Doctor Who: See the 50th Anniversary with Nine

Thanks to an upcoming charity collection of Doctor Who stories, fans will finally see what the series’ 50th anniversary episode might have looked like with the Ninth Doctor.

Doctor Who celebrated its 50th anniversary back in 2013 in grand style. There was a special anniversary episode called “The Day of the Doctor,” a global simulcast and a general party the world over. The anniversary episode brought several iterations of the famous Time Lord together and rewrote one of the modern Who era’s most famous storylines by saving Gallifrey from destruction. It featured the returns of popular stars David Tennant and Billie Piper, as well as the debut of award-winning actor John Hurt as a previously unseen Time Lord known only as “The War Doctor.”

The episode was generally met with rapturous reviews, and Doctor Who fans everywhere pretty much loved it.

That said, “The Day of the Doctor” ultimately didn’t look much like the story we were supposed to get. Not originally, anyway.

As every long time Whovian probably knows, the insertion of the War Doctor was a last minute addition. Originally, the 50th anniversary special meant to revolve around the three “modern” Doctors. (Those are Matt Smith’s Eleven, Tennant’s Ten, and Christopher Eccleston’s Nine.)

However, Eccleston wanted no part of it. (His general reluctance to take part in the franchise he helped bring back to life is kind of infamous.) As a result, head writer Steven Moffat had to reframe the story to fit around his absence. And thus, the War Doctor was born. To be fair, this iteration turns out okay in the end. Hurt had great chemistry with both Tennant and Smith. But you could always see the bones of another story in the background. One that was about Nine instead.

In a real twist of good luck, we can now see what that original anniversary story looked like.

As part of an upcoming charity collection of Doctor Who-related short stories, Moffat will release an earlier draft of the episode. Which, yes, includes Nine instead of the War Doctor. Really.

Called A Second Target for Tommy, the fiction anthology has stories from over two dozen other writers. These include Paul Magrs, Simon Bucher-Jones, Nick Campell, Paul Castle and more. All proceeds from sales of the collection, curated by writer Tommy Donbavand, will go toward his cancer treatment.

You can purchase a paperback copy of the anthology via Obverse Books, and an e-version of the original Target for Tommy is available as well.

Next: Doctor Who: The TARDIS is dead, long live the TARDIS

Doctor Who will return this autumn with a brand new showrunner (Chris Chibnall) and a brand new Doctor (Jodie Whittaker). But this collection should offer all us Who fans plenty to pour over in the meantime.