The Doctor as a guest character

'The Doctor as a guest character'

Some might say that covers half the stories in New Series 8...

Spoilers for an unreleased (and barely even announced) product:

I'd personally like to see a TVM-era Sylvester show up in a Counter-Measures box set, or have Paul McGann in the next Gallifrey: Time War.

UNIT series 2 Dominion
featured the 7th Doctor and a new unfamiliar incarnation of the Doctor (with associated Spoilers)

Do not you mean New Series 1? The poor Ninth Doctor could barely save the day in his own series, except for the double episode of Moffat. "Power of Three" is the only episode in the Smith era that focuses on Amy and Rory as companions instead of a Doctor-centric story arc.

Watch again Series 1, Rose Tyler is the drive of the RTD era, while Bill Potts is more protagonist in his debut episode compared to Amy who looks like a secondary character, Rory feels like the real companion in Series 5 (someone normal that enters a strange and alien world). Capaldi on the other hand, the poor man did not have the opportunity to shine until Heaven Sent (when he was finally alone and far from Clara) and series 10. It was Tennant that he have just reacts and provides transport in Series 2 and 3, besides crying and being loud. 

Samuel Anderson is definitely the one yelling "help me I've no idea what I'm doing", maybe that's why Danny Pink did not feel like a Doctor Who character but more an annoying intruder. Smith's performance reminds me of Sylvester McCoy's but a little more energetic (Look at "Battlefield" or "Dragonfire" if you do not believe me), it's hard to believe that The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone is the first story that it was filmed since Smith acts as if he had played the Doctor for a long time. Karen's performance I think is better in Series 7 than in Series 5 that seemed to be her first time on screen. I think John Barrowman was the only actor who really was confidante in their portrayal, Piper is a singer and his performance was "okey" but it was irritatingly prima donna in Series 2, and Ecclestone shows that he did not want to be in the series as he gave a better interpretation of a survivor of war in the movie The Others.

Sadly in Series 5 the only thing that Amy Pond is remembered for is trying to rape the Doctor, maybe that's why nobody felt pity for her when she was kidnapped and forced to give birth. Leadworth is not as prominent as Powell State or St Luke's University, even Amy's parents have only had a small cameo. So no, Amy and River are the drive of Series 7, in Series 5 it was Rory Williams who had the trip of a shy almost-boyfriend to a brave husband while the females was plot devices.

For the worst example of the Doctor as a guest character, look no further than An Unearthly Child. First he barely shows up and we get all this focus on these random schoolteachers and his granddaughter who's so special her teachers investigate her (can you say Mary Sue?). Then he gets captured by cavemen and needs one of those teachers to help him. Then he tries to kill a caveman with a rock and his companions have the nerve to lecture him!
An utterly shameful showing. Truly the nadir of the show. 

I think for Gallifrey: Time War, I'd rather have the Gallifrey characters show up in the Eighth Doctor sets than vice-versa, as we have a limited number of Gallifrey series and I'd rather gain an extra story than have one turned into a Doctor Who episode. Not to say, of course, that I wouldn't still enjoy the story, but I think it would be better that way around. 

Sounds pretty cool to me as well, though I'm hoping we get more than four boxsets out of Time War Eight.