If you look back, you'll notice I even did quite a few entries concerning Series Eleven. Something I was never doing before Chibnall took the helm. Those other guys were making some pretty good Who - don't get me wrong. But I really do enjoy what Chibbers (officially, the nickname I've given him) is doing and feel the need to make specific entries that discuss his work directly.
At the time that I started writing this, it has been less than a day since I watched The Timeless Children for the first time (have already re-watched it, too!). This episode had more to live up to than most season finales. There were some really big questions that needed answering. Other season finales over the years have been known to occasionally fall a bit flat. Sometimes, the Head Writer has just built up so much expectations that it's impossible to produce a final episode of the season that lives up to them. In other instances, they have created mysteries that need solving and then don't give us thorough enough answers.
Chris Chibnall, in my opinion, did not commit any of those sins as he finished up Series Twelve. The Timeless Children, as far as I am concerned, was magnificent. A very fitting conclusion to everything that he's been setting up this season. The changes he has made to established canon don't bother me in the slightest. This whole season is probably the best one we've gotten in New Who. It might even be the best season of Doctor Who ever.
Having heaped on all this praise, I want to stress that this entry won't be a review (or much of one, at least). One of the things I liked best about Timeless Children was that it answered just enough questions that had been raised throughout the season. There's still a few mysteries left. Or things that need to be explained just a little bit more clearly. And I'm okay with that. It gives us something to explore in future seasons.
What I am going to do with this entry is speculate on some of these issues. More than likely, these speculations will be totally wrong. So far, any predictions I've made about the Series Twelve Mysteries have been waaayyy off! I'm guessing that this tradition will continue as I try to anticipate what might lay beyond this current season.
Do I care that I will probably keep being wrong about everything? Hell no! I am having far too much fun with this to give a damn about the damage it's doing to my credibility!
PRE-HARTNELL DAYS AND THE QUESTIONS THEY RAISE
I really do love the fact that, in many ways, Series Twelve was just trying to get one little scene in Brain of Morbius to make sense! I'm sure that wasn't Chris Chibnall's only motivation, of course. But it was a beautifully fannish gesture. I'll have to retract what I once said about that particular scene in a FIXING CONTINUITY GLITCHES entry (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/08/fixing-continuity-glitches-quick-fixes.html) - but I don't mind!
I am totally okay with versions of the Doctor existing before Hartnell. I know some fans will be outraged and claim that this is just one more way that Chibnall is specifically killing the show. Such accusations almost seem to imply that this was only ever his idea and no one else's. Which then makes a Chib-basher look just a bit silly. Andrew Cartmel was totally weaving a similar plot into the show during its final seasons. He was just never able to finish the arc before the show was put on extended hiatus.
As many people who approve of this concept have pointed out: the lore of the show needs to change direction from time-to-time. The fact that Cartmel was attempting this at an earlier time supports this quite nicely (technically, you can say that Philip Segal was trying something similar with The 96 Telemovie by claiming the Doctor was half-human). Chibnall was just giving the show what it needed. These alterations to established canon also give a more plausible reason for why the Doctor is different from all other Time Lords. Something else that I feel really helps with the whole premise of the show.
However, some important questions do get raised by making this move. The biggest one being: Has the Doctor been immortal all this time? Did he, essentially, have nothing to worry about at the end of Time of the Doctor? Were the extra regenerations granted to him by the Time Lords a sham?
What we've learnt, so far, of the Timeless Child is that she regenerates over and over without any limitation on those regenerations. Which would indicate that the Doctor did have nothing to worry about at the end of Time of the Doctor. He would have turned into Twelve even if Clara hadn't delivered her touching speech to a glowing crack in the wall. It even gets smaller inconsistencies - like the fact that Eleven could give River some regeneration energy to fix her hand in Angels Take Manhatten - to make sense. One would think that, on his last incarnation, he would have no more regeneration energy to give. But if he's been the Timeless Child all this time, then he would always have some of that energy lying around.
It also gets how reckless Twelve has been with regeneration energy to make sense too. He gave some to Davros on Skaro and used some just to prank Bill when they were fighting the Monks' invasion of Earth. Perhaps, somewhere in the depths of his memory, he knows it's okay to do this.
I would like to think, however, that the Doctor has been an actual Time Lord for the last little while and that the powers he/she has had as the Timeless Child were finally taken away just before the William Hartnell Days. Quite naturally, I will explain where this theory comes from.
THE BRENDAN MYSTERY WAS ONLY ANSWERED SO WELL FOR A REASON
One of the questions I see buzzing about the fan groups is: "I am still a bit confused about Brendan" (or words to that effect). I actually think the somewhat scant information we were given about him in The Timeless Children was the result of smart writing. Chibnall had a lot to cover in that final episode and realized the info dump had gotten big enough before delving too deeply into Brendan's full story. He gave us just enough info to understand that Brendan is, somehow, a previous incarnation of the Doctor. And that was all we needed, for now. A more extensive explanation will be given in the future.
We were supplied with several strong visual clues to indicate that there is something different about this particular incarnation. The biggest one being the shot of Brendan falling to his apparent death in Ascension of the Cybermen. That sequence was duplicated with the very first incarnation of the Timeless Child in the next episode. Note how differently things play out with this in the next scene. For the Original Timeless Child, she induces her first regeneration. But Brendan does more of a Captain-Jack-Style recovery. He just suddenly starts breathing again. The variation on how they recover from their death plummets seems quite intentional to me.
To me, it indicates that there is something very different going on with the Brendan incarnation. I believe that Brendan is part of a very complex Chameleon Arch conversion.
If you're trying to turn a Time Lord into something with a simpler biology like, say, a human - that's nothing too complicated. Just put on the silly hat that hangs from the TARDIS ceiling, writhe in pain for a few minutes and then: Boom! You're a human, now.
But to go from something complex like the Timeless Child to something almost equally complicated like a Time Lord is a more protracted process. One that seems to involve getting the Timeless Child to live the life of a human who is resistant to injury but still ages to death. As Brendan reaches the end of his life, the Time Lords can then execute the last part of the Chameleon Arch Conversion. This is what we see happening in "the back office scene" during the final two episodes of the season. This is not just a memory wipe happening. The Timeless Child is also completing the process of getting her biology re-written. She will regenerate into Baby Hartnell and grow up thinking she is now just a Time Lord. Her physiology will, quite naturally, confirm this.
Aside from a few fragmented memories, all traces of her past lives are gone now. She is, to all intents and purposes, a roguish Gallifreyan who pretentiously calls himself the Doctor. He will eventually go to the Academy and just barely manage to graduate. Whereupon he will receive various biological advantages that turn him into a true Time Lord. Ironically enough, he was the one responsible for first creating those biological advantages. He just no longer knows this because the Time Lords changed the nature of who he is and erased his memory in the process.
So, yes, Eleven would have died at the end of Time of the Doctor had he not been bestowed with a new regeneration cycle. Because now he is just a Time Lord. The immortality of the Timeless Child has been taken away from him.
THE RUTH DOCTOR TIE-IN
The big question is: why did the Time Lords choose to do this to the Timeless Child? What crime did she commit to get them this irritated with her?
Again, the answer is given to us if we're willing to look for it. In the season finale, we are shown a flashback sequence where the Timeless Child is being invited to join the Division. I'm guessing the Division will later come to be known as the Celestial Intervention Agency that first gets mentioned in Deadly Assassin. Alternatively, the Division might be a deep covert branch of the CIA. We can't say for sure, but I think it's safe to guess they are the same organization.
The Timeless Child accepts the offer and works for a while in the Division. She is, more than likely, an excellent operative. Sometime during her service, she induces a regeneration that gets her to become the Ruth Doctor.
The Ruth Doctor is given some sort of task by the Division that she can't quite stomach. She decides to quit. Of course, you can't truly quit the Division. You know too much and they would never let you return to a normal life on Gallifrey. So she has to hide. Another agent of the Division has also become disgusted with his work and hides with her. They steal a faulty TARDIS and hide on Earth for a while. Until, eventually, the Division catch up with them. The events of Fugitive of the Judoon transpire.
Naturally enough, the Division will apprehend the Ruth Doctor. She can only run away for so long. When the Division does catch her, they know they have to do something radical to get her to forget all the dirty work she has done for them. A simple memory wipe won't be enough. Or, perhaps they're so mad at her for what she did that they feel she deserves something worse than just being forced to forget this part of her lives. Whatever the case, the very complicated Chameleon Arch Conversion is first induced. The Ruth Doctor is changed into this strange unkillable human known as Brendan. He ekes out his existence as a human which can enable the second stage of the Conversion Process. Brendan is then transformed into the Hartnell Doctor.
It's entirely possible that the Division was so angry with the Ruth Doctor that they didn't even need to make the conversion so complicated. Perhaps they just wanted to punish the Timeless Child by turning her into a human for a bit before finally changing her into a Time Lord. From what we've seen, they certainly seem sadistic enough to do it.
SOME INTERESTING THREADS ARE GETTING TIED
So the real lesson we learn here is: don't piss off the Division! If you're an immortal being, they do have it within their power to take that away from you.
But if we're willing to dig a bit deeper, we can see that Chibnall has actually done some even more brilliant writing than we realize. He hasn't just answered the Question of the Timeless Child and gotten that scene in Brain of Morbius to finally work. He's reconciled, at least, two other continuity issues:
1) Those Matrix predictions regarding the Hybrid have become true. The Master with the Cyberium in his head and his merry band of Cyber-Masters are the combination of two warrior races. They stood within the ruins of Gallifrey. That's, pretty much, what the Prophecy said.
The Matrix strongly implied that the Hybrid was a single creature, of course. But, as they said in Hell Bent, the prophecy is fairly vague. Perhaps. because the Cyber-Masters do almost seem to be more of an extension of the Cyberium-infested Master rather than separate beings onto themselves, we can almost count them as being just one entity manifested in several forms. It's all pretty subjective. But the basic essence of the Prophecy of the Hybrid does play out in The Timeless Children. Which is pretty cool.
However, there is something even cooler:
2) The idea of how the Doctor is half-human is also finally explained. He has just the vaguest memories of his time as Brendan still floating around. Which means he was, to all intents and purposes, a human for a while. Aspects of Brendan's physiology might even re-manifest themselves from time-to-time. Which is why the Master sees a human retina when examining the image of Doctor Eight. If you really want to dig deep, this may also account for the Doctor having only one heart during his first two incarnations. Another trace of Brendan.
"I'm half human - on my mother's side!" even makes a sort of sense. Brendan's adopted father does seem to be a Time Lord waiting for him to live out his life before torturing him in the back office. Whereas his adopted mother appears to be a human.
This second point, to me, is super-duper-ultra-mega cool. I'm not sure if this was all intentional on Chibber's behalf. But it just might be. Look at all the work he went to just to get Brain of Morbius to make sense. He might have also been working on the half-human issue at the same time. If he was, this makes him a pretty awesome writer.
Chib-bashers should take note of this. You may have severely underestimated this man's greatness.
JUST A FEW MORE QUESTIONS....
One of the questions I see buzzing about the fan groups is: "I am still a bit confused about Brendan" (or words to that effect). I actually think the somewhat scant information we were given about him in The Timeless Children was the result of smart writing. Chibnall had a lot to cover in that final episode and realized the info dump had gotten big enough before delving too deeply into Brendan's full story. He gave us just enough info to understand that Brendan is, somehow, a previous incarnation of the Doctor. And that was all we needed, for now. A more extensive explanation will be given in the future.
We were supplied with several strong visual clues to indicate that there is something different about this particular incarnation. The biggest one being the shot of Brendan falling to his apparent death in Ascension of the Cybermen. That sequence was duplicated with the very first incarnation of the Timeless Child in the next episode. Note how differently things play out with this in the next scene. For the Original Timeless Child, she induces her first regeneration. But Brendan does more of a Captain-Jack-Style recovery. He just suddenly starts breathing again. The variation on how they recover from their death plummets seems quite intentional to me.
To me, it indicates that there is something very different going on with the Brendan incarnation. I believe that Brendan is part of a very complex Chameleon Arch conversion.
If you're trying to turn a Time Lord into something with a simpler biology like, say, a human - that's nothing too complicated. Just put on the silly hat that hangs from the TARDIS ceiling, writhe in pain for a few minutes and then: Boom! You're a human, now.
But to go from something complex like the Timeless Child to something almost equally complicated like a Time Lord is a more protracted process. One that seems to involve getting the Timeless Child to live the life of a human who is resistant to injury but still ages to death. As Brendan reaches the end of his life, the Time Lords can then execute the last part of the Chameleon Arch Conversion. This is what we see happening in "the back office scene" during the final two episodes of the season. This is not just a memory wipe happening. The Timeless Child is also completing the process of getting her biology re-written. She will regenerate into Baby Hartnell and grow up thinking she is now just a Time Lord. Her physiology will, quite naturally, confirm this.
Aside from a few fragmented memories, all traces of her past lives are gone now. She is, to all intents and purposes, a roguish Gallifreyan who pretentiously calls himself the Doctor. He will eventually go to the Academy and just barely manage to graduate. Whereupon he will receive various biological advantages that turn him into a true Time Lord. Ironically enough, he was the one responsible for first creating those biological advantages. He just no longer knows this because the Time Lords changed the nature of who he is and erased his memory in the process.
So, yes, Eleven would have died at the end of Time of the Doctor had he not been bestowed with a new regeneration cycle. Because now he is just a Time Lord. The immortality of the Timeless Child has been taken away from him.
THE RUTH DOCTOR TIE-IN
The big question is: why did the Time Lords choose to do this to the Timeless Child? What crime did she commit to get them this irritated with her?
Again, the answer is given to us if we're willing to look for it. In the season finale, we are shown a flashback sequence where the Timeless Child is being invited to join the Division. I'm guessing the Division will later come to be known as the Celestial Intervention Agency that first gets mentioned in Deadly Assassin. Alternatively, the Division might be a deep covert branch of the CIA. We can't say for sure, but I think it's safe to guess they are the same organization.
The Timeless Child accepts the offer and works for a while in the Division. She is, more than likely, an excellent operative. Sometime during her service, she induces a regeneration that gets her to become the Ruth Doctor.
The Ruth Doctor is given some sort of task by the Division that she can't quite stomach. She decides to quit. Of course, you can't truly quit the Division. You know too much and they would never let you return to a normal life on Gallifrey. So she has to hide. Another agent of the Division has also become disgusted with his work and hides with her. They steal a faulty TARDIS and hide on Earth for a while. Until, eventually, the Division catch up with them. The events of Fugitive of the Judoon transpire.
Naturally enough, the Division will apprehend the Ruth Doctor. She can only run away for so long. When the Division does catch her, they know they have to do something radical to get her to forget all the dirty work she has done for them. A simple memory wipe won't be enough. Or, perhaps they're so mad at her for what she did that they feel she deserves something worse than just being forced to forget this part of her lives. Whatever the case, the very complicated Chameleon Arch Conversion is first induced. The Ruth Doctor is changed into this strange unkillable human known as Brendan. He ekes out his existence as a human which can enable the second stage of the Conversion Process. Brendan is then transformed into the Hartnell Doctor.
It's entirely possible that the Division was so angry with the Ruth Doctor that they didn't even need to make the conversion so complicated. Perhaps they just wanted to punish the Timeless Child by turning her into a human for a bit before finally changing her into a Time Lord. From what we've seen, they certainly seem sadistic enough to do it.
SOME INTERESTING THREADS ARE GETTING TIED
So the real lesson we learn here is: don't piss off the Division! If you're an immortal being, they do have it within their power to take that away from you.
But if we're willing to dig a bit deeper, we can see that Chibnall has actually done some even more brilliant writing than we realize. He hasn't just answered the Question of the Timeless Child and gotten that scene in Brain of Morbius to finally work. He's reconciled, at least, two other continuity issues:
1) Those Matrix predictions regarding the Hybrid have become true. The Master with the Cyberium in his head and his merry band of Cyber-Masters are the combination of two warrior races. They stood within the ruins of Gallifrey. That's, pretty much, what the Prophecy said.
The Matrix strongly implied that the Hybrid was a single creature, of course. But, as they said in Hell Bent, the prophecy is fairly vague. Perhaps. because the Cyber-Masters do almost seem to be more of an extension of the Cyberium-infested Master rather than separate beings onto themselves, we can almost count them as being just one entity manifested in several forms. It's all pretty subjective. But the basic essence of the Prophecy of the Hybrid does play out in The Timeless Children. Which is pretty cool.
However, there is something even cooler:
2) The idea of how the Doctor is half-human is also finally explained. He has just the vaguest memories of his time as Brendan still floating around. Which means he was, to all intents and purposes, a human for a while. Aspects of Brendan's physiology might even re-manifest themselves from time-to-time. Which is why the Master sees a human retina when examining the image of Doctor Eight. If you really want to dig deep, this may also account for the Doctor having only one heart during his first two incarnations. Another trace of Brendan.
"I'm half human - on my mother's side!" even makes a sort of sense. Brendan's adopted father does seem to be a Time Lord waiting for him to live out his life before torturing him in the back office. Whereas his adopted mother appears to be a human.
This second point, to me, is super-duper-ultra-mega cool. I'm not sure if this was all intentional on Chibber's behalf. But it just might be. Look at all the work he went to just to get Brain of Morbius to make sense. He might have also been working on the half-human issue at the same time. If he was, this makes him a pretty awesome writer.
Chib-bashers should take note of this. You may have severely underestimated this man's greatness.
JUST A FEW MORE QUESTIONS....
Okay, so I have tried to extrapolate and come up with some solutions to the mysteries Series Twelve has not fully solved. I do believe we will get fuller explanations in the days to come. Some of what I've posed here might even line up with what Chibnall will eventually reveal.
There are, however, two more points I wish to ponder:
1) I did absolutely love The Lone Cyberman. He was one of the most awesome villains the show ever created. To me, he was as great as the Cyber Leader in Earthshock. I don't say that too much about any villain.
I loved The Lone Cyberman so much that I was really sad to see he got killed. I was hoping for a return appearance some time down the road. I get why he had to go, though. It sets up the solution to the problem the Master creates with his Cyber-Masters. Is it just me, by the way, or did that final confrontation with the Master and the Doctor feel just a little bit like when the Doctor faced down Stor in Invasion of Time?
Probably just me!
Here's my real point: we may not actually be done with The Lone Cyberman. He is, most definitely destroyed - so he has no future. But his origins are still not entirely clear. Particularly since the "Brendan is Ashad" theory didn't ring true. We did get enough information on him that if he is never touched upon again, I feel satisfied. But might it be possible that we do get a story sometime in the future that looks more thoroughly into his past?
It may just get explored. There seems to be enough teases in those last three episodes of the season to indicate Chibnall is not done with him, yet. It would create some interesting conflict if the Doctor, somehow, finds herself meeting Ashad before his conversion (or, more appropriately, half-conversion). She knows she can do nothing to stop it happening. The future has already been written.
I think there is still more to come, here. Or, more accurately, I'm hoping there is more to come. I really do love that Lone Cyberman and need to see him again!
2) The Master really does seem to be in a really inescapable situation. Is he finally done for? To this, I say: "The man got burnt to a crisp on Sarn and still lived to fight another day! He's coming back. He's indestructible - the whole Universe knows that!"
More than likely, he made it to another TARDIS lying around at the Citadel. The Doctor and the Dhawan Master will probably clash a few more times before Jodie bows out. I'm even hoping Dhawan keeps going like Ainley did and fights a few other incarnations after her. I think he might already be my new fave Master. He is so damned fun to watch!
The fact that the Master now has the Cyberium in his head does create some complications. Perhaps, after his escape, he starts having second thoughts about this decision. The Cyberium might even be trying to control him so he now wants to extract it. My guess is: our next Master story might bear some resemblance to Survival. Where the central thrust of the story is the Master trying to undo a process that has changed his physiology.
We'll have to wait and see. But I'm pretty sure the Master is far from dead. And I think Sacha Dhawan will be doing, at least, a few more turns in the role.
All right. Seriously, I am done with my Series Twelve speculations. I will get back to my real intentions, now. Some more Dalek stories will get reconciled.
Oh wait. The Blog's anniversary is just around the corner. I usually do a special entry that day....
Damn it!
There are, however, two more points I wish to ponder:
1) I did absolutely love The Lone Cyberman. He was one of the most awesome villains the show ever created. To me, he was as great as the Cyber Leader in Earthshock. I don't say that too much about any villain.
I loved The Lone Cyberman so much that I was really sad to see he got killed. I was hoping for a return appearance some time down the road. I get why he had to go, though. It sets up the solution to the problem the Master creates with his Cyber-Masters. Is it just me, by the way, or did that final confrontation with the Master and the Doctor feel just a little bit like when the Doctor faced down Stor in Invasion of Time?
Probably just me!
Here's my real point: we may not actually be done with The Lone Cyberman. He is, most definitely destroyed - so he has no future. But his origins are still not entirely clear. Particularly since the "Brendan is Ashad" theory didn't ring true. We did get enough information on him that if he is never touched upon again, I feel satisfied. But might it be possible that we do get a story sometime in the future that looks more thoroughly into his past?
It may just get explored. There seems to be enough teases in those last three episodes of the season to indicate Chibnall is not done with him, yet. It would create some interesting conflict if the Doctor, somehow, finds herself meeting Ashad before his conversion (or, more appropriately, half-conversion). She knows she can do nothing to stop it happening. The future has already been written.
I think there is still more to come, here. Or, more accurately, I'm hoping there is more to come. I really do love that Lone Cyberman and need to see him again!
2) The Master really does seem to be in a really inescapable situation. Is he finally done for? To this, I say: "The man got burnt to a crisp on Sarn and still lived to fight another day! He's coming back. He's indestructible - the whole Universe knows that!"
More than likely, he made it to another TARDIS lying around at the Citadel. The Doctor and the Dhawan Master will probably clash a few more times before Jodie bows out. I'm even hoping Dhawan keeps going like Ainley did and fights a few other incarnations after her. I think he might already be my new fave Master. He is so damned fun to watch!
The fact that the Master now has the Cyberium in his head does create some complications. Perhaps, after his escape, he starts having second thoughts about this decision. The Cyberium might even be trying to control him so he now wants to extract it. My guess is: our next Master story might bear some resemblance to Survival. Where the central thrust of the story is the Master trying to undo a process that has changed his physiology.
We'll have to wait and see. But I'm pretty sure the Master is far from dead. And I think Sacha Dhawan will be doing, at least, a few more turns in the role.
All right. Seriously, I am done with my Series Twelve speculations. I will get back to my real intentions, now. Some more Dalek stories will get reconciled.
Oh wait. The Blog's anniversary is just around the corner. I usually do a special entry that day....
Damn it!
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