Wed
Feb 8 2012 11:00am
What Should Doctor Who Do For Its 50th Anniversary?

What Should Doctor Who Do For Its 50th Anniversary?

The seventh season of Doctor Who is scheduled to begin filming this month for a potential start date in autumn of 2012. Although no statements have been issued by the BBC, BBC America, or the actors and production teams involved with the show, it’s expected that the seventh season will conclude in early 2013.

Which brings the show right up to its 50th anniversary. Moffat recently teased at the anniversary in a program for a recent Doctor Who symphony show:

Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary is coming. In Cardiff, we’re gearing up for the biggest, the best and the most ambitious season we’ve ever made.

With the possibility of an entire season informing the 50th anniversary, Blogtor Who began to wonder: What do we want to see for the anniversary?

The assumption is that the 50th anniversary will most likely bring an ambitious multi-Doctor story, but popular Doctor Who fansite Blogtor Who is currently putting some serious (and seriously silly) thought into the various possibilities with its “50 Things for the 50th” series of articles.

Some of our favorites amongst the suggestions:

1.) A decent video game. Not exactly a 50th anniversary-specific wish, but a decent wish nonetheless. A decent Who video game could span worlds and scenarios that the show can only dream of. The premise of the show eaily allows for humorful and colorfully epic quests. There’s really no reason Doctor Who isn’t a blockbusting video game franchise, although we’ve not yet gotten our hands on Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, which looks very promising.

2.) A special edition of Doctor Who Magazine from November 1963. Doctor Who Magazine, of course, didn’t exist then, but it would be cute to see an edition of it as if it actually had, complete with endless speculation and flailing over a show that was only about 40 minutes old.

3.) Inter-Doctor Episode Commentaries. Tom Baker commenting on The Five Doctors, David Tennant commenting on Fifth Doctor serials, Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston commenting on, well, anything... It’d be quite interesting to see what results.

4.) River Song Saved From the Library. To quote the article, “...is it beyond belief that The Doctor figures out a way to go back to The Library and ‘save’ River Song from the horror that was an eternity with a bunch of idiot workmates in, what looked like, a Spandau Ballet video?”

5.) Another Russell T. Davies episode. It seems only natural to bring back the man who revived Doctor Who to contribute to the anniversary.

6.) The Eleventh Doctor Popping Through Old Stories. Eleven is quite fond of looping through his own timeline, so it’s not a stretch to imagine him getting inserted into classic adventures. (Especially as there’s no other way for him to meet a good share of the other Doctors.) It would have to be the right story, of course.

7.) A new title sequence. The Matt Smith one is okay, but it just doesn’t have the same oomph that the first one from the new series had.

8.) Doctor Who: The Musical. Another long-standing wish from the fans, although it was more plausible when Tennant was wearing the long pants and John Barrowman was lurking around.

9.) Glimpses of The Eighth Doctor adventuring in the Time War. We’re of the opinion that the Time War should never be totally shown. Russell T. Davies gave us tantalizing hints all throughout his run, and honestly, that’s enough. The screen would never be able to contain the conflict as it looms in our heads. But it would be nice to see bits of it here and there, and it would be nice to see Paul McGann’s Doctor achieve further onscreen legitimacy.

 

You can see all 50 suggestions at the above link. What would you prefer for a 50th anniversary celebration?

 


Stubby the Rocket is the mascot of Tor.com and tends to meet its former incarnations at parties.

13 comments
R O T
1. rogerothornhill
Very cool list. My basic pitch for the end of S7/50th anniversary is that saying his name on the Fields of Trenzalore unseals the Medusa Cascade (where it is written) and unlocks the Time War and the Dalek Empire. Barring that, I would love to see him back at the 50th just travelling in the box with a child again, back to the beginning.
Joseph Kingsmill
2. JFKingsmill16
Reestablish Gallifrey to help battle against the Black Gardian.
Neenie
3. Neenie
I would love a second-generation companion, either for a special one-off or for the new series. What a great way to show that life indeed goes on after leaving the TARDIS and the impact the Doctor makes on the lives on his friends. I know we had the Sarah Jane Adventures, but I would love to see the Doctor from the perspective of someone who grew up with him as a bedtime story. It would be even more special if that person could be Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright's granddaughter. Talk about coming full circle back to "An Unearthly Child"! William Russell is still alive, so the symmetry with the old man and his granddaughter would be there as well.
Skip Ives
4. Skip
Ideally I'd like to see an 11 Doctor special. We have the technology, we could do it. But they'll never spend the money. I'd like to see all the current crop together then - it would be fun.
Neenie
5. Jeff R.
Do #6, with the story in question being "The Five Doctors". And add any out of 6-10 who are willing to do the projected to the fun.
Bridget McGovern
7. BMcGovern
@IanPJohnson: You are a genius, sir. Well played :)
Neenie
8. tim1724
I can't imagine an actual IS crossover, but something like a blorgon reference or some sight gag in the background should definitely happen to keep fans happy

I really like the idea of bringing back Paul McGann for the time war. But rather than a flashback episode or two, I'd like to see a proper 13 episode series. One of the problems of DW is that it takes so long to film that they can barely squeeze out 13 episodes per year, but there's a constant demand for more. so I think they should have a spinoff series (call it Time War or something) with a separate production team and everything for the 8th doctor so we can get a proper treatment of the time war. Maybe even end it with the 8->9 regeneration sequence we missed out on, if they can get Eccleston to come back for 5 minutes. Having 13 episodes of Smith (with Moffat as head writer) and 13 episodes of McGann (with Davies as head writer) … that's how we can really celebrate the 50th anniversary!
Neenie
9. AlBrown
I say, bring the old Doctors back in person, at their current ages. When 11 meets the first one, the two of them try to figure out how it is possible, and 11 says "But I remember regenerating when..." The older doctor said, "I didn't regenerate then, I haven't regenerated for years." And the two of them look at each other, you see the lightbulb come on, and they say in unison, "Alternate timelines!"
Then the two of them, because of the BIG CHALLENGE they are facing (not sure what that should be, perhaps it is related to the creation of that first alternate timeline), decide they need help, and go back into history to alter the circumstances of their deaths, creating more alternate doctors from alternate timelines. You could have lots of cool scenes using CGI to insert modern doctors into old scenes from the show (a la Forrest Gump, appearing in historical scenes). Then the various and sundry Doctors all work together to solve the problem at hand. Perhaps their solution would make those alternate timelines disappear, as they all wished each other a fond adieu.
I would also love to see BBC America start airing shows from the Doctor 1-8 era, so those of us who missed out in our youth (no PBS where I grew up) could see the classic shows.
Neenie
10. Puff the Magic Commenter
50 years of one show on one network is a pretty big deal. An obvious celebration to me would be to have the Doc drop in on other BBC properties from yesterday and today. Let him pass by some bickering Pythons, watch Mastermind, buy something at Black Books, give it to Tim and Daisy, pester Blackadder, ask advice of Claudius, get insulted by David Brent, insult O'Brien and Thomas at Downton...
Neenie
11. Mike Poteet
An animated episode a la the one Farscape did - where the live action somehow converts to a cartoon (I know there are some animated Tennant adventures, that's not what I'm talking about). I want to see the TARDIS somehow land inside a cartoon!
Neenie
12. DaveM
I've seen one Doctor Who Musical and that was enough for me.
Neenie
14. Brandon Salazar
I wanna see an ultimate Doctor Who crossover with Torchwood, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Super Sentai (AKA Power Rangers), Being Human (both UK and USA versions), G.I. Joe and other from different movies, TV shows and video games. Including the previous doctors and old companions.

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