There are Peter Davison (5) days until the greatly anticipated 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. The internet is bursting with excitement, so much in fact, that Who fans got a huge surprise last Thursday. The mini episode “prequel” The Night of the Doctor was released on to the internet.
Apparently the episode was supposed to go up this week instead of last, but the danger of a leak was so high the BBC released it early. The biggest surprise in this minisode? Paul McGann. That’s right. Paul McGann returns to play the Doctor after 17 years.
The seventh Doctor has had the least amount of screen time of all the Doctors, only appearing in a TV movie in 1997. Though he has had one of the largest existences in comics, novels, and audio books. Fans everywhere were cheering for McGann’s return to the show, even though it was for such a short time.
The Night of the Doctor takes place during the Time War with the Doctor wanting no part of it. After failing to save a girl on a crashing ship, the Doctor ends up on Karn (which he visited previously as the 4th Doctor). He forces his regeneration into the War Doctor; John Hurt’s Doctor. Before doing so he makes references to his companions in the audio books.
Watch the episode here!
The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special airs this Saturday at 2:50pm EST across the world.
What do you think of the episode?