Doctor Who/The Eighth Doctor

The Eighth Doctor
Doctor Who
Actor	Paul McGann
First Appearance	The TV Movie
Last Appearance	The TV Movie
Series Billing	Regenerated (War Doctor, retconned)

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The Eighth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor on Doctor Who, portrayed by Paul McGann.

Basic Information

The Eighth Doctor will probably be remembered as the most romantic. From his soft eyes and smooth voice, to his childlike innocence and sense of duty, the Eighth Doctor had an electricity and Byronesque excitement about him. He was filled with the joy of living, getting his pleasure from in the minutiae of life; a piece of music, a pair of comfortable shoes, or even his own name.

However, the Eighth Doctor made his first (and to date, only) television appearance in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, the first time the Doctor had returned to television screens since the end of the original series in 1989. Intended as a backdoor pilot for a new television series on the FOX Network, the movie didn't meet many of the expectations set for it. Ratings in the States were low, though in England and Australia the movie rated quite well. Fans were uncomfortable with some of the revelations about the Doctor and some of the Time Lord's actions were unpopular.

Although the movie failed to spark a new television series, the Eighth Doctor's adventures continued in various licensed spin-off media, notably BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, and audio plays from Big Finish Productions. As these stories spanned the nine years between 1996 and the debut of the new television series in 2005, some consider the Eighth Doctor one of the longest-serving of the Doctors.

Character History

After the Seventh Doctor was caught in the crossfire of a gang shoot-out in 1999 San Francisco he was taken to a hospital where surgeons, confused by his double heartbeat, attempted to correct a non-existent fibrillation. Their efforts instead "killed" the Doctor, triggering a regeneration into his eighth incarnation. At the time of his injury, the Doctor had been transporting the remains of his long-time nemesis the Master from the planet Skaro to Gallifrey. The Master, however, was not completely dead, and was able to possess a human form. In an attempt to steal the Doctor's remaining lives, the Master opened the Eye of Harmony within the TARDIS, and nearly destroyed the planet Earth as people celebrated the end of the millennium. However, with the aid of Dr. Grace Holloway, the Doctor was able to stop the Master's plan; the Master was sucked into the Eye, apparently dying once and for all.

The Eighth Doctor's regeneration was retconned in 2013 in a TV "minisode" that had him mortally injured during the Great Time War and brought to the Sisterhood of Karn where he had been accused of heinous crimes. He chose to return to battle and right what was wrong. In doing so, through the Sisterhood, he regenerated into the War Doctor. The regeneration into Doctor no. 9 came after the events of the episode The Day of the Doctor.

Quotes

• Eighth Doctor: Grace, Grace, Grace. Don’t you see? I have thirteen lives.

Grace: Please! You're telling me you've come back from the DEAD.

The Doctor: Yes.

Grace: Sorry. The dead stay dead, you can't turn back time.

The Doctor: Yes, you can.

Grace: Don't talk to me like I'm a child, I'm not a child. I am a doctor.