"I don't take the TARDIS into battle."

TV Find above the trailer for Doctor Who's The Day of the Doctor which was released with the usual butterfingered stealth that much of the pre-publicity for the 50th has been dealt with (thanks BBC Spain!). There must have been a moment this morning when someone at BBC PR, who had otherwise been building up to the presentation before Atlantis on television, simply shrugged their shoulders and said, "Fuck it, they've all seen it anyway, just post the damn thing."

Anyway, what have they got for us this time?  Generally the vibe reminds me of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, the moment when a franchise decides to show its fans something which has otherwise existed in their head, in both cases a massive war in the heavens.  Except of course, as Doctor Who fans, we know it's most likely going to be in The Clones Wars range of amazing rather than The Phantom Menace.  Don't we?  Despite the Gallifreyan wastelands?

Perhaps this trailer's showing is practically nothing about the episode and all of that stuff is in the pre-title sequence with some typically foreboding voice over (in other words what's in the trailer) ala The Lord of the Rings or Doomsday.  Clara says, "Who was that man?" "He was me." "He was the Doctor?" "No.  He was something else." "But I thought you said he was you." "Let me explain..." Cut to Hurt wandering out of the TARDIS and recreating the opening shot from Star Trek V (not really).

It's Hurt's identity which is the real draw.  He's the Doctor and yet he's not.  Is he some ancient version of the Eighth Doctor or a new Ninth Doctor making Eccleston the Tenth?  8.5?  Does he not count in the numbering because afterwards the Doctor refuses to call himself with that face the Doctor?  Why is he wearing Fitz's old jacket over the Eighth Doctor waistcoat?  Or Destrii's assuming it's not the same garment?  If nothing else, the spin-off media's going to have fun with it going forward.

We're also presumably supposed to assume that the "moment" is the one referred to by Rassilon in The End of Time and that's the big red crystal and whatever it is Rose is talking about.  The IDW comics in the US have run with filling in the gaps in exactly what the "moment" pinning the whole thing on the Eighth Doctor which is interesting given that they were all signed off on by Cardiff, though if Moffat wants to he's unlikely to be bothered with what's happening in the comics.

Buzzfeed has its expected listical with some helpful stills including the one of Rose going "Bad Wolf".  When is this set within Tenth and Rose's time stream and isn't this the first time what is effectively a past Doctor story has occurred on-screen (The Five Doctors and Time Crash accepted)?  I really hope it isn't the human 10th - it would seem inauthentic to me.  But Billie's been done up to look younger so it seems like it must be some time during season two.  The cavern of chronological mystery around Love & Monsters seems like a good bet.