The Tiger Who Came To Tea: The Next Doctor

Love this bit of music, and this whole intro - proper Christmassy.

Can't go wrong with Victoriana at xmas.

50dw50@50dw50 the Tardis really has a fixation on Victorian times these days

"You boy, what day is this?"

Cries of "Doctor!" and we're straight into action!

"Docter Oo?"

This is a job for a Time Lord...

Never liked "Allons-y!" as a Doctor catchphrase.

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris Agreed - but generally thought David Tennant played this story rather well - it was a lot more toned down than normal

Love the design of the Cybershades.

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Too bad they're practically pointless in this episode!

David Morrissey's fantastic in this. Great costume too - just the right side of eccentric; might have suited Colin Baker.

Lee Mahon@Lee_JM75 That's a great shout, would have looked great on old Sixie.

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin I'd think he'd have made a great Doctor. :-)

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris I have to agree - I think Morrissey would have been a magnificent Doctor

50dw50@50dw50 Two Dr Who's. I wonder if anyone actually thought this was the new Dr Who? had Smith been announced at this point?

No not till a few days later; Morrissey was very game in publicity interviews keeping the press guessing.

atruedrwhofan@atruedrwhofan I did. I really did. DM was doing interviews and I was convinced. Don't think Matt was announced but I may be wrong.

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker never thought it was likely as had been too blatant. Although by the end thought he would've been a good choice!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72Smith was announced in a Confidential special on the 3rd Jan if I remember correctly. Got 7m viewers!!

IIRC it was listed as "the 10 Doctors" until a day or so before, when it became "The 11th Doctor" and the buzz started!

MAW Holmes@MAW_H "I hope I don't just trip over a brick" Flippant stuff about a very dark idea. Wouldn't it be awful to just KNOW...?

Tennant's Doctor seems to approve of "The Next Doctor" as a potential future incarnation.

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith He thinks he might be "the next doctor but one" but he only has one incarnation left at this point. Denial? Maybe he doesn't accept 11 is last until he's Smith & can feel it somehow? So he's telling himself Stolen End doesn't count?

That would make sense, still tied to this Doctor's vanity - won't accept he 'wasted' a regeneration.
Mark@quigonsmith Or he just doesn't know - doesn't he say a metacrisis has never happened before? If so he wouldn't know for sure it counted until he became 11 and realised he couldn't do it any more.

Not sure the regeneration and the metacrisis - the growing of the spare Doc - are exactly the same thing, though, and & of course Moff wasn't consistent anyway, Smith doling out regeneration energy to River pre-War Doctor invention.

Mark@quigonsmith Yeah, didn't phrase that well - I mean the "incomplete regeneration" I suppose.

Seem to recall Davies was adamant it *didn't* count, and Moff only counted it when he wanted to, post series 7A.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 I thought that was going to be used as solution to 13 lives problem but seemingly ignored!! Not to mention River/Melody giving 11 all her regenerations to save him in #LetsKillHitler!!

Something's not right, though, "The Next Doctor" has lost his memories...

"Something was lost..."

The Next Doctor has a funeral to attend.

Great Cyberleader design, we've never had a leader with a visible brain before but the black faceplate is great.

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith Cyberman Controller in The Tomb of the Cybermen has a design that suggests visible brain.

Yeah, but this is the first Cyberleader (not Controller) with visible brain I think? Or is this a Controller too?

"This one calls himself the Doctor, and does nothing but interfere..."

Dervla Kirwan puts in a strong performance but some of her lines are just that bit too arch, I think. ("How like a man" etc. a bit tedious.)

Kosmic Kris@KosmicKris it was a bit of a Panto turn - and that's not always a bad thing in the Who Xmas special!

In fact, the funeral is just the excuse the Next Doctor needs to break into the empty house of a man who died in suspicious circumstances, to search for clues...

...but his namesake is already inside!

The Next Doctor's screwdriver is... somewhat less than "sonic".

The Doctors team up to search for clues.

The Next Doctor has a fob watch, but instead of memories it just contains broken parts.

They find the Cybermen's archives - "info stamps". No letter from the BFI required.

The Next Doctor starts to remember brief flashes of his "regeneration" as the 10th Doctor plays companion...

There's a Cyberman in the cupboard. "Ooookay."

Just as the 10th Doctor admits who he is, The Next Doctor remembers how to use the device they found...

...and saves his "companion" from deletion.

The Doctor checks how many hearts the new fella has, but saves the answer for later as if he knows it's a TV show and the revelation needs to come later...

Elsewhere the funeral goes ahead...

...only to be gatecrashed by Miss Hartigan...

...who turns it into a recruitment drive with the help of her tin friends.

The Next Doctor has too much luggage, including a stash of info stamps.

"Tethered Aerial Release, Developed in Style!" At least it's blue, I guess.

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker thought that bit was quite clever.

50dw50@50dw50 i think the Balloon is fabulous!

The Next Doctor likes throwing his money about...

Now the 10th Doctor has worked out how he became The Next Doctor...

Miss Hartigan trains her new servants and takes off in a Shade-driven cab...

These Cybermen are the survivors of the battle of Canary Wharf...

50dw50@50dw50 how did they end up in the past?

I think the void is supposed to be outside time, like the vortex, so in theory you could pop back in at any time period?

And of course, as was pretty obvious, The Next Doctor is really a man named Jackson Lake.

Unfortunately it's hard to explain why this revelation didn't just come the 1st time he looked at the watch.

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker he just wasn't very observant and didn't notice the engraving!

The 10 Doctors montage was such a big deal at the time...

The first proper (i.e. containing footage as opposed to the drawn images in Human Nature's Journal of Impossible Things) sequence showing ALL the Doctors...

...and sewing together the "Classic" and "New" eras.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 A proper punch the air moment for the fans, the perfect Christmas gift!

No sign of the War Doctor here in this info stolen from the Daleks...

50dw50@50dw50 The Daleks would have known War more than anyone you would think?

I guess the info stamp is corrupted/damaged. I also like James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith's suggestion:

James Cooray Smith@thejimsmith No Dalek saw the War Doctor & lived.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Perhaps the 10th Doctor is telepathically suppressing the info coming from the Cyber node?

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin He didn't call himself The Doctor in the Time War and the infostamp was about The Doctor maybe that's why.

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker the Daleks still knew him as The Doctor though.

Yes, Moffat himself wrecks that though by having them refer to Hurt as "the Doctor" in The Day of the Doctor.

Will Brooks@willbrooks1989 All information pertaining to the War Doctor is trapped in the war. Or something.

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker that's a good enough fudge, we'll go with that!

It wasn't just the info stamp making Jackson Lake believe he was The Next Doctor...

...he was driven into a fugue state by the loss of his family.

Miss Hartigan's cyber-controlled undertakers lead the city's orphans to the court of the Cyber-King...

Isaac Dakin@IWhittakerDakin Why are the cybermen using children? They're stronger than them! Can't the cybermen do it themselves?!

You have to remember they're damaged/corrupted & short on resources & have relied on Victorian Miss Hartigan for a plan.

The Cybermen sneak up on the Doctor and Rosita by putting their legs on silent mode. Why isn't that their default?

Miss Hartigan, despite her name, proposes no Mercy.

The Doctor gives the Cybermen a bit of "Don't you know who I am?" Ego.

Lake arrives to save the Doctor & Rosita...

...but although he knows a back way into the court of the Cyber-King, his memory isn't quite fully restored.

"You promised me I would never be converted!"

"That was designated a lie!"

Bit of the old David Banks Cyberleader programme surfacing there with the snarky response?

Miss Hartigan gets an unwanted promotion, or "upgrade" if you will.

There's gratitude for you.

"Delete the Workforce!" Cyber-Cameron gets to work...

The Doctor frees the cast of Oliver!

The penny drops for Jackson Lake; the missing 'thing' is his son, Frederick, who later has his own airline...

Alison Jacobs@jodenan Owwwwwwwwwwww, pun alert!

I'm pleading the "panto season" defence! :-P

The Doctor gives The Next Doctor his son back as an Xmas present.

MAW Holmes@MAW_H ...and being a Victorian father he would then have immediately sent him away...!

50dw50@50dw50 children are for life not just for christmas

Unless you kept the receipt ;-P

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker I thought they were just for Christmas dinner, like turkey's!

Aaaaand.... episode careering off the rails... now!

Look, I like Doctor Who, I like (G1) Transformers, but this is quite possibly the daftest thing in Who for a long while.

50dw50@50dw50 i love the CyberKing!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 I never had a problem with the Cyber King, great fun and spectacle in a Xmas episode. How else were they gonna top Kylie??