The Eighth Doctor: Five Favourites

K-Ci Williams and Gustaff Behr pick out five favourites from Paul McGann’s era.

This has been a great year! I cannot tell you how amazing it has been as a fan of Doctor Who. Yes we had to wait a long while for the new series and it popped around. But today is a significant day! It’s another birthday… the final Doctor Who birthday of the year (well, the last individual Doctor birthday). Today we say Happy Birthday to a man who perhaps wasn’t given a fair shot at piloting the TARDIS, but has stuck as an amazing and heartwarming Doctor for us all… Paul McGann, the Eighth Doctor! Let’s get straight into it, here are my choices for the Eighth Doctor’s five best television stories!

Wait. What do you mean he hasn’t had five? He hasn’t had five stories? Sorry folks, looks like this isn’t a great day after all. I can’t seem to find more than two television stories. Oh well I’ll make do with these…

Doctor Who: The Movie

Never thought I’d see those words up in lights… and I was right because it was a television movie! Paul McGann brings something special and wondrous to the Doctor in this film. Let’s address two things here: the really funny statement about being part human and the relationship between the Doctor and Grace.

The first (and only) time I sat down to watch this was on the 24th of November, which in New Zealand time was when the not-so-simulcast simulcast of The Day of the Doctor was due to be not-so-simulcast. I’ll still never forgive them for delaying it by ten minutes. Anyway, in preparation for the special, my friends and I tackled one story from every Doctor. Sadly this was the only one to pick from. I’d heard negative comments about this so had to expel those to see it properly. And I thought it was great. No better or worse than the Who we get now (although I enjoy Modern Who a lot more). So to the comment of his half human lineage… I love this because it divides opinion. I feel like the Doctor only said this because he had only recently regenerated. His mind was a bit scrambled. Yet if we suspend our disbelief we might feel a little closer to the Doctor.

Additionally, after discovering modern Doctor Who first where the companion kisses the Doctor all the time, the relationship of Eight/Grace didn’t have a huge impact on me. Although somehow it still felt so weird for some reason. But overall, I think the actors behind the characters really gave themselves to the roles and this was translated on screen. Paul McGann was a true master in this film, although he wasn’t given a great piece of material to work with, we will always treasure him. I’d say he was what it loved about the film.

The Night of the Doctor

Now this is where things get interesting. You should all now by now how much I love Steven Moffat and his writing. I never want him to leave (although it’s inevitable) and it’s this episode that always reminds me why. This is the perfect combination that McGann deserved the first time around. As arranged he brought the gravitas of the Doctor but was this time supported by a stunning script. It was his time to shine. I adore the themes present and the execution of the plot. Cass really would’ve made an excellent companion, but it goes to show the depth of hatred civilisations had for for Time Lords now that the Time War was in full swing. How appropriate that McGann go out in glory.

Sadly his story was short lived and he regenerated! Oh how I would love an Eighth Doctor television series! Ohila was a well portrayed character with an additional callback to the sisterhood of Kahn. I wonder how much bigger the 50th special would’ve been had this mini episode been kept for the special instead of individual release? If anything, McGann just proved why it was wrong to axe the show earlier on, and why he is still a great Doctor and has that energy. I absolutely love his Doctor!

Well, that brings us to the end of the Five Favourites!

Wow, wasn’t that a let down! Only two stories? I feel like I’m missing something… From the distance a voice echoes: “you’ve forgotten Big Finish!” (Cue end credits) and here comes Gustaff in a mighty cape to save the day. But seriously, let’s give Gustaff a great virtual round of applause for helping out here. I’ve not heard many audios so it’s nice to be able to gain knowledge from Doctor Who TV’s residential Big Finish guy! We are the only people that get to say this: “he’s on the payroll!” (Not really). But to conclude the Five Favourites come the final three from the Big Finish audios…

The Great War

Even though this might just be another Dalek-themed story for some of you reading, The Great War is actually a hugely popular story not only because it features the salt and pepper shakers as the villains, but also because it served as a massive turning point in the 8th Doctor era, transitioning him from the idealist we all know and love to a much harder Doctor, reminiscent of his immediate two successors. Devastated by the recent happenings in his life, the Dark Eyes box sets out to explore the 8th Doctor to a degree that has never been attempted before, but it could only have been done with a success such as The Great War serving as the opening story.

Introducing a brand new companion who brings a familiar New Era companion feel to her, The Great War also chooses (somewhat ironically) one of the bleakest settings in its aim to restore the Doctor’s faith in the universe – WWI!

Now we all know the Doctor loves WWII. No really! Go and count all the times his TARDIS has parked in WWII. It’s scary how often he goes there for adventures. But choosing WWI as a setting – although still a World War – The Great War does manage to completely refresh the whole WW concept. It at no point feels like “another WW story”. Plus – Daleks! For the fans who love Daleks.

Eyes of the Master

“Hello you!”

Whether you like it or not, the 8th Doctor stories have been canonized which means that Alex MacQueen’s wonderfully evil incarnation of the Master is canon as well. While the plot is not as extravagant as The Great War or the next entry, it more than makes up for it by pitting McGann and MacQueen’s Time Lords against one another in a magnificently written series dialogue scenes that’ll put Seb’s ‘squee’ on a 10 hour loop.

I dare say that Eight/MacQueen bounce off each other so well and the two of them have so much chemistry (mind you some of it borders on ham) together that it dwarves Three/Delgado, Five/Ainley, Ten/Simm or even Twelve/Gomez. MacQueen’s Master hypnotizes you into paying attention to what comes out of his mouth to such a degree that it’s borderline criminal. Also, unlike other stories which can sometimes feel like they’re dragging on a bit, Eyes of the Master evokes the opposite feeling. There is more than enough time to tell the story yes, but you just don’t want the Eight/MacQueen scenes to end.

Eyes of the Master also draws on the timey-wimey plot ideas that the new series has grown fond of using and utilizes them perfectly while not overusing them. Eyes also takes on some rather disturbing ideas of its own – all having to do with eyes as you might’ve deduced from the title. It does all of this PLUS it features a rather cruel and agonizing cliffhanger which – although is quite frustrating – is right up the Master’s alley in that it is done out of pure evil – making fans wait nine long months to find out what happens next. If ranked, it cozies nicely between Utopia’s ‘stuck in the future’ and episode three of The Caves of Androzani’s “I’m not going to let you stop me now!”.

The Chimes of Midnight

“Yes, of course, Mrs. Baddeley. It’s quite clear that Frederick brought the car into the house, ran himself over with it, and put it back outside before he finally expired.”

A lot of people will say that the Eighth Doctor Adventures is a good starting point for new 8th Doctor audio listeners, but The Chimes of Midnight is just as great, if not better! Not only is it the first 8th Doctor audio story I listened to and not only is it one of my favorites (not to mention one of the Moff’s), but The Chimes of Midnight is one of those stories that manages to succeed where most other stories of its kind fail – juggling loads and loads of plot ideas!

The Chimes of Midnight starts with a locked room mystery (in the literal sense) with a good old Whodunnit plot before introducing us to an unseen, yet somewhat poetic serial killer. There are plenty of timey-wimey and paradoxes thrown into the mix, horrific deaths and did I mention it’s a Christmas story? Yup, this is a gothic horror story contained within a hilariously funny black comedy.

The story’s foundational elements are so contradicting at times that normally a story such as this would be considered a ‘mess’ by fans, but not Chimes. The story also functions on insane troll logic, but just manages to be so darn funny and serious at the same time that just works. From recycled catch phrases, to wondering if it was the Bentley or the Chrysler that killed the poor chauffeur, Chimes is easily the best 8th Doctor story in any medium today.

From Gustaff and myself, we would like to sincerely wish the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann a very Happy Birthday. Here’s hoping for a multi-Doctor story with Capaldi and McGann? For the sake of it I’m gonna use my term again: Capaldian. It would be a great Capaldian era event!

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