CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES: THE JOURNEY OF THE TIMELESS CHILD - PART TWO

The Journey of the Timeless Child continues...

I was quite surprised by the positive response the first chapter of this topic received. I thought, for sure, I'd get blasted by people saying: "Why would you even bother to try to chronicle this?! The Timeless Child totally sucks! You're a loser!" Or words to that effect. But most folks that commented on it not only like the Timeless Child but actually liked what I wrote about her.  They legitimately enjoyed that first installment. 

I was shocked! 

Speaking of Part One, by the way: if you haven't checked it out, you may want to give it a read before you look at this one (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2024/03/chronologies-and-timelines-journey-of.html). This particular episode will make little or no sense if you haven't! 

BRANDON 

The Timeless Child has finally been apprehended by Division. Now the organization must figure out what exactly to do with her. The most obvious solution, of course, is to terminate her. But that's not how Division works. Even deplorable creatures like Swarm and Azure are viewed as potential assets that could serve a useful purpose further down the road. If some of the greatest threats to the Universe are being kept alive, there's no reason to kill off someone who was once one of their best agents. 

It's decided that they will use one of their favorite tactics for those who have fallen out of favor with them. They're going to completely change the Timeless Child's identity. Her previous life will be erased and she will become someone else. Unless, of course, the "old her" is needed again. Just in case, her memories are locked away in a fob watch for protection. 

Such a process, however, will prove difficult. As has been stated, the Timeless Child's biology is extremely difficult to tamper with in any way. Division wants to turn her into a normal Gallifreyan - but that won't be easy. 

They come up with a complex solution. In order to change her, she will need to spend some time in a "transitional state". The Timeless Child is a complex being. As are the Gallifreyans. If she can be converted, first, into a simpler species, they can eventually make the full transformation. 

So, for a time, the Timeless Child becomes "Brendan". A mere human growing up in rural Ireland during the early 20th Century. Two other Division agents - more than likely, Time Lords - watch over Brendan as he matures and becomes a police officer. He applies for that occupation because the Timeless Child's desire to seek justice in the Universe cannot be totally erased. Whatever you make her into, she wants to be a power for good. 

To ensure Brendan survives, they leave him with just a bit of regeneration energy. It won't trigger a full transformation into someone different, of course. But it will repair any serious damage that may occur in accidents. It is put to the test only once when Brendan is shot and falls from a cliff. 

Eventually, he lives for enough years that the second stage of the process can take place. Now an elderly human, Brandon is taken by the two Division Agents that have been monitoring him and given a complete memory wipe (something far easier to accomplish when he's still in human form). Once done, he's taken back to Gallifrey where the final transition can occur. After that last stage of processing, the Timeless Child is no longer a strange extra-dimensional being. He's a Gallifreyan. 

It's not certain if he was given a set of false memories and starts his new existence as an adult. Or if he's actually regressed into a fetus and, somehow, placed in someone's womb. Or if, perhaps, Gallifreyans use Looms, after all. His genetic material may have been integrated into one which then produces him as a fully-corporeal being. Whatever the case, the Timeless Child has been wiped from existence. A Gallifreyan now stands in his place. 

STILL SOME TRACES 

While the whole conversion was very complex and thorough, the medical technicians that accomplished it still warned Division that there could be complications. Certain physical or mental traces of the Timeless Child might still remain in this new being that they've created. The previous physiology would still struggle to re-assert itself. 

The most obvious trait that stayed intact was the fact that the Timeless Child only possessed one heart. This new Gallifreyan that she has been changed into also only has a single cardio-vascular organ. When he is old enough to understand, it is explained to him that he has a rare condition. That, should he become a Time Lord, they can actually fix the problem when he regenerates. 

Division keep a fairly close eye on him over the next while. They notice a few other subtler traces from the previous identity emerging. The Gallifreyan seems to still have that innate desire to do "good" wherever he goes. He wants to help out lesser species and openly objects to his peoples' policy of non-intervention. He also shows signs of great cleverness and rapid learning. 

Most significantly, he gives himself the title of "The Doctor". Division did notice that, when they had re-captured her, the Timeless Child had been using that name, too. 

Still, they were told that these things would happen. But that, overall, the conversion would remain stable. So none of this really concerns them much. 

AN UNEXPECTED TRIGGERING 

While a bit of a rabble-rouser, the Doctor is - for the most part - keeping in line. Division becomes less and less concerned about him. Particularly after he becomes a Time Lord. The intense conditioning one must undergo to achieve such a status will strain out even more of the rebellious nature of his previous life. 

The medical technicians that worked on him, however, are a bit concerned that he managed to graduate from the Academy. The ability to regenerate has, once more, been bestowed upon him (ironically, he is the one who created it in the first place!). This could have adverse effects on his sense of recall. Regeneration could cause him to forget his buried past. Or it could do the exact opposite: it could actually bring more memories back.*** 

As they are trying to gather more conclusive data on the whole matter, something totally unexpected happens. After being swept up in a Time Storm all those many years ago, Susan is transported into her personal future and returns to Gallifrey. One day, she just suddenly re-appears in the corridors of the Citadel. 

While very little of the Doctor's first identity remains, there are still faint vestiges. Being so close to each other during the Ancient Times caused the two Gallifreyans to form a very strong psychic bond. Susan is still able to telepathically pick up on those tiny traces. When she first meets him, she uncontrollably blurts out: "Grandfather!". 

From that point onward, however, Susan remains pretty tight-lipped. Certain protocols were established about time travel even back in Gallifrey's earliest days. The biggest one, of course, is to keep your mouth shut when you're no longer in your own proper time zone. Information you could give away in either the future or the past could do irreparable damage to the Time Lines. 

Nonetheless, Susan's made an impression on her grandfather. Several more of his memories re-awaken. He doesn't know how or why, but he's certain this young woman really is his granddaughter. He also has a vague recollection of being responsible for the creation of TARDISes. 

With those memories restored, he now becomes a bit more telepathically-recognizable to certain quasi-sentient beings he once knew. The Silver Nemesis and the Hand of Omega pick up on him and re-establish their psychic links with him. Both are now being kept in the Omega Vault. The Doctor finds his way to them. The Validium begs for freedom. The Doctor feels pity for Gallifrey's former defense system and manages to release it into the Universe - but only under certain terms and conditions. From time-to-time, he may require it to assist him. The Hand of Omega also seems somewhat despondent about its current situation so the Doctor makes similar plans for its escape. But those schemes won't be quite as simple. Unless aided, this artifact can prove to be much more static. Which will make it more difficult to extricate.  

Both of the Old Relics also choose not to reveal any more of the Doctor's past to him. They see how much mental turmoil his few restored memories have already caused him. He does seem to be getting very scattered, these days. They decide not to exacerbate the problem. It may even be that the Hand of Omega can't really tell him anything, anyway. The Artifact doesn't seem to have any sort of proper speech center! 

Division notices how strange the Doctor is acting now that Susan has been restored to him. But before they can do anything about it, the Time Lord allows even more of his previous life to influence him. Once more, he steals a TARDIS. In fact, another telepathic link that he formed in his previous existence has a bearing on his destiny (as does a bit of gentle prodding from Clara). The original TARDIS that he took when he had been the Timeless Child entices him through her door. She has been sitting for quite some time in a Repair Bay. Some work has been done on her. But, since she is now viciously outdated, fixing her completely has not been a huge priority. Figuring no one will miss her much, the Doctor runs off in the old Type Forty. 

As he slips away with his granddaughter, he also manages to grab the Hand of Omega. 

Off they all go into Time and Space!    

***Super-Important Footnote: 

While the Doctor can start regenerating again, it should be emphasized that he is now just a Time Lord. None of the regenerative abilities he once had as the Timeless Child remain. Which means he will regenerate in the same way a Time Lord normally does. He will only be able to do it twelve times and then will die. Unless, of course, the High Council grant him extra lives at the end of his cycle. Something they can do if they so desire.

EARLY DAYS...

For a while, the Doctor and Susan travel through the Universe. The Hand of Omega is kept in a special storage hold within the TARDIS. In that location, the artifact feels less lonely than when it was secured in a secret vault in the Citadel. But the Doctor can see that it wants a better resting place. It needs to be somewhere more peaceful and natural. 

Meanwhile, the Doctor's recollections are still quite scattered. Lots of his memories are overlapping with that of the Timeless Child. Susan still chooses not to reveal anything more to him about his past. Even though she has figured a lot of things out. 

With so much of his previous existence affecting him, he takes on another of the Timeless Child's predilections.  He develops a fondness for Earth. His visits there become quite frequent. So much so, that he even has a favorite period in the planet's history. 

The TARDIS, meanwhile, is getting more and more rundown. The Doctor decides to actually stay in one place for a while and try to effect repairs. He chooses London in the early 60s. Once more, of course, the chameleon circuit will break down and she'll get stuck in Police Box form. 

Since they're staying there for a bit, Susan decides to experience some local culture. She enrolls in school while the Doctor establishes a base of operations in a junkyard. He also finally makes arrangements for the Hand of Omega. He's placed the relic in a casket and was going to have it buried in a graveyard. The Hand seemed happy with the idea. 

But then, of course, Ian and Barbara come along. And everything changes!   

There's a general implication during Season One that the Doctor built the TARDIS, himself. The fact that he's still wrestling a lot with which memories are his and which belong to his earlier life is what's causing this. Sometimes, he recalls that he did actually build TARDISes for a time. Which causes him to take on a sort of tone with his companions that insinuates that he constructed the ship they are travelling in. And, of course, if you were reading Part One of this essay carefully - you see why Susan claims she came up with the acronym for the time vessel during the first episode of An Unearthly Child. 

Sometime near the end of Season Two, the Doctor's conflicting memories really do start to settle down. This probably happens because Susan has finally left. Her very presence was more-than-likely triggering him quite a bit. Meeting the Monk probably also helped with the process. Seeing another Time Lord and remembering that there are various models of TARDISes gets him to stabilize even more. He couldn't have made these things, himself. They've been around forever. He's just not that old! 

By the time he experiences his first regeneration, he's no longer experiencing any memory issues. He remembers himself as being a Time Lord known as the Doctor. Those strange ideas where he vaguely recalls inventing TARDISes are no longer spoken of. They may have even faded completely from his memory. 

He eventually reaches his second regeneration. When that happens, something interesting occurs. Because he is given a forced regeneration that takes place back on Gallifrey, those medical technicians that first created him can finally fix that one little anatomical issue that has been plaguing him during his first two incarnations. 

At long last, the Doctor gets his second heart. 

THE FAMOUS SEQUENCE THAT CAUSED IT ALL!

For quite a few of his incarnations, the Doctor has no further issues with recalling his former existence. Even when he does get into a mind-bending competition with Morbius and sees several past selves prior to Hartnell, he doesn't seem to acknowledge it. Oddly enough, neither does Sarah Jane. You'd think she might have said something to the nature of: "Wow! I never knew you had so many previous faces!" With the Doctor responding with something like: "Neither did I!" But the whole thing just sort of gets swept under the carpet. 

It doesn't help that we will soon have a story like Deadly Assassin come along and reveal that there's a limit on how many times a Time Lord can regenerate. Only to be followed years later by Mawdryn Undead. Where the entire crux of the plot is that the Doctor really is in his fifth body and, therefore, only has so many regenerations left. These sort of facts cause the faces in Brain of Morbius to not make any real sense. 

The easiest fix, of course, is that we were seeing previous incarnations of Morbius rather than the Doctor. But the succession of images don't really support that. We do see the evil Time Lord regressing a bit. But then the battle seems to shift to the Doctor's defeat. One would think that, if those were the faces of Morbius, that we would see his earlier images again and then go to the pictures that the production team took. Instead, it's Pertwee, Troughton, Hartnell and then all those other shots of  various behind-the-scenes people. Which really does make it seem like these were incarnations that existed before the "First" Doctor. Morbius' proclamation of: "How far back do you go, Doctor?" adds even more credence to the idea that these are the Doctor's earlier incarnations and not his.  

There is another complication that the sequence creates. We should have seen "Ruth" somewhere in all those faces. Brandon should have been in there, too. Even though he is just a human. He's still part of the Doctor's past - so he should appear. But neither of their faces are shown. 

We can, sort of, partially fix this problem by theorizing that sometime after the events of Fugitive of the Judoon, "Ruth" goes through several regenerations and takes on all these different forms that we witness in the mind bending battle. These might have even been attempts at "disguises" of some sort that were employed to help evade her captors (perhaps she's learnt the same trick that the Master and the Rani would later use to block telepathic recognition when they are trying to hide their true selves from the Doctor). So these are the last few bodies the Doctor had before she was captured and had her entire identity altered. The machine just never regressed far enough for us to see Ruth. It still doesn't reconcile with the fact that we never see Brendan, of course. But maybe he isn't included because he is a mere human. 

I'm more inclined to believe that, because his past has been so thoroughly buried, the mind-bending machine can only pick up snippets of it. So we only see a certain fragment of his erased life. Which allows my placing of the faces from Brain of Morbius in the Timeless Child's timeline to still work (see Part One for when I think they happened). And it also explains why we don't see certain faces when, maybe, we should have.  

THE NEXT TIME THE DOCTOR GETS SOME MEMORIES BACK

The Gallifreyan medtechs that had worked on the Doctor's transformation had theorized that restoring his ability to regenerate could complicate matters. That the process had the potential to cause characteristics from the Timeless Child to re-assert themselves into certain incarnations. 

This finally happens after the sixth regeneration. Perhaps, because it's been quite some time since these memories have surfaced, it actually takes a while before they really start to set in. For a bit of time, at least, the Seventh Doctor doesn't seem to be recalling events from his previous life.

At first, he seems to be just getting clearer recollections of the last time the Timeless Child had been impacting him. That period where Susan was with him. Much of that time had become blurry for a while. But now things were clear again. 

He'd forgotten, altogether, about the arrangements he'd made with the Validium he'd freed from the Omega Vault. That it owed him some favors, now. During some unseen adventures with Mel at his side, he starts to engage with it again. Eventually, he causes it to accidentally crash to Earth during the 1800s. It assumes the identity of the Silver Nemesis during this time. It also confesses to Lady Peinforte everything about the Doctor's secret past. Perhaps it sees that allying itself with this woman might be the only way for it to finally acquire true freedom. Whatever the case, the Doctor does manage to retrieve the Validium and launch it back into space. Where it will orbit the Earth without ever being detected by human technology. However, its orbit is decaying and it will eventually return to the surface of the planet. Concerned about his patchy memory, the Doctor sets an alarm to remind him of the impending peril.

Seven also recalls his unfinished business with the Hand of Omega. He finally returns to Earth in 1963 to give it a proper burial. Only he's also going to use the Relic to lure the Daleks and Davros into a deadly trap. 

From time-to-time, the Doctor in this incarnation will make the vaguest hints that he knows he is somehow connected to Ancient Gallifrey. How much he truly remembers seems vague, at best. I doubt he knows that he was once the being that brought regeneration to the Time Lords. Or anything all that specific at all. He's just certain that he had some sort of life before his current one that involves the Old Times. His final encounter with Lady Peinforte helps to confirm this as she makes mention of it to him but never goes into the specifics of it all. 

Initiating his seventh regeneration seems to cause the scant memories he has of his involvement with the early days of the Time Lords to fade away again. However, it brings back something else buried in his past. The Doctor can now recall that he had a human life of some sort at one point. He can't quite completely remember his identity as Brendan, so he assumes that he must be half-human. He even knows that his mother came from Earth. His Dad, on the other hand, was the Time Lord. Like the single heart issue way back in the day, the regeneration even causes some of his old human biology to re-emerge for a bit. For instance, his eyes have the retinal structure of a human.  

And, again, all this fades away with the regeneration into the War Doctor. For several more incarnations after that, the Doctor is back to just being a Time Lord with no apparent memories of a life he may have had before that. He does, perhaps, regain knowledge of his human ancestry when he's the Twelfth Doctor. He has a vague discussion with Ashildr about it as they sit at the end of the Universe. 

THIRTEEN, AT LAST 

Shortly after Missy regenerates on the Mondasian colony ship (she knew, the whole time, that the laser blast from her former self was coming and made the necessary preparations), he starts hacking around in the Matrix, again. He makes the most shocking of discoveries as he does. It drives him so mad that he ends up destroying the Time Lords. 

The Doctor receives just a hint of what he's discovered during The Ghost Monument. The killer rag creatures that only attack at night turn out to be extremely powerful telepaths. They pick up the faint traces of the Timeless Child and see that she has no recollection of those experiences. They try to taunt her with that information. 

And then, she starts experiencing encounters with the Fugitive Doctor. They first meet in Gloucester during Fugitive of the Judoon. A second meeting happens a short while later. After the Master has revealed the Doctor's hidden past to her, the two different incarnations run into each other again in the Matrix during The Timeless Children. There's another brief discussion that they have through a mirror in Once, Upon Time. 

While combating the whole Flux Disaster, the Doctor actually amasses quite a bit of information about her life as the Timeless Child. She manages to hunt down her old partner, Karvanista and tries to get information out of him. The Mouri send her back into her own timeline and she experiences a crucial mission she accomplished for Division. Finally she has a major confrontation with Tecteun. Her adopted mother reveals to her that her starting to learn about her hidden past is what prompted the Flux in the first place. Division knows that, because she's become aware of them, the Doctor will do everything in her power to take them down. So they decide to scrap this Universe and move on to the next one.

Most importantly, the Doctor manages to recover the fob watch that Division created to store all the memories of her previous identity. Storm and Azure allow her a brief peak into it, but all she really sees is a big metaphorical construct. She does recover the watch from them, though, after the Embodiment of Time destroys them. 

With the events of the Flux now under control, the Doctor is alone in her console room with the fob watch in hand. Impulsively, she drops it down a chasm and asks the TARDIS to hide it from her. 

Unless, of course, she really wants to find it! 

THE WHOLE SHEBANG! 

... And, there you go! A more-or-less coherent timeline for the Timeless Child. Not only chronicling everything that we know about her life prior to her capture and transformation by Division. But also a discussion on the influences she has had on the Doctor's life after the Division altered her identity. 

A few important things to note: 

1) It really didn't take a whole lot of extra headcannon to figure this Timeline out. If you're willing to take a negligible amount of time to examine everything Chibnall presents about the Timeless Child, you can, easily, come to the same conclusions I did. This is not some over-convoluted incoherent idea that makes no sense. The facts are all there if you're willing to look for them. 

2) There are a lot of inconsistencies that present itself when you really start trying to pick apart the show's Lore. Nothing gets them to make better sense than the theory of the Timeless Child. 

I'm not just talking about the extra faces in Brain of Morbius. Some of the highly-contradictory stuff that gets stated in Season One. The Doctor only having one heart for the first six seasons. The Cartmel Masterplan. The Eighth Doctor being "half-human on his mother's side". All of them actually work just fine if you apply the Timeless Child to them. 

If, ultimately, you still want to take refuge behind the "Chibnall shouldn't have made such radical alterations to the Lore" dispute to justify your hatred of this storyline, then I guess I can't really argue with you. Although, I might still point out that the show has radically messed with its own Lore on several occasions, already. Why does this particular incident upset you?! 

In my mind, at least, the Timeless Child makes perfect sense. I might even argue that this is one of, if not, the best arcs the show has ever created.

How's that for fightin' words? 

Well, it's been a lot of fun to just write regular entries again instead of Season Reviews. I look forward to doing many more.... 

 

CHRONOLOGIES AND TIMELINES: THE JOURNEY OF THE TIMELESS CHILD - PART ONE

And... we're back! Time to just start writing normal Blogs again. No more seasons to review. 

No doubt, some of you saw this title and already want to skip over it! The Timeless Child has caused endless controversy within Fandom. Some of you just-plain hate it. Which is too bad, really. I quite enjoy the whole concept. It certainly broadens the scope of the show and adds something new and interesting to a Lore that, after fifty or so years, was getting a bit stale!  

Here's the thing: If you just hate the whole concept of the Timeless Child then, yeah, maybe this isn't for you. If you dislike the Timeless Child because she doesn't seem to make sense to you then you may actually want to take a look at this. Basically, I've put a whole timeline together for her and tried to offer a clearer explanation on certain aspects of her past that are harder to understand. If I can help you to see that there is some actual solid logic to her storyline, you could legitimately re-evaluate her. You may even become a member of the The Timeless Child is Actually Okay Club! 

It should be noted that I have written a few entries on this character over the years. Chibnall decided to tell us her story in a very jumbled manner. Which I think made the whole thing more fun. I enjoyed how it took us a while to truly figure out who she was. As more pieces of her puzzle came into place, I needed to keep expanding on the ideas I was exploring about her in this Blog. Since, for the most part, the whole arc has now been laid to rest - I thought it was time to try to really encapsulate everything we've learnt about the Timeless Child. 

This means that some of what you'll see in this entry has been discussed elsewhere. At the same time, however, you'll also read some new notions that I've only come up with recently. I just thought it would be nice to put all of my ideas into one single piece. A sort of "final word" on how I think her timeline functions. 

It should also be noted that, like the Fourteenth Doctor, I'm going to choose my pronouns carefully. I tend to identify my regenerating species according to their pre-dominant gender. More times than others, the Timeless Child appears to be female. So I will use terms like "she" or "her" during that period of the character's timeline. Once the Timeless Child is transformed into a mere Time Lord known as "the Doctor" that was originally portrayed by William Hartnell, I will start using pronouns like "he" or "him". This will make that moment where the Timeless Child is transformed into the Doctor we've known since 1963 all-the-more succinct. 

Yet one more note! I will be borrowing just a bit from Expanded Universe Stuff to help flesh out some of her background. I'll mainly be using some of the ideas that were meant to be explored had there been a twenty-seventh and/or twenty-eighth season and the Cartmel Masterplan had been fully developed. Since the show had been cancelled, the arc was actually finished in the New Adventure novels that came out in the early 90s. Which means, of course, that they're not "truly canon" (by my definition, at least) since they are mere books and not broadcast episodes. 

STARTING AT THE VERY BEGINNING 

It begins on that fateful day during the Ancient Times. When the Universe was still young and the Time Lords were not even a notion the Shobogans had imagined yet. 

The Great Gallifreyan Explorer Tecteun lands on a nameless planet and discovers a young child at the end of a strange dimensional rift. She has no idea what the child is doing there. As the Doctor would later point out, there could have been multiple reasons for her being left in that spot. Other beings could have been coming through that rift any moment to accompany her. Or she could have been meant to be meeting a species from our own Universe. Or any number of other reasons. We'll never know, of course. 

I have my own goofy little theory about what the Timeless Child was doing there that I will actually post at the bottom of this entry. Scroll down now if you want to look at it right away. Or wait 'til you've seen the rest of this piece and then take it in. Or don't read it at all! It's up to you, of course. But I think it's quite clever. 

Tecteun had a decision to make when she found the child. She could leave her there and hope she would, somehow, be okay. Or she could adopt her. Unable to abandon the youngster, Tecteun brought her aboard her ship. They continued to explore the Universe for a time but did, eventually, find their way back to Gallifrey. 

FIRST REGENERATION

While I'm sure Tecteun and her new ward had many great adventures as they wandered the cosmos, nothing truly noteworthy happens until, at last, they're back on Gallifrey. 

As great of an explorer as she might be, the Gallifreyan pioneer doesn't seem to have the best of parenting skills. She allows the child to play near a cliff and a terrible accident happens. From that tragedy, however, a miracle occurs. The Timeless Child regenerates in front of her adopted mother's eyes. Tecteun is fascinated by the whole process and must learn more. 

Taking the child into her lab, Tecteun very quickly discovers something about the girl's physiology. It almost seems to defy being analyzed or tampered with in any way.  This makes finding out how she regenerates nearly impossible. For what seems like ages, Tecteun struggles to find the specific strand of DNA that triggers this unique ability . Her experiments even cause the child to regenerate several more times. This "resiliency" that the Timeless Child's genetic code has will continue to have a strong role to play in her destiny.

After near-endless study, Tecteun manages to isolate the gene that causes regeneration and injects it into herself. The bold risk is a success. Gallifreyans can now regenerate. 

EARLY DAYS OF THE TIME LORDS

As Tecteun slaved away, Shobogan society evolved. Two figures rose to prominence: Rassilon and Omega. They began a series of experiments that helped them to understand the Nature of Time and, more importantly, how to control it. They also dabbled in politics. After a while, they created a ruling class on Gallifrey and housed them in a massive Citadel.  Since they seemed to be gaining a certain level of mastery over time, they christened themselves Time Lords. 

I should emphasize that, even though he is not truly a part of "canon" (at this point, at least), many fans like to believe in "The Other". He is meant to be a third Gallifreyan from the Ancient Times that stepped up and helped Rassilon and Omega build the foundations of Time Lord society. Had the Cartmel Masterplan been completed, it would have been revealed that the Doctor had lived a previous life as The Other but that he no longer remembers it (sound familiar?!). But the show went off the air and that arc, of course, was never fulfilled. 

Or was it? We now know that the Doctor was wandering around on Ancient Gallifrey as the Timeless Child. Did she assume the mantle of the Other for a time?    

I'm more inclined to believe that Tecteun, herself, became the Other. Her gift of regeneration earns her a place on Rassilon and Omega's High Council. Together, the three of them created a society that the Time Lords prospered in. But, while the other two took a much greater interest in science,  Tecteun leaned more heavily into politics. Once in power, she became instrumental in helping to form the Division: a special secret organization that began running the Citadel from behind-the-scenes. Doing the dirty work that the Time Lords didn't want to have to deal with that would ensure that their world continued to run smoothly.  They would eventually develop a more "public" sect known as the Celestial Intervention Agency. 

Shortly after Division was created, the Timeless Child was recruited into it. She proved to be an excellent agent. Accomplishing her missions with maximum efficiency. It would not take long for her to rise through the ranks. 

While a limit of twelve regenerations was imposed on all Time Lords, the Timeless Child seemed to be able to accomplish the feat infinitely. Provided, of course, that she's not too severely injured. Just like Time Lords, it is possible for her to die rather than regenerate. But, because she can regenerate as much as she wants, she started doing it quite frequently. Almost every time Division gave her a new mission, she took on a new form. 

I estimate that it was sometime around here that the various faces we see during the mind-bending battle with Morbius would exist. Note that several of these incarnations are wearing clothes from different periods of Earth's history. It's my guess that the Timeless Child was sent by Division to Earth on various missions. She even developed a certain fondness for the planet. Which enabled her to specialize in doing tasks for the Division on that world. Basically, if they needed something "fixed" on Earth, they sent the Timeless Child to do it. 

MORE EARLY DAYS OF THE TIME LORDS

While the Timeless Child was doing great work for Division, by no means did that job completely consume all her time. Thanks to her association with Tecteun, she started becoming embroiled with the Holy Trinity of Ancient Gallifrey. As her adopted mother has pointed out, she's a quick learner. So Tecteun set up a meeting with her ward and the temporal engineers working beneath Omega. The Timeless Child started helping with the various experiments in time that were going on. 

At this point, several forms of time travel had been perfected. Time Lords could use time rings, time scoops, primitive time capsules and, quite possibly, time scaphs (something that only ever gets seen in a New Adventure novel). They're adequate forms of travel, but the temporal engineers know there's something better out there - waiting to be created. With their latest addition to the team, they're certain they'll find it. 

The Timeless Child also has a healthy personal life. She meets someone that she falls in love with. They get married and have children. Those children grow up and, eventually, have children of their own. The first grandchild to be born is a girl. In tribute to the Timeless Child's love of Earth, she's given a human name. They call her Susan. 

Susan shows aptitudes of her own for learning quickly and understanding temporal physics. She's brought on to Omega's team of scientists just as they are reaching a zenith in their studies. They are close to creating a new trans-dimensional time ship. Susan comes up with the name for it by abbreviating the term Time And Relative Dimensions In Space to TARDIS. 

But this new type of time capsule needs a tremendous energy source. The Timeless Child and Susan assist in the creation of the Hand of Omega. A stellar manipulator that can induce a super nova and provide the Time Lords with the power they need.  Omega appears to perish within the creation of the exploding star but Rassilon still harnesses the Black Hole that comes of it and places it in stasis. Thus creating the Eye of Harmony. The Time Lords now have everything they truly require to secure greatness. It's a pity about Omega, of course. But they have still achieved enormous success. 

Which makes them of interest to the many other races now developing in the cosmos that want a quick leg up in their evolution. Gallifrey is relatively unprotected. Making them an easy target for invasion and exploitation. Because of this, the Timeless Child becomes involved in a side project. She helps in securing and domesticating Vallidium. A substance that can be employed to protect the planet from potential attackers. 

Because the Hand of Omega and the Silver Nemesis are both quasi-sentient, they actually form a bond with the Timeless Child. To the point where they can recognize her telepathically. 

Beyond the death of Omega, more tragedy actually strikes. During the various testing that was going on with the prototype TARDISes, a freak time storm is created. It sweeps up poor Susan and she appears to be erased from the timelines. Though they can no longer find her, it is believed she has been transported somewhere into Gallifrey's future. Since the concept of Mean Time is already being enforced, no one is allowed to go looking for her. 

DIVISON DRAMA 

Wracked with guilt over what happened to her grandchild (she was, after all, the person that introduced her to Omega's team), the Timeless Child retreats from Time Lord society. She immerses herself more deeply into the affairs of the Division. She takes on all sorts of extra missions to keep her occupied. She, eventually, reaches the point where she is heading up her own elite team. On it is Karvanista: a highly-skilled Lupar who becomes a faithful companion. Another member of her team also becomes her lover. I doubt that this is the same person she married and had children with. It's my belief that, by this point, they have separated. She has immersed herself so deeply into Division that she became estranged with her spouse and they broke up. Only another agent could understand her life enough to become intimate with her. This eventually happens with this team member.

As all this is going on, the Timeless Child also starts staying more stable in her incarnations. Resisting the urge to regenerate so frequently. 

At about this same time, Tecteun also fades from public view. With Omega presumed dead and Rassilon retired to his "tomb", she sees that the Time Lords no longer require a Holy Trinity to keep them going. They can govern themselves. Like her adopted daughter, she hides herself within the affairs of Division. Although she works more with its administrative structure rather than doing field work.  However, to the Gallifreyan public, her disappearance becomes mysterious. Legends of the Other begin to grow. No one is truly sure what actually became of her. Tecteun takes advantage of this and fades more and more away from the public consciousness. Her earliest explorations into the Universe are, more or less, forgotten. People don't even remember her proper name. 

Eventually, however, the Timeless Child comes to realize that throwing herself into Division missions was not the proper way to deal with her grief over her granddaughter. More and more, she grows disillusioned with the organization's views. Especially as their sphere of influence is now growing beyond the Glory of Gallifrey and into a system of government that will control the entire Universe. Not pleased with their tyrannical attitude, the Timeless Child decides she wants out. After some negotiations, a deadline is set for when she can retire from the organization. 

It is around this time that Swarm and Azure emerge onto the Universe. They are beings of immense power that revel in destruction. They decide the best way to see their desire realized is to allow Time to flow unchecked within Space. They attempt to overthrow the Temple of Atropos on the Planet of Time. They take out the Mouri who are holding Time in its proper place so that it flows through the Universe in an orderly fashion.

Meanwhile, the Timeless Child has struck a deal with Division. She is sent to regain the Temple of Atropos and put the Mouri back in power. In so doing, she will also take down Swarm and Azure. Once she accomplishes that, the Division will allow her to retire from its ranks. 

She accomplishes the mission with relative ease. Although, there is a certain level of temporal distortion that occurs that is misinterpreted as mere hazing. During a brief glance into a mirror, she actually gets a glimpse of her own future! 

THINGS GO SOUR WITH DIVISION 

Once Swarm and Azure are brought to justice, the Timeless Child insists that Division deliver on their promise of allowing her to retire. Naturally enough, the organization never had any intention of letting her go. Intensely important missions that only she is capable of handling keep coming up at regular intervals. The stalling tactics are endless. 

It doesn't take long for the Timeless Child to see through their ploy and take matters into her own hands. It's been quite some time, now, that TARDISes have been perfected. New and improved models come out on a regular basis. The Timeless Child decides to steal a Mark One Type Forty TARDIS. It's on the verge of becoming out-of-date so she figures no one will miss it much. Her lover actually fakes his death on a mission and the two of them run off together. They travel through Time and Space and cause whatever sort of mischief they so desire!

Sickened of all the violence that Division made her commit, the Timeless Child wishes to be viewed more as a Healer. So she decides to change her name to "the Doctor". She still tries to make a difference in the Universe. But now it's on her own terms rather than allowing an organization to dictate her moral code for her. 

She still has a certain affection for Earth. So she visits it quite often. Once more, she adopts a style of dress that enables her to blend in a bit better with the locals. 

Something peculiar happens on one of her visits to the planet. The Chameleon Circuit had started playing up over the last few trips prior to her arrival in 1950s London. The TARDIS exterior took on odd shapes that didn't really suit the environment it was materializing in. In the British Capitol, however, it becomes a Police Box. Which makes sense for the location and period. However, when they move on to their next destination, the TARDIS does not change its form. It's still stuck as a Police Box. The Doctor tries for a bit to fix it but has no real success. Ultimately, she decides that she likes it that way!

For a while, the Doctor and her companion fly about through the Universe. Righting wrongs where they can and just, generally, having fun. 

But, eventually, trouble arises. 

The Division has been looking for the Doctor. They have sent out Gath - one of their best operatives - to find her. 

She manages to intercept the Doctor while she is actually alone. The renegade and her companion decided to take separate holidays. The companion wanted to go somewhere that, quite frankly, she wasn't interested in. So she drops him off there and goes to a time and place that doesn't appeal much to him. She'll be back for him in a few days. Or, at least, she hopes she will. The TARDIS' navigational system is starting to make trouble too. Without the resources of Gallifrey, it's difficult to repair these sort of problems. 

It is while she's taking her little rest on her own that the Doctor has a run-in with Gath. She manages, however, to evade capture. She does leave Gath in a bit of a predicament with the locals, though. To ensure that she doesn't hurt anyone, she steals Gath's rifle. 

Eluding her captor, the Doctor hops back aboard her TARDIS and retrieves her companion. They have a discussion about what happened with Gath. Now aware that Division is after them, they decide they're going to need to lie low for a bit. 

HIDING ON EARTH 

One of the biggest problems with hiding from Gath is that both she and the Doctor are low-level telepaths. Now that she "has her psychic scent", it will be easier to find her again. Something must be done to mask her brain patterns. 

But, as pointed out earlier, altering the Doctor's physiology in any way is a difficult thing. A Chameleon Arch is employed, but not in the usual manner. Normally, such a device re-writes someone's biology entirely. But it's not capable of doing that to the Doctor. So, instead, they make some modifications. A highly-encrypted shield is erected around her that makes her appear human. They are still able to tamper with her memories a bit, but it's fairly superficial. Even a simple series of code words can start re-awakening her past. Which, in some ways, is useful. The Doctor may need to change back in a hurry. 

Her companion, of course, is not so worried. It seems as though he is an alien, but not a native of Gallifrey. So he's not telepathic. He still creates a false I.D. for himself (but keeps all his memories intact) and they decide to hide out on Earth. The companion calls himself "Lee" and the Doctor mentally transforms into "Ruth". They are safe for a while living in Contemporary Gloucester.

Gath, meanwhile, is forced to work with extra assistance. Division hires a platoon of Judoon (who seem to like runes) to back her up. She's not thrilled about it but employs them, nonetheless. She gets a vague bead on where the Doctor is hiding and sends the Judoon in before her to do the heavy lifting in the search. 

Lee is killed in the hunt and the Doctor is re-awakened. Once more, she gets a look into her future. This experience, however, is not as jumbled as the last one. From this point onward, she will recognize Thirteen if she meets her again. However, she fails to recall how she saw her briefly as a reflection in the mirror during her final conflict with Swarm and Azure. There was a lot going on at the time. It could even be that the Chameleon Arch and other such factors have made some of her memories a bit hazy. 

While the Doctor does take out Gath by the end of their conflict, her continued journeys in her TARDIS will only last so much longer. Division is still hot on her heels. Before they can capture her, however, she encounters Thirteen two more times. Both under somewhat bizarre circumstances. On both occasions, her consciousness is briefly extracted. First by the Matrix and then by an AI Hologram program. Both of her mental excursions into the future are very short. But she is quite effective during those occasions. She gives her future self great advice when they meet in the Matrix. And, as an AI hologram, she actually saves Thirteen's life. 

CAPTURED, AT LAST

Still broken over the loss of "Lee", the Doctor chooses to travel alone. When her mind isn't being temporarily hi-jacked into the future, she has many more great adventures. Her TARDIS, however, is becoming more and more unreliable. It's now quite difficult to steer. And, of course, it's stuck in the Police Box shape. Making it quite incongruous in most places that it lands.     

In the end, the game can only go on so long. The Doctor got too deeply involved with Division and knows too much about how they operate. There's a strong chance she might even start to actively fight against them. Which would make her a formidable thorn in the organization's side. She's too great of a risk to be allowed to roam free through the Universe. She must be brought back to Gallifrey where she can be properly secured. 

After Gath's failure, other operatives are sent out to retrieve her. They eventually succeed in her capture and bring the renegade back to Gallifrey. Once returned, Division decides that just retrieving her was not enough. She has disobeyed them. Something must be done about that or she will rebel again and, quite possibly, escape a second time. 

Quite simply, the Doctor must be punished.   

This seems a good place to end Part One. Part Two will handle the transformation of the Timeless Child into the Doctor we've known since the show first started. We'll also look at some of the "echoes" of the Timeless Child that we've seen in the Doctor's life since the transformation.  

As a special bonus: here is my goofy theory on who I think the Timeless Child really is. 

Rob's Goofy Theory About Who the Timeless Child Really is: 

In the Reality next to ours lives a race quite similar to - but not quite like - the Time Lords. They, too, are ancient beings of immense power. But they rose to supremacy even sooner than the Time Lords of our Universe did. 

This mighty race were infinitely paranoid. They not only watched over their entire cosmos for aliens that could, potentially, dethrone them, but they also looked into other dimensions to see what threats might come from there. 

They gazed into our reality and saw the Shobogans of Gallifrey in their earliest stages of development and recognized their potential. They knew they must do something about it. If allowed to grow unchecked, these creatures could one day cross the dimensional threshold and supplant them. While this race of beings from another dimension possessed great powers, they still did not have enough resources to launch a direct attack into our Universe and wipe out the evolving Gallifreyans. They would need to use stealth to keep their potential foe down. 

Genetics, of course, had been a science they had mastered ages ago. So they engineered a sort of Trojan Horse. With their Looms, they created a small child who was quick of wit and eager to learn. They also bestowed upon her an ability to regenerate herself so that she could live a long life. They knew someone with these sort of gifts would be welcomed into Gallifreyan culture. 

They mapped out the trajectory of Gallifrey's first Great Explorer. Extrapolating a future destination, they opened a dimensional rift and placed the Child along her path. Tecteun found her and, just as they planned, brought her back home. 

But there were subtler traits that they had also engineered into the Child. Characteristics that would not evolve until later. The child would have ambition. This would enable her to gain a place of high status in Gallifreyan politics. Once amongst the Elite, her final attribute would emerge. She would suddenly have a great need to create subversion. In her position of influence, she would slowly start to erode away all that made the Gallifreyans strong. She would dismantle their culture from within. 

Much of their strategy succeeded. The Child made a decent mess of Gallifreyan society. But creating a being that is intentionally chaotic can cause things to go awry. While the Child did cause a raucous, she decided to eventually just leave Gallifrey and travel amongst the stars. 

Ultimately, she did enough damage before going. These Galliferyans would never quite achieve the power to make them a genuine threat to these beings from another universe. The Child had accomplished the task she'd been created for. Having gotten what they wanted, they cared not what would become of her 

 

DOCTOR WHO: SEASON-BY-SEASON - ANOTHER SPECIAL BONUS: THE SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS

Well, I've finally got it done. I was supposed to be wrapping this up sometime around late November/early December. Just as the 60th Anniversary was winding its way down. But things didn't quite go as planned. Better late than never, at least!    

Completist that I am, I decided I had to review the Sixtieth Anniversary Specials too. But I chose to give them a special entry of their own. Sure, I could have tacked this on the Series Thirteen Review. But that thing was getting long enough, already. Also, these Specials feel very different from what we were getting during Jodie's and Chibber's final season. They needed a place of their own. 

I still remember when RTD was giving us a "general lay-out" of what to expect from these Specials. How Ten (now Fourteen) was going to get back together with Donna and have three big adventures with her then regenerate into Ncuti. How the first story was going to be based on an old comic strip. 

And there was much excitement amongst Fandom. Whether they hated the Era that had just ended or not, people seemed very happy that the Great RTD, David Tennant and Catherine Tate were making a triumphant return. This was going to be a great Sixtieth Anniversary. Hooray!    

A very interesting vlog came out on Youtube right around this time. The person making the clip phrased himself very carefully. Emphasizing that he was going to give the Specials a fair chance before passing final judgement. And then he proclaimed the most controversial of things: 

He was not excited about the Sixtieth Anniversary Specials. 

He had a few valid points. The biggest one being that the episodes really only seemed to be bringing back one specific period of the show. Yes, it was one of the most popular eras from Doctor Who's past - but the anniversary should be much wider in scope than that. Especially since the vlogger was not a big fan of this particular section of time in the show's history. Surely, there were other people besides him that had the same sort of feeling about this. RTD's whole plan was not being fair to them. A proper anniversary celebration should be more inclusive. Should cover a greater range. Maybe not every Doctor needed to come back. Something similar to Day of the Doctor could have been executed. A few incarnations cross paths and get in a mess. This way, several different periods from the show get represented. But just Ten and Donna was way too narrow. 

We needed something more... 

MY OWN FIRST IMPRESSIONS 

As carefully as he expressed himself, this poor vlogger still got a ton of backlash in the comments. Everyone else in the world seemed happy to see RTD, Tennant and Tate coming back and he was clearly Satan for wanting anything different. In truth, I imagine other people agreed with him but knew better than to stick their necks out in the comments and receive the same level of abuse. 

But there was one person who was brave enough to speak up on his behalf. He agreed whole-heartedly with what the vlogger had said. We should be getting a wider cross-representation of the show's past on its anniversary. He even felt that, if anything was going to feel like a real anniversary tale, it would probably be Power of the Doctor. That particular commentor also got a bunch of nasty sentiments hurled at him, But he defended his views brilliantly and made his detractors look like dribbling idiots. He was truly a mastermind at online debating. He also seemed quite sexy and probably writes really good Doctor Who blogs. 

I'm assuming, by now, you've figured out who this incredible fellow in the comments was. 

If you've been following these Reviews, you should know I am only so fond of RTD's writing. And, unlike most people, Tennant's Doctor doesn't rank highly on my list. I do love Donna. But I think there was no need to try to bring her back and extend her story any further. It went badly enough when they tried that in End of Time. To this day, I'm still not sure how she was able to release a bunch of regeneration energy and take out the group of Masters that were getting ready to eat her for lunch! I'd rather we not re-open the door on her character and have even more of this sort of silliness ensue. 

But RTD was going to do it. Like our poor vlogger, I was willing to give him a fair chance and not truly pass judgement on all this until after I'd watched the episodes and let them sink in a bit. Admittedly, though, I wasn't enthused by what I'd seen so far... 

MORE FIRST IMPRESSIONS 

(SECOND IMPRESSIONS, I GUESS) 

Okay, so I wasn't happy with a lot of RTD's work the first time around. But I also acknowledge that the last script he produced for the show would have been way back in 2009. A writer can grow a lot in that time. As can a grumpy old fan, for that matter. It's entirely possible that the material he creates upon his return will agree with me more. That was one more factor that helped me to keep an open mind about everything that was to come. 

But then RTD started saying weird stuff. This didn't, necessarily, alarm me. But it did seem very ... well ... weird! 

His first odd statement was about the Doctor's transformation into Fourteen. Changing the Doctor's clothes during the regeneration is not completely new. It happened when Hartnell turned into Troughton. It also happened, briefly, during the fourth regeneration - but that was more by accident! 

For me, there was no need for an explanation. But RTD took it upon himself to tell us why he wanted the outfit to change. He felt that, if Tennant was in Jodie's costume, the media would endlessly use that image of him because he would be in drag. That they would love to ridicule him for being in women's clothes. Or something to that effect, at least. His statement wasn't the clearest.

From what I understand of what he said, the whole idea falls apart on several levels: 

1. Jodie's actual costume seems fairly asexual. She even said that's what she was going for. So I don't think David wearing it would even be construed as "being in drag". 

2. Even if it was considered being in drag, I'm not sure if he can be ridiculed for it. Drag has actually become a fairly trendy form of entertainment, these days. Yes, there are still some super-conservative people who object to it. But, for the most part, doing drag gives you street cred as a performer! 

3. I don't actually think the press would really care that much to see him in Jodie's clothes.

The weird statements keep coming after the Children In Need Special. This time, he strikes up some real controversy amongst fandom. During the mini-sode, he actually gives Davros legs! He explains that disabled people have been portrayed for too long as being evil. From hereon in, Davros will look like a normal human rather than a strange deformed being trapped in a life support system.  

First off, given the charity that they were supporting, taking Davros out of the chair was a good move. I even get what RTD is saying about how the disabled have been portrayed. It is, however, something that happened more in classical fiction. Probably the best example that comes to mind is how King Richard the Third is often played. It does almost seem like his deformities are a sign of his evil. Or that he's become deformed because he is evil. Or something like that!    

I wouldn't say we really see this going on in fiction, anymore. Even when Nation first conceived Davros way back in the 70s, I don't think he was going for any kind of "disabled = evil" motif like Shakespeare was with Richard III. As high-tech as he may look, Davros is still, essentially, a wheelchair-bound character. But I think the intent was to create someone who was in a transitional state between human and Dalek. And putting him in a futuristic wheelchair achieves that effect. It's also implied that he was this obsessed scientist even before an accident put him in such a state. So, really, the evil was there before the disability. 

So RTD's reasoning for wanting to make Davros completely able-bodied doesn't seem to be on very solid ground. It makes about as much sense as not letting Fourteen first appear in Jodie's outfit. And all of these statements do actually make me wonder just a little about what sort of scripts we're actually going to get out of this guy. If what he's saying to the Press doesn't seem all that reasonable - will his writing lack logic too?!    

STARBEAST 

There was just one more thing that was causing apprehension for me before I actually watched any of RTD's new episodes (Damn! I'm pre-judging a lot, here!). The first story was going to be an adaptation of the famous Starbeast comic strip. This was nothing unusual, of course. The show had done this many times before. One of my favorite stories ever was originally a novel from the New Adventures range. 

What bothered me was that Starbeast did not strike me as the sort of story you put in a series of Anniversary Specials. It's a pretty simple "cute alien bad, ugly aliens good" plot that we first saw over 55 years ago in Galaxy Four. I was expecting something that would be operating on a grander scale for such a momentous occasion. No, we don't need ten different incarnations of the Doctor running around for an hour saving the Universe. But I am still going to want something that feels fairly epic during a time like this. The Adventures of Beep the Meep definitely doesn't achieve that!

As fate would have it, I ended up enjoying what RTD did with the story. While a lot of attention is devoted to updating us on Donna Noble and her family, enough focus is still given to the A Plot. Which was a great sign that the Head Writer had grown since the last time he'd contributed a script. I would have still been happier with something more grandiose to suit the whole celebratory nature the show is meant to be having, but Starbeast was quite passable. 

Of course, there was some backlash about trying to make the adventure also about trans rights. Lots of talk about "Message over Story". A term fans love to use when sci-fi wants to discuss social issues. I don't actually think Starbeast does this, though. Especially since Rose being trans does actually serve the plot a bit. 

If anything troubled me it was a very specific line towards the end of the episode. "A male-presenting Time Lord could never see it." (or words to that effect). It's always a strange moment when something like this rankles me. Oftentimes, I'm not sure if I should be upset by it. It feels a bit like an unnecessary attack on men but, at the same time, I acknowledge that I might just be acting like an oversensitive straight white male! 

So I do what I always do in these situations. I reverse things a bit. I imagined if a line like this had been written into a script last season. Thirteen doesn't understand what's going on during a very important situation but Dan and Vinder do. So they turn to her and say something to the nature of: "You can't see it because you're a woman!" 

I'm pretty sure there would be great yule and cry over such a scene. And there should be. It's pretty sexist. 

The only time that kind of dialogue might work is if it's used in a highly ludicrous and comical context. Like, say, women not laughing at fart jokes while men do (although I do know plenty of women who think farting is hilarious!). I do even get that, in certain situations, one gender might be a bit more intuitive or even adept at something than the other might be. But to say something to the nature of: "You just can't see this because of the type of genitals you possess" is just a bit on the sexist side. Regardless of who it's delivered to or who is saying it. I acknowledge that RTD wrote that line and that he's actually male. But it is more-than-feasible for a gender to, sometimes, be sexist against itself! So the whole moment does leave a sour taste in my mouth and I do think I'm entitled to feel that way.

Other than that, though, I'm pretty happy with Starbeast. It's still laying some decent foundations for what could, potentially, be an interesting series of Specials. RTD definitely needs to ramp things up in the next two stories to really get it all to work, though. But he is, at least, off to a fairly solid start. 

As apprehensive as I've been, my curiosity is piqued... 

WILD BLUE YONDER 

Once more, controversy kicks in. This time, it's concerning the pre-titles. If I'm being honest, I didn't actually notice that they'd changed the race of Isaac Newton until people brought it up. But I do notice it, now. And, once more, we can resolve all the hostility with the "Reverse It" Principal. 

Imagine we're watching Rosa back in Series Eleven. Ryan follows Ms. Parks back to her home and meets Martin Luther King. And he's played by ..... a white guy! The outrage would be tremendous. And, just like in my last Reverse It Scenario, it should. You really can't do something like this with an actual figure from history. If Disney wants to change the race of the Little Mermaid, I got no problem with that. Because she's not real. Actual people, however, really should be kept the color they are. It seems like a pretty simple idea to live by when you're producing TV. 

Truth be told, however, I was more upset that the whole scene was contradicting the story Four tells about Newton in The Pirate Planet! I'm a little disturbed that messing with canon bothers me more than racism. But I guess that's just the type of fan I am!   

RTD also kinda messes things up with the Press again. As he's being asked about Wild Blue Yonder, he proclaims that it's "like nothing you ever saw before on Doctor Who"! This sounds like a pretty cool thing until you, actually, watch the episode. Before it concludes, you can easily see strong resemblances to both Midnight and The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People. 

I like to note, however, that Yonder looks like one more story. I'm also reminded of those first few episodes of The Sensorites that everyone loves to complain about. Where they're moving ever-so-slowly through the ship and absolutely nothing is happening. This is, essentially, the first half of Wild Blue Yonder. It's, pretty much, a whole bunch of nothing. You can almost just skip to when the doppelgangers show up and not feel all that particularly lost. But, even when the Doctor and Donna's doubles do show up, it doesn't get that much more exciting. 

If we're being brutally honest, Wild Blue Yonder had one purpose: to have the Doctor perform an act of superstition at the Edge of the Universe so that all kinds of evil beings could start coming into our reality. Beyond that, it's a fairly boring story. Seriously, even re-watching this episode in order to do this Review was not without pain! 

Which adds a whole new layer of disappointment. This isn't just a normal episode that missed the mark. This is part of a series of anniversary specials that should all be excellent as they build towards an amazing climax. Everything should be at its absolute best, right now. 

We shouldn't have to be sitting through duds like Wild Blue Yonder. 

THE GIGGLE 

I will say it outright: The Giggle was definitely the sort of thing I was looking for in an Anniversary Special. First and foremost: it's actually got a fairly strong plot. Which is not something you always get in this sort of story. Even good 'ole Day of the Doctor was a bit on the threadbare side when it came out ten years ago. Giggle doesn't just tell a good story, however, I also like the social commentary it makes with everyone wanting to be right. It's quite clever. 

The Giggle also gives us a lot of that Nostalgia Factor that an Anniversary Special needs. There's the return of an old villain from the 60s. A companion from the 80s also comes back. UNIT's involved. We even get some multi-incarnation action! It ticks a lot of the boxes that this sort of episode needs but actually does it more subtly than usual. Which is a nice change. RTD talks to the Press about how he wants to do a different kind of story for the Sixtieth Celebration. This time, he seems to make sense with what he's saying. 

Neil Patrick Harris is completely brilliant as the Toymaker. He just might be the best villain the show has ever had. Casting him in the role was a brilliant choice. Bringing back the character was exciting enough. But getting such a solid actor to play him was an absolute treat. He had to live up to the excellent portrayal Michael Gough gave way back in the day. Harris goes in a very different direction, of course. I can't really see Gough dancing and lip-synching to Spice Girls! But it all works within the Lore. The previous Toymaker did explain that he and his dimension would reform into something new and different after it was destroyed by the Doctor's victory in the tri-logic game. Which, for me, allows for such liberties to be taken. 

The bi-generation was an interesting twist. Sadly, I had read a leak about it, already. So it was a lot less surprising for me. But it was still very cool. There's a pretty big symbolism to it, of course. It's like RTD is trying to say that the old Doctor Who that we've known and loved is still around somewhere. But, at the same time, we're getting something new and different on its way. It's also a neat sort of gift to give the protagonist on his Anniversary. He gets to finally slow down and rest a bit. It makes continuity even more contrived than it already is. But, really, Doctor Who seems to almost thrive on having a convoluted Lore! 

If I had any real complaint, it would be that I would have liked Ncuti to have, eventually, gotten some pants on! 

FINAL CONCLUSION

So, yes, I really did enjoy The Giggle. It does a fairly decent job of celebrating the Sixtieth Anniversary. But we do have two other episodes in this arrangement. Sadly, neither of them really live up to the standards I would put on stories that are normally produced during this occasion. I don't mind Starbeast - but it's also nothing all that special. And Wild Blue Yonder is definitely a snoozefest. Having so much mediocrity precede Giggle really cheapens its impact. Which causes me to feel underwhelmed by the whole thing. So much more could have been done with these three episodes. 

While I do applaud RTD for trying to give us something different from what we usually get during these celebrations, I almost think it might have been smarter if he had just played it safe. Haul out a bunch of previous incarnations and give us some kind of universe-threatening event for them to thwart. Throw in a few old monsters that we all love, too. Admittedly, such a premise lacks originality. But it would have worked better than what we got. 

It doesn't help that the episodes do feel like they were designed more to facilitate the transition into the next re-boot RTD is planning rather than actually commemorate sixty years of the show. Both Meep and the Toymaker do some heavy foreshadowing of a villain that is coming. And the Doctor pouring salt at the Edge of the Universe sets in motion a terrible cosmic event that he must now sort out. All of this seems to be leading us toward some major events that will be taking place in Fifteen's first season. And, quite possibly, beyond. 

I don't mind that RTD used these episodes to set some of this stuff up. But it seemed like more focus was on that process than it was on actually celebrating Doctor Who turning sixty. Which kinda ruins the whole point of making these three episodes. 

If we go back to that story I was telling about that poor unfortunate vlogger, you may recall something I said in my comments. I mentioned that Power of the Doctor might end up feeling more like a "proper" anniversary special than anything we were going to get from RTD. I was attacked quite heavily by other commenters for saying that. 

I wonder if, maybe, they're eating their words, now. 

At last, the task is done. It took longer than I planned, but I enjoyed the whole process. Writing a nice solid comprehensive Review of every Season of Doctor Who was oddly cathartic. 

I've gained some interesting new audiences from these Reviews. Folks that don't normally look at blogs but enjoyed the discussions I created about the seasons I was covering started following along on this journey. I hope some of you will stay with me as I go back to my regular entries. They can spark some fun discussions too!   

 

DOCTOR WHO: SEASON-BY-SEASON - SERIES THIRTEEN

A friggin' Umbrella Season! How awesome is that?! Haven't gotten one of those since waaayy back in the mid-80s. In fact, I didn't think we'd ever see another one again.   

New Who audiences - both the casual viewer or the hardcore fan - seem resistant to change. It's like they're just fine with the way RTD set things up in those first four seasons and don't really want anything all that different from it. The very fact that Davis has been brought back and everyone is convinced he'll "save" Doctor Who is the best evidence of this. 

But there are other situations that support this idea. Another strong one is the "Graham Williams Approach" that Steven Moffat took as he became Head Writer. Many people observe how his first few seasons do feel like a continuation of the format RTD first laid out. He makes some tweaks here and there - but things still feel very "RTDesque". It's not 'til he brings in Capaldi that he really starts molding the show more into the image he wants. Shortly after that, the ratings start dropping. Which indicates to me that the audience is, quite simply, saying: "Give us back a Doctor Who that looks like the one RTD made!" 

While Moff seemed more like Graham Williams when he took over, Chibnall comes in like JNT. He is not the slightest bit afraid to radically change the show. Which creates massive amounts of pushback from the viewers. Particularly during his first season. Not only is he giving his audience something they don't really want, but he's stumbling a bit with his own format. Series Twelve, however, is going a lot smoother (aside from some people objecting to what he did with the show's Lore). He seems to be establishing a format that the viewers are growing accustomed to. There might even be a chance that the ratings start looking healthier.    

Those who are more concerned with marketability than artistic merit might say that the smartest thing Chibnall could have done in his third season was to continue making the show the exact same way he'd been doing in Series Eleven and Twelve. His audience will appreciate the stability and stick with him. Instead, though, he throws the entire formula he's established out the window and gives us Flux. 

And I have tremendous respect for him for doing that. 

THE NEW FORMAT 

So an Umbrella Season isn't something totally new to the show. We've seen it twice before. But this one definitely has some unique features to it:

 

1. Plot structure 

Our other two Umbrella Seasons do tell one long adventure, but they tend to like to divide things into sub-sections. Key to Time, for instance, has six separate stories in it (that even have their own titles) that come together to tell one big tale. Though Trial of a Time Lord uses the same name through its entire fourteen episodes, there are still four distinct divisions to it that we all recognize as stories within their own right. In both instances, everything does link together within a single narrative thread. But there's also a strong sense that the pieces are very separate. The plots to each sub-section feel complete. What joins them all together can even feel a bit tenuous, at times. 

The continuity between the six episodes of Flux is much tighter than its two predecessors. Admittedly, each episode does have its own plot going on that reaches a sort of conclusion by the time it ends. But there are so many links that start in one part and carry over into future ones that it definitely feels more like one single long story with no real subsections to it.  It's almost more like watching Dalek Masterplan or The War Games than an actual Umbrella Season. Particularly since we do tend lump the Specials in with all of this. So it really does feel like Series Thirteen had a really big story in it along with a few smaller ones. Much like the Classic Who seasons that had Masterplan and War Games.

This significant difference in plot structure, of course, creates a very different narrative flow to Flux. As I said: everything is much tighter. The pacing is even quite relentless, in places. Things feel legitimately breakneck for multiple episodes in a row. Which creates a very spectacular effect for the viewer as we follow along. You almost need to catch your breath as each episode concludes. Only to be sped along again as you dive into the next one!

2. Character Involvement 

With the exception of the Valeyard and the Inquisitor during Trial of a Time Lord (and, of course, all the Time Lord extras sitting in the background), secondary characters in Umbrella Seasons tend to be treated in much the same as they are in regular ones. For the most part, they are appearing in one story and are never seen again. Occasionally, you get someone like Sabalom Glitz who comes back later. But then, you have that same situation in a normal season. Professor Travers, for instance, appears in both Yeti stories during Season Five. 

Flux totally messes with that formula. Recurring characters pop in and out all over the place. Some, like Vinder, Swarm, Azure and Joseph "Mad Mole" Williamson (I love this guy - both the fictional portrayal and the real person he is based on) will appear in every episode. Others, like Karvanista (I also love this guy and want so badly to see him return to the show), Claire, Bel and the Grand Serpent appear more intermittently. 

In this sense, Flux is quite unique. There are some formulas that vaguely resemble it. The use of the UNIT Family during the Pertwee Era. Or the way we do get certain recurring characters in the "civilian lives" of New Who companions (Jackie Tyler or Danny Pink). But it's still not quite the same vibe we get from the characters in Flux. For just one season, Doctor Who feels more like a normal show. With characters who we follow on a regular ongoing basis. It's quite ironic how actually being a more ordinary program feels fresh and innovative. 

What makes all this even more enjoyable is how attached I feel to the secondary cast. As you've already seen in some of the parentheses from two paragraphs back - I really do love some of these guys. But, really, all of them are great. I particularly like the variety of characters that we get. Some are more colorful like Williamson, Karvanista and Jericho. Others are "straighter", like Claire and Diane. Regardless of the style of portrayal, though, I find all of them very engaging. It's especially cool that we even have a really gorgeous romantic storyline with Vinder and Bel. 

These two unique traits to Flux set it apart in some significant ways from anything we've seen before. But I recently came across an interesting little proverb: "You can crap in the kitchen and eat in the bathroom. But, just because it's new and different, doesn't make it good!" Introducing change doesn't, automatically, create something better. In fact, it can make things worse. Fortunately, these very different elements that are brought into Flux are handled brilliantly. 

In this instance, all the changes don't just work. They work great. 

CHIBNALL BRINGING BACK OLD FOES 

PART ONE: THE GLORY OF SONTARA RESTORED 

Having shown us, last year, how he writes the "Big Baddies" like Daleks, Cybermen and the Master, Chibnall is now handling some slightly more obscure returning foes. In this season, he starts by tackling those cranky 'ole Potato Heads. 

I'm just gonna come out swinging by simply stating that War of the Sontarans is the best story ever made that features them. Some will argue, of course, that such a title should go to The Time Warrior. And it is a pretty good story - but it does have a few problems (the Doctor dodging musket shots at point-blank range for a good ten minutes would be one of the bigger ones!). Whereas War of the Sontarans is, pretty much, flawless. The only issue I might genuinely take with it is that you'd think the Sontarans in the Crimean War might protect their ships a tad better. But then, they did have that big hologram that they were hiding behind so it might be possible that they put too much confidence in that one defense. Something an arrogant Sontaran might actually do. 

Otherwise, this is a magnificent Sontaran adventure. And an excellent story, in general. Which was something the Sontarans definitely needed, at this point. New Who had not been kind to them. Their one-and-only tale during the RTD era was, quite frankly, pretty bad. And did not represent them well (I was near-aghast to see that they were suddenly vulnerable to mere bullets!) Moff treats them a bit better when we see them in the Alliance Against the Doctor during the Series Five finale. I  am also quite amused by Strax when he comes along. But it is a bit frustrating that Sontarans now seem to be reduced comic relief and nothing more. 

War of the Sontarans resets the balance beautifully. They still get a few moments here and there where they appear as military buffoons. But, overall, they're very menacing and dangerous. I particularly like how it doesn't seem like a single Sontaran falls during that great big battle they have against the British soldiers. But, at the same time, Dan is running around knocking them out with a wok! The juxtaposition shows that Chibnall hasn't forgotten what's been done with the Sontarans throughout the Revived Series. However, he's still going to restore those Sontarans to their former glory. To a time when they were so powerful that they actually managed to successfully invade Gallifrey. 

I will add, here, that The Vanquishers does a great job with these creatures, too. But I wouldn't consider it a fully-fledged Sontaran story. There's so much other stuff going on in the plot that they do get regulated a bit more to the background. It is still quite cool that they manage to outwit both the Daleks and the Cybermen, though. In many ways, they become the most powerful race in the Universe during that instant. Thanks to the Doctor(s), however, that victory is short-lived. 

Nonetheless, I am very pleased with how Chibnall treats the Sontarans this season. Once more, he proves that no one handles previously-established monsters better than he does. 

CHIBNALL BRINGING BACK OLD FOES 

PART TWO: "ALL MY LIFE I'VE BEEN WORKIN' THEM ANGELS" - Neil Peart 

Chibnall's other gift to us from the past is a much more recent baddie. One that I felt no one could write better than the man who created them. But good 'ole Chibbers pulls it off! 

Village of the Angels is the best Weeping Angels story. I should clarify that Blink is a better episode, in general, than Village. But, in terms of how the Angels are actually represented in the story, Chibnall's offering does a better job. If that makes any sense! 

I like how all the previously-established powers that Angels have are put on display at some point. Like the way the image of an Angel can become one. Or how they can take people over and convert them into their own kind. And I love how a new power is revealed: their ability to create a quantum extraction. Or the concept that if an Angel zaps you twice, you just turn to dust. The whole mythos that has been built around them is respected and expanded upon. It's all constructed quite excellently. 

Chibnall also remembers to keep the Angels terrifying. The horror aspect of this particular monster is quite crucial to their success. Probably the creepiest part is when Thirteen and friends are trying to make their way through the secret tunnel and Angel arms start protruding from the walls. That was definitely eerie. Especially since each pointing finger represents an unplanned trip in time if they should touch you. 

There's also a few really great points in the story that don't relate as much to the Weeping Angels. I love it, for instance, when Jericho tells off the Angel in the TV that's using his voice. I was liking him quite a bit, already. But I fall in love with him, here. He's not just an eccentric scientist - he's pretty big bad-ass, too! The plot twist with poor Peggy and Mrs. Hayward is also brilliant. And, at the same time, brutal. The poor woman has known since childhood what's going to become of her home village but still isn't able to stop it. 

But the coolest thing of all happens during the final seconds of the episode (before the post-credits scene - which is still quite nice, too!). Watching Thirteen turn into a Weeping Angel is both a stunning and disturbing visual. The whole season has many potent Cliffhangers - but this one is the best. It's impossible to not want to see what's going to happen next week!   

THE ABSOLUTE CLASSIC 

Once, Upon Time is the absolute masterpiece of the season. Right from its very first seconds after the title sequence (although the pre-titles with Bel and the Daleks are nice, too!), it takes you on a totally wild ride. The whole central premise is very weird and abstract. And also remarkably fun.

On the most superficial of levels, it's a quick easy way to provide a lot of backstory for a few new characters that are important to the season. Given that there are considerably less episodes this year, it's a great little shortcut to take so that we feel a lot more attached to Vinder and Dan. Particularly when Vinder gets his revenge on the Great Serpent at the conclusion.

But the real highlight of the story, of course, is watching the Doctor re-live a memory of the Timeless Child. Her stopping in front of a mirror and seeing the Fugitive Doctor in her reflection just might be the coolest thing ever. But, really, the entire episode is brilliant. Even Yaz's past gets a lot of attention since she's the one dealing with a Weeping Angel. All the different plot threads work beautifully in conjunction with each other. The whole narrative is a work of art. 

Of course, Once, Upon Time also introduces The Black Coat Debate. An incredibly frivolous issue that steals so much focus away from admiring the brilliance of this story. 

"Why doesn't she wear the Black Coat more often?!" fans moaned after the episode came out, "It looks so much better than the one she wears normally." 

First off, either coat works just fine. Aesthetically, the black one might look a bit better. But it doesn't really suit this Doctor's character. She's always trying to be upbeat and black makes her look more sullen. 

Secondly, I much prefer seeing the Black Coat only in a surreal context. Like here, where she's really meant to be the Timeless Child rather Thirteen. The next time she appears in this color is when the Personification of Time takes her form for a bit. And then she's wearing it again in Power of the Doctor when she meets the Guardians of the Edge. It's so much cooler to see the coat used this way rather than just something she throws on now and again when she's in a glum mood!

And, there you go: The Black Coat Debate has even interfered with this Review. I've dwelt on it just as long as I did when talking about how great this episode is! 

GREAT EXPECTATIONS 

PART ONE: LAYING THE FOUNDATION 

We're handling things a bit out of order, here. But there's a method to my madness! At long last, though, we'll go back to the beginning.    

The Halloween Apocalypse is quite excellent on several levels. Firstly, it lays some great foundations for the whole season. We are introduced to several new characters that will have key roles to play in the plot. Swarm comes along and is an especially-interesting villain because he knows the Doctor from her previous life. His telepathic confrontation with her is truly chilling. But the friendlier people populating the narrative are also very engaging. Dan gets a fantastic introduction that makes him instantly likeable (how can you not warm up to a guy that loves his community so much that he gets in trouble for giving free tours at his local museum?!). Chibnall creates another great companion who doesn't have to be all big and melodramatic or fall madly in love with the Doctor like so many New Who companions before him. He's just a nice guy who we're glad to see aboard the TARDIS. 

Once the introductions are dispensed with, the episode gets to the real essence of the story. I actually love that it takes a while for us to finally reach the point where the Flux is released into our Universe. All the set-up that leads to that Event was executed perfectly. 

But there is another very important mission that Halloween Apocalypse accomplishes: it establishes a pace. Various plot threads intertwine together and move at an almost breakneck speed. There are brief pauses for us to catch our breath and, even, have a quick laugh. Like when Dan yells at the adult trick-or-treater. But, most of the time, the adventure propels along quite rapidly. I honestly don't think I've ever seen anything on the show move with such intensity. 

Because of these two crucial elements that the opening episode establishes, it makes an absolutely amazing first impression. As the Doctor fails to stop the Flux with vortex energy, I'm dying to see what happens next.... 

GREAT EXPECTATIONS 

PART TWO: WHERE THINGS GET TRICKY

So, even though I reviewed the first four episodes of Flux out of order, you can still see that I'm very happy with them. I'd even confidently claim that they are near-flawless (although, Once, Upon Time might actually be a perfect episode). Essentially, I am massively impressed  with everything I'm seeing. 

But, in a story with such tight continuity, a certain type of problem can arise. Audiences are getting heavily-invested in what they're seeing. And this can lead to high expectations. Or, more accurately, very precise expectations. Because of the attachments we've formed, we're more likely to want the whole plot to end in a certain way. 

With the usual format, it's easier for us to get detached from everything that's going on. The TARDIS is going to different locations on a regular basis. We're getting to know new characters all the time so we can only build so much of a rapport with them before they're gone again. But with characters and premises that are sticking around for the whole season, we're going to make connections with them. Which, in turn, creates these expectations I'm talking about. 

Basically, we start wanting things to go in a certain direction. We can even see this happening in earlier New Who with season-long arcs. It's a similar process that is, perhaps, less poignant than what an Umbrella Season creates. But it leads to, very much, the same thing. The viewer, for instance, keeps hearing this Saxon character being mentioned throughout Series Three. They start making guesses on who they want this person to be. When Saxon isn't who they thought he was, they can be disappointed. Or, maybe they did want him to be the Master, but they weren't expecting him to be defeated in a way that resembled the Resurrection of Tinker Bell in Peter Pan. That can also be a let-down! 

Any ongoing plot will get expectations heaped upon it. The tighter the plot, the higher or more precise the expectations. And, of course, the greater the risk of disappointment. 

A good writer recognizes that giving their audience the exact ending that they're expecting is not the greatest move. It makes the whole story-telling experience feel hollow. Why even write something if it just resolves itself the way everyone thought it would? A good writer must, however, choose their fights as they reach the conclusion of their tale. Certain expectations must still be met. In Series Thirteen, for example, we needed the Doctor to come up with some clever way to stop the Flux. She might not be able to undo some of its damage, but she needed to stop it from destroying the entire Universe. The Doctor giving up on our reality and just going to the next dimension with Tecteun would not have been satisfactory. 

However, there are plenty of other things that Chibnall can do to subvert our expectations. And, as a good writer, he should. But it's a tricky balance. Stray too far from our expectations and we won't be happy at all. There needs to be compromise. 

Fans, however, can be harsh. Particularly as they react to this era. Even straying a bit from the way most people feel the way Flux should end can create massive backlash. Chibbers could have, easily, tried to work out the algorithm. Figure out what ending his audience would most want and give it to them. 

Thankfully, he maintains his integrity and plays a bit with our expectations. But it does make these last two episodes a bit trickier. They are just as strong as the first four, but I do find that they create some degree of consumer resistance. Being given four magnificent episodes in a row did rope us in quite strongly. Which means we really do want to see the conflict resolve itself in very specific ways. The ending Chibnall does give us is fantastic. But, because it wasn't the ending we expected, it can be difficult to accept. 

GREAT EXPECTATIONS 

PART THREE: THE END (BUT THE MOMENT HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR) 

Survivors of the Flux is where I feel the divergence begins. Everything had been going the way we felt it should until we hit this episode. I don't think anyone thought so much time would be devoted to getting Dan, Yaz and Jericho out of the time period they're trapped in. Especially when they hatch a huge scheme at the Great Wall of China that is merely met with: "I can't time travel, you idiots!" 

While it did mess with me a bit at the time, I do actually see that this was actually the best direction things could have gone in. Flux had gotten so very intense and was coming perilously close to taking itself too seriously. At this exact time, we needed a plot thread that would lighten things up a bit. It was really great fun to have a wiseman on a mountain that liked to tease his visitors. Or an anthropomorphic dog pointing out the fatal flaw in their plan to humans who thought themselves clever. We weren't anticipating something like this, but it still serves the story better than if Chibnall had just kept ramping up the drama. 

Of course, he doesn't turn everything into a complete farce, either. The Doctor confronts Tecteun and we get some more much-needed answers about the Division. So, in amongst the comedy, we're also getting some pay-off that we've wanted for a while. 

But then, there's another unexpected plot thread that develops in this episode. The Grand Serpent is messing with UNIT so that Earth will be properly vulnerable for the season finale. I don't think anyone was expecting to see this happen. And it's a wonderful surprise. The fan-servicing, here, is fun but still tasteful. We love that soundbyte of the Brigadier from the next room as the Grand Serpent and Dopey UNIT General go strolling by. But it's actually quite nice that it's all we get of him. The plot moves on in a new direction that will eventually lead to an absolutely brilliant scene with his daughter. 

The Vanquishers pushes things even further in wild directions. Sontarans handing Daleks and Cybermen their assess was legitimately shocking. It seemed these guys would always be in Third Place as intergalactic conquerors. But they showed us! 

The Doctor suddenly getting split into three vestiges was probably another development none of us had anticipated. But it was quite fun, too. Love the little quips like: "I've got such a crush on her!"  

Ultimately, however, we also get what we needed from this season-long storyline. While the effectiveness of Sontaran treachery was a nice twist, the Doctor does still manage to stop them from taking over the Earth. And, most importantly, she grabs a readily-available resource that was under our nose the whole time to hoover up the rest of the anti-matter that's floating around and wrecking the Universe. These were the endings that we definitely needed. And we got them. Which makes those other elements that went against the outcome we desired more-than-acceptable. 

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

PART FOUR: TWO MAJOR SUBVERSIONS

Having said all that I did in the last section, I do still feel the need to discuss two major outcomes to Flux that really threw most of us for a pretty big loop. For some, I think, it was too much. But there are always certain fans that will never be pleased with anything. Particularly when Chibnall was at the helm. 

But could these fans, for once, be right? Did the Head Writer stray too far from the ending he should have given us? Or was this yet another case of certain people over-reacting? 

Let's examine these two points more closely to find out:

No Re-Set 

When I began watching Flux, the first thing I thought was: "Okay. This is going to be like Last of the Time Lords or The Big Bang. The Doctor will find some way to undo what was done and get everything back to normal!" 

My beliefs were all-the-more re-enforced as we reached The Vanquishers and the Doctor actually found a way to reverse what Tecteun had done. 

"There it is!" I acknowledged, "The Reboot Button!" 

When we get to the final episode and the Doctor does discover a method to get rid of the Flux but can't fix the damage it has caused, I'm in a state of legitimate shock. I couldn't believe they were ending things this way. A good chunk of the Universe is just going to stay destroyed. There's no Paradox Machine to bust or Box of Parandorica to send into an Event Horizon that will put everything right, again. 

And I loved that. 

Too often, major disasters in New Who have no real threat to them because the writer creates a re-set button. The Doctor will then find it and employ it. Suddenly, everything goes back to normal. It's so nice to see that not happen, for once. That the damage remains after the event is over. It's a genuinely pleasant change. 

Timeless Child Still Stays a Mystery 

Admittedly, my initial reaction to this one was a bit more negative. I had expected a full explanation of the Timeless Child by the time the Chibnall/Whitaker Era reached its end. Thirteen hurling the fob watch down a chasm in the TARDIS rather than opening it and going into the weird-looking house in her mindscape was a bit of a wtf? Moment. I was slightly upset. 

But then I made an important realization. 

"What is it about the Timeless Child Storyline that you love so much, Rob?!" I reminded myself.

"I love that it has, once more, made the Doctor a mysterious character." I answered myself (which is always a weird thing!), "That, once again, there are things about her past that we don't know about. That her origins run deeper than we know." 

"Then why would Chibnall take all that mystery away again so quickly by revealing everything we need to know about the Timeless Child in the span of just a few seasons?!" I point out to me

"Hey, yeah." I concede to myself, "That's a good point." 

Smugly, I smile to myself. 

And I am right. The Timeless Child should still stay a mystery for someone else to pick back up and expand upon at a later point if they desire to. It's not like Chibnall didn't give us enough information about this secret life that the Doctor had before she was William Hartnell. Most of the Timeless Child's story, if you're following closely, has been revealed. Chibnall just didn't give us every single detail. But we, as pedants, just naturally want everything answered right away. Not over the span of the many more years the show may have. 

Chibnall leaving things the way he did puts the Who back in Doctor Who. And, upon reflection (and some weird dialogue with myself), I'm a happier person for it. 

In the end, the Head Writer does hit a perfect balance as he concludes Flux. I will still admit it's slightly hard to accept when you first watch it. But it doesn't take much reflection or re-watching to see that he did things right. The ending is both satisfying and packs a few fun surprises, too. 

CONCLUSION ON THE FLUX

Recently, I saw someone make a very bold claim on a Fanpage. It was met with some resistance, of course. Because it was saying something positive about the Chibnall/Whitaker Era. While there was a certain amount of pushback, some did manage to offer the backhanded compliment of: "Jodie was good. But Chibnall still can't write!"  Amazingly enough, however, most people chimed in with full-hearted agreements in the comments. 

The statement was simple. They posted some highly-familiar images from Flux and a message that said: "This season is the best thing New Who has given us." 

Someone really did say that (no, it wasn't me!). Most people even supported the idea. And I was glad to see that statement as I was writing this Review. Cause it really got me thinking. They were right. This really was the best thing New Who has produced. 

I have re-watched this season several times, now. Not just for the sake of this Review but also because I really do love going back to this season and enjoying it over and over. There's always something new to find in the material that gets me to love it even more. Some nuance to the plot that wasn't as clear to me on previous viewings. Or something I catch in the overall flow that I'd not noticed before that gets me to appreciate it even more. There's just a lot of really gorgeous layers to this narrative that keep coming out every time you go back to it. It's some pretty damned spectacular writing. All the other components you need for excellent television are there too, of course.  But it all starts with one of the best-told stories we've seen in the whole history of the show. 

Throughout these Reviews of New Who, I've shown great loyalty to Series One. It really did start things off on a great foot. Only a few seasons, since, have come anywhere close to matching its potency. I can't say for sure if Flux truly beats it. But it's definitely a very solid tie. 

THE SPECIALS

PART ONE: EVE OF THE DALEKS 

Once more, we start off the new year on the right foot: The Daleks are back. Yes, yes, I know they were just in Flux but their presence was very much pushed to the background in that adventure. Here, we're getting another New Year's Day featuring a Proper Dalek Story. 

Again, Chibnall proves that he writes the Daleks so well that even Terry Nation would be a bit jealous. 

He's taking the monsters in another interesting direction. Resolution showed the effectiveness of a single Dalek. Revolution of the Daleks was about the grandeur of massive Dalek armies swooping in on each other. On this occasion, we've got a small taskforce ruthlessly trying to execute a single mission. It's a bit like The Chase. Only, this time, there's an actual plot! 

Setting the whole thing in a warehouse was an interesting risk to take that paid off nicely on several levels. It made the story more about dialogue than usual. And Chibnall showed off just how well he can write the words that come out of his characters' mouths. In order to make up for the lack of action that can take place in a warehouse, he gives us a much stronger comedy element.  But I love how subtle he's still able to keep things. We're amused by the cooky guest stars but it doesn't get in the way of the drama and tension that the story still needs. And the material is genuinely funny. Segun Akinola doesn't need to do like Murray Gold and put a bunch of farty trumpet music behind the jokes in an attempt enhance their effect. And I'm thankful for this. Gold's technique never actually worked. If anything, it highlighted how ineffective some of the comedy was!     

Creating such a static context also gave the Daleks, themselves, a bit more dialogue than they usually get.  Some of which even had some comedy impact of its own ("Daleks do not have managers!"). Other bits were quite chilling ("Daleks learn."). Giving Daleks interesting things to say is, perhaps, one of the greatest challenges any writer for the show can face. It's the whole reason why Nation came up with Davros. He wanted someone to represent the Daleks and speak more eloquently on their behalf.  But Chibnall really does show off how great he writes these monsters. He hasn't just restored their sense of menace, but he actually gets us to enjoy the words that come out of their vocal equipment (I know the more traditional phraseology is: "words from their mouths" but I don't think it's actually applicable, here!). 

I also quite like how we finally get a plot that really explores that concept of time loops. We've seen hints of them here and there. They get mentioned in stories like Claws of Axos and Invasion of Time. We even see them in action a bit during Meglos and The Big Bang. But this is the first time we really get a proper story involving one. And it's executed magnificently. The game of cat-and-mouse that erupts between the Daleks and their victims is put together quite cleverly. 

It should also be mentioned that I have loved all the inspirational speeches Thirteen has given throughout her run. They always managed to be genuinely uplifting rather than cheesy. But her "rallying the troops" when everyone's getting discouraged about beating the time loop is probably one of the best ones she delivers. It's a simple but accurate way of describing how we face challenges and get through difficult times. 

There's little to legitimately complain about, here. Once more, Chibnall gives a great New Year's Day Dalek Story. Personally, I would have liked more civil wars to erupt between the "pure" Daleks and the Recon Dalek offshoots, but this is still very good!   

THE SPECIALS

PART TWO: LEGEND OF THE SEA DEVILS 

While I have little or no problems with Arachnids in the UK or Tsurango Conundrum or even Orphan 55, it's difficult for me to defend Legend of the Sea Devils. This is the weakest offering from the entire era. Its deficiencies become especially poignant when you consider that Chibnall had been doing such a great job of bringing back other recurring foes. In this instance, however, he really does miss the mark. 

The Haters, as usual, go on endlessly about this one. At this point, Chibnall has been giving us such  high quality stuff that they are looking for every little opportunity they can to complain. But I still wouldn't call this story genuinely terrible. Lacking a bit in quality, yes. But not so much that I'm writing it off completely. The only episodes I consider truly "bad" during New Who were during the RTD era. Moffat and Chibnall had some that were "a bit off" but still redeemable. I would even be bold enough to say that Moff produced more poor content than Chibbers did (averaging things out, of course. I recognize that Steven did twice the number of seasons). 

While on the subject of RTD, I should discuss a great irony I saw going on as Legend aired. Sometime around the transmission of the episode, it had been announced that Davis was coming back to Doctor Who to "save" it. 

"Yay!" the haters rejoiced, "Doctor Who will finally be good again! We won't be getting crap episodes like Legend of the Sea Devils anymore!" 

Here's the Great Irony: most of the problems Legend had were caused by tropes RTD had used quite heavily during his first period as Showrunner. The A Plot, for instance, is virtually non-existent. Way too much focus is given, instead, to the "Will they? Won't they?" soap opera subplot regarding Yaz and the Doctor. The presence of "historical celebrities" has, once again, become cosmetic. Just as it often was during those first four seasons of New Who. Instead of getting a tale that takes a detailed look at the life of Tesla or Rosa Parks, the writer seems to just be thinking: "I want some pirates in this story! Who were some famous ones?! Let's put them in!" And we really don't get much more than that. Just like those episodes that featured Dickens or Queen Victoria back in the early days. The scriptwriter, maybe, did a quick google of them so that they could add in a few interesting little factoids. Otherwise, the famous historical figure didn't really serve much purpose to the story.   

We even get a "re-imaging of a past character that goes too far". Something we saw RTD do over and over with a non-existent love affair between Sarah Jane Smith and the Doctor or the Master complaining of drums in his head when he's never mentioned them before. In this instance, the Sea Devils suddenly become pirates! This action contradicts anything we'd ever seen about Sea Devils. They're a highly-advanced species - why would they decide to regress into something more primitive like a pirate? For that matter, why would they desire to imitate anything human when they hate them so much? Aside from wanting to make the Sea Devils fit in more with the whole motif of the story, it's pretty damned silly! But it's definitely the sort of thing RTD was notorious for. Change something firmly established in canon to suit whatever it is he wants to do in a current plot. 

Essentially, Legend of the Sea Devils is a very RTDesque tale.

Which means that I found it quite amusing that fans were praising RTD as the Messiah. While, at the same time, they were complaining about this story. The failings of the whole adventure all tended to hinge on the fact that they were re-using devices that were found in great abundance during the initial run of the man they worship. 

In amongst all these problems, however, is a major compliment I can give to this Special: I do like the way it resolves the romantic storyline between Yaz and the Doctor. The whole situation is handled quite maturely. Yaz accepts the choice the Doctor is making and still remains friends with her. The Doctor allows us another insight into the complicated nature of her personal life. Most importantly, however, she doesn't need to turn into an "Angsty Ten" as she does it!     

THE SPECIALS

PART THREE: POWER OF THE DOCTOR 

And so, once more, we reach an end. And, of course, a new beginning. Although, sort of, not a new beginning since an old face is being re-visited and a previous Head Writer is coming back! So it's like an old/new beginning/return. Or.... something like that. I'm not sure. Essentially, this is about to be a very weird period for the show! 

But before all that happens, we have to deal with losing Thirteen and the Showrunner that came with her. 

I know, already, that Jodie's departure will be legitimately rough on me. Before she came along, Eleven was my favorite New Who Doctor and his swansong depressed the Hell out of me. With Thirteen being my new Best Doc, I figured watching her regenerate wasn't going to be easy for me, either. 

There was one thing that made the whole bereavement process just a little easier: Power of the Doctor is one of - if not - the best Doctor Who stories ever. As miserable as I am during the last few minutes of Thirteen's life, the incredible thrill ride that got me there has been so rewarding that the sting of having to let her go is that little bit less vicious. Yes, she's leaving us. But, damn, did she go out in style!   

There is an insurmountable amount of fan service in this episode. Something that I find doesn't always work so well on the show. Particularly as a Head Writer is near the end of their era. Usually, nods to the past during times like these lead to previous incarnations acting more sexist than they actually were for the sake of a cheap recurring joke. Or entire episodes get devoted to old companions reacting to a Dalek invasion. Or other such nonsense.   

This is not the case with Chibnall. I'm not sure if Thirteen's final adventure was originally meant to be such an extravaganza of nostalgia, but it is what the BBC asked him to make to celebrate their centennial anniversary. But he reigns himself in beautifully so that we get a great last episode for Jodie rather than a piece of bad fanfic. Even the encounter with the Guardians of the Edge - something every fan has believed in and wanted to see - is delivered with economy. The earlier Doctors make their cameos, pick on Eight for not wearing robes, and then get out of the way. Nothing feels over-indulgent. There's a plethora of Blasts from the Past but there's also an actual plot moving things forward. It's an absolutely flawless balancing act that makes me feel like this might have made a better Sixtieth Anniversary Special than what we actually got. 

Once I'm finished with these Reviews (one more to go!) one of the first things I write will be a POINT OF DEBATE essay where I pit Power of the Doctor against my all-time favorite Doctor Who story and truly determine which one wins. Pretty sure it's gonna be Power. That's just how much I love this tale. 

FINAL ULTIMATE CONCLUSION 

And ... that's it. Chibnall, Jodie, Segun and a few others are taking their leave. Some "fans" are quite happy to see the back of them. Others are quite sad. There are even people that are insane enough to think that this has been the best era the show has had since its Revival. 

Writing these Reviews has revealed something to me. I don't hate New Who - but I definitely like the Classic Series better. I get that the show had to progress and keep pace with modern-day television audiences, but I do feel that a little too much streamlining happened when the new foundations were laid. RTD trimmed the show's roots more than he should have. Moff took some steps to improve this. But, in many ways, it still wasn't quite enough. 

But Dear Chibnall gave us a version of New Who that really did resemble the show that had come before it. The stories were still well-paced, but they slowed down just enough to allow for more character moments and other similar indulgences to return. While he was in charge, we got so many things back from the Classic Series that I had loved so much. 

Which is why I'll make the insane claim that I think this is the best version of New Who, thus far. It started on slightly shaky ground but then just kept improving and improving. So that, by the time we reached the end, it was a complete triumph. 

According to Legend, Chibnall originally had a five year plan for the show. But, sadly, Covid forced him to accomplish everything in three seasons, instead. Even under those reduced circumstances, he built some beautiful arcs into his era. Already, when I'm in the mood to re-watch some New Who, I'm going more frequently to this period than anywhere else. 

Special Note: 

Before I totally shut down this discussion, I want my last words on this subject to be about Jodie. I've already mentioned how much I love her portrayal. How she's my favorite New Who Doctor. But we should also note her professionalism. I can't think of a single occasion where I heard her address some of the horribly negative things certain "fans" were saying about her or the show, in general. She just pressed on and did her job. She not only impresses me as a performer, but also as a person. 

I enjoyed her so much that I actually find myself believing that the role is better-suited to a woman. In fact, I'm genuinely hoping that we will see more female Doctors in the future. If we do, we owe it all to the talent and dedication of Jodie Whitaker.