Even though McGann would only portray the Time Lord for a mere 90-minute movie on the screen, the Eighth Doctor continued on as his predecessor did in comics and novels. In DWM Seven would cease being the "current" Doctor after rescuing Ace, Peri, Sarah Jane, and Susan in the strip Ground Zero which segued into Seven's appearance in the television film. Eight would become the current Doctor immediately afterwards, picking up a new companion in Izzy Sinclair in Endgame and having many adventures right up until the series re-premiered in 2005.
Indeed, the death of Eight was originally supposed to occur in the pages of DWM. Russell T. Davies pitched the idea to the staff, who accepted. However, they refused to kill off Eight's then-companion Destrii, and BBC was equally unwilling to allow her to be seen traveling with the Ninth Doctor. Instead, the strips would pick up with Nine and Rose immediately in The Love Invasion without any sort of real explanation.
Meanwhile, Eight was also being featured in a whole new series of novels. The New Adventures came a close with its sole Eighth Doctor adventure, and the BBC repurchased the novel rights back to launch it's own line of highly successful books with The Eight Doctors. These ran for a total 73 books, which along with his comic adventures actually makes the Eighth Doctor possibly the longest running of all The Doctors.
See also: Doctor Who: The Doctor and I Explain Death to a Four-Year-Old
Yet even his last novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles leaves no hint as to when and where he finally met his end.
McGann himself would finally return to the role in 2001, when Big Finish Audio invited him to reprise the Eighth Doctor with yet another new companion, Charley Pollard in Nicholas Briggs' Storm Warming. He's still doing these adventures to this day alongside other Doctors of the 20th century, most recently in last year's Dark Eyes. Interestingly enough, McGann would take all new promotional pictures as The Doctor for the latest episode, sporting short hair, a leather jacket, and a sonic screwdriver closer to that used by Nine and Ten.
When did the romantic and underestimated Eighth Doctor meet his end? He alone of the Doctors has never been shown regenerating. Indeed, up until 2008 and "The Next Doctor" it was never even made clear if the new series formally acknowledged that Eight even existed. Even during the flashbacks of "The Name of the Doctor" he is seen so briefly that if you blink you will miss him.
It was always assumed from the opening of "Rose" that Nine was in a recently regenerated body, and that the disastrous Time War was actually fought by Eight at the end of his life. Thus, all those cliffhangers in print were leading up to the one great conflict that has never been shown. The appearance of John Hurt as a previously unknown incarnation, who in the most recent trailers is firmly established as having lived between Eight and Nine, seems to nix that idea.
So all we can hope is that the rumors are true and that Steven Moffat is lying to us. They say that Paul McGann recently returned to the Doctor Who studios, but just what he may have filmed is completely unknown. His Doctor remains a mystery never fully explained, and even though I am as excited as anyone to see the return of Billie Piper and David Tennant, I do hope that even if it's just for one second Moffat will allow Eight to step out of the shadows on the television screen one last time to thank him for all he did for the show during the dark days of cancellation.
Join Jef at Alamo Drafhouse Saturday, August 31 for Doctor Who: The Movie.
Jef has a new story, a tale of headless strippers and The Rolling Stones, available now in Broken Mirrors, Fractured Minds. You can also connect with him on Facebook.
