BOOK OF LISTS: RANKING THE MULTI-DOCTOR STORIES

After a solid year-or-so of reviewing every season of Doctor Who, I should probably stay away from entries that focus on just my opinions or tastes. And, for a very brief stint, I have. But I do acknowledge that those Season Reviews got a lot of views. They also sparked tons of conversation and interaction in the various fan groups I post links on. The fact of the matter is: you guys seem to like when I express how I feel about the show. 

Never afraid to give my audience what they want, I will subject you to some more of my tirades.  This time, however, I will do it in the form of a list...   

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I loves me some multi-incarnation stories! Provided they're done properly, I could watch them forever. The show could have different versions of the Doctor meet with each other on a regular basis (maybe even, like, once a season) and I think I would actually be okay with that! I just find the whole concept of multiple actors that have played the same role interacting with each other in the same story to be immensely fascinating. Especially since the character seems to have a terrible time getting along with himself! 

Naturally enough, there are some multi-incarnation stories that I love more than others. Or, perhaps, even some that I don't like at all. So I thought I would go through all of them and rank them in order of preference. But I'm not just going to compile some brief list that will take all of thirty seconds to read. Oh no. That's not how we work here! I'm also going to explain why I like or dislike them so much with a little Review of each adventure. 

DEFINING THROUGH EXCEPTIONS 

As always, I like to lay a few ground rules before getting underway with these things. We should first state what constitutes a "proper" multi-incarnation tale. Now, I could go through some lengthy, technical-sounding definition that would bore you to death and stop you from reading the rest of my entry. Or, I could do as I usually do. I could take things that look like the topic we're discussing and explain why they're not. In showing you how they disqualify from being what we're talking about, I define what it is that we are examining. 

Clever, eh?    

The most obvious exceptions are stories like Day of the Daleks or episodes like The Big Bang. In such adventures, the Doctor does end up crossing his own timestream and encountering a future or past version of himself. However, it's still himself in his current body. Clearly, this doesn't qualify as a multi-incarnation story because, though the Doctor is meeting himself, it's not a different incarnation. It's just Three having a confrontation with Three. Or Eleven meeting Eleven. 

Stories like Name of the Doctor and Deep Breath come closer to being multi-incarnation stories but still don't quite pass. Another stipulation (for me, at least) is that the different versions of the Doctor need to interact with each other. In Name, we do see quite a few different Doctors dashing about. But they never actually talk to each other much (War and Eleven do have a very short discussion at the end of the episode - but, as we will learn in a future paragraph, it's not enough!) Nor do they indulge in any of that notorious banter that we all love so much. 

When Eleven calls Clara at the end of Breath, he does hear his future self in the distance and asks briefly about him. That does come perilously close to interacting with himself, but it still doesn't really qualify. 

Episodes like The Timeless Children and Once, Upon Time, on the other hand, do have very brief scenes where two different versions of the Doctor talk to each other. But the operative term, here, is brief. Those scenes need to go on for a long enough period of time. But, because they don't, these episodes are more like a story with a multi-incarnation cameo than an actual multi-incarnation adventure. 

And then, of course, there's World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls. This story also contains two different aspects of the same Time Lord. But that Time Lord, of course, is not the Doctor. So we'll leave this one out of the competition too! 

So, there we go. The term, as usual, is defined by explaining what it isn't. A multi-incarnation story needs to have different versions of the Doctor interacting with each other. A certain percentage of the story's run-time needs to contain scenes of this nature. And, most significantly, they have to genuinely involve different incarnations! Not just the Doctor meeting himself in the same body.

With all this in mind, let's start ranking. We'll start with my least favorite multi-incarnation story and work our way up: 

9) Short But Effete (Rhymes With Sweet)

Time Crash, in many ways, should not even be included here. But I'm going to put it in, anyway!  

If you go all the way back to my very second entry, ever (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/03/doin-it-with-style.html), you will see that I have chosen to accept both Time Crash and Night of the Doctor as canon. Even though they are not "proper" episodes. 

While it was still quite exciting to get a multi-Doctor story so quickly in the New Series, I would have been happier to wait longer if it had meant that the story would actually be considerably better than it was. 

There are quite a few problems with Time Crash. The biggest being that it is pretty difficult to build up much of any kind of real story in so short a run-time. Night of the Doctor, however, does prove that this is totally possible. So we can only use this as so much of an excuse. 

Another major issue with the script is a phenomenon that we end up seeing a few times when previous Doctors are brought back. The writer ends up "misremembering" what that earlier incarnation was actually like. The re-creation of the character feels far from accurate. 

Time Crash does almost feel like it should have brought back the Sixth Doctor rather than the Fifth. Yes, Five could still get a bit tetchy, in places. But, even then, Davison would often make the character more petulant than genuinely cranky. In Crash, he really does fly off the handle quite a bit. Much in the same way as Colin Baker did when he later got the role. So, in many instances, this doesn't really feel like we're watching the Fifth Doctor. But, rather, 'Ole Sixie in Five's body! Given how much I love Colin in the part, I would have been happy to see his return. However, it was Peter Davison who reprised the role. So the character should have actually resembled him more. 

My other major beef with this mini-sode is its very weird "meta" moment where Ten proclaims: "You were my Doctor" to Five. It does sound more like David Tennant talking about how much he loved watching Doctor Who when Peter Davison played the part rather than one incarnation of the Doctor complimenting another. Which just feels a bit odd and out-of-place.  

Still, there are things that I like about the story. Ten saving the day by simply remembering what he saw himself do back when he was Five is a clever resolution to the whole plot. Although, this does open up a whole new can of worms regarding how much one incarnation seems to remember when he meets another (to his credit, Moff stitches this problem up in a later story). There is, as usual, some very fun banter between the two incarnations. Which is always a good time. I do also like how it takes a while for Five to realize who he's actually dealing with. Although I'm not entirely sure how he would know who LINDA was! 

All in all, Time Crash is still passable. But it is certainly riddled with its fair share of problems. It's probably good that it's not a full episode. Not just because it's not a big enough plot to constitute 46 minutes, but the increased run-time would have also allowed for even more glaring errors to occur!  

8) "Have You No Regenerations, Sir?" 

Another big example of "misremembering" what a previous incarnation was actually like. Although, like Five in Time Crash, it's not as bad as some fans would have you believe.    

The fact of the matter is: One could be very conservative, at times. To the point where it could slightly embarrass a more progressive incarnation like Twelve. When discussing this episode, I like to point out how One threatens to give Bill a "jolly smacked bottom" when he hears her swearing. Which is, of course, a direct quote from something he once said to Susan during The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It's almost like Moff is saying to us: "Remember? He really could be this bad, sometimes! I'm not making this up!" 

The real problem with taking this sort of tact with the character is that One was only occasionally conservative. For the most part, he wasn't threatening to smack the jolly bottoms of young girls. I would even say that he was quite progressive most of the time (particularly for the time in which the show was being made). But, suddenly, the episode contains this ridiculously high concentration of instances where the First Doctor is being horrifically old-fashioned. It's being done to create a sort of counterpoint between the two incarnations. I get it. But it still really only works so well. Mainly because Moffat has made the Original Doctor way worse of an individual than he actually was. Which is especially bad since we are seeing this version of the Time Lord in his last few minutes. If this incarnation had been plucked from the early days of Season One, it would all feel more believable. The Doctor was more of an anti-hero back then. But, by this point, Hartnell and the writers had softened the character considerably. Making him suddenly so unlikeable again just doesn't sit well within the show's general continuity. 

I do really think David Bradley is excellent in the role of the Original Doctor. For some reason, fandom seems to appreciate Richard Hurndall's turn in the part better. I think it's because he makes only a vague attempt to resemble One in The Five Doctors. Instead of imitating Hartnell, he seems to be doing his own thing with the character. Which, in some sense, makes him a "truer" actor. 

Personally, I prefer that Bradley is very much doing an impersonation. To me, if you're re-creating something another performer once played, that's what you should be doing. Or, at least, you should be in a show like Doctor Who. I don't hate what Hurndall did, of course. It's still quite good. But I do like Bradley better. While the writing is a bit off, the portrayal really does feel like the First Doctor is definitely back. 

The plot to Twice Upon a Time is fairly threadbare. But there is just enough there to sustain it. And there is a very succinct moment where it stops being a multi-Doctor story and just concentrates on ending an era. Which stops it from dragging too much. But it also means that we get quite a bit of time where it's not a multi-incarnation adventure anymore. Which helps to cause it to get such a low ranking in a list of this nature. If a significant chunk of the run-time no longer deals with different aspects of the same Time Lord interacting with himself, then it's not going to score well, here. Even if I do love how Twelve's last few minutes of existence were handled (his speech really is the best final words a Doctor's ever had), it still works to the detriment of this being a good multi-incarnation tale. 

I will add, however, that how they take One in and out of The Tenth Planet was brilliant! Bradley perfectly assuming Hartnell's prone position just before he transforms into Troughton gives me the chills every time! 

7) Dancin' to the Spice Girls

This story displays another interesting trend that pops up from time-to-time in this particular type of adventure. I call it "The Multi-Incarnation Story That We Didn't Know Was Going to be a Multi-Incarnation Story"! 

To all intents and purposes, The Giggle appears to be a big climactic battle between the Doctor and his old enemy, the Toymaker. A very fun conclusion to the less-than-spectacular Sixtieth Anniversary Specials that we got in 2023. According to everything we'd been hearing, the conflict would end with the Doctor's latest regeneration. Tennant would bow out and Gatwa would step in. 

There had been whispers, of course. Word on the Street was that this latest regeneration would be a weird one. A sort of mitosis would occur that would cause both incarnations to exist at the same time. It seemed pretty ridiculous so I didn't take it too seriously. 

But then, it actually happened! I was a bit shocked. I immediately found myself questioning the whole scenario. I had not been particularly happy with the regeneration that had been wasted in the Series Four finale. Was this going to be the same sort of situation? A weird regeneration can actually work. The whole drama involving the Watcher during Logopolis had been quite cool. So it was possible that this one might be equally-interesting. It was tough, though. That debacle at the end of Series Four had left a foul taste in my mouth. And it was the same Headwriter that was now engineering this one! 

As I was busy sorting out my feelings on the matter, a strange realization came over me. This wasn't just a regeneration story, anymore. This was also a multi-incarnation tale at the same time! After all, two different Doctors were interacting with each other. And, while it was only happening towards the end of the episode, it was still going on long enough for it to qualify. 

So now the issue was becoming even more complicated! I might be okay with the regeneration - but what about the fact that this was a multi-incarnation story that was suddenly coming out of nowhere?! Were the scenes with Fourteen and Fifteen genuinely entertaining? Was Ncuti going to put some pants on soon?! So many questions! As a great man once said a short while before he self-destructed: "I can't stand the confusion in my mind!"  

It helped, of course, that we had seen some of this sort of thing before. A multi-incarnation story that happens at the same time as the Doctor regenerates had been done in Twice Upon a Time. There was even a precedent for a "surprise" multi-incarnation adventure. 

All this helped me to settle down a bit. 

Eventually, I caught my breath. Now calm, I quickly re-watched The Giggle. I had been hyperventilating too much to really appreciate that conclusion the first time round! 

This time, I actually enjoyed the bold decisions RTD was making. The weird regeneration worked. The multi-incarnation stuff was quite enjoyable. Especially since it was genuinely unique. No real banter, for once. The two incarnations were actually getting along very well. I was especially impressed with how much Fifteen was comforting Fourteen. They even hugged! 

The fact that Fifteen was handling things so differently from other occasions when he meets himself struck me as a bit of signposting. After so many years of New Who Doctors that were all more-or-less the same, it really does feel like we're going to get something very different with Ncuti. The Christmas Special that came a short while later definitely helped to re-enforce this. With this regeneration, the Doctor really does appear to have changed. 

Ultimately, though, it's not that much of a multi-incarnation story. We only get the two incarnations working together for about ten minutes or so. Most the plot is about Fourteen battling the Toymaker. Which was some great stuff. The sort of thing I'd been genuinely hoping for during these Specials. 

But, even though it's a great episode, it has a similar problem to Twice Upon a Time. Because a significant amount of its content doesn't actually involve different versions of the Doctor interacting with each other, it falls quite low on this list. 

6) "I've Come a Long Way for You!"

What a divisive little story The Two Doctors is. Fans seem to either love it or hate it. There is no middle ground. 

Except with me. I, somehow, seem capable of viewing both sides of the coin when I watch this yarn. I can, easily, see why some like it so much. But I also understand why there are those who despise it.

While only two multi-Doctor stories had come before it, some very important foundations seem to get laid in both of them. Essentially, adventures involving more than one incarnation of the Doctor seem to work to a certain pattern. The Two Doctors, I feel, both succeeds and fails because it broke most of the rules that had been established in Three and Five Doctors. 

One of the more important guidelines for a multi-doctor story, for instance, is Division of Labor. While there had been behind-the-scenes reasons with both tales that caused certain actors to only have a very limited presence in the plot, it was ensured that the ones that could be there were given a significant time in the spotlight. Basically, every incarnation got equal amounts of attention. 

Two Doctors breaks this rule quite badly during its second episode. Most of the focus is kept on Six as he is trying to figure out where his former self has gotten to. Two spends much of the episode unconscious. When he is awake, he's strapped into a gurney and can do no more than argue with people. He is used in an extremely limited way during this Part. 

I can see why this bothered some fans. Why bring back Patrick Troughton if you're just going to ask him to lie prone for the better part of an episode?!  He should be actually doing stuff rather than just waiting around to be rescued by a future incarnation. 

But that's also what makes Part Two of the The Two Doctors so cool. It breaks the mold by putting one incarnation in peril while the other tries to save him. Instead of saying: "Okay! Everyone get to that tower!" or "Go through that Black Hole and argue with Omega!", it gives us a different dynamic. 

And this is the case with so much of The Two Doctors. Each time it chooses to go against the grain, it does so with both positive and negative consequences. You can either take a glass half full or a glass half empty approach with it. It's rare that you find someone that can do both. But I do tend to agree with either side. If really pressed to make a final judgement, I mostly enjoy the story. Although there are one or two choices it makes that I can't really get behind. 

I have a hard time, for instance, with just how truly morbid the story gets. I'm not even really referring to the non-sequitur Six uses after dispatching Shockeye. There was an actual logic to it. The Doctor had no choice but to defend himself and the Androgum really had done some horrible things. He really was, in many ways, getting his "just desserts". So the Doctor really doesn't seem that callous, here. His actions are fairly well-justified. 

However, the behavior of Androgums, in general, is a bit too graphic. Shockeye snapping the neck of a rat and then eating it. Or Chessene licking blood off the ground. These seem like, perhaps, something that doesn't really belong in Doctor Who. I rarely make this sort of call. I actually like that this show can go in so many different directions. I don't feel anyone should really say stuff like: "This isn't Doctor Who!" But this just might be one of those rare occasions where lines do get legitimately crossed. 

This is also the multi-incarnation story where the ultimate "misremembering" occurs. Holmes still, more-or-less, gets the Second Doctor's character right (he is, perhaps, a bit more cantankerous than normal - but there are some extenuating circumstances that may have aggravated his mood), but the writer really does botch up the continuity of that era.  Amusingly enough, the fans find a way to make it canon. To the point where everyone now seems to love the concept of Season 6b! 

While there's lots to like about The Two Doctors, it is still quite the mixed bag. I will even admit that my own personal mood affects my enjoyment of the way it bucks so much convention. There are times when I even think that morbid stuff I complained about is quite cool!    

Overall, the story definitely sits nicely near the middle of this list. There's some really great stuff in it. But there are also some detractors. 

5) "A Dandy and a Clown" 

The Three Doctors, of course, started it all. This was the story where, for the first time, the production team asked themselves: "Let's see if the guys before him want to come back!" 

This fact, alone, makes the whole tale quite monumental. This is the story that establishes the basic formula of how multi-incarnation interaction works. It doesn't just accomplish this because it's the first time we try a premise like this out. All other stories of this nature get measured against it because The Three Doctors is just so gosh-darned enjoyable. It's an absolute treat with a sense of magic to it that all of its successors will attempt to re-create. 

Now, I get it. Such a bold statement might be slightly befuddling some of you. 

"Rob,"  you might be asking, "if you love this story so much then why do you have it so low on your list?" 

It's chocked full of charm, of course, but The Three Doctors also has the most threadbare of plots. And, what does exist of it, is not always so well-constructed. Often, when I review this story, I love to point out how Part Four comes to a screeching halt for several long minutes while various characters step through some dry ice steam and disappear in the most horrible of cross-fades! There's just not enough content to fill the run-time so they resort to a protracted farewell scene for the various supports and guest stars in order to pad things out. This is The Three Doctors' most glaring instance of how poorly-plotted things can get.

But there are subtler examples. How Two is used during the second episode is, pretty much, a gigantic waste of time. Three, of course, is the exact opposite. He and Jo are propelling the plot forward quite nicely. Two really needs to just join them so they can find the recorder and nobble Omega. But the plot isn't quite ready for the Second Doctor to get there. So he's given a useless runaround for most of the episode. A completely obvious time-filler of little or no consequence. Then the whole UNIT base gets pulled through the Black Hole for the cliffhanger. This is what needed to happen, of course, so that the next stage of the narrative could kick in. But it couldn't occur 'til this point in the story. So a bunch of stalling took place where Two tries to get the super-imposed blobby monster under control. Only to fail miserably at it. It's a bit like when they fill an episode by having the leads get captured, only to have them create an elaborate escape, but then they get re-captured again. Everything gets re-set to zero so that the plot can properly advance but the better part of an episode got filled up before doing so. The Second Doctor's "mission" during this part works to the same effect. 

Admittedly, Troughton is so entertaining that we almost don't notice the whole issue. But, if we're being brutally honest, he might as well have been strapped to a gurney the whole time!  He's as equally ineffective, here, as he was in the second part of The Two Doctors. At least in Two, it's done intentionally to give us something different. Here, it's just another example of how badly-paced the whole tale is. 

The Three Doctors is a prime example of style over substance. There is just so much fun to be had here as Two and Three work unharmoniously to save the Universe. While One, of course, occasionally gets on their cases from the TARDIS scanner. It's all quite delightful. 

But, as much as I want to just focus on the good, I can't ignore some pretty fundamental structural problems too. 

4) "Yo Go No Go So Jo Ro"  (Translation: "Beware of Judoon by the Lagoon")

Another prime example of "a multi-incarnation story when you didn't expect it to be". One could almost make the claim that Fugitive of the Judoon is identical to The Giggle: All the actual multi-Doctor action doesn't really happen until near the end. 

But, in many ways, it doesn't. Ruth is in the whole story (she is, in fact, the first character we see in the episode). Somewhere beneath her surface identity, the Doctor is lurking. She even pops out a bit early when Lee sends her some trigger words.  

If anything, Fugitive of the Judoon is more like Utopia. An episode that we consider a Master Story even though the Master doesn't truly manifest himself until minutes before the conclusion. Because of this, I won't accord Fugitive quite the same penalty that I did The Giggle. It is very much a multi-incarnation story all-the-way through. We just don't realize it the first time we're watching it. 

Having said all that, we don't really get the usual fun that a multi-Doctor story has until Ruth goes to the lighthouse and smashes the glass. Which only happens a little past the halfway mark of the run-time (unlike The Giggle, where we only get that sort of thing when there's only about ten to twelve minutes left). But once the banter does start, it's some of the best that's ever been delivered. Thirteen and Fugitive arguing in the Old-School console room and trying to figure out where they fit in the grander scheme of things is an entertaining scene. Thirteen failing miserably to keep her mouth shut as Fugitive confronts Gath on the Judoon ship is also great fun. It's all very nicely done. 

And, of course, there's the Grand Mystery of who the Fugitive Doctor truly is. Naturally enough, it's a similar vibe to what we got with the War Doctor at the conclusion of Name of the Doctor. But it's done much more effectively. John Hurt's appearance is just a quick tease at the end of the episode. Whereas Jo Martin is given quite a bit of time to establish both the false and real identity of her character. Because of this, we are far more captivated by her. The War Doctor is still quite fascinating, don't get me wrong. But I found the Fugitive Doctor far more intriguing. 

This is a fantastically-constructed episode. With all kinds of great stuff going on even outside of the multi-incarnation plotline. It's particularly great, for instance, to see Captain Jack making a return after all this time. 

But, ultimately, it can only climb so far up this particular list. There are, quite simply, stories that do a better job of showing us more than one incarnation of the Doctor operating within a single plot. Nonetheless, there's a lot to be said for the quality of Fugitive of Judoon. Which is why it does beat out quite a few other tales of this style. 

While it's still extremely good, quite a bit of it doesn't really feel like a "proper" multi-incarnation adventure. The part that does, however, is some of the best banter we've ever gotten!

3) "I Don't Do Robes!"   

Let's just get this out of the way: Power of the Doctor almost doesn't qualify to be on this list. The first scene where Thirteen meets her various previous incarnations isn't that particularly long. The second one is infinitesimal. The appearances of Five and Seven as AI holograms that finally bury the hatchet with companions they parted with on bad terms add a bit to the "multi-incarnation run-time" (although one could argue that we're still seeing only one incarnation so they don't actually count). And, of course, the Fugitive Doctor comes along for a bit too. She's also an AI hologram but she does actually interact with another version of herself. 

But there's still probably less multi-Doctor action, here, than what we get in The Giggle. That story scored low because it's really only so much of a multi-incarnation adventure. So why is Power of the Doctor so high on this list?!  

The answer is simple: Power of the Doctor is just a really awesome story. While it's not much of a multi-Doctor tale, it still does an incredible job of it. Every line that the incarnations deliver to each other as they talk at the cliff's edge is masterfully-crafted.. By both the writer and, of course, those wonderful actors that were brought back to briefly re-inhabit their characters. It's particularly great that we still get a dash of humor as Eight refuses to wear robes. 

It's not a long scene. But it's got everything that a great multi-incarnation encounter needs. So much so, that I actually like it better than most other stories that have featured these sort of sequences. 

When you grow up with the Classic Series, you tend to develop a desire to see certain things happen in the show that New Who does eventually deliver on. It was a longtime dream for many Old School fans, for instance, to see the Daleks and Cybermen do battle. That wish finally came true at the end of Series Two. Although, I will say that the confrontation never quite lived up to my expectations. In fact, I'd love to see a better-written re-match. 

I think it's fair to say that a lot of fans have also dreamt of the idea that there is a mindscape that exists in the Doctor's subconscious where he or she can interact with his/her past selves. That's something else we've wanted to see play out for quite some time. On this occasion, the actual execution of such an idea went as well as we had envisioned it. Perhaps even better. As I don't think any of us expected such a confrontation in the Doctor's Id to be so inspirational. The past incarnations really do manage to boost Thirteen's spirits as she struggles to get her body back. Although I also love the irony of Thirteen giving another of her famous uplifting speeches only to suddenly find  herself completely alone at the cliff's edge as she finishes it. 

I don't doubt that some of you reading this will find this choice to be an unfair placement on the list. A few of you will probably think that this story belongs very near or even at the very bottom. Not because it's a bad multi-Doctor adventure. But, moreso, because there's just so little content involving the different incarnations of the Doctor. 

The brief snippets that we do get, however, are just so good that it ridiculously elevates the little material in the plot that deals with multiple Doctors. It's so absolutely brilliant that it totally deserves to be where it's at in these rankings. 

2) "And I'm Wearing Sand Shoes!" 

The first "genuine" multi-incarnation story in the New Series. Time Crash was a cute little mini-sode, but this is the first effort to make a full-length story using the device. 

And it actually does a great job. One of the best, in fact. 

Moff understood all-too-well what the core ingredient of any multi-Doctor story needs to be. We absolutely love to watch the Doctor take the piss out of himself. Each incarnation almost seems to hold the belief that they are the best version of themselves and has to ridicule the other Doctors in the room in order to establish their supremacy. Hilarious banter ensues as they look for any little detail on the other incarnations to make fun of. If it's done properly, the whole plot can come to a screeching halt for a bit just so we can watch the verbal sparring. And we actually don't mind. 

This is, of course, one of the crucial "ground rules" that The Three Doctors laid down. For the most part, we see this every time a story of this nature is made.  The Giggle is about the only exception to the rule. Even Power of the Doctor has the briefest of tiffs between Seven and Eight. 

Day of the Doctor delivers gigantic amounts of banter. I would even say that the in-fighting is more severe than what we got between Two and Three during the first multi-Doctor story, ever. Which was a battle I never thought would be topped. But Day pulls it off. And it's great fun to watch. 

On top of all that fun banter, however, is some other really fascinating stuff involving multiple incarnations. We get to witness a "hidden" incarnation of the Doctor in action for the first time. On top of that, a future incarnation that has not actually had any episodes at all yet makes the briefest of appearances (those sinister eyebrows!). 

And then there's the mysterious Curator. He appears to be a future incarnation that has re-adopted an old face. It was nice to see Tom back in the role and having some fun with it. He might not be high on my list of fave Doctors, but he still deserves the tribute he receives, here. It was, perhaps, a bit troublesome for us pedants that we had no idea where such a version of the Time Lord was going to fit in to the Doctor's timeline. But, now that we've gotten the bi-generation, we can see where he might go. 

Moff using old footage to represent all the other Doctors besides War, Ten and Eleven was also very nicely done. It was good to give all the Doctors some kind of presence in the story. Realistically, getting all of them to have adequate screentime could have been too mammoth of an undertaking. This was a nice alternative.  The dream sequence at the end of the episode where One to Eleven are standing in dry ice was also a nice little touch that gave a greater sense of presence to all of the Doctors. Even if the CGI only looked so good!    

Day of the Doctor really is everything a multi-incarnation adventure ought to be - and then some! 

1) "Splendid Chap. All of them!" 

Admittedly, Day of the Doctor should have won this competition. But, as much as I deliberated over this, I still found myself liking The Five Doctors that little bit better. 

Part of what led me to this decision would be sheer nostalgia. The Five Doctors is the very first multi-incarnation story I ever saw. And it completely blew me away. 

I had learnt, in the most brutal of ways, that the Doctor could regenerate. I just suddenly watched Tom Baker "die" one day and turn into Peter Davison. Without knowing that the Doctor actually did this from time-to-time. It was with an equal level of shock that I discovered that, every once in a while, previous incarnations of the Doctor would return to help the most current one. 

Whereas learning about regeneration had been a bit traumatic, my first encounter with a multi-incarnation story was sheer delight. Those older versions of the Doctor came back once in a while - and I loved the whole concept of it! Several aspects of the same hero working together at once to combat some Great Evil struck me as completely awesome. There was just no other TV show that did stuff like this. I would even go so far to say that The Five Doctors was instrumental in getting me to fall so deeply and madly in love with Doctor Who. 

So it's a bit tough to be objective about these things!    

But, even without the rose-colored glasses, Five Doctors does a lot of heavy lifting that other multi-incarnation stories don't always accomplish so well. This is the tale that takes the most incarnations and gives them all something useful to do. Whilst, at the same time, getting them all equal amounts of screentime. It's even nice that Terrance Dicks doesn't "cheap out" and just make the Dark Tower have four entrances. One Doctor does make his way to the Citadel in order to deal with the intrigue that is brewing there. 

Yes, Five Doctors is still just a bit light on plot. But the plot that does exist is written so tightly you can bounce quarters off of it. There is no hint of any kind of the "drag" that we got in The Three Doctors. A story that was also very light on plot. Instead, The Five Doctors marks its time with awesome battles between the Cybermen and a Raston Warrior robot. Or the Master tricking the Cybermen into their own destruction on a deadly checkerboard. Or even a fun little chase from a Yeti through an underground cave. All of the "filler" we get in this narrative adds to the pace rather than detracting from it. Which makes for a very enjoyable watch every time. 

This is also the first time that the original actor that portrayed an earlier incarnation wasn't capable of reprising the role so a different performer was brought in. While I have already discussed who I like better between Hurndall and Bradley, I will still pay a ton of respect to Richard. He took a huge chance when he accepted the part. Fans could have been really upset with someone else playing the First Doctor. But he did such a solid job that we couldn't help but accept him. Even if the costume wasn't quite right!   

All in all, The Five Doctors does belong at the top. The Three Doctors may have laid the foundations. Day of the Doctor may have had the most multi-incarnation stuff in it. And all the other stories on this list have also done some rather interesting things with the premise. But Five Doctors really does feel like it got all the elements of a multi-Doctor formula just right. 

I don't think there will ever be another story that will nail it better than this one did. 

 

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. But 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 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!