The fab 5. Does Paul look young compared to the other. :)

Wow! I need to be able to see that photo better. That photo is incredible and historic!

I can’t help but hope that Tom is “misleading” everybody by saying that he would consider a return performance. I’m hoping he’s already been asked (along with all the others)and that they will all secretly be reporting for DW duty soon!

@Profzed
He probably is misleading fans, but all things considered he has been more open about Doctor Who since its return in 2005. Before he was very, very reluctant to do anything unless it was just about ‘his’ Doctor and it’s he’s pretty lively for someone who’s 78, so it wouldn’t be too much of a long shot.

If he does return as the Doctor I think it’d best be a cameo, as a nod to fans. I’m sure he could handle more of the physical elements than people think, but I don’t think it would be appropriate given how different he looks, compared with the rest, apart from maybe Colin Baker.

Maybe he should come back in a different role or the Master as he’s been so eager to play it ever since the show came back

I would prefer Tom to be the Doctor and there just be some time vortex issue or something! I have always loved him!

@Grace
It’s not difficult, The Master aged the 10th Doctor with a Laser Screwdriver. If that’s possible, anything could age the 4th Doctor.

Albeit, I know, with Lazaruz technology….

I hated that episode, The Lazarus Experiment. Every time I think of Mark Gatiss now, I think of The Lazarus Experiment and Prisoner of The Daleks.

I don’t think it’s a sure thing that they will appear, just because of the age thing; several of them are so old and different looking now. The concept of the episode would need to work around why they look like they do, so the only way they would do it is if Moffat could think of an idea that took their ages into account in a satisfying way. So I’m basically saying, don’t put all your money on them all, or some of them, appearing; it might not happen just because they can’t make the story work. McGann, however, could obviously pop up with no problem.

@JC
Not Prisoner of The Daleks, lol……..I’ve just read that book and am listening to it on Audiobook, sorry.

I meant to say, Victory of The Daleks. It was 6:55am

@TWWL
I suspect you’re right, some of them are so much older now.

I have a horrible fear that Moffat is going to do an 11th Doctor only 50th Anniversary, I just have this really bad feeling.

I’d love Paul McGann to come back though. I know we can’t see his regeneration now, but he was the Time War Doctor and since we don’t know how long his 8th Incarnation lived, McGann could look any age older than the TV Movie and it still, potentially, could be BEFORE the Last Great Time War, if Moffat doesn’t want to go into that.

For me these are the Doctors who will return: David Tennant, Paul McGann, Peter Davison and hopefully Tom Baker. I would like younger actors to play the other Doctors that being the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th. Whether Chris returns I dunno but someone else can play the 9th Doctor.

@Patrick
I’d be comfortable with a re-cast 9th Doctor. It would work IF they cast properly.

It’s not just a case of getting someone to wear the leather jacket, have the shaved head and speak with the Northern accent, they’d have to get the character right too.

The 9th Doctor “lived” for a single series, there isn’t much room to stray from the person he was. That incarnation was “born” as the Last Great Time War ended, whilst The Doctor as a whole was a verteran of the Time War.

We know from the BBC’s “Who Is Doctor Who?” tie-in website to Series 1, that the 9th Doctor was apparently seen in London, walking around in the 8th Doctor’s clothes saying to people in the street, “They’re all gone. I’m the only one left”.

That makes the character a bit more complicated to play, because any inconsistencies have to be explained against such a short life, in which he only changed because of travelling with Rose Tyler.

So yeah, a re-cast would work, but you’d have to get the writing and the mannerisms of such a specific, short lived Doctor just right.

Yeah of course you’d need to get the right actor otherwise it wouldn’t work but yeah I should have been more clear :P

Re-cast Doctors? Eurgh, I hated it in “The Five Doctors” and at least they had a concrete reason…
I would far prefer the Doctors who look young enough to play their original roles to do so and have the others appear as supporting characters (…or villains?). It seems like an insult to the original actor and his reign to cast a new version.

@Rosalie
I don’t like the idea of the actors playing other people either. I know Sylvester McCoy mentioned it and I think one of the others, but it’s really not an idea for me.

I don’t understand why it would be good for someone who once played The Doctor to be second to Matt Smith by playing another tongue-in-cheek, wink to the fans. I mean, what would they do, as good as appear and look directly at the camera and wink?

I just wouldn’t find it appealing, the Doctors playing a supporting role to Matt Smith. That, to me, is an insult to the Doctors and apart from being that wink to the fans, is nothing but a cameo and hardly a tribute to 50 years of the show.

I do agree with you about re-casts being hardly ideal.

I don’t think I watched The Five Doctors all the way through, but while Richard Hurndall did as a good job he could stepping into the shoes of the original Doctor, it obviously wasn’t the same as if Hartnell had been there, at least from the little bit I’ve seen of the First Doctor.

Yeah, unfortunately, the actors that played the Doctor have been bound by time and space.

Thanks for the larger version of the photo!

I don’t honestly think the 50th Anniversary should have a multi-doctor story alone, it should have some companion recognition too. The Doctors weren’t the only iconic characters on the show, companions like Jo Grant, Sarah Jane, Susan Foreman, Ace and all the others really made what was the best television show to air, Especially the Brigadier.
What also made Doctor Who a good show were all these iconic TARDIS console rooms! I loved the old interior, the very first one! Obviously this is my opinion, but that’s what I think the 50th needs..