I've written once before about how ridiculous Popular Fan Opinion can sound, sometimes (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2017/07/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-silliness.html). I had actually expected fans to get angry with me for some of what I was saying. Amazingly enough, I received lots of positive feedback. Some readers even admitted that they do sound a bit uninformed when they parrot certain well-spread commentaries rather than think things through for themselves.
Regardless of the warm reception, I just haven't contributed to this particular series again until now. I've had several ideas about "the things Fandom says" that I'd like to pick on a bit but I just decided to stay away from it. I was probably just a little hesitant to legitimately insult my readership!
But I am seeing certain objections to the latest way that Chibnall has expanded the mythos of the series with his Timeless Child storyline. Much of the vitriol has not seemed particularly well-formulated. So I think it's time to take another shot at picking apart some of what people are saying. Let's see if fans will accept my criticism a second time....
DISCLAIMER:
Before we get underway, let me make a few things very clear:
1) I am not telling you not to have an opinion
You are more-than-entitled to your opinion. That is a basic human right. You can think whatever you want about the current state of the show - whether it's positive or negative. What I do hope you will do, however, is put some thought into that opinion rather than just spew out what you are hearing other people say. Because what other people say is, sometimes, stated without much thought.
2) I am not expecting you to change your mind
You can look through all of my attempts at well-constructed arguments and still not agree with anything I'm saying. You can even think I'm totally full of crap! But I am hoping you will see the time and effort I've put into my opinions and go to similar lengths of your own.
In summary, my only real goal with an entry like this is to encourage you to be more of a critical thinker. Feel whatever way you want on a subject. It doesn't have to match what I feel. But if your reasoning doesn't seem particularly sound - that's when I take exception. Fans who express opinions without thinking them through are the ones that make us all look bad. I would even go so far to say that they can actually make us look stupid.
Right then, with that out of the way. Let's get to the meat of things:
Silly Fan Objection to the Timeless Child #1:
It's Destroyed the Mystery of the Doctor
I'm putting this at the top because it seems to me to be the silliest objection of them all. There are fans who believe that this whole backstory that Chibnall created regarding the Doctor being the Timeless Child has robbed us of the sense of mystery that exists in his origins.
To which I can only reply: "What Mystery is actually left?!" As far as I can tell, there has been little or no mystery to the character for quite some time. He's a Time Lord who fled Gallifrey because he disagreed with their policy of non-intervention. That got established quite some time ago. If we're upset with Chibnall for what he did, we should be far more upset with Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke for writing The War Games. That's where the Doctor's full origins were finally revealed. We should also be a little upset with Robert Holmes for writing The Time Warrior because that's the first story to mention Gallifrey. I suppose, if we really want to point some fingers, we could even get angry with Anthony Coburn for giving some scant backstory to the Doctor and Susan in An Unearthly Child. Although, most of the origin story he hinted at was strongly contradicted later!
The only real mystery still remaining is the Doctor's actual name (I actually avoid conversations with kids who were around when the stars were in the right place because I don't want to know the answer to that one!). Everything else was largely uncovered long before Chibnall took the helm. So I'm not sure how anyone can complain about this. If they want to be angry with anyone, it should be the authors I just mentioned in the last paragraph. They are the ones who took away the mystery to the Doctor by finally revealing actual facts about his past. Personally, I'm not upset at them for doing that. The mystery had gone on long enough and it was time for us to get some solid information about who the Doctor was and where he came from.
If you really gave it some thought, you'd realize Chibnall actually expanded the mystery of the Doctor. We now know that the Doctor had a whole different set of lives before Hartnell that, so far, we've only seen hints of. Over the next little while, we'll probably get some more details. But there's tonnes of room, here, for all kinds of different stories to flourish. You could even say that the opportunities for more mystery to the character have become endless. There is so much more for us to discover. Whereas, without the Timeless Child - we knew, pretty much, everything about the Doctor.
Silly Fan Objection to the Timeless Child #2:
It has Discredited William Hartnell - He's no Longer the First Doctor
Chris Chibnall wrote some very succinct dialogue for the Doctor as she discovered the truth of her origins from the Master. She very explicitly stated that she has no memory prior to her days in her first incarnation. Basically, she claims to remember only as far as the William Hartnell Doctor. Anything before that is a complete blank for her.
To me (and, dare I say, to most rational-minded people), this means the original canon concerning the line-up of the Doctor's incarnations, as we know it, is preserved. What we have seen since the series began way back in 1963 is the true life of the Doctor. Anything that may have happened while he was the Timeless Child, in many ways, happened to someone else entirely. Particularly since it seems as though memory of the Timeless Child was deleted from the minds of all other Time Lords, too. The Timeless Child was, pretty much, wiped out of existence and replaced by the Doctor. So Hartnell is still the original Doctor. We have been watching the life of the Doctor for all these years. We are now learning that the Doctor lived as someone else before the show began. But it was an entirely different life that no one actually remembers beyond a few well-hidden files in the Matrix.
Yes, the Timeless Child seems to have used the title of the Doctor for, at least, one incarnation (as played by Jo Martin). Does this discredit what Hartnell did because Martin's Doctor seems to exist prior to him? I don't think so. For the same reason that I just said: the Timeless Child appears to have been deleted from Time Lord History. The Doctor still truly begins at Hartnell and has gone as far as Whitaker (and will, at some future point, become Tom Baker again). Anything that went on before might as well be another person.
If the Doctor's memory of her existence as the Timeless Child is, someday, restored - maybe the nature of this debate will change. Until then, what she is learning about herself as the Timeless Child is more like reading someone's biography than it is learning about herself. So the idea of Hartnell being the First Doctor is still, quite firmly, intact. By my reckoning, at least.
Silly Fan Objection to the Timeless Child #3:
It has Destroyed the Established History of Time Lord Culture
Again, Chibnall used very careful wording as he went into his origin tale. He firmly establishes that the story of Tecteun and the Timeless Child takes place in the earliest days of Gallifrey. Not only has time travel not been discovered, yet - but Gallifreyans had barely even developed space exploration!
As the extended flashback progresses, we do see the beginning of the Time Lords. And that's, pretty much, when the info-dump stops. So Rassilon, Omega and, quite possibly, the Other (as far as I'm concerned, he's not officially canon) can all step in and take over. Tecteun appears to fade into the background somewhere around this point. Some like to theorize that she may have actually changed her name and gender and become either Rassilon or Omega. I think that would be fine if she did. It would especially make sense if she became Rassilon as he does appear to be immortal and Tecteun does not seem to impose a limit of regenerations upon herself once she figures out how to take that ability from the Timeless Child. But, regardless of what becomes of her, what has already been established about Ancient Gallifrey seems to be perfectly preserved. The story of Tecteun and the Timeless Child takes place before the Time Lords and, more or less, ends just as Rassilon and Omega would start to play their role in history.
And yet, some would have you believe that Chibnall's new addition to the saga flatly contradicts everything that has gone on before. I'm not sure where fans get this from. To me, the whole tale was perfectly crafted to allow for all the Rassilon, Omega and, quite possibly, the Other stuff to fit in just fine. As I just said, we only see the beginnings of Time Lord society as the flashback sequence ends. So we can safely assume that what has been established about Ancient Gallifrey takes over from that point. I can almost see why Chibnall doesn't bother to go any further. If we want to know the rest, watch The Deadly Assassin or The Three and Five Doctors. Or other stories of that nature.
Some fans swear that it was Rassilon who came up with the concept of regeneration. So the story of Tecteun and the Timeless Child is still a contradiction of sorts. As far as I can tell, there is nothing in the show that suggests this (as usual, if there is something in a Big Finish story or some other form of non-televised fiction, I don't accept that as canon). I don't even think it was ever stated who actually imposed the twelve regeneration limit on the Time Lords. So our current Head Writer was well within his rights to explore how the Time Lords achieved regeneration if he wanted to. As far as I can see, that was still a blank slate. And I quite like the tale that he told. It was an interesting and imaginative way to explain where regeneration came from. Admittedly, Tecteun has some pretty horrible parenting skills - but that still doesn't mean it's a bad story! It's just a story that seems to involve bad parenting!
Silly Fan Objection to the Timeless Child #4:
If it Doesn't Actually Change Anything - Why do it?!
After all the whining other people have done about Chris Chibnall changing things he shouldn't have, we finally get to this smaller segment of fandom that can actually see what I'm saying but still manages to find an objection!
"Fine!" they admit, "He didn't ruin the Doctor's mystery or discredit Hartnell or contradict Time Lord History! He didn't actually shake up the show in any kind of valid way. So why even come up with the concept, then?! It seems pointless if it doesn't change anything."
This particular group comes closest to having a valid point. Although, in some ways, I do feel sorry for Chibnall, right now. People are yelling at him for changing things he didn't. And other folks are upset that he didn't change things at all. He is seriously caught in a Damned if you do. Damned if you don't scenario.
But rather than bemoaning the man's fate too much, let's look at the actual objection. Yes, it's true: The Timeless Child doesn't really do anything to what has already been established on the show. But it's not as useless a venture as some fans would have you believe. It still fulfilled a purpose.
Several purposes, in fact.
1) It kept the Doctor distracted at a crucial time
Within the context of the story, itself, revealing to the Doctor that she was the Timeless Child was an excellent way to keep her busy while the Master got up to his plans with making CyberMasters. If she was able to concentrate on what her arch rival was up to - she would have probably come up with a way to stop him (as, ultimately, she did - once she burst out of the Matrix. Most likely, the Master thought she'd be trapped in there longer). In many ways, using this tactic was one of the Master's most brilliant moves. To get the Doctor to believe her life had been a lie was a great way to paralyze her indefinitely. Fortunately, Jo Martin's Doctor came along and gave her a pep talk at just the right time.
2) It didn't change the mythos of the show but it has certainly expanded it
Within the context of canon, itself, revealing to the Doctor that she was the Timeless Child allows for a whole new range of story-telling to take place. While the Doctor gets up to her usual business of beating down Daleks and saving the Universe, we can also explore her origins more deeply. It enables some nice side-plotting to occur that will, no doubt, give us an interesting arc for the next few seasons. Or even further. As I said earlier, the opportunities really are endless, here.
3) It genuinely freshens things up
Within the context of the show, itself, revealing to the Doctor that she was .... okay, I'll stop doing that!
A show with Doctor Who's extensive history needs to, occasionally, expand its premise like this. We saw this happening within the dying days of the Classic Series. An arc was being built into the stories that also dealt with a connection the Doctor was supposed have to Ancient Gallifrey. The show was cancelled before the arc could be completed. But this insinuates to me that we do need to find new layers to the lead character's background from time-to-time. It re-invigorates the show.
So, there you go fans who object to nothing happening. It wasn't all for naught! It may not have caused any kind of serious rupturing of established continuity like, say, the discovery of the War Doctor did. But it still has affected the show in more subtle ways. Some might even say that Chibnall is something of a gifted writer. He can expand the Doctor's past without having to legitimately sledgehammer in new canon. Don't get me wrong: I do also like what Moffat did with the War Doctor. That was quite cool. But I like that his successor realized he needed to take a different approach if he wanted to mess around some more with the protagonist's past. Continuous sledgehammering becomes tedious. As my grandfather who worked in road-construction used to say!
CONCLUSION:
Those are the four biggest objections I've been seeing from fans that don't seem to be grounded in the soundest of arguments. There are, of course, smaller details in all of these points that I didn't take the time to go over for the sake of keeping my word count down to a reasonable level (ie: Until The Timeless Child, the idea of the Doctor being "more than a Time Lord" had only ever been suggested. Now it has been clarified. Which does, in some ways, rob the character of some of his sense of mystery). I guess if you'd like to get into some of those finer points, we could debate in the comments.
For now, though, I hope this post gives you pause for thought. Enjoy expressing opinions til you're blue in the face, as far as I'm concerned. But if you don't want to embarrass yourself, make sure you give some thought to what you're about to say rather than just blurting things out. A well-constructed argument is a thing of beauty.
Let your beauty shine by choosing your words carefully.
So that's all I truly wanted to say on the subject but I have added a few Special Notes at the bottom that, sort of, vaguely relate to this whole argument. They, at least, show more support to the idea of the Timeless Child being a good thing for canon. Feel free to dig into them if you so desire....
****SPECIAL NOTE*****
I'm going to re-post something I wrote in a previous entry here should you want to look at it. It's something else that the concept of the Timeless Child does that I feel really benefits the show. If you want to read the full post, I'm leaving a link below. It's a sort of "General De-Brief" of Series Twelve where I try to postulate a bit about aspects of the Timeless Child that have yet to be fully explained. I'm quite certain that, as usual, my predictions will prove horrifically wrong!
Here's the link to the full post:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/03/unadulterated-boorish-opinion-series.html
Here's the specific part of the essay that I'm most interested in sharing as it relates quite nicely with some of the arguments I've been presenting. Not only does the Timeless Child seem to make sense to me, but it also is helping to solve certain issues with canon.
SOME INTERESTING THREADS ARE GETTING TIED
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.
****SPECIAL, SPECIAL NOTE****
Since writing that post, I've realized the Timeless Child can get other continuity issues to gel better.
1) More Early Days Stuff:
As I discussed the Doctor's half-human lineage in that other Special Note, I vaguely got into the idea that the Timeless Child storyline might help explain why no one registers a double-pulse when they check the Doctor's heartbeat during his first two incarnations. I try to postulate that memories and/or physical traits from the Timeless Child still surface during certain incarnations. The Timeless Child was forced to live out a full life as a human before becoming the Doctor. Quite likely, Brendan only had one heart throughout that life (or, perhaps, the Timeless Child only has one heart, too. As she is not actually Gallifreyan). Only having a single heart persists through the Doctor's first two incarnations and, finally, fixes itself after the second regeneration. Since the Time Lords initiated that particular regeneration, they may have made sure to correct the problem.
The one-heart-during-the-first-two-incarnations issue isn't the only inconsistency the Timeless Child could, possibly, fix. Let's look at a few other things from the black-and-white era that don't properly work with the rest of established continuity:
The First Doctor seems to insinuate quite heavily during the first season of the show that he constructed the TARDIS, himself. Susan also claims that she came up with the acronym of Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space. Both of these ideas get swept under the carpet during future seasons as we learn TARDISes have probably been around a whole lot longer than the Doctor and Susan have.
But what if this is more residual effects of the Timeless Child? Could it be that, during the formative years of Ancient Gallifrey, the Timeless Child was crucial in the development of TARDISes? Could the First Doctor have some vague recollection of the event?
Getting Susan's claim to make sense becomes even more contrived. But it could be possible that she might be some sort of temporal anomaly in Time Lord society. Might she have actually come from the Ancient Days and somehow been swept up into the Doctor's era? Perhaps an early experiment the Gallifreyans were doing in time travel accidentally sent her into the future.
Here's where the theory gets crazier: could Susan be the granddaughter of the Timeless Child rather than the Doctor, himself? Somehow, by instinct, she knows this is still the same person that was her grandfather on Ancient Gallifrey and latches onto him. So she was there during the formative years of the Time Lords and came up with the acronym for their time vessels. She then gets whisked into the future by accident and resumes her relationship with her grandparent in this new period.
The idea is not so outlandish. While I am loathe to get into Extended Universe stuff, the book Lungbarrow does something similar with Susan and the Doctor. In the novel, Susan was the granddaughter of the Other and lived in Ancient Times. The First Doctor, when he steals his TARDIS, goes into Gallifrey's past and meets Susan. She, somehow, knows that this is the same man as the Other and refers to him as her grandfather.
Lungbarrow, by the way, was originally intended to be a TV story. But, when the show went off the air, it was novelised, instead. So this particular wild notion about Susan came within a hair's breadth of being "proper canon".
Since we're on the topic of the Seventh Doctor and the Other....
2) The Cartmel Masterplan Re-Written
I have claimed that traits and memories of the Timeless Child have bled into the Doctor's life here and there. So far, she seems to have definitely influenced the First, Second and Eighth Doctors. Perhaps even the Fourth a bit since we do see those hidden incarnations during the mind-bending battle with Morbius. I would also add Seven to this list. He definitely got back some major memories from the Timeless Child during his era.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, an effort to expand the Doctor's origins and claim he has links to Ancient Gallifrey was attempted back in the "dying days of the Classic Series". This other attempt to deepen the Doctor's past came to be known as the Cartmel Masterplan (named after the script editor at the time). The biggest hints that were dropped about the Doctor being more than just a renegade Time Lord happened in Silver Nemesis. In that particular tale, the Lady Peinforte threatens to reveal the Doctor's greatest secrets if he doesn't hand a Gallifreyan Super Weapon over to her. She even begins to speak vaguely of the Ancient Times before the Doctor silences her by just stating he doesn't care what she says and gives Nemesis to the Cybermen.
Had the Cartmel Masterplan played out to its ultimate conclusion, we were meant to eventually discover that the mysterious Other who is meant to be drinking buddies with Omega and Rassilon was going to be a sort of earlier version of the Doctor. Their connection to each other was going to be accomplished in this weird, convoluted way that involves Gallifreyan Looms.
The story that was to reveal this was never actually produced. Which is one of the main reasons why I say that I don't, necessarily, count the Other to be canon. So far, he's never truly been discussed on the show. Until he gets a proper namecheck of some sort - he's not real. Nor are the Gallifreyan Looms, for that matter.
However, since the Cartmel Masterplan never reached its proper conclusion, we can now claim that all this hidden backstory was actually about the Timeless Child instead of the Other. More than likely, the Timeless Child would have been around while the Hand of Omega and Validium were being created. Both of these artifacts recognize the connection between the Doctor and the Timeless Child and respond to his instructions.
We can't say, for sure, just how much Seven remembers of his earlier life(ves). When he was still meant to be the Other, they never clearly established how well he knew about his past. But he does seem to have some inkling of an idea that he is more than just a Time Lord.
After all these years, we have finally found out who he truly is. Not actually the Other - but the Timeless Child.
****SERIOUSLY, MY LAST SPECIAL NOTE. I SWEAR****
These Special Notes are becoming as long as the actual entry!
Okay, one last point. You may be thinking: "If these weird things with the Doctor's physiology and memory seem to be occurring now and again, why doesn't he discuss it more? Why doesn't he say stuff like: "Why do I think I actually invented my TARDIS when, clearly, TARDISes have been around longer than I have?!"
I think part of it just has to do with the Doctor's personality. He's a pretty private person. He keeps his hand close to his vest (at least during the incarnations that wore vests!). So if something weird or confusing might be going on in his life, he's not likely to bring it up. He's definitely not good with being vulnerable so he's not going to discuss something distressing like: "Ever since I fell off that exercise bike, I started remembering that I am, somehow, linked to Ancient Gallifrey!"
In the case of residual memories from the Timeless Child, it may even be possible that they come and go. The Doctor remembers for a time that he helped invent TARDISes and talks about it a bit with Ian and Barbara. And then, suddenly, he forgets the whole thing. There may have been an unseen moment where Ian brings up the subject and the Doctor responded with something like: "What are you talking about?! I never said I invented this thing!" Ian would have just assumed the Doctor was getting on a bit and might be having memory issues and just let the whole thing go.
A similar thing may have happened with the Doctor in his seventh incarnation. In Season Twenty-Four, he makes no mention of his ties to the Old Times of Gallifrey. So, maybe, those memories hadn't re-surfaced yet. They do come to light for a while during Seasons Twenty-Five and Twenty-Six and then fade away again by the time he's reached The 96 Telemovie. So, basically, he's not about to discuss his weird residual memories if he can't actually remember them, anymore!
In terms of physical traits, they seem to last for an entire incarnation and have the potential to depart only when regeneration occurs. My guess would be that Doctors One and Two always had one heart. But, right in his first story, we see that Three got two hearts. Regeneration seems to finally eliminate the problem. I would also assume that Eight's eyes always had the retinal structure of a human. But that the War Doctor went back to having Time Lord eyes.
Okay. Now I really am done with Special Notes! But I do hope you see why I've included them. The Timeless Child really does help to reconcile quite a few inconsistencies that have occurred within the show's mythos throughout its many years. So, really, maybe it's not such a bad thing after all....
Monday 25 May 2020
Tuesday 19 May 2020
COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS: IF THE 96 TELEMOVIE WERE A FOUR-PARTER - WHERE WOULD THE CLIFFHANGERS BE?
I have several different ideas for essays floating around in my head, right now. I haven't been able to make up my mind which topic I want to tackle next, though. Such indecision can have an adverse effect on my viewing habits as I often re-watch certain Who stories for purposes of research. But, since I don't know what I want to look into more thoroughly, I haven't had a specific theme to watch for in my choice of Who tales.
On a whim, I just decided to re-watch all of the Doctor's regenerations. As I reached the 96 Telemovie, a very strange idea came over me. What if the adventure had been done in the more traditional style that had been used throughout the Classic Series? What if the whole thing had been broken down into that good 'ole fashioned episodic format?
Suddenly, I had a very silly idea for an essay...
COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS essays are still somewhat rare on this blog. They were only invented about a year-or-so ago. What's fun about these posts is there isn't any sort of "set format" for them. They can be about anything - so long as it's silly. The first one, for instance, was just a ludicrous fan theory about the Doctor's multi-colored umbrella. Another one highlighted the gratuitous use of the "capture-and-escape" device that certain stories in the Classic Series relied on to mark time. I label this particular post as being a COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS entry because the task I'm about to undertake is, pretty much, ridiculous. But, somehow, I found it to be fun.
A "CLIFFHANGER-CONDUCIVE" STORY
The 96 Telemovie is not quite the first Doctor Who adventure to be shot as a feature-length film. That credit would go to The Five Doctors. We would also get later stories like Day of the Doctor and Deep Breath that would have a similar running time. These tales would even get a limited cinematic release. Which made watching them in that format all the more fun.
What does make the Eighth Doctor's only televised story a bit different from the rest is the fact that it was an American co-produce so they needed to place gaps in the plot for commercial breaks. One of the tropes we see used in the writing of an American show is to leave things off on a suspenseful note just before they pause for advertisements. This provides the viewer with an incentive to hang in after the intermission is over.
This format means that if we want to imagine that Doctor Who - The Movie was shot in the way most Who stories had been made up to that point, it's not that difficult of an alteration to make. There are plenty of "commercial break cliffhangers" that we can choose from to determine where an episode might end.
That fateful clash between the Master and the Doctor for his remaining lives runs for nearly ninety minutes. Which means that it could break down into the four episode formula quite easily. However, there are certain issues that we should take into consideration as we undergo this re-structuring:
1) Running Time
An average episode in the Classic Series ran for about 23 minutes (done on purpose so that ad breaks could be edited into the stories if they were sold in markets where they ran commercials ). So the cliffhanger ought to be fitted in somewhere within that time frame. Every 20 to 25 minutes of content should be where we imagine a part to conclude.
2)Thematic shifts
Quite often, we see changes in emphasis from episode-to-episode. The story moves in one direction during Episode One but the flow will alter as Episode Two rolls in. We need to find moments where Paul McGann's debut adventure does this and consider it the beginning of a new part.
3)Specific Episode Formats
Similar to the second point but it should get its own special degree of attention. If you take a good look at most four-parters in the show's history, very specific things happen in each episode. These rules are not written in stone, of course, but it is a formula a lot of writers used as they composed their stories.
Part One - Laying out the Foundation - The main purpose to the first episode is usually to just display the environment the TARDIS has materialised in and introduce the characters that are inhabiting it. We will see some plot development or a degree of conflict, but this is largely about setting the story up for the audience.
Part Two - Really Developing the Conflict - This is usually where the real elements of the Main Crisis start showing themselves. You will often notice, for instance, that the Doctor has his first confrontation with the main villain of the tale. He'll figure out what they're up to and tell them to stop. He might, even, issue a threat of some sort. He'll, then, manage to escape their clutches for a bit and set about defeating them.
Part Three - Escaping Danger - Part Three can often feel like filler in the story. Quite frequently, there's not much happening in terms of advancing the plot. Usually it's just the Doctor and/or companions being placed in peril and then finding a way out. The third episode of Deadly Assassin is one of the best examples of this. It is, for the most part, just the Doctor trying to survive the attacks of Chancellor Goth as they battle in the Matrix. Part Three is more about giving the story a bit of action and suspense rather than trying to develop things.
Part Four - The Solution - Finally, the Doctor gets to some serious problem-solving. He finds a way to defeat the baddie and save the day. There's usually a bit of denouement afterwards where they make their way back to the TARDIS and bid farewell to the people they've helped.
Again, we don't always see this being done in four-parters. But it has happened quite frequently. We need to try to find this sort of thing going on in The 96 Telemovie and get it to fit it to this structure as much as humanly possible.
4) The Cliffhanger Needs to Have Real Stakes
Obviously, we need a good cliffhanger to finish off our imaginary episodes. Either a main character should be placed in danger or a huge potential threat of some sort needs to be revealed. This is what we usually see in the Classic Series (red-checkered patterns on the floor during Death to the Daleks are the exception to the rule!). With so many "commercial break cliffhangers" set up within the story, this gives us a lot of choices. The trick is to try to pick the best one. We need to find cliffhangers that set up the best sense of peril,
Okay, with those qualifications brought up, we can begin this ludicrous undertaking:
PART ONE:
This was probably the easiest one to work out. There seems a very obvious spot for the episode to end that incorporates most of the traits we need in a good first episode.
If we start at that chilling pre-title sequence with the Master being destroyed in his bicycle helmet and go all the way to the Doctor looking Jesus-like in his shroud and crying out "Who am I?!", we get a near-perfect Episode One. It adheres quite nicely to the most basic principle of the first part of a Doctor Who story: the foundation of the plot is laid out. The Doctor is regenerating into a new incarnation while the Master is securing a temporary body so that he can go to work on a more permanent arrangement.
As we watch the Doctor in an abandoned part of the hospital crying out in anguish, we also see the Master smiling evilly in Bruce's body. The whole moment almost seems to say: "The Battle is about to commence". Although there isn't a huge sense of peril in this cliffhanger - there is definitely a good strong implication that something sinister is soon to come. Which works just as well for a cliffhanger.
The only real problem with this choice is that it does make Part One feel just a little too light on plot. It is, perhaps, too focused on set-up and could use with just a bit more story advancement. However, if we do go to the next commercial break cliffhanger, the running time for Part One feels too long. This would "squash" the other three episodes too much and would affect the symmetry of the rest of the story.
"Who am I?!!" really is the best place to end Episode One.
PART TWO:
After the dramatic tension of the Episode One cliffhanger, there is a gorgeous tonal shift that makes things really feel like we're in the second part. The whole atmosphere becomes immediately lighter as we re-join the adventure. We even get a bit of comedy as the Doctor goes through lockers, looking for his new outfit (the more you know the show, of course, the better the in-jokes become). This definitely is the beginning of a new chapter in the story.
As is often the case with a good Episode Two, the full conflict of the story presents itself clearly. The Doctor doesn't engage in that first confrontation with the main villain that frequently occurs at this point - but that's not, entirely, necessary. It's still established that the Master is after the Doctor's remaining incarnations and will destroy the Earth in the process. Which is what a second part needs to accomplish.
Selecting the cliffhanger for this one was a bit tricky. There are a few decent ones to choose from that all suit the running time and thematic flow quite nicely. We could have easily gone with the "Come on! He needs an ambulance!" moment that occurs before one commercial break or the Doctor and Grace arriving at the gala and seeing the ambulance already there that happens later. But I do think the Master showing up at Grace's door posing as an ambulance driver works best. There's a definite sense of peril, there. The Doctor is being delivered into the clutches of his enemy. Like the Part One cliffhanger, it also implies that something bad is soon to come.
Overall, I think this represents the best place to end our second fictitious episode.
PART THREE:
As we embark upon Episode Three, we see why the cliffhanger I chose is most effective. As I mentioned, the third part of most Classic Who stories is the "Escaping Danger Episode". That definitely becomes the central aspect of the plot for the next little while.
When the Master's shades accidentally fall off, the Doctor figures out what's going on and busts out of the ambulance (the number of times a fire extinguisher saves lives in Doctor Who without actually putting out a fire is quite astounding!). Knowing the emergency vehicle will soon be pursuing them, he and Grace procure a motorcycle. A chase sequence worthy of the Pertwee era ensues.
We take a brief break from evading peril as they arrive at the new year's gala at ITAR. Yes, the Master and Chang Lee are still trying to locate them, but things do settle down a little bit. Just long enough for the Doctor to steal the all-important component from the atomic clock. Then, once more, the chase resumes. Grace and the Doctor execute a clever escape from the roof of the building and make their way to the TARDIS. Again, it's all about dealing with danger rather than advancing the story much.
And then we make another difficult choice with cliffhangers. Easily, the best about-to-break-for-commercial moment is the Doctor screaming: "This can't be happening!" as his rival begins to tear away his soul with the Eye of Harmony. Things really seem to be going terribly for our hero, here. However, from a structural standpoint, the cliffhanger just before that works better. The scene where Grace loses control of her mind and slugs the Doctor with the Neutron Ram is where I prefer to place the cliffhanger. Admittedly, it doesn't quite have the same punch as "This can't be happening!" but it is still the better spot to end Part Three.
PART FOUR:
A very serious change of emphasis happens after Grace's attack on the Doctor. For the next little while, it's all about being in the Cloister Room. This is one more reason why I feel the previous episode should end where it does. To break up the Cloister Room stuff just doesn't make sense. On top of this, if we did break up the sequence - Part Four would run very short.
All kinds of great tension and drama plays out over the next little while. Chang Lee finally comes to terms with how evil the Master is and gets murdered by him. Grace jump-starts the TARDIS but then also meets her untimely end as she tries to free the Doctor from his weird Clockwork Orange contraption. There's a great climactic battle between the two rival Time Lords where the Doctor, ultimately triumphs. Finally, we get a somewhat confusing re-writing of time that occurs and brings Grace and Chang-Lee back to life. Again, I would hate to break up any of this action. This is all meant to be Episode Four.
As the excitement subsides, we get some denouement. Chang Lee is allowed to keep his gold dust and Grace gets one more kiss. It's actually quite the twist that she chooses not to go travelling with her new-found boyfriend.
Episode Four wraps up beautifully with the Doctor back in the console room, sipping tea. As a fun callback, the record starts skipping again! Cue closing credits and new symphonic theme song that's trying to sound like STNG!
THUS ENDETH THE EXERCISE IN SILLINESS
And that's the way I would structure things if this story were an old-fashioned four-parter. Some of those episodes might feel a bit light on plot. But that's only because the content, itself, is only so dense. In some ways, keeping the whole thing as a feature film hides this problem a little better.
But, if you are in the mood to re-watch The 96 Telemovie, try imagining it like this. Maybe even take a little break at the end of each imaginary episode to make a snack or have a bathroom break. Step away for a bit and then come back to watch the next part. You'll see that the flow works pretty well that way and that you're suddenly back in the Classic Series rather than watching a backdoor pilot for a show that never came to be.
Another COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS entry is complete. Maybe not as humorous as some of the others I've written but still equally ridiculous! I have other indulgences of a ludicrous nature that I'd like to take in future entries so we will see these types of posts again sometime soon.
Oddly enough, I do love to talk about The 96 Telemovie. Here are some other entries that deal with it:
Is the The 96 Telemovie New or Classic Who?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/01/points-of-debate-96-telemovie-new-or.html
What is up with the Eye of Harmony?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/08/points-of-debate-what-is-up-with-eye-of.html
And a super-old entry that deals with the Doctor being half-human -
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/05/fixing-continuity-glitches-this-is-one.html
COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS essays are still somewhat rare on this blog. They were only invented about a year-or-so ago. What's fun about these posts is there isn't any sort of "set format" for them. They can be about anything - so long as it's silly. The first one, for instance, was just a ludicrous fan theory about the Doctor's multi-colored umbrella. Another one highlighted the gratuitous use of the "capture-and-escape" device that certain stories in the Classic Series relied on to mark time. I label this particular post as being a COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS entry because the task I'm about to undertake is, pretty much, ridiculous. But, somehow, I found it to be fun.
A "CLIFFHANGER-CONDUCIVE" STORY
The 96 Telemovie is not quite the first Doctor Who adventure to be shot as a feature-length film. That credit would go to The Five Doctors. We would also get later stories like Day of the Doctor and Deep Breath that would have a similar running time. These tales would even get a limited cinematic release. Which made watching them in that format all the more fun.
What does make the Eighth Doctor's only televised story a bit different from the rest is the fact that it was an American co-produce so they needed to place gaps in the plot for commercial breaks. One of the tropes we see used in the writing of an American show is to leave things off on a suspenseful note just before they pause for advertisements. This provides the viewer with an incentive to hang in after the intermission is over.
This format means that if we want to imagine that Doctor Who - The Movie was shot in the way most Who stories had been made up to that point, it's not that difficult of an alteration to make. There are plenty of "commercial break cliffhangers" that we can choose from to determine where an episode might end.
That fateful clash between the Master and the Doctor for his remaining lives runs for nearly ninety minutes. Which means that it could break down into the four episode formula quite easily. However, there are certain issues that we should take into consideration as we undergo this re-structuring:
1) Running Time
An average episode in the Classic Series ran for about 23 minutes (done on purpose so that ad breaks could be edited into the stories if they were sold in markets where they ran commercials ). So the cliffhanger ought to be fitted in somewhere within that time frame. Every 20 to 25 minutes of content should be where we imagine a part to conclude.
2)Thematic shifts
Quite often, we see changes in emphasis from episode-to-episode. The story moves in one direction during Episode One but the flow will alter as Episode Two rolls in. We need to find moments where Paul McGann's debut adventure does this and consider it the beginning of a new part.
3)Specific Episode Formats
Similar to the second point but it should get its own special degree of attention. If you take a good look at most four-parters in the show's history, very specific things happen in each episode. These rules are not written in stone, of course, but it is a formula a lot of writers used as they composed their stories.
Part One - Laying out the Foundation - The main purpose to the first episode is usually to just display the environment the TARDIS has materialised in and introduce the characters that are inhabiting it. We will see some plot development or a degree of conflict, but this is largely about setting the story up for the audience.
Part Two - Really Developing the Conflict - This is usually where the real elements of the Main Crisis start showing themselves. You will often notice, for instance, that the Doctor has his first confrontation with the main villain of the tale. He'll figure out what they're up to and tell them to stop. He might, even, issue a threat of some sort. He'll, then, manage to escape their clutches for a bit and set about defeating them.
Part Three - Escaping Danger - Part Three can often feel like filler in the story. Quite frequently, there's not much happening in terms of advancing the plot. Usually it's just the Doctor and/or companions being placed in peril and then finding a way out. The third episode of Deadly Assassin is one of the best examples of this. It is, for the most part, just the Doctor trying to survive the attacks of Chancellor Goth as they battle in the Matrix. Part Three is more about giving the story a bit of action and suspense rather than trying to develop things.
Part Four - The Solution - Finally, the Doctor gets to some serious problem-solving. He finds a way to defeat the baddie and save the day. There's usually a bit of denouement afterwards where they make their way back to the TARDIS and bid farewell to the people they've helped.
Again, we don't always see this being done in four-parters. But it has happened quite frequently. We need to try to find this sort of thing going on in The 96 Telemovie and get it to fit it to this structure as much as humanly possible.
4) The Cliffhanger Needs to Have Real Stakes
Obviously, we need a good cliffhanger to finish off our imaginary episodes. Either a main character should be placed in danger or a huge potential threat of some sort needs to be revealed. This is what we usually see in the Classic Series (red-checkered patterns on the floor during Death to the Daleks are the exception to the rule!). With so many "commercial break cliffhangers" set up within the story, this gives us a lot of choices. The trick is to try to pick the best one. We need to find cliffhangers that set up the best sense of peril,
Okay, with those qualifications brought up, we can begin this ludicrous undertaking:
PART ONE:
This was probably the easiest one to work out. There seems a very obvious spot for the episode to end that incorporates most of the traits we need in a good first episode.
If we start at that chilling pre-title sequence with the Master being destroyed in his bicycle helmet and go all the way to the Doctor looking Jesus-like in his shroud and crying out "Who am I?!", we get a near-perfect Episode One. It adheres quite nicely to the most basic principle of the first part of a Doctor Who story: the foundation of the plot is laid out. The Doctor is regenerating into a new incarnation while the Master is securing a temporary body so that he can go to work on a more permanent arrangement.
As we watch the Doctor in an abandoned part of the hospital crying out in anguish, we also see the Master smiling evilly in Bruce's body. The whole moment almost seems to say: "The Battle is about to commence". Although there isn't a huge sense of peril in this cliffhanger - there is definitely a good strong implication that something sinister is soon to come. Which works just as well for a cliffhanger.
The only real problem with this choice is that it does make Part One feel just a little too light on plot. It is, perhaps, too focused on set-up and could use with just a bit more story advancement. However, if we do go to the next commercial break cliffhanger, the running time for Part One feels too long. This would "squash" the other three episodes too much and would affect the symmetry of the rest of the story.
"Who am I?!!" really is the best place to end Episode One.
PART TWO:
After the dramatic tension of the Episode One cliffhanger, there is a gorgeous tonal shift that makes things really feel like we're in the second part. The whole atmosphere becomes immediately lighter as we re-join the adventure. We even get a bit of comedy as the Doctor goes through lockers, looking for his new outfit (the more you know the show, of course, the better the in-jokes become). This definitely is the beginning of a new chapter in the story.
As is often the case with a good Episode Two, the full conflict of the story presents itself clearly. The Doctor doesn't engage in that first confrontation with the main villain that frequently occurs at this point - but that's not, entirely, necessary. It's still established that the Master is after the Doctor's remaining incarnations and will destroy the Earth in the process. Which is what a second part needs to accomplish.
Selecting the cliffhanger for this one was a bit tricky. There are a few decent ones to choose from that all suit the running time and thematic flow quite nicely. We could have easily gone with the "Come on! He needs an ambulance!" moment that occurs before one commercial break or the Doctor and Grace arriving at the gala and seeing the ambulance already there that happens later. But I do think the Master showing up at Grace's door posing as an ambulance driver works best. There's a definite sense of peril, there. The Doctor is being delivered into the clutches of his enemy. Like the Part One cliffhanger, it also implies that something bad is soon to come.
Overall, I think this represents the best place to end our second fictitious episode.
PART THREE:
As we embark upon Episode Three, we see why the cliffhanger I chose is most effective. As I mentioned, the third part of most Classic Who stories is the "Escaping Danger Episode". That definitely becomes the central aspect of the plot for the next little while.
When the Master's shades accidentally fall off, the Doctor figures out what's going on and busts out of the ambulance (the number of times a fire extinguisher saves lives in Doctor Who without actually putting out a fire is quite astounding!). Knowing the emergency vehicle will soon be pursuing them, he and Grace procure a motorcycle. A chase sequence worthy of the Pertwee era ensues.
We take a brief break from evading peril as they arrive at the new year's gala at ITAR. Yes, the Master and Chang Lee are still trying to locate them, but things do settle down a little bit. Just long enough for the Doctor to steal the all-important component from the atomic clock. Then, once more, the chase resumes. Grace and the Doctor execute a clever escape from the roof of the building and make their way to the TARDIS. Again, it's all about dealing with danger rather than advancing the story much.
And then we make another difficult choice with cliffhangers. Easily, the best about-to-break-for-commercial moment is the Doctor screaming: "This can't be happening!" as his rival begins to tear away his soul with the Eye of Harmony. Things really seem to be going terribly for our hero, here. However, from a structural standpoint, the cliffhanger just before that works better. The scene where Grace loses control of her mind and slugs the Doctor with the Neutron Ram is where I prefer to place the cliffhanger. Admittedly, it doesn't quite have the same punch as "This can't be happening!" but it is still the better spot to end Part Three.
PART FOUR:
A very serious change of emphasis happens after Grace's attack on the Doctor. For the next little while, it's all about being in the Cloister Room. This is one more reason why I feel the previous episode should end where it does. To break up the Cloister Room stuff just doesn't make sense. On top of this, if we did break up the sequence - Part Four would run very short.
All kinds of great tension and drama plays out over the next little while. Chang Lee finally comes to terms with how evil the Master is and gets murdered by him. Grace jump-starts the TARDIS but then also meets her untimely end as she tries to free the Doctor from his weird Clockwork Orange contraption. There's a great climactic battle between the two rival Time Lords where the Doctor, ultimately triumphs. Finally, we get a somewhat confusing re-writing of time that occurs and brings Grace and Chang-Lee back to life. Again, I would hate to break up any of this action. This is all meant to be Episode Four.
As the excitement subsides, we get some denouement. Chang Lee is allowed to keep his gold dust and Grace gets one more kiss. It's actually quite the twist that she chooses not to go travelling with her new-found boyfriend.
Episode Four wraps up beautifully with the Doctor back in the console room, sipping tea. As a fun callback, the record starts skipping again! Cue closing credits and new symphonic theme song that's trying to sound like STNG!
THUS ENDETH THE EXERCISE IN SILLINESS
And that's the way I would structure things if this story were an old-fashioned four-parter. Some of those episodes might feel a bit light on plot. But that's only because the content, itself, is only so dense. In some ways, keeping the whole thing as a feature film hides this problem a little better.
But, if you are in the mood to re-watch The 96 Telemovie, try imagining it like this. Maybe even take a little break at the end of each imaginary episode to make a snack or have a bathroom break. Step away for a bit and then come back to watch the next part. You'll see that the flow works pretty well that way and that you're suddenly back in the Classic Series rather than watching a backdoor pilot for a show that never came to be.
Another COMPLETE AND UTTER SILLINESS entry is complete. Maybe not as humorous as some of the others I've written but still equally ridiculous! I have other indulgences of a ludicrous nature that I'd like to take in future entries so we will see these types of posts again sometime soon.
Oddly enough, I do love to talk about The 96 Telemovie. Here are some other entries that deal with it:
Is the The 96 Telemovie New or Classic Who?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/01/points-of-debate-96-telemovie-new-or.html
What is up with the Eye of Harmony?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/08/points-of-debate-what-is-up-with-eye-of.html
And a super-old entry that deals with the Doctor being half-human -
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/05/fixing-continuity-glitches-this-is-one.html
Tuesday 5 May 2020
POINT OF DEBATE: SHOULD WE CONSIDER ROBOTS ACTUAL COMPANIONS?
While I was deeply involved in my intense analysis of the Three Companion Dynamic (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/04/analytical-threes-company-what-makes_7.html), you may have noticed me making a quick throwaway statement to the nature of: "I may someday write a POINT OF DEBATE essay about whether or not a robot qualifies as an actual companion." The idea has haunted me since the moment I conceived it. So, here I am: making arguments for and against the notion.
Let's not waste time and get straight into it.
PROS:
From a behind-the-scenes standpoint, it seems to me that the biggest qualification for a companion is that they must be portrayed by an actual actor. The Doctor could bring a plant aboard the TARDIS and have it sitting in the background for countless episodes and we probably still wouldn't call it a companion. It's a prop or a set-piece. Even if the Doctor talks regularly to the plant during various console room scenes, the plant needs to be able interact back for us to really start seeing it as a valid character that travels with the Doctor.
In this sense, then, a robot should, at least, partially represent a companion. Each time the Doctor has had a robot travelling with him, a voice-artist did the dialogue for it. So there is an actor in the mix somewhere, bringing the character to life.
If we continue with our plant analogy but switch the species slightly, we come to our second key element for a "true companion". What if the Doctor had a pet cat for a while? Would we consider that a companion? Probably not. The other main qualifier for a companion would be a display of full sentience. The two biggest traits for sentience would be the ability to experience real emotions and have free will. Some might argue that a cat does possess both of these characteristics These points, however, are usually made by people who are way too into their pet cats! Most folks, particularly those that work in the science community, would consider a cat to be partially sentient, at best.
Robots that travel with the Doctor might come closer to receiving that label. Maybe not so much towards the beginning of their run, but it does almost seem like they develop emotions and free will the more they stay with the Time Lord. There may be any number of explanations for this. The Doctor having low-level telepathy might cause his personality to somehow "rub off on them". Or he may have even made some adjustments to the automatons' circuitry to give them greater sentience. Or it may just be how most robots work: the longer they interact with organic beings, the more they assume their traits. Because sentience is such a tricky debate, we will take a closer look at this issue shortly and examine it on a case-by-case basis.
CONS:
Admittedly, this is an easier argument to make.
Yes, there may be a voice artist behind it all, but a robot companion is, technically, just a prop. Other performers might even act up a storm around the prop to make it seem like something more than that - but it's still an inanimate object that they're playing off of. Even John Leeson's attempts to crawl around on the floor of the rehearsal room to make K9 seem more real to the other cast members become nullified on the days of shooting when he is, ultimately, replaced by a remote control device. In the strictest sense, a robot isn't being played by an actor. It is enhanced by one. But that doesn't, necessarily, qualify as a full performance.
In terms of sentience: we could say that a lot of the emotions a robot might start displaying are probably artificial in nature. The automaton isn't truly experiencing feelings so much as it is just mimicking them. Particularly in the case of Kamelion - whose programming enables him to respond to the sentiments of organics around him and give them what they want to see (not just in an emotional sense, but a literal sense too - as he can change his form).
Free will might be the murkiest of waters for the "robots aren't companions" stance. In the case of three of the five robot companions that we've seen, there are definite moments where they appear to be making very conscious choices of their own. One might still argue that this is more of a sense of mimicry, again. But I would say an argument of this nature would be tenuous. These robots did, on occasion, seem genuinely independent. It may have only been for a matter of a few seconds - but it still happened.
CLOSER LOOKS:
With the basic Pros and Cons established, lets do a case-by-case study of the various robotic beings that have travelled with our favorite Time Lord.
SPECIAL NOTE: Some might argue that Nardole qualifies as a robot companion. There does seem to be, at least, parts of him that are technological rather than organic. So he should be included in this debate. While it's never made entirely clear how the Doctor re-constructed him after the clash with King Hydrax's body, it also seems that parts of Nardole are still flesh and blood. This makes Nardole more of a cyborg than an actual robot. Which means he is governed by a whole different set of rules and should not be brought into this argument.
1) Handles
According to the actual story of Time of the Doctor, Handles appears to be the automaton who was with the Doctor the longest. Apparently, he stayed on Trenzalore with him for several centuries. However, in terms of actual time on the show, he was only in one story. It should be noted, too, that he truly was a robot - not a cyborg. It's made clear in some dialogue early on in the episode that his organic components have been removed and he's just a databank, now.
Handles definitely supports the "Con" argument quite strongly. He clearly displays the obvious limitations of a robot. As is often the case with robotic sci fi characters, those limitations are used to comedic effect. On several occasions, he takes the Doctor too literally or lacks the understanding of social contexts. The best example of this sort of behaviour would be the extended discourse he has with the Doctor over when he should remind him to re-route the telephone in the TARDIS door back into the console. Something with even a little more sentience would understand what was being asked of it and not go on endlessly like Handles did to get proper clarification. The fact that his "dying words" are a reminder to re-route the phone into the console re-enforces this concept all the more. He had one last function to perform before shutting down forever and, good little automaton that he was, he made sure to accomplish it.
We do see the slightest hints of emotion to him. The best example of this is the way he says "Affirmative" in a frustrated manner when the Doctor keeps asking him if he's comfortable. This might even be a bit of an in-joke since K9 would often turn that term into something emotive, too. We don't really see anything that resembles feelings from Handles in his earlier scenes. We only get sentiment from him after he's been with the Doctor for those several centuries. Which does lead us to believe that being around the Doctor for a while does get them to evolve the slightest of personalities.
2) Kamelion
He is, probably, the character that supports the "pro" argument the strongest. For a robot, Kamelion practically oozes charm. The voice artist that did his dialogue gave him the friendliest, most personable register rather than the monotone usually assigned to his kind. He also seems to exhibit a better sense of social grace and discretion. He doesn't behave in that painfully literal sense that we see from K9 and Handles that makes them almost awkward to be around. All these little traits definitely imbue him with what appears to be sentience.
Many would argue, however, that all this behavior is the result of very specific programming. Kamelion was created to mimic other beings. Not just in a visual sense - but also in the way they act. His portrayal of King John is a great example of this. He doesn't just look like him but also puts on his whole regal air. This would insinuate that he has all sorts of special software that enables him to synthesise the personalities of the subjects he imitates. More than likely, when he is just Kamelion and acts like he has human characteristics - that's probably some sort of mimicry, too. The whole thing is artificial.
Another element to Kamelion that works against the idea that he might be sentient is the fact that he is very easy to influence by strong-willed individuals. He responds quite frequently to the mental commands of either the Doctor or the Master. Almost to the point where we think he really has no free will of his own. Even at the end of King's Demons where he is being kind to Tegan, she suspects that the Doctor got him to say it. The ability to make your own choices, of course, is a key ingredient to sentience. It does seem like Kamelion lacks that trait.
Some of what we see in Planet of Fire, however, negates the idea that he merely mimics and has no personality of his own. The biggest attribute in favor of an independent Kamelion is the fact that he seems to experience pain. Several things happen during the story that gets him to legitimately cry out in anguish. Those moments definitely create a sense of empathy for him and get us to believe he does have real feelings.
Those last few minutes that Kamelion is still functioning definitely show some genuine free will at play, too. Tired of being controlled by the Master and being forced to do things he doesn't want to, Kamelion begs the Doctor to kill him. This is absolutely not the actions of a robot. Most of the time, they are actually programmed for self-preservation. But he genuinely seems to have lost the will to live and would rather not go on.
As he dies, I am led to believe that Kamelion has definitely grown beyond the confines of being a mere automaton.
3) K9 - Mark One
When you really bother to make the distinction, you realize the reign of K9- Mark One is quite short-lived. He is brought onboard the TARDIS in a similar manner to Jamie. His first story was, initially, meant to be his only story. But a hasty re-write at the end of Part Four turns him into another passenger aboard the Doctor's time vessel. This probably contributes to his sudden technical issue during Image of the Fendahl. This is the adventure that immediately follows his introductory story. The writer of the tale was probably not prepared to integrate the automaton into his plot so they came up with a quick device to write him out of the story.
The rest of the writers that season were probably given enough notice of the addition in the regulars and were able to include K9 in their episodes. But there does seem to be a bit of a struggle about whether his robotic qualities or his dog-like qualities should be played up. In The Sunmakers, for instance, lots of visual jokes are made with his tail. K9 gets scolded - tail droops. K9 receives praise - tail wags. Whereas he really does seem a lot more emotionless in Underworld. Again, I would attribute the inconsistencies to his spur-of-the-moment inclusion. Writers could only be so well-briefed and had to come up with their own interpretation of the character.
K9 does show slight signs of smugness during certain moments. Right in The Invisible Enemy, he claims to have superior knowledge to his creator. And he gets a bit smarmy when he says: "Machine mind calculates Mate in six moves." during his first chess match that we see with the Doctor. He even groans in frustration at the end of Sunmakers when the Doctor intentionally ruins the game.
The first model of K9 also exhibits some degree of independent will. He's told to stay aboard the TARDIS in Sunmakers but still goes out and investigates. It's as if his curiosity is capable of getting the best of him. He also decides to stay behind with Leela and Andred at the end of Invasion of Time. - even though the Doctor instructs the robot to come with him. If he were truly a machine and nothing more, he should always be obeying the commands of his master. But he does defy him. Some might claim that being hooked up to the Matrix may have somehow interfered with his programming and turned him into something more sentient. But that doesn't account for the disobedience he shows in Sunmakers.
While he really only gets four stories, K9 - Mark One still shows quite a few glimmers of being more than a mere robot. Most of the time, of course, he's a useful databank with a nose laser. But there are times when he becomes something with genuine sentience.
4) K9 - Mark Two
This is the robot companion with the most episodes in the bank. So we can probably do the best study of him. Interestingly enough, it's still not that easy to do. K9 is frequently instructed to stay in the console room at the beginning of an adventure and only joins the plot a few episodes in. Or he gets damaged for a while and can't really interact with anyone. This does seem to almost re-enforce the opinion by the Season Eighteen production team that "K9 just makes things too easy." Writers from earlier seasons also seem to recognize this and tried to keep him out of the story as much as possible.
Nonetheless, there are enough moments within K9-Mark 2's reign where the robot does display some genuine personality. Right from his very first scene in Ribos Operation, K9 shows tremendous enthusiasm about taking a holiday. We're seeing emotion from him immediately. There will still be plenty of instances where he acts more like a mere mobile computer with a laser, but there will also be scenes that contradict this and insinuate he's more than just a mere machine.
There is definitely a better sense of balance with this polarization of the character in this model. The clashing personality traits seem more calculated and less uneven than they were with Mark One. This is probably because the writers have now had some time to get their head around the character. Whereas K9 from the previous seasons was, very much, hastily thrust upon them. This time, the writers truly excel with Mark Two. There are even moments where they get the audience to feel genuine empathy for him.
Probably one of the strongest examples of this occurs in Stone of Blood when he incurs some serious damage fighting an Ogri in Episode Two. It's actually a bit touching when he suggests he should just be cannibalised for spare parts. Particularly since he so courageously defended the Doctor when the giant mobile rock awkwardly knocked the Time Lord out. We really shouldn't be feeling this level of connection with what is supposedly an emotionless being. But the sequence is quite effective.
Unfortunately, I find the decision to have David Brierly voice K9 in Season Seventeen works against the sort of rapport that was developed with the character. Leeson only gives a hint of silliness to the robot's voice whereas his successor does seem to take the comedy too far. K9 still displays emotions from time-to-time during the season, (when he's actually in it - he's, pretty much, absent from the first two stories), but making him so comical-sounding really takes us out of the moment. Just look at how the severe damage he takes in the awfully-named Creature from the Pit is handled versus the previously-mentioned sequence in Stones of Blood.
Leeson does return for Season Eighteen but this is also when Christopher H. Bidmead takes over as script editor. His love of "hard sci fi" means that he prefers a robot sounds and acts like a robot. So there are very few emotional moments for the character. This is also the season where K9 is almost always getting wrecked in a story so that the Doctor can use his wits to get out of jams rather than just get his dog to do it for him. So there's considerably less content for us to analyze because he is frequently unresponsive. In the one adventure where he doesn't take damage (State of Decay), he is told to stay in the TARDIS for the better part of two episodes. So there's not much to examine in that story, either.
While we do see some emotion out of K9 during Seasons Sixteen to Eighteen, there aren't a whole lot of instances where this model tends to show any kind of free will. Even when he does seem to act against instructions, it's usually part of his actual programming. A scene from Nightmare of Eden illustrates this nicely. Romana gives K9 an order that will get him to leave her undefended. A Mandrel suddenly leaps out to attack her. In the nick of time, the robot re-routes his course and returns to save his mistress. Romana thanks him for his timely intervention but he explains that he's merely obeying certain protocols that have been written into his software. We could almost claim that he's trying to be humble, here. Or we could say that he's only a robot.
Ultimately, however, this version of K9 doesn't actually do much to support the idea that a robot qualifies as a companion. For the most part, he does seem more like just a machine.
5) K9 - Mark Three
Okay, first things first. Let's address the Elephant in the Room: I will not be considering anything from K9 and Company. I have specified in other entries that I will not be discussing most spin-off material, here (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/03/doin-it-with-style.html). Also, let's be honest: it's best that no one considers K-9 and Company for anything!
However we can still examine School Reunion and a very brief cameo from Journey's End for any evidence of sentience. Even in that little bit of content, we do see some (it's amusing how, as usual, writers try to keep K9 out of the way for most of the episode). He shows some of his stereotypical smugness in Journey's End when he declares how simple his task is. And he displays a tonne of independence in School Reunion when he insists on sacrificing himself to stop the Krillitane. When he does "die" in the story, we definitely feel some more of that sympathy for him that we did during Stones of Blood.
One final note to make about some of the personality that K9 has shown in all of his models is that he absorbs both negative and positive character traits. K9 can be very intrepid, at times and shows a certain level of eagerness in his desire to assist his friends. But, as I have mentioned already, he can also be a bit arrogant in his intelligence. That arrogance can also lead to shortness in his patience. Look how he gets very irritated with Drax's distress beacon in Armageddon Factor. Or how he actually calls the TARDIS stupid in Invasion of Time. Quite amazingly, Leeson's vocal treatment somehow keeps him endearing when he behaves in such a manner.
FINAL CONCLUSION:
After a detailed analysis of all the robots that have travelled with the Doctor, the conclusion still remains fairly subjective. Yes, they do show hints of being more than just a collection of circuits and software. But is it enough? We could just as easily label them as mere props with talented voice artists working behind them.
I tend to agree more with the latter concept. But, as with any POINT OF DEBATE essay I've written, the final choice is yours. I merely try to present both sides of the argument as comprehensively as possible. You decide for yourself.
I do greatly enjoy posting POINT OF DEBATE topics and already have another one in mind that you should be seeing soon. Whether it will be the very next entry I do or something further down the road remains to be seen...
Some other POINT OF DEBATE essays:
What constitutes a Three-Parter in New Who?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/09/points-of-debate-what-constitutes-three.html
What gender do we assign the Doctor?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/08/points-of-debate-what-gender-do-we.html
Was Goronwy from Delta and the Bannermen secretly a Time Lord?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/01/point-of-debate-was-goronwy-from-delta.html
Let's not waste time and get straight into it.
PROS:
From a behind-the-scenes standpoint, it seems to me that the biggest qualification for a companion is that they must be portrayed by an actual actor. The Doctor could bring a plant aboard the TARDIS and have it sitting in the background for countless episodes and we probably still wouldn't call it a companion. It's a prop or a set-piece. Even if the Doctor talks regularly to the plant during various console room scenes, the plant needs to be able interact back for us to really start seeing it as a valid character that travels with the Doctor.
In this sense, then, a robot should, at least, partially represent a companion. Each time the Doctor has had a robot travelling with him, a voice-artist did the dialogue for it. So there is an actor in the mix somewhere, bringing the character to life.
If we continue with our plant analogy but switch the species slightly, we come to our second key element for a "true companion". What if the Doctor had a pet cat for a while? Would we consider that a companion? Probably not. The other main qualifier for a companion would be a display of full sentience. The two biggest traits for sentience would be the ability to experience real emotions and have free will. Some might argue that a cat does possess both of these characteristics These points, however, are usually made by people who are way too into their pet cats! Most folks, particularly those that work in the science community, would consider a cat to be partially sentient, at best.
Robots that travel with the Doctor might come closer to receiving that label. Maybe not so much towards the beginning of their run, but it does almost seem like they develop emotions and free will the more they stay with the Time Lord. There may be any number of explanations for this. The Doctor having low-level telepathy might cause his personality to somehow "rub off on them". Or he may have even made some adjustments to the automatons' circuitry to give them greater sentience. Or it may just be how most robots work: the longer they interact with organic beings, the more they assume their traits. Because sentience is such a tricky debate, we will take a closer look at this issue shortly and examine it on a case-by-case basis.
CONS:
Admittedly, this is an easier argument to make.
Yes, there may be a voice artist behind it all, but a robot companion is, technically, just a prop. Other performers might even act up a storm around the prop to make it seem like something more than that - but it's still an inanimate object that they're playing off of. Even John Leeson's attempts to crawl around on the floor of the rehearsal room to make K9 seem more real to the other cast members become nullified on the days of shooting when he is, ultimately, replaced by a remote control device. In the strictest sense, a robot isn't being played by an actor. It is enhanced by one. But that doesn't, necessarily, qualify as a full performance.
In terms of sentience: we could say that a lot of the emotions a robot might start displaying are probably artificial in nature. The automaton isn't truly experiencing feelings so much as it is just mimicking them. Particularly in the case of Kamelion - whose programming enables him to respond to the sentiments of organics around him and give them what they want to see (not just in an emotional sense, but a literal sense too - as he can change his form).
Free will might be the murkiest of waters for the "robots aren't companions" stance. In the case of three of the five robot companions that we've seen, there are definite moments where they appear to be making very conscious choices of their own. One might still argue that this is more of a sense of mimicry, again. But I would say an argument of this nature would be tenuous. These robots did, on occasion, seem genuinely independent. It may have only been for a matter of a few seconds - but it still happened.
CLOSER LOOKS:
With the basic Pros and Cons established, lets do a case-by-case study of the various robotic beings that have travelled with our favorite Time Lord.
SPECIAL NOTE: Some might argue that Nardole qualifies as a robot companion. There does seem to be, at least, parts of him that are technological rather than organic. So he should be included in this debate. While it's never made entirely clear how the Doctor re-constructed him after the clash with King Hydrax's body, it also seems that parts of Nardole are still flesh and blood. This makes Nardole more of a cyborg than an actual robot. Which means he is governed by a whole different set of rules and should not be brought into this argument.
1) Handles
According to the actual story of Time of the Doctor, Handles appears to be the automaton who was with the Doctor the longest. Apparently, he stayed on Trenzalore with him for several centuries. However, in terms of actual time on the show, he was only in one story. It should be noted, too, that he truly was a robot - not a cyborg. It's made clear in some dialogue early on in the episode that his organic components have been removed and he's just a databank, now.
Handles definitely supports the "Con" argument quite strongly. He clearly displays the obvious limitations of a robot. As is often the case with robotic sci fi characters, those limitations are used to comedic effect. On several occasions, he takes the Doctor too literally or lacks the understanding of social contexts. The best example of this sort of behaviour would be the extended discourse he has with the Doctor over when he should remind him to re-route the telephone in the TARDIS door back into the console. Something with even a little more sentience would understand what was being asked of it and not go on endlessly like Handles did to get proper clarification. The fact that his "dying words" are a reminder to re-route the phone into the console re-enforces this concept all the more. He had one last function to perform before shutting down forever and, good little automaton that he was, he made sure to accomplish it.
We do see the slightest hints of emotion to him. The best example of this is the way he says "Affirmative" in a frustrated manner when the Doctor keeps asking him if he's comfortable. This might even be a bit of an in-joke since K9 would often turn that term into something emotive, too. We don't really see anything that resembles feelings from Handles in his earlier scenes. We only get sentiment from him after he's been with the Doctor for those several centuries. Which does lead us to believe that being around the Doctor for a while does get them to evolve the slightest of personalities.
2) Kamelion
He is, probably, the character that supports the "pro" argument the strongest. For a robot, Kamelion practically oozes charm. The voice artist that did his dialogue gave him the friendliest, most personable register rather than the monotone usually assigned to his kind. He also seems to exhibit a better sense of social grace and discretion. He doesn't behave in that painfully literal sense that we see from K9 and Handles that makes them almost awkward to be around. All these little traits definitely imbue him with what appears to be sentience.
Many would argue, however, that all this behavior is the result of very specific programming. Kamelion was created to mimic other beings. Not just in a visual sense - but also in the way they act. His portrayal of King John is a great example of this. He doesn't just look like him but also puts on his whole regal air. This would insinuate that he has all sorts of special software that enables him to synthesise the personalities of the subjects he imitates. More than likely, when he is just Kamelion and acts like he has human characteristics - that's probably some sort of mimicry, too. The whole thing is artificial.
Another element to Kamelion that works against the idea that he might be sentient is the fact that he is very easy to influence by strong-willed individuals. He responds quite frequently to the mental commands of either the Doctor or the Master. Almost to the point where we think he really has no free will of his own. Even at the end of King's Demons where he is being kind to Tegan, she suspects that the Doctor got him to say it. The ability to make your own choices, of course, is a key ingredient to sentience. It does seem like Kamelion lacks that trait.
Some of what we see in Planet of Fire, however, negates the idea that he merely mimics and has no personality of his own. The biggest attribute in favor of an independent Kamelion is the fact that he seems to experience pain. Several things happen during the story that gets him to legitimately cry out in anguish. Those moments definitely create a sense of empathy for him and get us to believe he does have real feelings.
Those last few minutes that Kamelion is still functioning definitely show some genuine free will at play, too. Tired of being controlled by the Master and being forced to do things he doesn't want to, Kamelion begs the Doctor to kill him. This is absolutely not the actions of a robot. Most of the time, they are actually programmed for self-preservation. But he genuinely seems to have lost the will to live and would rather not go on.
As he dies, I am led to believe that Kamelion has definitely grown beyond the confines of being a mere automaton.
3) K9 - Mark One
When you really bother to make the distinction, you realize the reign of K9- Mark One is quite short-lived. He is brought onboard the TARDIS in a similar manner to Jamie. His first story was, initially, meant to be his only story. But a hasty re-write at the end of Part Four turns him into another passenger aboard the Doctor's time vessel. This probably contributes to his sudden technical issue during Image of the Fendahl. This is the adventure that immediately follows his introductory story. The writer of the tale was probably not prepared to integrate the automaton into his plot so they came up with a quick device to write him out of the story.
The rest of the writers that season were probably given enough notice of the addition in the regulars and were able to include K9 in their episodes. But there does seem to be a bit of a struggle about whether his robotic qualities or his dog-like qualities should be played up. In The Sunmakers, for instance, lots of visual jokes are made with his tail. K9 gets scolded - tail droops. K9 receives praise - tail wags. Whereas he really does seem a lot more emotionless in Underworld. Again, I would attribute the inconsistencies to his spur-of-the-moment inclusion. Writers could only be so well-briefed and had to come up with their own interpretation of the character.
K9 does show slight signs of smugness during certain moments. Right in The Invisible Enemy, he claims to have superior knowledge to his creator. And he gets a bit smarmy when he says: "Machine mind calculates Mate in six moves." during his first chess match that we see with the Doctor. He even groans in frustration at the end of Sunmakers when the Doctor intentionally ruins the game.
The first model of K9 also exhibits some degree of independent will. He's told to stay aboard the TARDIS in Sunmakers but still goes out and investigates. It's as if his curiosity is capable of getting the best of him. He also decides to stay behind with Leela and Andred at the end of Invasion of Time. - even though the Doctor instructs the robot to come with him. If he were truly a machine and nothing more, he should always be obeying the commands of his master. But he does defy him. Some might claim that being hooked up to the Matrix may have somehow interfered with his programming and turned him into something more sentient. But that doesn't account for the disobedience he shows in Sunmakers.
While he really only gets four stories, K9 - Mark One still shows quite a few glimmers of being more than a mere robot. Most of the time, of course, he's a useful databank with a nose laser. But there are times when he becomes something with genuine sentience.
4) K9 - Mark Two
This is the robot companion with the most episodes in the bank. So we can probably do the best study of him. Interestingly enough, it's still not that easy to do. K9 is frequently instructed to stay in the console room at the beginning of an adventure and only joins the plot a few episodes in. Or he gets damaged for a while and can't really interact with anyone. This does seem to almost re-enforce the opinion by the Season Eighteen production team that "K9 just makes things too easy." Writers from earlier seasons also seem to recognize this and tried to keep him out of the story as much as possible.
Nonetheless, there are enough moments within K9-Mark 2's reign where the robot does display some genuine personality. Right from his very first scene in Ribos Operation, K9 shows tremendous enthusiasm about taking a holiday. We're seeing emotion from him immediately. There will still be plenty of instances where he acts more like a mere mobile computer with a laser, but there will also be scenes that contradict this and insinuate he's more than just a mere machine.
There is definitely a better sense of balance with this polarization of the character in this model. The clashing personality traits seem more calculated and less uneven than they were with Mark One. This is probably because the writers have now had some time to get their head around the character. Whereas K9 from the previous seasons was, very much, hastily thrust upon them. This time, the writers truly excel with Mark Two. There are even moments where they get the audience to feel genuine empathy for him.
Probably one of the strongest examples of this occurs in Stone of Blood when he incurs some serious damage fighting an Ogri in Episode Two. It's actually a bit touching when he suggests he should just be cannibalised for spare parts. Particularly since he so courageously defended the Doctor when the giant mobile rock awkwardly knocked the Time Lord out. We really shouldn't be feeling this level of connection with what is supposedly an emotionless being. But the sequence is quite effective.
Unfortunately, I find the decision to have David Brierly voice K9 in Season Seventeen works against the sort of rapport that was developed with the character. Leeson only gives a hint of silliness to the robot's voice whereas his successor does seem to take the comedy too far. K9 still displays emotions from time-to-time during the season, (when he's actually in it - he's, pretty much, absent from the first two stories), but making him so comical-sounding really takes us out of the moment. Just look at how the severe damage he takes in the awfully-named Creature from the Pit is handled versus the previously-mentioned sequence in Stones of Blood.
Leeson does return for Season Eighteen but this is also when Christopher H. Bidmead takes over as script editor. His love of "hard sci fi" means that he prefers a robot sounds and acts like a robot. So there are very few emotional moments for the character. This is also the season where K9 is almost always getting wrecked in a story so that the Doctor can use his wits to get out of jams rather than just get his dog to do it for him. So there's considerably less content for us to analyze because he is frequently unresponsive. In the one adventure where he doesn't take damage (State of Decay), he is told to stay in the TARDIS for the better part of two episodes. So there's not much to examine in that story, either.
While we do see some emotion out of K9 during Seasons Sixteen to Eighteen, there aren't a whole lot of instances where this model tends to show any kind of free will. Even when he does seem to act against instructions, it's usually part of his actual programming. A scene from Nightmare of Eden illustrates this nicely. Romana gives K9 an order that will get him to leave her undefended. A Mandrel suddenly leaps out to attack her. In the nick of time, the robot re-routes his course and returns to save his mistress. Romana thanks him for his timely intervention but he explains that he's merely obeying certain protocols that have been written into his software. We could almost claim that he's trying to be humble, here. Or we could say that he's only a robot.
Ultimately, however, this version of K9 doesn't actually do much to support the idea that a robot qualifies as a companion. For the most part, he does seem more like just a machine.
5) K9 - Mark Three
Okay, first things first. Let's address the Elephant in the Room: I will not be considering anything from K9 and Company. I have specified in other entries that I will not be discussing most spin-off material, here (https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/03/doin-it-with-style.html). Also, let's be honest: it's best that no one considers K-9 and Company for anything!
However we can still examine School Reunion and a very brief cameo from Journey's End for any evidence of sentience. Even in that little bit of content, we do see some (it's amusing how, as usual, writers try to keep K9 out of the way for most of the episode). He shows some of his stereotypical smugness in Journey's End when he declares how simple his task is. And he displays a tonne of independence in School Reunion when he insists on sacrificing himself to stop the Krillitane. When he does "die" in the story, we definitely feel some more of that sympathy for him that we did during Stones of Blood.
One final note to make about some of the personality that K9 has shown in all of his models is that he absorbs both negative and positive character traits. K9 can be very intrepid, at times and shows a certain level of eagerness in his desire to assist his friends. But, as I have mentioned already, he can also be a bit arrogant in his intelligence. That arrogance can also lead to shortness in his patience. Look how he gets very irritated with Drax's distress beacon in Armageddon Factor. Or how he actually calls the TARDIS stupid in Invasion of Time. Quite amazingly, Leeson's vocal treatment somehow keeps him endearing when he behaves in such a manner.
FINAL CONCLUSION:
After a detailed analysis of all the robots that have travelled with the Doctor, the conclusion still remains fairly subjective. Yes, they do show hints of being more than just a collection of circuits and software. But is it enough? We could just as easily label them as mere props with talented voice artists working behind them.
I tend to agree more with the latter concept. But, as with any POINT OF DEBATE essay I've written, the final choice is yours. I merely try to present both sides of the argument as comprehensively as possible. You decide for yourself.
I do greatly enjoy posting POINT OF DEBATE topics and already have another one in mind that you should be seeing soon. Whether it will be the very next entry I do or something further down the road remains to be seen...
Some other POINT OF DEBATE essays:
What constitutes a Three-Parter in New Who?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/09/points-of-debate-what-constitutes-three.html
What gender do we assign the Doctor?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/08/points-of-debate-what-gender-do-we.html
Was Goronwy from Delta and the Bannermen secretly a Time Lord?
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/01/point-of-debate-was-goronwy-from-delta.html
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