My last panel at Philcon this weekend was on 50 years of Doctor Who. It was a very good panel — it was mainly about why the series has lasted as long as it has, and there was also some good questions from the large audience. (It was the best attended panel I experienced all weekend.)
At the end of the panel, a young woman up front asked a question of the five panelists — What did each of us want to see for the 50th-anniversary?
And I laid out my vision.
I want a multi-Doctor episode. But I want one that breaks the mold, not one that brings back David Tennant and Colin Baker (in a girdle and a wig).
I want something smaller scale.
I want something that brings Doctor Who back to its beginnings.
I want to see the current Doctor meet the first Doctor. Before “An Unearthly Child.” Before he even left Gallifrey.
And the actor that I could best see as a young first Doctor?
Benedict Cumberbatch.
I think a good story could be built from this premise. Something in the present forces the Doctor to return to his beginnings. And it avoids the fannish aspects that a multi-Doctor reunion special would entail.
It’s what I want for the 50th-anniversary.
Hildy Silverman, one of the copanelists, then said that she had an idea (the Time War) but she really really wanted mine.
Will it happen? Of course not. It’s what I want, however.
I want to see the Doctor meet his original self. On Gallifrey. Before his escape/exile.
I think it would be brilliant.
It’s what I want.
I want the Eighth Doctor.
Just that.