Please, dear God, tell us that Adric is still dead in this universe, and that Tegan is not involved in this. I couldn't stand Tegan. Or the other one. The bloke. The creepy bloke. With the ginger hair.

I wonder which version of the theme tune they will use. The 1980 Peter Howell remix was my generation's introduction to electronic disco.

Suddenly I am nostalgic for the BBC Micro.

I love Mr. Moffat's stuff. It's going to be a riot, and worth watching, unlike the rest of Children In Need, which is usually dull as ditchwater.

Too much gurning and "look at how zany I can be", and then there is all the "sexual tension". Bah!

I stilll watch it though, but I prefer the "classic era" Baker (Tom), Troughton and Hartnell.

you miss the point. He's cute.

Tegan was *hot* 8-> Annoying, but very hot...

I'm sure an afficionado will know, but wasn't there supposed to be a limit to the number of regenerations the Doctor could have? I thought it was about 12 - in which case, is the series about to run out of steam shortly ;-)

Twelve is the limit. Two things though:

1) The second doctor was forced to regen. by the Time Lords into the third, so he would have at least 4 more to go.

2) Some throw away dialogue from the new series seems to suggest that the limit disapeared along with the Time Lords.

...it's a firmly established fact that a new set or regenerations can be conferred upon a Time Lord by other Time Lords. It was first mentioned in "The Five Doctors", and again in the recent gurn and ham festival that was the Return of the Master story line in Tenant's second season. (I hate myself for knowing this).

Tennant is the 10th Doctor, BTW.

Also a Moffat IIRC - here's hoping

Yep, Adric was incredibly annoying, as was Tegan and the ginger bloke, but Nyssa wasn't. Poor girl, who's Dad's body was nicked by the Master (you know, the classic goatie-bearded Master). Yeah, she was cute.

Then there was Peri. She was great, but was horribly abused by Colin Baker later on. Anyhoo, she was a slightly annoying yank with um, great acting skills.

And Simon, yes, it's supposed to be 12 regenerations. So as this is the 10th Doctor he should have 3 left, this being his 9th "regeneration". Somewhere in there though, should be the bad Doctor, the one that tried to frame, well himself really in Trial of a Timelord, the 2nd Colin Baker series. Think he was supposed to be the 2nd from last regeneration.

It's sci-fi. They'll make some guff up. :)

until they get rid of Tennant and get a decent Doctor - Eccleston was superb in comparison with the idiot-boy Tennant. And get Sarah-Jane and K9 back, that was the only good episode in that entire series.

Not watching Christmas special because of that Australian girl.

End of the last series, the Master explained that he was brought back (despite having run out of regenerations) to fight in the war. Also not that in the movie, the Master had run out of regenerations (The Doctor was returning his remains), but was still able to pose a problem...

...is that having invented it, they then had to somehow limit it. Otherwise the Doctor is effectively immortal and consequently never really in any kind of physical peril. Fortunately, the writers realized that having a lead character who is never at real risk of permanent harm or death removes a lot of the drama *cough*Torchwood*cough*.

Had they had any reason to expect that Doctor Who would still be going decades later and into its 10th incarnation, I suspect the writers might have chosen a less confining McGuffin to explain away the change of actor -- for example, like the Tardis, the doctor can change his appearance to blend in wherever he goes, and sometimes has to do so because he is becoming too recognizable on Earth.

[In that regard, regeneration is like the transporter in Star Trek -- notice how much time is devoted and pseudo-engineering guff is invented to explain why the crew in danger/hostage to be rescued/villain to be imprisoned etc. can't simply be beamed aboard... Unfortunately this is what happens in sci-fi series when you invent something to get out of some dead-end you've written yourself into, without realizing the consequences you are now stuck with...]

"Somewhere in there though, should be the bad Doctor, the one that tried to frame, well himself really in Trial of a Timelord, the 2nd Colin Baker series".

The Valeyard is an amalgam of the Doctor's darker side, somewhere between his twelfth and thirteenth regenerations.

Where's the Two Heart Icon when you need one?

I've got a working BBC Micro in the next room from where I'm sitting.

(where's the 'smug' icon when you need it)

Peter Davison's looking *old*.

I'd've brought back McGann or McCoy - we don't know how old McGann's Doctor got before regeneration, McCoy was "nearing the end of his regeneration" and had aged considerably before he was shot and had to regenerate into McGann. Having slightly older actors is not going to matter.

Davison, however, is going to need some serious makeup to resemble the boyish features he had before he regenerated.

Another possibility is Eccleston as he won't have aged enough in the last couple of years to be noticeable.

A "Four Doctors" special with McCoy, McGann, Eccleston and Tennant (or a special with any 2 or 3 of them) is quite possible. Unless the BBC can pull another "Richard Hurndall" out of the mix and find someone who can do a creditable imitation of one of the earlier Doctors (and my vote would be a Jon Pertwee lookalike as I loved that incarnation of the Doctor)

....since his real surname is Moffat....

my two favorite [of the Doctor's] companions:

Leela, portrayed by Louise Jameson

The first Romana, played by Mary Tamm

now they were filmed in their youth, which was in the 1970s, and they're looking quite good for older women... alas we can't yet go back in time and bring forward our pre-adolescent reminiscences...

...are all mad.

Bring back Ace immediately, or feel the Force of my largest headset spanner across the bridge of your nose.

Tennant is a Rubbish.

"A "Four Doctors" special with McCoy, McGann, Eccleston and Tennant (or a special with any 2 or 3 of them) is quite possible."

Are you mad? Selection based purely on how old the actors are? Most of us are trying to forget about McCoy & McGann.

McCoy - BBC production at its cheapest and nastiest.

McGann - horrid experiment in US/UK co-production.

Not really the actors' fault, but dreadful doctors both. We definitely don't want them back!

McGann has also done some pretty decent audio episodes (check out BBC 7).

Would love to see a two doctors episode with McGann and Tennant. Especially if it explained the Time War a bit, McGann is a great actor and certainly looked the part, it would be nice to see him in a decent production. Is there an icon for "I am a complete geek", oh yes, there it is.