Not a spoiler, lisah. It hasn't been announced yet one way or the other, so the UK press has been going apeshit with the speculation about every actor under the sun.

It hasn't been announced yet one way or the other, so the UK press has been going apeshit with the speculation about every actor under the sun.

Okay, I thought maybe there was something at the end of the last episode that hasn't run here yet that made it clear that there has to be a new doctor.

Okay, I thought maybe there was something at the end of the last episode that hasn't run here yet that made it clear that there has to be a new doctor.

Nah, we're all speculating right now. If the need for a new Doctor is imminent, the well-spoiled have not explicitly stated so. Mostly, no one's entirely sure how long DT is staying with the show past this season, assuming he's not already regenerating at the end of it.

Mostly, no one's entirely sure how long DT is staying with the show past this season, assuming he's not already regenerating at the end of it.

Was the last ep that everyone has talked so much about (in blessed white font) not the season finale? wow

Was the last ep that everyone has talked so much about (in blessed white font) not the season finale? wow

Oh no. That was the season finale. But I, personally, have no idea what happens. Because while I'm lightly spoiled, I'm not that spoiled.

rewatching the new Who, on the second ep, End of the World and I'm realizing that perhaps part of why Nine chooses to show Rose the death of Earth is so that she can feel a little bit of what he feels over the death of Gallifrey. Not even close, but perhaps closer than she otherwise would have been able to understand.

and he's totally been just regenerated prior to Rose. No question. But I wonder if RTD had the Time War in mind for that pilot, because there's simply no darkness there at all. No hints of "I'm being jaunty and smiley because I hold within me a deep dark angsty secret". No seething rage. Although he IS rude and short-tempered in that pilot.

Also, Chris Eccleston! (I've been trying for months to hunt down the first season since my DVDs are out of state) *hugs*

They used to use something called the Transduction Barrier to explain why the doctor didn't cross his own timeline (much) or encounter other Time Lords earlier in their subjective timelines than their last meeting. It was apparently a universe-wide effect maintained by the Time Lords, and only occasionally violated at great risk to the cosmos. I assume it is "still" in operation for all the former Time Lords whenever/wherever they might have journeyed, though perhaps the Doctor is now freer to cross his own recent past or perhaps visit a post-flight Master prior to their last encounter.

Unlikely that he'd do it, though. He left "Hamish Macbeth" because he was becoming too much of a movie star.

Well, except for that interview where he said he wouldn't rule it out...

I'd be a bit boggled - I thought Eccleston was the edgiest actor I'd see as the Doctor, but Carlyle would be seriously intense.

I don't know if this means anything so far into the series, but "Bad Wolf" was mentioned in the second ep of season 1, and the darkness was mentioned in the third ep!

There was a lot of talk of the Time Wars before RTD rebooted the franchise.

I distinctly remembered it (heh), so I sought out this [link] to the wiki.

I guess it's best called "the last great Time War."

Or at least the most recent, chronologically speaking.