‘Doctor Who’ season 8: We dare the BBC to make a better 50th anniversary trailer than this

For at least a brief period of time earlier in the day, a stellar video supposedly serving as a trailer for the upcoming “Doctor Who” 50th anniversary special managed to dupe quite a few sites and people across the internet, and it’s not even fully because these people are ignorant or simply naive: The trailer is just that awesome. It may actually be the best fan-made trailer we’ve ever seen, which is why we’re writing about it in the first place.

Typically, videos of this variety are corny, but this one is beautiful, intense, and in three dimensions to go along with it (for those of you who have glasses or are willing to squint, as directed by the video). The BBC actually had to come out and confirm it was fake, just so that they wouldn’t end up taking ownership for someone else’s work.

The biggest tease we know for the special comes via that photo above: John Hurt. In one way, he looks like the sage magician that you go to when you want to figure out how to stop a sorceress from sweeping the kingdom. But then, you remember that this is an iteration of The Doctor that shirked his duties, leading us to one of the greater inner struggles we have seen to date: The Doctor versus himself. Matt Smith may be leaving the show, but he definitely chose wisely to get out at a time when the series is firing on all creative cylinders.

This entire trailer is basically the “Doctor Who” fandom dropping the mic right in front the BBC’s headquarters. It’s now your guys’ turn to come up with something equally impressive. Good luck; you’re going to need it.

Photo: BBC One