‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – Reflection on the War Doctor

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

The War Doctor is an intriguing and unique incarnation of our beloved time-traveller in ‘Doctor Who’. Specifically created for the 50th anniversary TV special called ‘The Day of the Doctor’, John Hurt as the War Doctor has had a legacy over the years in stories featured in books, comics and audios. 🙂

I’ve made it no secret that I’m not a fan of the War Doctor as a concept, since the idea of the Doctor abandoning his principles to fight in the Time War and renounce his title didn’t sit well with me. 😐 But at the same time, Sir John Hurt delivered a superb performance when he played the War Doctor on TV.

He convinced me that he is one of the Doctors. Over the years, the War Doctor has grown on me. I don’t check out his ‘Doctor Who’ adventures regularly compared to the other Doctors, but when I do check out one of his stories, I always gain a sense of pleasure and enjoyment, thanks to John Hurt. 🙂

I’ve enjoyed checking out more of John Hurt’s appearances as the War Doctor in the Big Finish audios, including ‘Only The Monstrous’ and ‘Infernal Devices’. It’s a shame that John Hurt passed away in 2017, but I’m very happy he at least recorded four box set audio adventures with Big Finish.

I’ve also been able to check out the book adventure ‘Engines of War’ as well as the short story in ‘The Target Storybook’ called ‘Decoy’, both penned by George Mann. I’ve also had the chance to do my own take on the War Doctor by writing the ‘Zorbius’ story called ‘The Nightmare of the Warrior’.

It was a fascinating endeavour for me, especially when including Salvador in the story. 😀 The War Doctor will be making a cameo appearance in ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ later this year, which I’m happy about, and I know the War Doctor means a lot to many ‘Doctor Who’ fans that check him out.

I’ve not heard the War Doctor audio stories featuring Jonathon Carley yet, but I’ve heard good things about them. All in all, the War Doctor is an incarnation that I don’t seek to check out regularly, but it’s still nice to revisit him now and again, and it’s thanks to John Hurt that the War Doctor has lived on.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂

6 thoughts on “‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – Reflection on the War Doctor”

  2. zack613's avatarzack613

    I love BabelColour’s video. The song under the video “Who by Fire” by Leonard Cohen is one of my favorites. It is based on a very important High Holiday hymn U’Nishna Tokef.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
      1. Tim Bradley's avatarTim Bradley Post author

        Hi scifimike,

        Thanks for sharing the ‘Engines of War’ trailer. I’m wondering if the voice actor playing John Hurt’s War Doctor is Jonathon Carley who plays the War Doctor in the latest ‘War Doctor Begins’ audios by Big Finish. A shame there’s no cast list given at the video’s end. It was nice to revisit ‘Engines of War’, having review the book/audio back in 2020.

        Tim 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Tim Bradley's avatarTim Bradley Post author

      Hi Zack,

      Thanks for mentioning the song in the Babelcolour video is ‘Who by Fire’ by Leonard Cohen. I know what to play as background music when I’m working from home. 😀

      Glad you enjoyed the BabelColour video. It’s my favourite out of the two YouTube videos scifimike has shared.

      Tim 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

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