For long-time fans, this is
HUGE. The death of the Eighth Doctor and his regeneration into… the War Doctor? Is that what we're calling him?
Even better, it's Paul McGann's second-ever appearance on screen as the Eighth Doctor, after the 1996 movie. And what an appearance it is…
He's done a huge number of radio plays, though. And that may be what's best about this clip. The radio plays produced by Big Finish have always been considered only semi-canon; they have a license from the BBC and all of the original actors from the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors, but anything not actually broadcast on BBC 1 just isn't quite… y'know. This clip, however, may have just confirmed the radio plays as canon, because the list of names that the Doctor zips through at 5:34 are all of his companions from there.
That is indescribably cool for long-time fans like me. SQUEEEEE!
And finally, if they've shown the regeneration from the Eighth Doctor to the War Doctor, what are the chances that they'll show the regeneration from the War Doctor to the Ninth Doctor? That would be a hell of a surprise for and gift to the fans. They
say Christopher Eccleston declined to be in the special, and he's always tried to distance himself from his turn as the Ninth Doctor so that it wouldn't cramp the rest of his career (*snort*), but he can't be
so spiteful as to ruin what would be an epic twist… can he?
Years and years of loose ends — pretty much everything involving the Time War — may get tied up in this special. And I thought the end of "The End of Time" was a big deal…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9OWAAsSXU0