We’ve been getting a lot of extra Doctor Who content during the lockdown, from new short stories to specially filmed clips, many of which have plugged gaps in respective writers’ continuities. The latest announcement for the franchise is more exciting, though, being a 12-week multi-platform special bringing together the Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, and David Tennant incarnations of the Doctor for “Time Lord Victorious.”
Set to take place across every platform apart from the television series, the special event will cover comics, novels, audio dramas, video games, VR experiences, and even some new themed escape rooms. Various parts of the Doctor Who franchise will be collaborating on this crossover, including BBC Books, Big Finish Productions, Titan Comics and the official Doctor Who Magazine.
In terms of plot details, the official BBC announcement includes the tease that “Time Lord Victorious” will take place during “the Dark Times at the start of the universe, when even the Eternals were young.” The promo image for the special, available below, certainly whets the appetite with the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Doctors, the Daleks, Rose Tyler, and the Ood all appearing. Tennant’s Doctor, in particular, stands out for his formal Time Lord costume.
Furthermore, the BBC’s promo outlines the scope of the story, saying:
“Following several Doctors across space and time as they defend their home planet from a terrible race, this is a story like no other.”
What, then, could the special involve? Well, some theories so far is that it will explore the Tenth Doctor after he describes himself as the “Time Lord Victorious,” the last of his kind and without the traditional checks and balances of Gallifrey to hold him back. The setting at the beginning of the universe also implies that a corrupted Tenth Doctor may be going back in time to try to fix problems with his past, including the “new Time War” in the teaser image. The “terrible race” part of the promo does imply, though, that we’ll be spending more time on Gallifrey in different eras, meaning that Tennant’s Doctor may have a more heroic role to play.
Whether or not we’ll get the original actors in their roles is another question, given Eccleston’s long-standing issues with the BBC. More likely, we’ll get a voice double for the Ninth Doctor and McGann, Eccleston and Billie Piper as their characters for the audio versions of the story. We also don’t know when “Time Lord Victorious” will kick off, but we’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date as news from the official Doctor Who team comes through.