FIXING CONTINUITY GLITCHES:

This is one of several pieces I submitted to a fan publication that wanted me to write something for them. They asked for outlandish theories and this is, easilly, one of the most over-contrived explanations one could provide for the notorious "half-human issue" that gets raised in the 96 Telemovie. I don't even, necessarilly, believe in this idea. But I hope you'll find it to be a fun way to look at the whole problem.

The Seventh Doctor's Fob Watch:  More Than Meets the Eye
(No it isn't a Transformer - it's something just as cool, though)


The fob watch - or "pocket watch" as it is sometimes referred to - has been a favorite accessory for the Doctor throughout most of his lives.  Particularly back in the Classic Who days.   With the exception of the Second and Fifth Incarnations (and, including the Eighth), we've seen all the versions of the Doctor from the Old Series carrying this particular type of timepiece at some point during their existence. In the New Series, the Eleventh started sporting one during the later part of his era.
     
      Some Doctors, like the Sixth, wore one quite faithfully throughout his entire tenure.   Even after his mishap on Necros, we assume that he finds a new watch quite quickly as we see him using one in his very next story. His successor, the Seventh Doctor also wore a fob watch at all times.  Throughout most of his era, he clasped his to the lapel of his blazer and tucked it into his breast pocket. But when we saw him in the 96 Telemovie, he had shifted it to the vest pocket like so many other Doctors before him had worn it.
 
      As his stories progressed, we got the impression that Doctor Seven’s fob watch did more than just tell the time.   In Silver Nemesis, it appears to have a very sophisticated alarm system that can actually analyze the time period it's in and alert the Doctor to an impending doom.   In Survival, it even seems capable of doing low-level scans for him.    In much the same way that the First Doctor's ring had some very special properties, the Seventh Doctor's pocket watch appears to have some unique abilities too.
 
      As we move past Doctor Seven and into Series Three of New Who, we learn that a Time Lord's fob watch can be even more special.  That it is a vital component of a Chameleon Arch:   a special piece of technology that fits on a Time Lord's head and can re-write his biology.  It not only gives him a new identity that he believes to be true, but it actually changes him into a new species.  At the same time, the device has an attachment that can store his essence in a special receptacle that looks exactly like a pocket watch with crazy concentric circles on it.  When the watch is opened in the Time Lord's presence, the essence is released back into him and he reverts back to his true form.   Whatever false identity the Time Lord created through the Chameleon Arch is erased.   But the memory of all the things he did in that identity is retained.   We saw both the Doctor and the Master use Chameleon Arches to facilitate certain plans they had made to escape and hide themselves' from their enemies.    In both cases, those weird-looking fob watches were integral to the schemes they had hatched.   Without that receptacle to store their true identity in, they would never have been able to return to their true selves' at the proper opportunity.

       We saw a slight variation on Chameleon Arch technology at the end of Last of the Time Lords and the beginning of The End of Time - Part 1.   As a means of exacting a resurrection after his death, the Master sealed his essence in a special ring that also seemed to have some weird runes on it.    It was a very clever ruse to ensure that he could survive after a death that might completely destroy his body.   In fact, we might now safely guess that he used something similar to survive his incineration at the end of Planet of Fire.   Although, how he was able to create the resurrection ritual that we saw in End of Time on the planet Sarn demands some serious creative thinking.    Which means it's still difficult to piece together exactly how the Master survived to return, once more, in Mark of the Rani. But, thanks to those stories in Series Three and the 2009 Specials, we have a slightly clearer idea of things.  

      But now, let's go back to the Seventh Doctor.  Well known as the slyest, most conspiring incarnation we've ever seen, this version of the Doctor was obsessed with the Great Games he was playing with the Universe.  Affectionately dubbed:  "The Cosmic Chess Player", he was constantly creating complex masterplans to advance the Greater Good. None of the other incarnations before or since went to such extravagant lengths to execute their battles against their enemies.   Yes, other incarnations have been a bit crafty and a little manipulative.   Some have even been a bit pro-active.   But none go as far as the Seventh Doctor went.  

     Which leads me to believe that Doctor Seven might have taken out an extra insurance policy just in case one of his masterplans went wrong and he actually ended up getting diced up in the cross-fire of some battle he'd intentionally arranged.  And since he was so conniving, this insurance policy would be a fairly convoluted one.  

      I suggest that the special fob watch that could already do some extra tricks could also carry his Time Lord essence in it.  Just like the fob watches we would later see in Series Three of New Who.   In fact, it is my belief that Doctor Seven's fob watch worked more like the Master's ring.  It's there as an emergency if his current body should get destroyed before it can regenerate.    It's entirely possible that the Doctor constructed a special "resurrection chamber" inside the TARDIS for just such an emergency.   Being as sneaky as he is, the Time Lord may have even put a post-hypnotic suggestion in Ace's mind (or any other companion that may have followed her during those notorious "wilderness years" when Doctor Who went off the air) to take the fob watch from his body if he should die and bring it to that special room in the TARDIS where he could then be called back into existence.

      When you think about it, this is not something we would put past this particular incarnation of the Doctor.   Again, he was truly obsessed with winning his games of cosmic chess and was not afraid to hatch the most complex of schemes to do so.   So a special fob watch that could resurrect him in an extreme emergency is not entirely far-fetched.

      But why am I going to such great lengths to postulate all this?   Like all hardcore Who fans, I'm trying to get a very nasty piece of conflicting canon to fit!

     Okay, it's the beginning of the 96 Telemovie.    The Seventh Doctor is now travelling alone. But he's still carrying that fob watch on him and it's carrying his special back up plan in it.  He goes to pick up the Master's remains from his trial on Skaro.    We learn, of course, that the Master has sealed his own essence inside this strange green goo that can take on the form of a snake.   Whether or not this is also some form of Time Lord Chameleon Arch technology at work, who can say for sure?   My guess is it's some other alien technology that works in a similar way to a Chameleon Arch.  The Master would do this because if he used Time Lord technology, the Doctor would instantly recognize what he was up to and take measures to stop him.   Instead, the Doctor's pretty sure that he really is just stowing the Master's remains and bringing it to Gallifrey (he's still a little suspicious, of course - but not enough!).    

      Shortly after bringing the Master's urn aboard the TARDIS, the strange goo that has the Master's essence in it breaks loose and immediately fuses itself with the TARDIS console. The console starts sparking nastily and the time ship crashes to Earth. Why does the Master actually cause this to happen? How does this relate to his plans of stealing the Doctor's remaining lives?  It doesn't actually seem to make sense.

      This is because I believe the TARDIS' crash landing was not actually part of the Master's plan but rather the result of his plans backfiring.  The Master enters the TARDIS console so that he can access the Chameleon Arch and transfer his essence into the Doctor's body through it.   However, because the Doctor is using Chameleon Arch technology in a way it's not intended and the Master's own container for his essence is only so compatible with Time Lord technology, some kind of weird "short circuit" occurs. The Master’s essence is rejected from the Chameleon Arch programming in the most vicious of manners. Causing the whole TARDIS to strongly react from the rejection and crash land on Earth.  

      At the same time, this short circuiting of the Chameleon Arch affects the Doctor's fob watch.   A human identity that is kept in the system should the Doctor ever want to disguise himself as one (which, of course, he eventually does several incarnations later) is downloaded into the watch.
Our TARDIS now crash-lands in San Francisco in 1999.   The Doctor is shot down by gangsters.  The Master's gooey essence scampers off to try to hatch some new scheme to steal his rival's body.  Chang Lee rushes the Doctor to the hospital, unknowingly taking the Master along for the ride so that he can eventually inhabit Bruce's body for a time.   Could it be that, as he lies unconscious in the ambulance, Doctor Seven already sees that he's having a lot of trouble inducing his regeneration?   Somewhere in his subconscious mind, he's trying to telepathically reach out to his fob watch. Fearful that his body is about to die, he wants to store the most recent version of his identity in the watch so that he doesn’t lose any memories during a forthcoming resurrection.
       
      No doubt, he's designed the watch to be telepathically, as well as physically accessible. There would be any number of times when he would want to open the watch and not use it to store his essence. He probably has a special subroutine set up so that he can only access those properties of the watch through sheer concentration.  Something his complex Time Lord mind could do even when it's at rest. Of course, the watch does something he didn’t expect.  Again, the Master caused that weird short-circuiting in the Chameleon Arch and he's now receiving human biological and mental patterns rather than sending his Time Lord essence into the watch.  

     So when that regeneration finally takes place later within the morgue - some human essence accessed from the fob watch while in the ambulance gets infused into the whole process and voila!    We have an Eighth Doctor who is half-human.  

     Think about it: the Doctor never claims his partial human lineage before or after this story.   It's only ever mentioned here.   Chameleon Arch technology is the best way to explain this.    It is, after all, capable of re-writing Time Lord biology - which would account for the Master seeing a human retinal structure as he looks at the Doctor through the Eye of Harmony.   It's also capable of instilling false memories.   Which is why the Doctor is suddenly claiming to Proffessor Wagg that he has a human mother when he's never mentionned this before or since.   This is all the result of Doctor Seven's attempts to access the fob watch when he's not fully conscious.   The short-circuit caused by the Master has messed up the process. He didn’t store his identity in the watch – he received a new one. But it’s just a partial re-write. Most of who the Doctor is remains intact. There’s just some extra human stuff added to the mix.   Which is why this new incarnation is claiming to be half human and even has some biological human traits.  It's all the result of the Seventh Doctor's and the Master's over-contrived plans not quite going the way they wanted.

      It's a bit of a mess, really.  In much the same way as Doctor Eight claiming to be half-human creates a bit of a mess of established continuity.   So, in that sense, this wonderful over-contrived theory fits the scenario quite nicely.  

      Once the Master's back-up plan of using the Eye of Harmony to steal the Doctor's remaining lives is also ruined, Doctor Eight is able to get a bit of downtime.   As he sits in the TARDIS console room after making some repairs - he clues in that something is wrong.  Perhaps, the needle flicking on the record player is the TARDIS' way of giving the Doctor a clue that things are amiss.  Whatever the case, he realizes his claims to being half-human don't make sense.   He's gotten his things back from Chang Lee. Which, of course, includes the fob watch.    The Doctor puts two and two together and sees what's happened.   He repairs the Chameleon Arch, plugs the fob watch into it and plops the whole contraption onto his head.   All his human biology and false memories are purged and he's a proper Time Lord again.   More than likely, that particular fob watch is now just a fob watch again.   He clasps it back onto his vest and continues on with his adventures, deciding he never wants to use the watch as an emergency back-up plan ever again.   After all, look at the trouble it caused him!

      Again, if we take this whole crazy idea and apply it to the situation - it is one of the better ways to explain this whole "half-human continuity issue".    It's all because the Seventh Doctor's fob watch was way more than it appeared to be.   Because the Master didn't know this, when his own sinister plot to commandeer his greatest enemy's remaining incarnations is employed - it creates a massive backfiring for both of them!    
     
      And for a brief period in time, the Doctor is genuinely half-human.   On his mother's side, of course!