I've been thinking about this for a while(since The series 7 finale actually) and wanted to lay things out as to what I think and hear if I'm just going crazy or not. With Regards to John Hurt~ He's almost definitely between 8 and Nine. The clothing, the fact that basically every other doctor has regenerated onscreen(understanding 2-->3 to be the exception here, but I don't see the classical doctors havingthe kind of traumatic response to this or Moffat having a way to wing it in there without some kind of extreme gimmick.) It's more a question of "what happened with him" that makes him a mystery. I don't think it was the time war itself, as the new series doctors have generally acknowledged it and came to terms with it. Which brings up some other traumatic moment in the Doctor's history that we (as of yet) don't know anything about? I recall Nine saying to Rose 'I was born out of anger and rage", or something a long those lines. With regards to the events of the fiftieth~ It's been confirmed that both the Daleks and the Zygons will be present in the anniversary. Considering that the 50th takes place within the docs time stream, I'm wondering why the Zygons of all monsters are getting this 'place of honor", so to speak. More to come, but food for thought and such. --Orboknown ☎ 19:08, July 22, 2013 (UTC)
I'm wondering if Hurt might actually be Doctor 8.5. After all, the Watcher was technically 4.5 (I think, not sure if that was really explained), and the Valeyard was Doctor 12.5, so my theory is that the 8th Doctor was blocked from regeneration. He was dying and merged with someone (John Hurt) because he is prevented from regenerating. Its possible. Think of the Master merging with Nyssa's father. He would be 8.5 but not the "real" 9th incarnation.