Ok, take this with a grain of salt, as there is a lot of speculation and educated guesses involved, but it’s looking very likely that Paul McGann will be reprising his role as the 8th Doctor in the upcoming season of Doctor Who. There has been no official announcement, but if you analyze certain bits of news that have come out over the last couple of days, it starts to paint quite an interesting picture.
First up, geektyrant reports that McGann’s recent appearance at a New Zeland convention unveiled a new costume for his incarnation of the Doctor. This is noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First, WETA Workshop, the renowned prop makers were commissioned to create a new Sonic Screwdriver, the Doctor’s signature gadget. WETA’s work does not come cheap, as it is said that the BBC gave it’s blessing for its creation. Second, the only media the 8th Doctor currently appears in is in the various audio productions by Big Finish. They are new stories, but for cover art, they always use production stills from the 1996 Fox Doctor Who TV Movie, as that is McGann’s only televised appearance as the Doctor.
Detail of WETA's new Sonic Screwdriver.
It could be a flight of fancy on McGann’s part, as it has been reported that he never liked the original garb of the 8th Doctor. We’re fans though, and fans like to dig for evidence. Today, the BBC released the trailer for Series 6 of Doctor Who, starring Matt Smith. It’s an overview for the whole upcoming season. Give it a watch, then I’ll share something with you.
Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, as pointed out to me by Talking About Games editor Addam Kearney if you look at the trailer at around the 37 second mark, you see the interior of the TARDIS in a bit of trouble, but it is not the 11th Doctor’s TARDIS.
Just in case you don't want to hunt for the screenshot
To the astute eye, you can see based on the architecture, this is the TARDIS of the 9th and 10th Doctors. When we met the 9th Doctor in 2005, he had just reached his 9th incarnation, so this TARDIS also belonged to the 8th Doctor. Couple that with the throwaway lines in the railer regarding the Doctor “killing all the Time Lords”, thoughts go back to the often talked about, but never shown Last Great Time War. The Last Great Time War was during the tail end of the 8th Doctor’s tenure. When you add all of these bits up, it paints a very interesting picture.
9th on the left, 11th on the right.
Like the headline says, this is just a rumor. We don’t know if it’s true or not, but it seems more likely than not. Tell us what you think in the comments, and we’ll keep you posted as this develops!