‘Doctor Who’ season 7 finale review: Who is John Hurt?
We have to say: While we genuinely love the beauty and imagination that is often present throughout new episodes of “Doctor Who,” there were some genuine moments of fear and sadness. “The Name of the Doctor” was a journey into the character’s past like no other, a punch to the stomach where every memory that The Doctor ever has was completely reversed.
The basic way to describe the plot was that we traveled through the character’s entire timeline, as we visited the grave of the character that we have come to know and love, only to later to see an attack on his memories via Dr. Simeon. He destroyed himself in an attempt to enact his revenge, and he almost did … Almost.
Luckily, Clara once again swooped in and saved the day, thus explaining in part why she is the Impossible Girl. She is in a million dimensions all at once, and helped save The Doctor at every turn. There were some great callbacks mixed throughout the episode to the early days of the series, and thanks to the returning River Song, we were able to determine that she was somehow still alive in a way that Simeon had perished.
While Clara seemed to find The Doctor, and the two inched closer to being saved, the cliffhanger at the very end changed things forever. Remember The Doctor’s secret? There was a version of himself that did not take his name, and this was the one side that lives within some world of darkness and mystery. His name? Well, we at least know that he will be played by “V for Vendetta” actor John Hurt. Is he the next Doctor? We’ll hopefully have more answers in the days ahead, so stay tuned for more.
We assume that it will take a while longer than the span of this review in order to figure out every detail about this story, including what will happen next. All we can say for now is just that this was a heck of a beautiful hour of TV. John Hurt will be back for the anniversary special, and November 23 marks the beginning of what happens next in this epic adventure.
What was your take on the “Doctor Who” finale: Did it deliver, and what do you think becomes of some of these characters now? If you want to hear the good news in regards to the future of Matt Smith on the series, be sure to check out the story here.
Photo: BBC One
zak
May 21, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
matt smith is the 11 doctor and david tenant is the 10th so ecleston was the 9th but tecnicly matt smith was the 12th doctor because david tenant regenerated 2.the first one, he regenerated into his hand so his DNA didn’t change(he stayed as david tenant).which concludes the doctor regenerated 12 times BUT changed 11 times
nwergn ethn
May 20, 2013 @ 5:41 am
John Hurt is chronologically 9, but he is discounted as the Ninth Doctor. The Nine we know, Eccelston, is the one worthy to take up that title. The Doctor’s on his 12th life, but his numbering has been thrown off.
Gill Barnes
May 20, 2013 @ 1:05 am
John Hurt/Matt Smith both the 11th Doctor as John Hurt is a manifestation of the badness inside the Doctor’s mind. Just as we saw him have a fight with himself in the Cybermen episode, this time it will be with his repressed memories of the Time Wars, the memories he has tried to forget. By entering his timeline, he was unable to avoid his actions in the Time Wars and this is how he see himself. Battle Worn and scared. With David Tennant also in the 50th it will be fun to see how they both deal with these awful memories they have and how they battle with their inner demon, AKA John Hurt. Can’t wait. remember, The Doctor said in the last episode, “I never said he was the Doctor, I said he was me” or words to that effect. It’s another theory…. lol
Martini Herrera Eraso
May 20, 2013 @ 12:50 am
so… im gonna try to make my theory clear. the 8th doctor died during the time war and then he regenerated into the forgotten doctor (john hurt), a doctor that didn’t call himself the doctor for the bad actions he made, he ended the time war and then regenerated and erase his own memory of him so that he could continue living as the doctor on the 9th incarnation (Christopher Eccleston). this would solve the numbers of doctors. now that would mean that because there are now 12 regeneration and the timelords can only regenerate 13 times (plus the ten times river gave smith in ¨lets kill hitler¨ the doctor (matt smith) should have to regenerate into the Valliard, an evil version of the doctor that was said to take place between the 12th and 13th incarnation of the doctor, then into the last doctor (remember he still has the ten extra lives River gives him) but after that he will die for once and for all in the fields of Trenzalore. and thats all i have after two days of thibking hardly on it. :)
Charlie Bramald
May 19, 2013 @ 11:45 pm
“He’s the one who broke the promise” – Hurt’s incarnation clearly comes somewhere after the Doctor took the name and made a promise to live by his title – can’t really be before Hartnell’s Doctor. And The Eleventh Doctor clearly remembers him so it’s not a future incarnation.
The History of the Time War uses the Doctor’s real name – “You have a name. I’ve seen it…” – so the incarnation of the character who fought in the Time War isn’t given the title Doctor. This would seem to be John Hurt’s (non-)Doctor, then. Why else draw attention to his name in the context of the War and in the series that reveals John Hurt’s character? And it would explain why the Doctor is so ashamed of this name and determined to keep it hidden (although why write it in a book? Perhaps to disassociate the name Doctor from his real name and leave the latter behind in shame – draw a clear line between the two).
John Hurt’s costume is aesthetically somewhere between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors’. The overall look suggests a character riddled with the darkness of the Time War and his actions during it. If Eccleston’s Doctor was born from battle, what would a Doctor born FOR battle look and act like?
What Hurt’s Doctor did was “in the name of peace and sanity”. That says the end of the Time War to me – a truly devastating action that would see an end to the likes of the Nightmare Child, the Could’ve Been King and his army of Meanwhiles and Never Weres and so on – and the Time Lords and Daleks. Sure, the Doctor has since confessed to his actions, so he accepts that it was he who ended the Time War, but he doesn’t have to consider this incarnation to be true to the name “Doctor”, thus why Smith’s Doctor is known as the Eleventh Doctor even if it’s his twelfth body. And the Ninth’s survivors guilt (and appearance!) are a direct consequence of his previous body’s actions. I don’t think the Eighth Doctor would necessarily have had the grit and bloody mind to instigate genocide, even if that was the only option to end the War – it doesn’t seem to fit that version of the character.
It’ll certainly be an exciting 50th anniversary special! And maybe there’ll be a shock, but everything points
13th Doctor
May 19, 2013 @ 10:24 pm
OK here is my theory on why Hurt’s Doctor is an aged 8th Doctor. It’s really quite simple. If you look at the picture of Hurt, in costume on set, he is wearing a couple of very key elements that were from the 8th Doctor of the audio series, namely the sachel bag off to one side, the leather coat, and the buccaneer boots. If you look at pictures of McGann’s 8th Doctor, from the audio series, he’s wearing the same outfit, but not as worn out as it appears on Hurt. This is key because clearly, his is a much older version of 8. Everyone knows that it was the 8th Doctor that was in the Time War, and more specifically, ENDED the Time War. If you read the 8th Doctor novels, you know how he ended it, and the burden it put on him. In the process, his TARDIS was so badly damaged that he ended up back on earth, with amnesia, for about 100 years while the TARDIS regenerated/repaired itself. Bear in mind, Time Lords still age, like anyone else, albeit they age slower than we humans do. The First Doctor was about 400 years old when he finally had to regenerate. It’s not inconceivable that the 8th Doctor, battered and scarred, and with amnesia, is on earth trying to remember who he is. He grows older. The TARDIS finally regenerates, he gets his memories back, and he takes off, alone, and travels the stars for say a couple more centuries, trying to process everything in his mind- the horrors of the Time War, etc. Finally comes the day that he must regenerate, as was told in the final 8th Doctor story, when basically he had to absorb all of the energy from the heart of the TARDIS after his companion had opened it and was bombarded with it, which is where RTD basically got the storyline for the regen of 9 to 10, and in absorbing all that energy, 8 regened into 9. and on we go. it’s really that simple. again, look at the pictures from the audio series of Paul McGann in his pseudo-buccaneer outfit, and John Hurt’s pseudo buccaneer outfit. They are the same, but clearly one is older and more worn out than the other.
Dynstar
May 19, 2013 @ 10:13 pm
Hurt is probably the 1st ever man who will be the doctor in the future, confusing right it is this cycle where a doctor can grow old in his first regeneration so he can be older than a child baby person. so the old growing baby is the first doctor, he does something really bad, sabotage or deception or even Starting the time war 0MG? he then dies like falling over a log to much running I’m guessing then steals the tardis and flys away returning only in times of need!
Dynstar
May 19, 2013 @ 10:03 pm
wait what if you guys are over thinking this the doctors real name, the biggest secret ever is … John Hurt!
Dynstar
May 19, 2013 @ 9:57 pm
I think they’re were setting up for a new doctor remember how the tardis crashed to earth but when the 11th doctor said “he is the one who broke his promise” two words are different tense is and broke as the is, is referring to broke it tells us that it happened in the past and then guess whovians its a past reincarnation
SuperCam2001
May 19, 2013 @ 7:51 pm
We might aswell stop throwing around theories because unless the writer starts posting here we wont know till November 23rd. But i think they wont explain it till the start of series 8!
Lenore LaFiore
May 19, 2013 @ 5:45 pm
blah
Doctorwho Fan
May 19, 2013 @ 2:07 pm
I think it’s like this.
The Matt smith Doctor mentions that this his secret. He changed his name to “The Doctor” as a promise probably not to do something bad again. He doesn’t want to remember others to know his old name, because they’ll probably then know he was the one who killed all the timelords.
Doctorwho Fam
May 19, 2013 @ 1:49 pm
I think they just put john hurt so they could see hum regenarate :l
Joshua
May 19, 2013 @ 12:35 pm
In “The Sound of Drums” (2007), the Doctor describes a Time Lord Academy initiation ceremony where, at the age of eight, Time Lord children are made to look into the Untempered Schism, a gap in space and time where they could view the time vortex. Some are inspired, some go mad (as he suggests happened to his nemesis, the Master), and some run away. When asked to which group he belonged, he replied, “Oh, the ones that ran away; I never stopped!”
James
May 19, 2013 @ 12:23 pm
So is the show gunna be called Doctor Hurt from now on or something? I think it’s sounds cool actually. I was expecting his named to be derek or something
Benzo
May 19, 2013 @ 12:01 pm
If we start imagining John Hurt’s character as the 8.5th Doctor, It’ll help the conversations go smoother, won’t it?
Jack
May 19, 2013 @ 10:42 am
I haven’t seen it yet so please forgive me but maybe he has a twin or he is from a parallel universe we have seen this before with Roses father being alive in the parallel universe, just a thought
Dr Who
May 19, 2013 @ 9:43 am
We saw the regenerations from Eccleston to Tennant, from Tennant to Smith, so he doesn’t fit in there, but before that.
Someone mentioned John Hurt was supposedly the Doctor in 1996. So then almost EVERY venture he has had has been BEFORE the time lord war.
So then does anyone else find it funny that a time lord hasn’t ever gone back to visit it before its war? AND that he keeps saving all these planets and people but never his own.
Absolutely no way you can talk your way out of this one, however much marmalade you coat it in.
Rimera 13
May 19, 2013 @ 1:26 pm
I made a remark earlier about time travel, which I am going to debunk here, as well. The reason a time lord can’t go back to visit Gallifrey before the Time War, is because time isn’t in a straight line. It’s a great big ball of wibbley-wobbley timey-wimey stuff. Just like how it’s impossible now for the Doctor to go to Manhattan where the Angels sent Rory and Amy, the whole Time War has been locked down. The Time Lords are stuck there forever, not just from the point of when it started and onward, but forever both past and future. Remember how Amy can have a memory of both Rory being a Roman and of him not being a Roman, or of killing Madame Kevestrian (spelling?) and of not killing her? The Doctor both had occasional dealings with Gallifreans in his earlier incarnations, on Gallifrey, even, AND he could never go see the Time Lords because the war was time locked. Think of time like a gelatin mold… stick a big ol’ Time War grape in it, and the stuff will just heal around the thing as though it belonged there the whole time.
Clint D
May 19, 2013 @ 4:41 am
He isn’t any previous version of the doctor because that would throw off the numbering making millions of numbered toys, posters, books and all manner of other memorabilia completely worthless.
Brian
May 19, 2013 @ 4:25 am
Here’s a thought…. When we first meet Eccleston’s Doctor, he’s surprised at his “new face.” This implies that he’s just regenerated, right after the Time War. However, he gives the impression, as the series unfolds, that the Time War was very long and involved, so whoever was part of it was a previous incarnation of his…but probably not Doctor 8. As others have mentioned, this may be the “missing Doctor.”
That being said, I don’t have a problem with an “Old” doctor. Four or five of his previous incarnations were “old” (or at least “mature’). However, there have been two other episodes in the series where someone played a future Doctor or the “next” Doctor, so this may just be a one-off… I’m wondering where things are going with the “Valeyard” character from the Doctor’s past/future that he mentioned, though…
Amy
May 19, 2013 @ 4:19 am
If Matt Smith’s doctor recognized him, he has to be the doctor in the past, not the next doctor or any other future doctor. 9th doctor theory makes sense. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that the BBC decides to allow the doctor more than 13 incarnations, because inserting John Hurt as another incarnation would take away the number of incarnations after Matt Smith’s.
kuverah
May 19, 2013 @ 4:01 am
Some of you need to brush up on your Doctor Who history.
Doc Who
May 19, 2013 @ 3:46 am
I cant be the only one who noticed that he (john hurt) was wearing the same coat as (ecleston) does this mean anything?
kuverah
May 19, 2013 @ 2:39 am
I think it’s pretty interesting to have Hurt as the Valeyard. But, I really need to clear things up about who he is in regards to the Doctor. No, he is not any of the previous doctors. Check out the 1986 series for the sixth doctor. The Valeyard was picked by the High Council as prosecutor/executor against the Doctor. In those episodes, the Master defines who the Valeyard is. The Doctor throughout his life knows he will eventually become the Valeyard and tries to avoid it so many different ways but can’t. John Hurt is the evil entities of Doctor Who between between the 12th and last regeneration.
Charlie
May 27, 2013 @ 2:43 pm
John hurt can’t be a future doctor, in the last episode we saw that Clara is found by the doctor in his own timeline, BUT remember that the Matt Smith is the eleventh doctor and cannot know his future reincarnations as they have not occurred yet. (this is why each time the doctor regenerated he did not know what he would look like.
The theories of John hurt being Doctor 8.5 is more plausible in the whole debate.
Rosssums
May 19, 2013 @ 2:35 am
Can anyone actually remember why rose Tyler was actually a remarkable assistant it wasn’t just because of the absorption of the tardis! She wasn’t smart ( like martha) or remarkable (like Donna and Clara) but she had heart and stopped the doctor murdering a Dalek in cold blood (chris eccleson version) so she. Was an important part! So the one before chris was cold and rose brought him back! Hence why he was so attached to her for so long. This one could be what was before, we’ll have to wait and see. Clara never saw this doctor but she saw the others and the doctor can’t see his future ( with the doctor +Donna meeting river we know this) the next one will have rose David t (with his fighting arm) and hopefully chris (if he agrees to it) if not he’ll be mentioned its gonna be amazing! You ready?
Michael Powell
May 19, 2013 @ 2:02 am
i think he’s the incarnation that sealed the time war. the one who burned the daleks and locked the time lords away forever.
Meg Putman
May 19, 2013 @ 1:46 am
Really there was a dr between the classics and the new dr who that was never documented so 9th is 10 th 10th is 11th and so on
Georgie
May 19, 2013 @ 1:10 am
All I’m going to say is that was a GREAT episode.
Rimera 13
May 19, 2013 @ 7:24 am
Absolutely, otherwise, why would we be spending all our time debating about what it meant? It was truly awesome!!!
Dion Mohammed
May 19, 2013 @ 1:10 am
I do not think John Hurt is the next doctor, i think he might be playing the being that originated the “Doctor”, who never was called the “Doctor” but the “Other” one of the 3 founders of Time Lord society.
IdgaradLyracant
May 19, 2013 @ 4:08 am
The Cartmel grand plan and “the Other” was never cannon and dropped from what I remember. The TV references were rather weak and after the restart we have references to the Master and Doctor being roughly the same age. At only 1000 years old he couldn’t have been around during Omega or Rassilon’s initial exploits (this doesn’t bar him from travelling there).
I am wagering he’s the Valeyard. SladenTennant episode seems to confirm the regeneration count is accurate… this implies that Hurt is more likely then not, a future regeneration rather then an old one HOWEVER it doesn’t rule out that he’s actually the Doctor’s first pre-regeneration self as you indicate. (Pre-Hartnell in short). If the latter is the case, then Hurt is the father, grandfather with children. This may give us a reason why the Doctor fled in the first place with Susan… A decent payoff to a rather lackluster season. The entire season was a unmemorable wash with MUPPET spending too much time trying to sell us the interspecies trio for a spinoff….
it’s possible that Hurt, however unlikely, is Hartnell’s Doctor before taking the name with Hartnell’s appearance being a permanent disguise (failing when he first regenerates allowing the Time Lords to finally track him down). Otherwise we are still off on the regeneration count.
The problem with the entire season is you can effectively watch the first, and the last episode and miss absolutely nothing. A complete throw-away season for the most part…
Adam Carne
May 19, 2013 @ 12:19 am
My theory is simple.
John Hurt is the Doctor before the Doctor. Confusing I know but let me explain. John Hurt was the Doctor whilst using his real name, and thus John Hurt ended the Time War and all that nonsense.
Now to forget that part of his history, he created a secret and to hide that secret, he regenerated himself and named himself The Doctor, hence creating the 1st Doctor.
Therefore Matt Smith is still the 11th Doctor.
Makarov
May 19, 2013 @ 2:21 am
There was a special episode a few years back when DT was still the Doctor. It was one of the ones with The Master and it showed that they picked their names as children in a right of passage.
Erin Tucker
May 19, 2013 @ 2:22 am
Yeah but the time war wasn’t until after the 8th Doctor so if John Hurt ended the time war and we go along with your theory, then that would mean the 1st Doctor came after the War but we know that’s not true because the 1st Doctor was around when the time lords were alive and well.
Rimera13
May 19, 2013 @ 7:14 am
Think we’re all forgetting something, boys and girls. The Doctor (and whatever else he wants to call himself) is a TIME TRAVELLER. It is indeed possible that, before the old man we all think of as the first Doctor stole the Tardis with his granddaughter, he had another incarnation that still used the name his momma gave him that travelled in something else, and stopped the time war. Possible, but unlikely, since, if you watched the old episodes, you would see many of the Doctor’s encounters with other Gallifreans which would prove him to be cold and soulless if he knew at that time what their fate would be. Don’t think the writers would have us believe he would smile and wave them away to their doom. The theory that the time war was stopped by the Doctor sometime between the movie Doctor and the “Fantastic” Doctor (Eccleston) is more plausible. And he cannot possibly be a regeneration after the Matt Smith’s Doctor, because the aforementioned Doctor knew what he did, and used the past tense in speaking of it. But, since we’re throwing theories around, who thinks John Hurt is supposed to be what the Doctor from the movie would have looked like if he had cut his hair and grown older? Certainly he didn’t just regenerate one time and turn out evil and not ginger?
Whovian
May 19, 2013 @ 12:05 am
Surely it’d make sense if John hurt played the ‘doctor’ before the first and committed genicide in the time war and so he was then discarded as the ‘doctor’ and forgotten and that is when the ‘doctor’ decided to use the name the doctor to forget what his past incarnation had done and become and new man and save lives and worlds to make up for what he had done whilst protecting his secret..
guy
May 19, 2013 @ 5:44 am
Except all Time Lords chose their name as a small child, so for all the people who think he changed it later on that’s stupid and idiotic. They are born named then look into the time vortex and chose their name. Also the first doctor kept a diary of his first 500 years of life, that pretty much disproves this entire statement.
michael
May 19, 2013 @ 12:02 am
Did no one actually read the end part? It said Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor. If you’re saying he can’t be the doctor then you’re a lil bit silly :)
Also big ups to Moffat for this episode. Really enjoyed it. Kinda pissed that I have to wait till NOVEMBER for the next part D: oh well! Should still be awesome.
Merrill Hall
May 19, 2013 @ 2:18 am
I heard that Hurt is a recast for Christopher Eccleston, who didn’t want to do a reunion. He’d be the oldest actor to play the doctor since Richard Hurndell, who played the First Doctor in “The Five Doctors”.
Evan Coffield
May 18, 2013 @ 11:39 pm
I think this answers the questions about Clara and how she could be in multiple timelines, only by splintering in time could it have happened. John Hurt is an excellent brilliant actor who should raise the bar in the 50th anniversary, Eccleston is damaging his career by refusing to be in the anniversary. Time has consequences to those who don’t understand its intracies of cause and effect.
I guess he prefers to play a dark character of James McCullen / Destro in GI Joe or Malekith in Thor: The Dark World
jill
May 18, 2013 @ 11:28 pm
I wonder if the “copy” Dr Who, living with Billy Piper, will come into this‽ (He killed off a huge population of Daleks and real Dr Who wasn’t too impressed.)
Scribe
May 18, 2013 @ 11:12 pm
John Hurt is probably the regeneration before Eccleston’s, the one who destroyed the timelords and Daleks but he didn’t call himself Doctor, using his own name it seems and hence isn’t really the ninth doctor.
Mike Robbins
May 18, 2013 @ 11:02 pm
I was reminded of Journey’s End. Particularly, this quote:
Tenth Doctor: (to the clone Doctor) You were born in battle. Full of blood and anger and revenge. (to Rose) Remind you of someone? That’s me, when we first met. And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him.
Perhaps the Hurt Doctor was the same, as in born in battle (Time War). And even the Ninth Doctor was heading down that route until he met Rose. Remember the Ninth Doctor commented on his looks in the first episode as if he saw himself for the first time post regeneration.
Dr Who
May 18, 2013 @ 10:40 pm
The snag with this is we SAW the regeneration of Eccleston to Tennant and from Tennant to Smith.
There is no way around that by squeezing in another Doctor.
Tropxe
May 18, 2013 @ 11:19 pm
Ecclestone was AFTER this Time War Doctor – remember, the Time War was before the new Who run started, before Ecclestone appeared.
McCoy’s Doctor died in the movie and regenerated as McGann’s Doctor, who then must’ve died in some way and become John Hurt’s Doctor. Then the Time War happened, the Doctor died again and regenerated as Eccleston.
TheDeathStarsKeyFob
May 18, 2013 @ 10:28 pm
Loved that Louise was front and centre! Can’t wait for the 50th ann’ episode.
John Hurt as an evil Doctor cool, i hope we get more of Richard E Grant and the crazy Victorian trio.
This series is pretty damn cool.
Surena Pahlevan
May 18, 2013 @ 8:36 pm
Just for all you people that didnt understand the last episode of the series of doctor who tonight , IMMA EXPLAIN
Matt smith didnt like The other version of him (John Hurt) Because he was the Timelord that ended the Timewar (A war between the timelords and the daleks , and it was released in 1996)
John Hurt Killed all the timelords and Daleks of that matter and so he is technically the 9th doctor mean Matt smith is actually the 12th.
The 10 the doctor would be Christopher ellecston (IDK how to spell it) and that means David TENNANT IS ACTUALLY THE 11TH DOCTOR.
November 23rd is when doctor who comes back for its 50TH special. John Hurt will be PLAYING the doctor and the episode will just be showing what happened in the timewar (It will kinda just be a flashback)
But matt smith is still gonna be the CURRENT doctor and has confirmed he will be back for an 8th series
Phew…
Pegasus
May 18, 2013 @ 9:29 pm
so, on november 23rd, ur man matt smith will still be the doctor? but, ur other man john hurt ( the voice of the dragon in merlin. i’m merlin fan too. :D) will just come up in one episode? cuz, well, no offence to the guy, but, i don’t want an old man playing as the doctor. xD
Dante
May 18, 2013 @ 11:50 pm
Well . . . that rules out . . . most of them XD
tarkus
May 19, 2013 @ 12:43 am
Why? I think it would be great to get back to the craggy old, thinking doctors of the past. Slow it all down a bit as the story telling gets faster and faster each season…
Caladus
May 19, 2013 @ 1:49 am
There will be 3 Doctors. Tennant, Smith, and Hurt. Hurt isn’t going to be the ‘next’ Doctor. He is a past incarnation. The one Smith’s Doctor wants to forget.
JennyEye
May 19, 2013 @ 4:07 am
Tennant will be the Doctor Donna…….not really the Doctor…but the mortal “doctor”
DalekXterminate
May 19, 2013 @ 6:42 am
Ok, I’m just popping in here, because it’s 2 am in the morning and I just finished in the name of the Doctor, and I have NO FREAKING IDEA WHAT HAPPENED. So I came here. I was freaking out, thinking they had introduced the new current doctor. But what I’m getting from reading all of this is: John Hurt is just going to be in the next episode, playing as the Doctor during the Time War, not the current one. Then, hopefully, everything will be back to normal. Man, when they put “Introducing John hurt as the Doctor” I thought that they were just going to get rid of Matt Smith and immediately put in John Hurt. It made me completely flip out. So now, I say something I have been saying a LOT lately: CUUURSE YOU MOOOFAAAT!! >:(
guy
May 19, 2013 @ 5:32 am
Except the incarnation that ended the time war was the 8th Doctor. So everything you have said is rendered invalid.
Surena Pahlevan
May 18, 2013 @ 8:27 pm
”The Time War, more specifically called The Last Great Time War, is a conflict within the fictional universe of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The conflict pitted the Time Lords against the Daleks and culminated in the mutual destruction of both races, caused by the Doctor.” Hurt was this doctor and he killed all the others obviously (during the timewar) The 50th anniversary on the 23rd of november will probably go into more details
James
May 18, 2013 @ 8:23 pm
We never see an older 8th Doctor, surely it is possible to see John Hart as and older 8th Doctor, who was in the Time War, as we don’t ever see the 8th regenerate and orgiginaly played by Paul McGann? Then the 8th doctor regenerates as a old man or dies a old man at the end of the time war, regenerating into eccestons Docotr?
steb
May 18, 2013 @ 8:20 pm
A source explained to TV Biz: “John will play the real Ninth Doctor. Christopher Eccleston has always been thought of as the Ninth Doctor but now that John has been revealed as the Ninth Doctor, it shuffles Eccleston’s Doctor to be the Tenth Time Lord, Tennant the 11th and Smith the 12th.
“It also means the Doctor’s time is running out as he can only regenerate 12 times.”
Tropxe
May 18, 2013 @ 11:25 pm
That isn’t actually true. That limit on regeneration was mentioned a couple of times about 40 years ago, but is something people really got attached to. Regeneration was only brought in in the first place because Hartnell needed to leave the series but the BBC wanted to keep it running. It’s always just been nothing more than a way to change the actors with an in-universe explanation. It’s since been overturned and stated to be something the writers are no longer sticking to (they’re surprised people even remembered it).
Merrill Hall
May 19, 2013 @ 2:23 am
The whole premise of the Valliard was that he wished to extend his life by gaining the doctors’ regenerations. That wasn’t forty years ago. Everyone seems to know about the thirteen lives.
Swalezee
May 18, 2013 @ 8:17 pm
I overcomplicated Clara in my theory’s, eg she’s captain jack harkness daughter and everyone she died, she forgot about it, guess I overcomplicated things.
jessie
May 18, 2013 @ 7:57 pm
i nearly friggin died watchin this
Theo Houchin
May 18, 2013 @ 7:54 pm
Can’t belive we didnt find ot the dc’s name.
As for John hurt, i think when the however many dr regenerated, he split of to become an evil version and killed the time lords.
The dr can regenerate 12 times, meaning a total of 13 different forms, but (on the sarah jane adventers a childerens tv programe about sarah jane one of the doctors old companions) it said that there was a special type of drink that would allow a time lord to regenerate as many times as possible until it ran out.
Jaromria
May 19, 2013 @ 1:36 am
There is a single problem with the fact that the Doctor can regenerate 12 times. This is most likely his tenth body (If John Hurt was the “Doctor going under his true name” who destroyed the rest of the timelords”, and if it is true, he has used his regeneration ability fourteen times. In the episode “The Stolen Earth/ Journey’s End”, the Doctor regenerated after being shot by Dalek, but he used the rest of his regeneration after healing himself on a separate body, creating the half human, half doctor who currently lives with Rose. In the episode “Angles in Manhattan,” the Doctor used another regeneration to heal River’s damaged hand, thus totaling himself to 14 regenerations
Jaromira
May 19, 2013 @ 1:38 am
Sorry, I made a few errors. In The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End, the doctor deposited the rest of his regeneration into is hand. My bad.
Daniel
May 19, 2013 @ 2:48 am
It is also rumoured that The Doctor now has more then 13 regenerations because River Song gave him all of hers. Which means if River regenerated once, The Doctor could very well have 9 more regeneration’s left.
Caladus
May 19, 2013 @ 1:44 am
The Meta-Crisis Doctor wasn’t a true regeneration because Tennnt’s Doctor didn’t fully regenerate. He siphoned most of the energy away to keep his ‘body’ because he ‘liked’ it.
As far as canon goes, that doesn’t count as a regeneration.
Therefore his use of regeneration energy to heal River’s hand was also not a full regeneration.
Regeneration has never been fully explained in canon. We only know from one episode in the original series that a Time Lord has 12 Regenerations. And it was an arbitrary limit placed on them by themselves so they wouldn’t be immortal.
SKULLBONE619
May 18, 2013 @ 7:53 pm
WHY IS JHON HURT AS THE DOCTOR
tardis
May 18, 2013 @ 7:48 pm
I think that he is s ghost of eclston
Or a mirror image
Blackbird
May 18, 2013 @ 7:38 pm
I smell a prequel!! Matt Smith has confirmed he’ll be back for season 8. HOWEVER, Moffat constantly goes on about time being, not linear, but a big ball of timeywimey stuff. In other words Matt Smith will play the doctor in the 8th series, but who’s to say series 8 will be the next one to air?
I reckon next series will be series -1 or something. And series 8 after that, giving matt smith time to finish up in America. Also don’t believe any leaked information, Moffat will never reveal (correct) information until an episode airs.
Guest
May 18, 2013 @ 7:38 pm
Each regeneration has the Doctor getting younger. John Hurt would have been the original: The First. A bad guy. Just saying his name struck fear into hearts of everyone. He did terrible things in the Time Wars, was taken prisoner on Gallifrey (time travel making that possible I guess), and, later, after regenerating into William Hartnell, escaped from his prison in a TARDIS, thus making him a prisoner on the run from the law. The Doctor he became has tried to do good throughout the Universe ever since, but with Clara and the GI around, it’s become a bit of a ‘Which happened first’ circle that has no beginning and no end….Eventually the Doctor will become the Valeyard/13th and die? Will that be the end of it all then? I don’t know, but that’s my theories.
Sander van Velzen
May 18, 2013 @ 8:20 pm
It’s definitely not true that each regeneration had the Doctor getting younger. 3 was older than 2, 5 was the youngest except for Matt Smith, quite a lot younger still than Tennant. And the Timelords never treated the Doctor as an escaped prisoner.
Rimera 13
May 19, 2013 @ 7:26 am
Yes, and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have tried to make the destroyer of their very race stay and become President of Gallifrey. Doctor number 5 narrowly escaped that one…
jack
May 18, 2013 @ 7:35 pm
my guess is he is a forgotton doctor that caused the time war. In the special episode it will show how he caused the time war but killed that version of himself so he won’t stay for long.
Caladus
May 19, 2013 @ 1:46 am
Not caused the Time War. Ended it. The atrocities he committed (the destruction of two powerful races = Genocide x 2) ended the Time War. Which also explains why he tried to forget this incarnation. It’s a terrible thing, to end an entire species. Let alone two of them.
Even though the Daleks just keep on comin’.
Doctor
May 18, 2013 @ 7:33 pm
He cant be the 9th that was Christopher Eccleston
Guest
May 18, 2013 @ 9:09 pm
Not necessarily. Christopher Eccleston played the 9th Doctor, but what they are proposing is that he was the 10th body used by the Timelord that refers to himself as the Doctor, as opposed to the 9th like we’ve believed all this time. Basically, what they are saying is this: After the 8th Doctor (Paul McGann) regenerated, he stopped being the Doctor, and he (presumably) went back to using his original name. Since we don’t know his name, I will refer to this regeneration as “The Timelord formerly known as the Doctor”. During this time, “The Timelord formerly known as the Doctor” committed the atrocities that occurred on Trenzalore. After “The Timelord formerly known as the Doctor” died, he regenerated as Christopher Eccleston and took the name of the Doctor again. Eccleston is still the 9th Doctor, but he’s the 10 body of the Doctor. The body that was used before him, stopped calling himself the Doctor because he stopped “healing”. I say it like that because the Doctor says in this episode “The name I chose is the Doctor. The name you choose it’s like… it’s like a promise you make. He’s the one who broke the promise.” The fact that Matt Smith’s version of the Doctor remembers this, means that it happened earlier in the Doctor’s timeline. It literally could have happened at any point in the Doctor’s past, but considering the Doctor didn’t have a TARDIS until the William Hartnell version of the Doctor stole it, along with the fact that we’ve seen the Doctor transform from one body to the next every time, EXCEPT from the McGann version to the Eccleston version, it makes the most sense for “The Timelord formerly known as the Doctor” to have occurred between those two versions.
chris
May 18, 2013 @ 10:04 pm
I was in complete shock at the end of that episode!!! – I don’t know what to think but Guest I do like your version of things – very nicely put!
Annie
May 19, 2013 @ 8:04 pm
I wonder why every one assumes that what was done to end the time wars was evil? it has been hinted that if the time wars were to continue it would have ravished through time and space killing many more innocent lives and worlds. the john hurt regeneration is born out of necessity because he had to do what the DR could not do, but had to be done. what he did to end the war was terrible and appalling and necessary, but it was not any more evil than the war is. I think what the 50th anniversary episode will show the DR realizing that sometimes to be a DR is to destroy, sometimes a malignancy must be cut out for the whole to survive and then heal, and that he dose not have to like it but he should stop punishing himself for it. John Hurt is not the DR he is the instrument of the DR, the scalpel if you will
jacob tregeae
May 18, 2013 @ 7:27 pm
john hurt is the 9th doctor. ecleston the 10th and so on. you may be wondering how we never saw him as the 9th. that is simple. this is because of the shameful things he did in the time war.that is why at the end of the latest episode the 12th doctor said he would never forgive john hurt and the things he did which will be revealed in the 50th. you may also have seen pictures on the internet of hurst leaving dr who rehersals in eclestons jacket and the one before eclestons tweed jumper. he is a manifestation of the two as the one before ecleston never officially regenerated. please like or leave your thoughts below. another simple reason for hurst no.t being the next doctor is because smith didnt regenerate again, please leave your thoughts and like if you think this is truth
Mace
May 19, 2013 @ 1:20 am
Yo, genius, your facts are all wrong. Christopher Eccleston was the Ninth Doctor, David Tennant was the Tenth Doctor, and Matt Smith, is the current Doctor, A.K.A the Eleventh Doctor. And Eccleston didn’t wear tweed, Smith did. Originally. I will, though agree with the ‘Smith didn’t regenerate’ part, but I still want to know what he’s doing in the SHOW!
Caladus
May 19, 2013 @ 1:27 am
Missed the point? John Hurt’s Doctor is the ‘Forgotten Doctor’. It’s very possible that he is the true 9th Doctor. Moving Eccleston to 10 and so on.
Jeremy Miekley
May 19, 2013 @ 1:34 am
If John Hurt didn’t go by the name of the Doctor that Would make Eccleston The 10th regeneration but still the 9th Doctor
Caladus
May 19, 2013 @ 1:41 am
Except that the ending introduces John Hurt as The Doctor. So there goes that theory.
Arisnova
May 19, 2013 @ 2:13 am
Pretty sure that was to avoid using his actual name. What else are they going to call him, “Guy Who Used to be the Doctor Until He Killed Everyone”?
Dana Marie Bruens
May 19, 2013 @ 5:40 am
It introduces him as the Doctor but the very nature of the discussion is he is not called the Doctor. It’s an obvious contradiction which I sure will be explained.
Dana Marie Bruens
May 19, 2013 @ 5:35 am
Most valid point.
Echo
May 19, 2013 @ 6:03 am
But it makes no sense! Yu can’t have two Doctors, can you? How will it tie into the 50th anniversary? This is confusing :S
Martini Herrera Eraso
May 20, 2013 @ 12:28 am
well actually the 10th and 20th aniversary had more than one dotors in them and also y agree with all of you guys and im looking forward to the special. so anxious.
Misha4life
May 20, 2013 @ 3:27 am
Perhaps John Hurt was not the first doctor, but is the first doctor…, he was the time lord that made 2 choices in a moment that caused a rift in time where 2 universes were created. One where he chose to be the doctor, Doctor 0, before the first, the original doctor, and also at that same moment when he chose not to be the doctor, became the one in a parallel universe where worlds die, races became extinct and there was no doctor. This is the rift that follows the doctor, that causes him to go back and forth in time to try to close the rift. This would be an unforgivable choice, as far as the 11th and previous doctors would feel. If that rift could not be closed, the parallel universes would converge and all the universes would die. A fate that the doctor could never forgive. Just a thought. :)
Skywalker
May 19, 2013 @ 3:48 am
Headcanon excepted
Lea
May 19, 2013 @ 6:55 am
No but if this generation didn’t go by “the doctor” then eccleson is still technically the 9th “doctor”, but not the 9th generation
Kate
May 18, 2013 @ 7:26 pm
OMG I cried with shock and for love of both the doctors!
Jake
May 18, 2013 @ 7:24 pm
Ohhh, John Hurt is not a looker, is he? I don’t like it!
Guest
May 19, 2013 @ 1:24 am
doesn’t matter if he is a looker or not John Hurt is a phenomenal actor. If they were to make him a doctor it would be a grand improvement. He would bring more depth to the role. Learn before you speak of legends…….
gg
May 18, 2013 @ 7:20 pm
He might be the ninth, but maybe he won’t count as the 9th..
Doctor 1 – 8
John Hurt
Doctor 9
Doctor 10
Doctor 11
Doctor 12(eventually)
The Valeyard
Doctor 13
NayNayTK
May 18, 2013 @ 8:06 pm
I have only been a dr who fan since 2005, what is The Valeyard exactly?
CaptrainFox77
May 18, 2013 @ 10:32 pm
The Valeyard is basically a evil version of the Doctor in between the 12 and 13 of the Doctor’s regenerations. He has appeared in pre 2005 doctor who and even was the prosecutor for the 6th doctor’s trial back on Galifrey. He is essentially a potential dark version of the Doctor’s future.
Merrill Hall
May 19, 2013 @ 2:13 am
Valliard.
Togekab00m
May 18, 2013 @ 8:07 pm
Actually, Matt IS Doctor 11, but he would be the Doctor’s twelfth REGENERATION, meaning that the Valeyard would be the incarnation between himself and his next regeneration.
John Edward Orman
May 19, 2013 @ 1:08 am
he can regenerate 12 times and be 13 different doctors
Villageidiot
May 19, 2013 @ 2:24 am
The 8th Film also disproves the regeneration rule as The Master had used up all his and became an entity which possessed a body. Therefore, The Doctor can live on forever.
Dynstar
May 19, 2013 @ 10:17 pm
Yes but when river healed him when he was dying in lets kill hitler, she gave him all of her regeneration powers including 10 of her regenerations we don’t know if his 13th regeneration will be a woman or what
CaptainFox77
May 18, 2013 @ 10:43 pm
Doctor 13
the other
:P
Caladus
May 19, 2013 @ 1:50 am
Dunno about that one. That or he’s Omega.
I think both those theories are too far fetched.
I remember once long ago when us fans thought that the Doctor could’ve been the Master.
Lauren
May 19, 2013 @ 1:23 pm
I want the doctor to be the master.
Kyle Jones
May 18, 2013 @ 7:17 pm
I have not seen it yet but, with the internet was it is, have pretty much figured out what was going to happen even before reading this. Regardless of what happens, I am just happy that we have Doctor Who still on the air 50 years after it began. CHEERS!
Lgreeny
May 18, 2013 @ 7:16 pm
So is he the doctor but before he became the doctor
Lgreeny
May 18, 2013 @ 7:15 pm
Right you know john hurt at the end the doctor is he the doctor before he chose his name to be the doctor
Cuel
May 18, 2013 @ 7:17 pm
no john hurt is the 9th incarnation of the doctor but he is not called “The Doctor” because as matt says at the end he did something that the doctor would never do (ending the timewar killing all other timelords)
burge125
May 18, 2013 @ 7:12 pm
John hurt is NOT going to be the next doctor he will play the doctor in the 50th anniversary, he play an incarnation of the doctor that he has chosen to ignore, coming before ecclestons 9th.
Cuel
May 18, 2013 @ 7:12 pm
I know john is the ninth i mean for the 13th doctor…. whenever that happens isn’t that the last one because timelords have a limited amount of regenerations
Doctorwho fan
May 18, 2013 @ 7:11 pm
Could someone explain to me the story? Kinda confused
Ebenezer Scrooge
May 18, 2013 @ 7:11 pm
john hurt is NOT the new doctor! the 11th mr smith did NOT die or regenerate!
Cuel
May 18, 2013 @ 7:10 pm
If Matt Smith is the 12th doctor……doesn’t that mean there’s only one more regeneration for the doctor to have??
PopRockRoll
May 18, 2013 @ 8:03 pm
River gave him hers.
yes or no
May 18, 2013 @ 7:05 pm
Is matt smith gunna still be in it ?
SuperCam13
May 18, 2013 @ 7:01 pm
Quite cool that John Hurt is (probably) going to be the Doctor! But i fear that he is going to be an evil one and that the Doctor Who franchise may not be on TV in a few years. It looks as if we are nearing the end. Loved the finale though :) I’ll be counting the days till November 23rd.
The 50th special should be good! Billy Piper and David Tennant are set to be in it!
Ash Pryce
May 18, 2013 @ 7:22 pm
SPOILER:
An interview in the Sun leaked it, and it seems confirmed by the wording used by Matt Smith in the episode- Hurt is the actual 9th Doctor, the onle who committed genoccide in the Time War and has tried to be supressed by the later Docs.
Rimera13
May 19, 2013 @ 7:39 am
Wow… you know, this brings a lot more meaning to when Eccelston’s Doctor had that decision to make when the Daleks had survived and he had the chance to kill them if he took half of planet Earth with them. Because we all expected him not to do it, but his very last incarnation had actually done just that, on a larger scale. In Eccelston’s Doctor we didn’t just see him choose not to commit genocide, we saw the first time he decided not to commit genocide AGAIN. When that Dalek was taunting him, asking if he would destroy the Daleks and half the Earth, or if he would be a coward, and the Doctor dropped the cables and said, “Coward, any day,” I think at that moment he was re-defining what it meant to be the Doctor. He was re-affirming his promise, after having broken it. It gives Eccelston’s lines an even deeper meaning.
steb
May 18, 2013 @ 7:00 pm
is matt smith coming back? or is it just gunna jump straight to john?
Mel
May 18, 2013 @ 7:03 pm
matt smith has confirmed hes doing series 8 so I think john hurt is like part of the doctor for the 50th or something
Jack
May 18, 2013 @ 6:57 pm
John hurt is playing the real 9th doctor the doctor that destroyed the timelords in the time war
David
May 18, 2013 @ 6:56 pm
Yep, he’s the 9th ‘doctor’, though as we’ve learnt, he won’t be ‘The Doctor’.
yoyoyo
May 18, 2013 @ 6:55 pm
John hurt is the 9th doctor putting eccleston at 10
Helena Gershwin
May 19, 2013 @ 5:43 am
maybe john hurt is the 8th doctor who has grown old?
rcubitt
May 18, 2013 @ 6:52 pm
i can’t belive jon hurt is the doctor, at 73 this makes him the eldest actor to date to play the role.
ProHo
May 18, 2013 @ 8:30 pm
He is the future one, he basically does something but not in the doctors name in his real name (doctors name) and because the doctor has entered his past, present and future self he see’s him which means John hurt will be showing up during the next series or episode.
potato
May 18, 2013 @ 9:32 pm
hes in the 50th
ProHo
May 18, 2013 @ 10:49 pm
I know but dw
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media
Dynstar
May 19, 2013 @ 11:09 am
lol
Caladus
May 19, 2013 @ 1:51 am
Past incarnation. Hurt’s Doctor did bad things. Likely during the Time War.
Tardis builder
May 18, 2013 @ 6:51 pm
Is john hurt going to be the next doctor.
Talthybius
May 18, 2013 @ 6:56 pm
No. He’s the ninth doctor. The one who ended the Time War, and committed the acts that the other Doctors (Eccleston, Tennant & Smith) are ashamed of.
Ozymandias
May 18, 2013 @ 7:04 pm
This putting Smith as Doctor number 12???
hotkillerz
May 18, 2013 @ 7:08 pm
yea, that rummor going around is truth
Janeperson
May 18, 2013 @ 7:23 pm
…No because they just confirmed that Smith is the eleventh. he might be an older eighth Doctor though. Or maybe it’s unrelated to the time war and he’s a younger first Doctor, or a Valeyard.
Joel Esson
May 18, 2013 @ 7:04 pm
he cant be because he is the 9th doctor and they would have to re-do the seasons from eccleston to smith agin (and he is the 9th the next is 12th or 13th)
Andy R
May 18, 2013 @ 7:25 pm
Maybe the version of the doctor that ended the time war is actually the final(13th) incarnation of the doctor (hurt). Its tme travel remember, no reason why the previous incarnation cant know what the final incarnation does….*spoliers*