The Eighth Doctor was portrayed by Paul McGann, with limited appearances - a movie and a bunch of audio dramas, as well as novels and comic strips. As the original TV show ended in 1989, the movie was made in 1996 in an attempt to rekindle interest... although well-received, it's not until 2005 that the TV show returned to our screens. So you can argue that the Eighth Doctor is the longest serving incarnation.
This regeneration of the Doctor is an effortlessly charming fellow, dashing and romantic. Chapter 1: The Eighth Doctor and Companions provides plenty of detail about him and his role... thinking the Time War is over he revels in scampering around space and time and enjoys introducing new people to it, then when he discovers that it's not over and the Master isn't dead after all, he finds himself unsuited to the situation, becoming somewhat cynical. His companion in the movie was Dr Grace Holloway, a cardiologist committed to her profession and with a strong ethical bent, who was understandibly fascinated by the Doctor's two hearts! An interesting sidebar speculates about whether or not she's become immortal. Two others, Chang Lee and Cass, are also included, all four with full character sheets. There are also notes on the TARDIS, which apparently is a better navigator than it has been.
Next, Chapter 2: Designing Eighth Doctor Adventures provides plenty of resources for those interested in rising to the challenge of running adventures in the era of a Doctor who didn't actually have many adventures that we saw in the show - only his first and a little glimpse of his last were seen! Thinking the Time War was done, he threw himself into exploration, so that can provide a good platform for adventure. Parallels can be drawn with the real world of his time, when the Cold War was over and people worried about things like the Y2K bug that was supposed to bring computers to a juddering halt and predictions that the Second Coming was about to take place. Once the Time War restarted the universe began to unravel, and this could be used creatively to unravel some of the Doctor's past adventures, forcing your party to go and 'refix' things. An interesting thought, and there are plenty more in this chapter.
Chapter 3: The Eighth Doctor's Adventures examines the TV movie, with a thorough synopsis, notes on running it as an adventure, further adventures you could run based on it and notes on NPCs and gadgets. The short adventure The Night of the Doctor, which was the Eighth Doctor's final adventure, is covered in like fashion.
To make up for this paucity of material Chapter 4: Doom of the Daleks is a full-blown campaign you can run, no matter what sort of group you have. The Doctor has fallen victim to a Temporal Exterminator, a rather nasty weapon wielded by the Daleks that unravels your complete timeline. The Doctor asks for help - to save him, the party has to travel through his timeline and stop it unravelling before it comes completely apart and the Doctor dies. A prologue (which sets things in motion) and a full twelve adventures are provided. Most draw on the Doctor's previous adventures - this could prove an interesting way of running games for a group of players well-versed in Doctor Who!
The real gem here is the campaign, and that's well worth getting, even if you think there isn't enough material about the Eighth Doctor to justify a sourcebook, or don't regard the movie as being quite as canonical as the regular TV show. Revel in it, but don't let it all unravel!
Return to Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Sourcebook page.
Reviewed: 26 October 2016
