Top Five Stories (Sort Of): The Eighth Doctor

This one’s tricky, because Eight never had a real televised run.  Until the recent pre-anniversary short, the TV movie was his only onscreen appearance.  Like all Doctors, Eight has had numerous novel, audio, and comic adventures, but since most of my non-TV Who consumption so far has been focused on New Who, I’ve only checked out three of them.  So, less “Top Five” and more “Only Five I’ve Seen So Far.”  Still, Eight is a great Doctor, and he deserves his turn.

 

“Doctor Who:  The Movie”

 

Obviously, we have to start with Eight’s big foray.  Don’t get me wrong – the TV movie has massive problems, ranging from the half-human nonsense to Eric Roberts’s insanely hammy Master.  But Eight is just magnificent in it.  Kind, exuberant, romantic-ish, and an odd Doctory mix of scatterbrained and laser focus, he’s every inch the Doctor, and his interactions with Grace pave the way for the not-always-platonic Doctor-companion relationships of the new series.

 

“The Night of the Doctor” (short film)

 

This little snippet is really lovely, bittersweet and weighty.  After years (decades? centuries? who knows) of the Time War, the Doctor comes to the realization that he must be the one to end it.  Even more so, that he (Eight) cannot do it himself.  He maintains wisps of his old humor and heart right to the end – an excellent coda to a fine Doctor.

 

Destiny of the Doctor, Volume 8:  “Enemy Aliens” (audiobook)

 

As part of the 50^th anniversary Destiny of the Doctor series, the Doctor and long-running audio companion Charley end up in 1935 London, where German spies aren’t the only “enemy aliens” about.  Charley seems like a top-notch character, and she’s great with the Doctor.  Oh, and a worldwide invasion hinges on the frickin’ William Tell Overture!  That’s pure Who right there.

 

Prisoners of Time, Chapter 8:  “The Body Politic” (comic story)

 

Another 50^th anniversary publication – Prisoners of Time is awfully cool, showing companions to each Doctor being kidnapped by a shadowy adversary and culminating in a big showdown for Eleven.  Anyway, this chapter shows the Doctor reuniting with Grace for a proper TARDIS trip.  I like the alien agrarian culture depicted, and the story’s almost fairytale-esque quality.  I also love the Doctor making fun of their shoddy prison when they’re inevitably captured.

The Forgotten, Chapter 5:  “Revelation” (comic story)

 

Like Prisoners of Time, this is a story in which all the Doctors have a featurette.  Ten has arrived in a mysterious museum that seems devoted to his past exploits, and his memories hold the key to getting out alive.  The Eight story is set during the Time War, and we see some of how the war has transformed the Doctor.  Though he hasn’t yet turned to despair, he’s demoralized and beginning to think about possible ways to bring it to an end.  It’s a sobering chapter in an absolutely marvelous story; I really can’t speak highly enough of The Forgotten in its entirety.