s**t that they did. I’ll keep the Doctors except for Hurt and Gatwa. I’d maybe keep Martin as a future Doctor. But if I wanted a black man to play the Doctor it’d be somebody with far more gravitas and charisma than Gatwa, like Adrien Lester or even Colin Salmon. I know the latter is a lot older but he looks great for his age. Of course, Gatwa could reveal what he really wanted for his Doctor cos we know RTD told him he wanted him done a certain way.

But for why do I end things with the Eighth Doctor? It’s because with how the TV Movie ends you have him going on his next adventure, no cliffhanger, no tease for the next story. If I had to resolve the half human thing, I would just say “The Doctor just regenerated, his body was in a bit of a mess as was his connection to the TARDIS, which was also damaged in the movie” then I’d have the Doctor say “Oh yeah, my mind was a jumbled mess, kissing this woman I was with, that was a waffle. Half human? My mind was in a frazzled state as was my connection to the TARDIS!”

Were I to give him a happier ending I’d have him turn into Eccleston. To those who like the War Doctor I’m sorry but I don’t. I have nothing against Sir John, he was a legend of an actor, but we know the truth: he was brought in to replace Eccleston because he didn’t want to return so he was doing what McGann or Eccleston would’ve done. The other reason is Moffat, the so called genius, felt he couldn’t see the Eighth Doctor fighting in the Time War or killing everybody.

Steven. You didn’t have the War Doctor do anything. He just stood around looking tired, talking to Billie Piper, and ushered him in the TARDIS to regenerate.

Oh and you canonised the audios where the Eighth Doctor did do those things. BLOOD OF THE DALEKS, STEVEN MOFFAT! DIDN’T YOU LISTEN TO IT!?

Then again it’s also said Moffat wanted McGann but the BBC said no because he would “alienate” people. Well get stuffed, you!

Freddy: Zealot!

Just saying.

Besides if I was to have Sir John Hurt in Doctor Who I’d give him a more worthwhile role than being a throwaway cheap plot device. No. I will give him somebody else to play :)

But if I like Big Finish, where do I cut it off with the Eighth Doctor there as it all goes to the Time War? I cut it off after Relative Dimensions, it was the Christmas episode that had the Doctor take Lucie to meet Susan and his great grandson Alex. After Relative Dimensions things go darker for the Eighth Doctor and I’d rather cut it off after a happy Christmas romp.

But what would I have done with the Eighth Doctor? How would I have brought him back and given him an ending that was more happier?

I’d do a soft reboot.

That soft reboot? Turns out Night of the Doctor and all of Modern Who was a trick by the Cenobites to make the Doctor suffer, Julia was pretending to be the Sisterhood’s boss, Pinhead got bored with it and woke the Doctor up, thus no Time War.

“WHAT!?”

Just kidding.

I mean I just start a new series with the Eighth Doctor, no reference to Charley, the Anti-Time, Lucie, Susan or Alex. Just start with him on an adventure, preferable in a costume similar to his movie outfit like the velvet style coat and double breasted waistcoat, make him neater and tidy so no big boots but I’ll let him wear his cravat or ascot under his shirt, give him some smart looking trousers with buttons at the ankles. He swaps the green coat for a blue coat as well.

With a soft reboot he needs a companion who will entice the audience. This is where Mari Annette comes in. A woman working on an Archival Ship in the future, she’s a passionate bookworm who would rather escape into the world of stories than stacking them away which often gets her in trouble. She remembers being told about the wonders of the universe by her father and she can go experience it all. Mari however has these random twitches in her hands which she chalks up to a tick. Mari is a young woman with dark hair with a blue or yellow hair bow ribbon and often wears blue and red or black and purple. She comes to like the Doctor for his boldness and passion for all things that are wonderful and takes the chance to go with him. However, bit by bit we find out Mari is not what she seems.

The soft reboot I’d ideally just run it out to four epic seasons, Mari would be with him from start to finish and I’d maybe bring back an old face before I wrap up the Eighth Doctor’s story. The first season has a story arc of its own in which after a big ambush on the Archive Ship the Doctor and Mari are tasked with finding lost books which were sucked out into a warp hole. Travelling together in the TARDIS they must battle a few baddies while finding the books and preventing other planetary history mixing in with Earth’s. By the end of the story, after the Daleks try to take the Archive Ship to uncover the secret of resurrection, the Doctor thinks he and Mari are done but with the ship due to land and Passover of the books to begin she wants to continue her adventures with the Doctor, so he promises to get her back to this date, both sneaking in the TARDIS, not knowing an old enemy is watching. It’s the Toymaker.

Now, just as a fun idea, if this was made years ago, then I’d have casted Sir John Hurt as the Toymaker. While he wasn’t ever as energetic as Neil Patrick Harris, he’d have that dark screen presence and would’ve had the beard to go with it. When they were planning to bring the Toymaker back for the Sixth Doctor he would’ve had a beard like he did here with David Bailie playing him.

But yes, Sir John Hurt to me I would’ve casted him as the Toymaker, maybe remove the Asian parts of the costume but replace them with more cosmic symbols like stars and rings. The Toymaker stalks the Doctor and Mari through their adventures, making sure they are distracted enough that they don’t know what he’s doing. He steps in at a point to save Mari from being converted by the Cybermen, saying that he couldn’t let them fracture her. He then erases her memory of having seen him. I’ll come back to him in a bit. But that’s who Sir John would’ve played and he would’ve been a superb Toymaker.

The story arc gives the audience something to come back to, I’d do it in two parters to keep them extra hooked.

These are my ideas, don’t steal them.

Series 1: Books In Time

Ep 1&2: Doctor meets Mari on the Archive Ship, has to stop the Tornikians from taking over the ship to find the whereabouts of the prince who killed their king. While they succeed in defeating them, several books are lost through the wormhole, thus the Doctor and Mari have to find them.

Ep3&4: The Doctor and Mari go to Victorian London to find their first book, The Limitation Expander. While here they hear of the legendary Spring Heeled Jack has been jumping around, breathing out blue flames and tried kidnapping people, hence the Doctor and Mari choose to fined out who Spring Heeled Jack is, all the while Mari is amazed to find this era lives up to its legends. They find Spring Heeled Jack is an automaton made by an underground society who are plotting to overthrow the government and Queen Victoria, having learned how to expand beyond their current technological flaws with the book. The Doctor and Mari trick the Spring Heeled Jack into killing itself by jumping into the fire pit where the inventor and his financier jump in after it. The police apprehend the society while the Doctor and Mari slip away.

EP5&6: The Doctor and Mari go forward in time to find their next book, Transmatter. They come to a village that has been cut off from the outside world and just about everybody there has become lifeless, they’re breathing and walking, but there’s nothing normal. It’s then strange figures garbed in dark clothing and full of electricity appear. The Doctor and Mari find help in the local police constabulary where those that are left have barricaded themselves in but supplies are running out and the outside has ditched them. Finding out more from them, the Doctor and Mari are told that a science team were experimenting with mind transferring in the nearby hotel but these things started appearing. Going to the hotel the Doctor and Mari find that they were learning from the book, and their Transmatter machine ended up summoning an entity of electricity through and started taking over everybody. The Doctor and Mari get to the TARDIS where the Doctor uses it to drawn in as much power from the village and draws in the entity. The Doctor dematerialises the TARDIS and sends it out into the vortex. Returning to the village and helping the people recover and wrecking the tech the scientists made, the Doctor and Mari enjoy a bit of tea and cake before going to the TARDIS.

EP6&7: The Doctor and Mari go to another planet to find their next book, which is about how the body becomes an organic substance for nature. The Doctor and Mari find the alien race here was once incredibly placid and preferred to live together but upon finding the book they came to believe they needed to work on their worth by sacrificing themselves in a sport of slaughter, rounding up the weakest of their society to slaughter them for the greater good of their planet to preserve its existence. With the resistance, The Doctor and Mari find the book and uncover how the alien who found it was long trying to change the status quo of their race and explain to the aliens how they’ve been lied to. The resistance take back their lives and kill the alien but there’s still stragglers of his old lot left. They thank the Doctor for his help and continue the fight.

Ep8&9: With only a single book left, this being an autobiography of a criminal who murdered people in some sick sense of bringing good about, the Doctor and Mari come to an alien kingdom where certain prisoners are being brought out, not for execution but for “adjusting”, with their fingers and tongues cut out to stop them from killing anybody or speaking evil. The Doctor and Mari are appalled by this and find the king is thinking of doing it to his entire people to stop them from rebelling. The Doctor tries to explain to the king what the man who wrote this book had done was evil, not good while Mari convinces the King’s council that he’s going to do the same to them. Though the king has the Doctor and the council arrested, he agrees to abdicate his throne if the Doctor defeats him in a sword fight. The Doctor wins but refuses to kill the king, saying he’s going to be locked away and watch as his council and kingdom do better than him. Mari tells the Doctor she will make sure this goes into the Forgone Vault where it will never be released. Returning to the Archive Ship they find it’s being bombarded by something.

Ep10&11: The Daleks are trying to take over the ship, wanting to all historical records of Dalek defeats. The Doctor and Mari save some Archivists but some are killed. The Doctor tells the Daleks he will come on their ship to help them if they leave the others alone. He tells Mari to go into the TARDIS library where she will find a book on his desk and tells her to do what it says. The Doctor takes some books, some are of actual records, some are works of fiction. Going on the Dalek ship the Doctor is brought to the Supreme Dalek who demands the Doctor read everything about the Dalek defeats. The Doctor first reads them a few pages of Frankenstein which annoys them enough that they almost shoot him. The Doctor does this but he talks as slow as he can long enough for Mari and the Archivists to sneak a few bombs on the Dalek ship. Mari brings a “lunch bag” for the Doctor to eat and after she lets it go on the floor the Doctor has the sonic screwdriver explode the bombs, escaping with Mari back to the Archive Ship, which they turn its engines on the Dalek ship and fully destroy it with the engines. With the Archive Ship due to dock soon, the Doctor bids Mari goodbye but she says she wants to continue travelling with him, cos he has a Time Machine he can get her back here as they dock. They both go on in the TARDIS, not seeing the Toymaker watching them go and laughs as he looks to the books, ready to start absorbing information to make his playground.

The next series will feature other things like the Cybermen preying upon the vulnerable by tricking them into thinking they’re “ascending” to a higher plain by converting them on a planet called Decron, the Doctor and Mari go to Feudal Japan where they stop Sontarans taking over, go to the Lilac Dimension, going to a entire world that replicates whatever is on there, and lastly I would bring back Daphne Ashbrook. With her not being able to play Grace thanks to copyright matters she will instead play the Star Mage, a gifted illusionist who is kidnapped by a group of fanatical people who want her to bring out the Dark Star and turn all of the citizens of the nearest galaxy into their slaves. The Doctor and Mari help her escape and help her cripple the Dark Star, instead consuming the fanatics in it and it fades away. I think Daphne should return before I send the Eighth Doctor away.

Among the stories is the Puppet Planet, where the Doctor and Mari go and find it’s an entire planet of puppets who had lured them there. The Doctor and Mari fight through the puppets to get back to the TARDIS with the Toymaker appearing to them as the Master Puppet. The Doctor doesn’t realise he’s the Toymaker but severs his own strings to finally be free of the puppets. They don’t know that this planet was in fact made by the Toymaker to test out his skills and he’s really pleased with it.

They encounter the Scarlet Elite, a group of aliens who are obsessed with seeing beyond their eyes, having ripped them out and see their entity who they worship. The Scarlet Elite had red eye sockets and are garbed in red robes with tentacle like hands and can shoot out lasers from their sockets well, coming together to have their entity come out to take everybody’s eyes out of them.

While this is going on, Mari’s ticks get more persistent but we do find out why.

In the final season, the Doctor and Mari find out the Toymaker has altered an entire galaxy into being his playground, where everybody is either a puppet who obeys him or are fearful and play along. The Doctor discovers a terrible truth. Mari was created by the Toymaker, who used her as his tether to reality and fed on the different times she and the Doctor went to to get stronger, giving her false memories though he did tell her of the wonders of time and space. Mari is terrified snd she is turned into a puppet. The Doctor gets the Star Sage to help him and reaching the Toymaker’s castle they restore Mari to normal but the Toymaker gets them, the Doctor challenges him to a few games. If the Doctor wins all of them, the Toymaker must do as he’s told:

He is to turn Mari into a true, living human and no longer control her.

He must turn this galaxy back to normal.

He must leave the universe.

They play a few games.

Hide and seek: The Doctor, Mari and the Star Sage must hide from the Daleks in order to reach the door. They win.

Walk the plank: They must walk on a wooden plank over a dark void while surviving shots by the Cybermen. It looks like the Doctor is killed. But it turns out it was an illusion cover made by the Star Sage.

Final game: Double Trouble. The Toymaker creates copies of the Doctor, Mari and the Star Sage. The Doctor tries to convince his copy that the Toymaker will kill him as soon as he wins. Mar’i defeats her copy but the Toymaker tries to bend the rules by turning her back into a puppet, saying that technically she’s still his. The Star Sage however cripples his hand and forces him to turn her back after she nearly fills him with Dark Star energy. The Doctor’s copy angrily goes after the Toymaker who swiftly kills him. With the game not ending fairly, the Doctor wants one more game: Rock, Paper, Scissors. The Toymaker makes a huge board with big scissors, rocks, and paper. At first it looks like the Toymaker wins by seemingly crushing the Doctor with a rock but the Doctor emerges and calls on paper, which ties up the Toymaker. Forced to accept it, the Toymaker turns everything back to normal. But the Doctor was badly injured by the rock, his leg and hand was crushed by it. Mari is so sorry for all this but the Doctor tells her it’s alright, giving up his life for hers was worth it and tells her to enjoy the life she’s got. Hugging him closely, Mari helps him to the TARDIS where she tells him she will never forget him for all the good things he’s done for her. He tells her she can still see it all with the Star Sage, telling Mari to be good with her. The Star Sage remarks that this isn’t the end for the Doctor but he says Mari needs a new start after everything she found out and he wants the Star Sage to take care of her. Giving him a hug, the Star Sage says goodbye to him. Watching them leave, the Doctor smiles as he stands beside the console, dematerialising the TARDIS.

“Well old girl, it was a good run. But oh well. Time for something new! Thank you old girl for letting me see it to the end!”

Then in a big burst of golden light, the Doctor regenerates into the Ninth Doctor.

Now, you might wonder how I can do the Ninth Doctor and Modern Who without the Time War. It’s simple. The Time War still happens but with the Ninth Doctor. He has some adventures before this, then he gets the Time War, then we get series 1. After that cut out the Clara, Night, Twice Upon a Time, Timeless Children, Fourteenth Doctor David Tennant, Bi Generation rubbish and cast Adrien Lester as the Doctor, and have Jo Martin’s Doctor from the future.

There, that’s it! That’s how I do it!

For the characters, Mari is quite the book lover and is intrigued by stories of history, heroism, often slacking a bit at work as she reads when she should be cataloguing and stacking the books away. While curious of the things around her she is more reliant on the Doctor at first with him needing to keep her alive for the job but always has a idea in mind to challenge the Doctor on certain topics. She becomes more braver with her learning to pull the Doctor back from trouble and going on her own to try and be an issue for certain baddies. Looking up to the Doctor as a guide and a smart man she is loyal to him. But upon finding out she was a puppet does cripple Mari’s confidence for a bit and feels she’s not worth the Doctor’s effort but he assures her she’s every bit worth to help. It does help her a bit but with the Doctor badly hurt Mari feels that she’s the reason why but he tells her if he had to get hurt again to save her he would. He tells Mari to never give up on her dreams of seeing wonders and delights, that the Star Sage could do with a friend. The Doctor sent Mari away because she didn’t need the stress of seeing him regenerate and he feels the Star Sage will help her, but he still makes sure Mari can tell he’s so glad he knew her.

The Star Sage is a strong illusionist but also skilled enough in energy manipulation. While she is wise she likes to travel a lot and have a good laugh and see things more with thought. She sees the Doctor as a lovely friend and has helped him out here and there. The Doctor does envy her a little for the sheer spectacle of her abilities but he knows it’s better to work within his own. The Star Sage has silver hair and often wears a green robe that glitters while wearing a purple cloak, holding a belt and pouches with her little tricks in them.

The Toymaker is more weaker at first but gradually builds himself back as he researches the books. Mari was created by him through sheer willpower, carving her from a wood on another world and brought her to life, at first hoping to just see through her eyes the books she read, the knowledge she’d absorb would feed him more, but the Doctor coming on the ship and taking Mari helped him regain more of himself and with the books on the Archive he was able to create his entire playground. He acts like a upbeat old uncle to his slaves but shows a darker edge towards the Doctor and has a rather sadistic persona towards Mari, seeing her as a toy that served its point and would throw her away if the Doctor didn’t stop him. Though he tries to bend the rules he sticks to his word and leaves.

The Doctor himself here is more how he is in his earlier adventures, has this charming wondrous side to him but has a darker side with a lot of snark on him. He pleasantly takes Mari on and finds her to be quite the clever girl but also worth protecting to have her see the next adventure and wants her to live her life to the brightest. The Doctor though has his darker moments where he scolds and dishes out the dirt on his enemies that makes Mari amazed wand nervous at the same time. He does apologise for how he can be like that, he is just really annoyed by those who only desire to do evil in the universe. He meets his end with a smile and is happy to see he done what he could to save everybody from the Toymaker.

Teddy: You really are a Eighth Doctor zealot.

Yes I am and I’m proud I am!

Teddy: Yeah, just sad not many people will read it.

Yeah, but if RTD and his idiot cronies read it and annoys them then good.

But hey that’s how I’d do the Eighth Doctor. Have him leave like a hero and giving him a chance to have a few adventures. I would like to think that this was what we had before the Ninth Doctor and gives Sir John Hurt a more memorable character.

But tell me, would you like this as the Eighth Doctor’s ending or would you prefer what we got on TV? Tell me what you thought.