Do you know why they did that?

Its part of the explanation for why Clara keeps living, dying, reappearing to live and die again. The last scene was interesting.

Did you see that they are bringing in John Hurt as the Doctor in November?

joe

Edit: I guess you did.

I didn't see the movie Doctor but somebody on Amazon says he's there but if you blink you miss him. I did see 9, briefly, near the end. I didn't see number 10.

I have two ideas about John Hurt.

In case you haven't heard by now, Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who. He will finish out the year. So it seems the Christmas special will end on a sad note.

I'm not up on British actors so I have no realistic choice for the new Doctor. I don't agree that he should be younger. The Doctor can't keep getting younger. A thousand year old man in a teenage appearing body would be funny for about five minutes. I loved Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor in the parody "Curse of Fatal Death" and think he would be great as the Doctor for real, but that won't happen.

I've never been able to get into Dr. Who but know lots who do.

Ana

I hate it when they change Doctors, but then again it brings something new to the show. I hated Matt in the beginning because he acted way too young for what I considered a 'hero' but in the last few episodes he finally became the Dr. Who character in total. Now they are going to change again. Hope it's someone mid-age who will be more 'adult' oriented. I almost quit watching when the stories were more for kids. Can hardly wait for the 'regeneration'. Maybe it will be a GIRL!

I'm with you Ana. A lot of my friends like it and we have many shows that we like in common but this is one I have not really gotten into. I suppose if I start I won't be able to stop.

I've been watching Dr. Who on BBC America. As far as I know my PBS stations (in New England) never carried the program. I also used to see it on the SciFi Channel a few years ago.

Anyway, when I saw that John Hurt was going to be the next Dr., I mentioned this to my nephew, who is a Dr. Who fan, and he said Matt Smith has signed on for the next season???? Then I asked why was John Hurt there at the end of the season final; his answer was that he was going to be "A" Doctor, not necessarily the "Next" Doctor. Confused?? I am. I'll just have to watch and see. Love the show.

SuMac, I'm always confused. Join my club.

Matt Smith quits as the Doctor

Matt Smith's Doctor said of John Hirt's character "I said he was me, I didn't say he was the Doctor". "The Doctor" is a name he gave himself to describe the kind of person he would be. This other person apparently did evil things that go against that. So Matt Smith's character says John Hirt's character is a version of him but not one recognizable as "the Doctor".

A lot of us old time fans believe John Hurt is the Valyeard, introduced in the 1986 fourteen episode "Trial of a Time Lord". The Valeyard (Michael Jayston) was the prosecutor in the Doctor's (Colin Baker) trial. During the last 2 episodes the Master (Anthony Ainley) appears to reveal that the Valeyard is in fact the dark side of the Doctor somehow brought to life between the Doctor's last regenerations (at the time the limit was 12, giving the Doctor 13 lives). How this happened is never explained. The Valeyard had to have crossed the Doctor's time line in order to be at the sixth Doctor's trial before he himself actually came into existance. He wanted to steal the Doctor's regenerations (7-12) to be free of the Doctor's morality. He also tried to murder the Gallifreyan supreme court justices.

If John Hirt is the Valeyard he's not a normal regeneration but an aberration and doesn't count among the 12 regenerations (or whatever they change the limit to).

Oh I forgot, another interesting theory, is that it was John Hirt's "Doctor" who actually destroyed Gallifrey. The idea being that a good version of the Doctor couldn't have committed such an act of betrayal against his own people, even if it ended the Time War.

Presumably, we'll find out more about John Hirt's Doctor in the anniversary special.

In the episode "The God Complex" the 11th Doctor looks into a room that is supposed to contain his greatest fear. The camera doesn't show what he sees. He says "Of course, who else" and closes the door. It just came to me who is most likely in that room. Originally I figured it was himself. But now I think its supposed to be John Hurt's character. Steven Moffat likes putting things in Doctor Who that make more sense later on. The best example of this is River Song. She first appears with the 10th Doctor talking as if she's known him for years but he has no idea who she is. If you watch the 11th Doctor episodes than go back and watch her with the 10th it all makes sense, and is ending is so much more tragic.

Steven Moffat talks about anniverary, Christmas, new Doctor

Sounds like you are enjoying it Guybrush.

Ana

The current theory about John Hurt, supposedly leaked by a costume designer, is that he's the real 9th Doctor. That Christopher Eccleston was really number 10, David Tennant really number 11 and Matt Smith really number 12 and of course the new Doctor would be 13 not 12. The idea is that he turned bad and the other versions of the Doctor don't acknowledge his existence. If true this makes the new Doctor theoretically the last. because according to the original series a time lord can only regenerate 12 times, giving him 13 lifes, Of course they'll come up with a way to get around this.

Yes, the magic of tv does seem to be able to deal with most plot problems