Gaiman on Doctor Numbering
Speaking on his Tumblr page, Gaiman said: “We now know there was a regeneration between the Paul McGann Eighth Doctor and the Chris Eccleston Ninth Doctor, one whom the Doctor himself has only just begun to regard as being The Doctor (as opposed to being something else).
Pondering if it means fans now have to agree to renumber all the Doctors, he says: “I think the main purpose of numbering things is to communicate, and we all know who we mean when we say Doctors Nine, Ten or Eleven.
“If anyone corrects you and says “You mean TWELFTH!” when you say “Matt Smith was the eleventh Doctor” then that person is being irritatingly pedantic and should be pitied, in a nice way and with a gentle friendly, not-patronising sort of love, because they will have long hard lives ahead of them.”
