History AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / DoctorWho

*** "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CiNSTimeCrash Time Crash]]" posed another theory that works on even a meta level. Five was a sweet, gentle soul who wanted to travel the universe, make friends, and solve conflicts. Unfortunately, the universe tended to repay Five with horrible luck and a high body count. Eight was also much the same way - out to have fun and merciful to a fault...which ended with the Time War and a potential Companion committing suicide out of fear of him. Ten ''really'' wanted the same things as Five and Eight, but knew all too well that the universe was going to punish him for it, so he developed a DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs streak that Seven would have approved.

* In [[Recap/DoctorWho2013CSTheTimeOfTheDoctor "The Time of the Doctor"]], did the Time Lords give the Doctor a brand new regeneration cycle out of gratitude for his actions in Day of the Doctor, because they empathized with Clara's words, or because they simply needed the Doctor alive since he's the only one who can help them return? Since there's more than one of them, it could be all of the above.
** Given that in the future Trenzalore the Doctor and Clara saw, featuring his tomb, I have always understood it that that was in an alternate timeline, one where Clara had not yet jumped into his timestream. So Clara talking to the Time Lords definitely had something to do with it, because obviously that future was averted; the Doctor did not die (permanently).

** The fact that it seems Rose gets whatever she wants annoys fans. Create a paradox and almost destroy the universe? Get a second chance, despite the episode before, the Doctor kicked someone off the Tardis for trying to do that. Lose your dad? Get him back but this time, he's rich. Trapped in a different dimension away from your boyfriend? Have your rich father create a device that allows you to dimension hop. Can't be with the man you love? Hook up with his clone. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o95ZDRQ_hfM This video]] from Welshy really illustrates this view.

** In the same episode, the denouement has Clara's life saved because [[spoiler: the boy Davros was taught the concept of mercy by the Doctor rescuing him]]. When the Doctor [[spoiler: returns to the past to make that happen]], he says he's doing what he's doing to save his "friend". Does he mean Clara, which would fit into his Series 9 actions in general, or [[spoiler: Davros himself]], an interpretation that is foreshadowed by the Doctor's own dialogue in the shorts "Prologue" and "The Doctor's Meditation"? Given that saving Clara ALSO saves Missy, whom the Twelfth Doctor's MythArc firmly establishes is someone he dearly cares about and would like to be friends with again, especially in hindsight he should be using the word '''friends''' if he isn't referring to [[spoiler: young Davros]]. Moreover, in the course of the episode it's revealed that Dalek language and thought is so limited that "I love you" is one of many phrases that just comes out as "Exterminate". So [[spoiler: when the Doctor says that just before he blasts the handmines]]...''well''.

** In the same episode, the denouement has Clara's life saved because [[spoiler: the boy Davros was taught the concept of mercy by the Doctor rescuing him]]. When the Doctor [[spoiler: returns to the past to make that happen]], he says he's doing what he's doing to save his friend. Does he mean Clara, which would fit into his Series 9 actions in general, or [[spoiler: Davros himself]], an interpretation that is foreshadowed by the Doctor's own dialogue in the shorts "Prologue" and "The Doctor's Meditation"? For bonus points, in the course of the episode it's revealed that Dalek language and thought is so limited that "I love you" is one of many phrases that just comes out as "Exterminate". So [[spoiler: when the Doctor says that just before he blasts the handmines]]...

* The Time Lords and Ohila treat the Doctor banishing Rassilon and the Time Lord High Council in "Hell Bent" as a cowardly and cruel action, even though they were warmongering dictators who caused the Last Great Time War and nearly destroyed the universe. However, Rassilon and co. are still around and capable of coming back for revenge or causing problems for the places they went after banishment (the comic book ''Supremacy of the Cybermen'' uses this as a plot point). So are they actually angry at the Doctor for making them someone else's problem and not considering what they would do after banishment? Also, considering Ohila keeps insulting Rassilon and some of the Time Lords help the Doctor overthrow him, are they actually angry at the fact he was ''too lenient'' on the warmongers? Then there is the fact the Doctor is not listening to any of them at all.

* The Society portrayed in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld The End of the World]]". The fact that religion is banned is meant as a good thing by Creator/RussellTDavis, who sees it as they have OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions. However it could easily be seen as an oppressive and bigoted regime, the fact they feel the need to ban it shows there must still be religion, not that there is no religion. Would the Doctor still be fine with this if they had banned atheism?

* Cessair of Diplos in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E3TheStonesOfBlood ''The Stones of Blood'']] is, on the face of it, an alien criminal who happens to be in posession of the third segment of the Key to Time, disguised as the Great Seal of Diplos and will stop at nothing to prevent the Doctor from obtaining it. But the story hints that there's more than this than meets the eye: is she an agent of the Black Guardian who is trying to stop the Doctor getting the segment on the Guardian's behalf? Maybe, but a third explanation arises from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor ''The Armageddon Factor'']]: Cessair was a false agent of the Black Guardian. She was given the task of stealing the Great Seal, supposedly to stop the Doctor getting his hands on it, but actually to help him. The Guardian's plan was to trick the Doctor into giving him the complete Key. By this reasoning, Cessair stole the Great Seal, and was actually doing what would have been the dirty work. End result: the Doctor has the relatively easy job of recovering the Seal from a criminal as opposed to stealing it from its proper home on Diplos. Cessair got [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] for her efforts. The Doctor was then able to seek the remaining segments.

** Ten's regeneration scene: one of the most moving and emotional scenes in the franchise's history as he desperately hangs on for as long as possible, or an act of spite against his next incarnation, forcing him to be born in a crashing TARDIS? Or both?

* Perhaps the Tenth Doctor's strident pacifism is a form of detached arrogance fitting with his god-complex. He pompously berates the "little" lifeforms for using violence (frequently in self-defence) because, as a Time Lord, he has no way of seeing things from their perspective or at their level (or at least no way that sticks after he reopens the fob watch). There's a hint supporting this theory in the episode "The Christmas Invasion" from 2005: Ten berates the Prime Minister for destroying a Sycorax ship. The Prime Minister measuredly responds by telling him that Earth needs to defend itself because the Doctor is "not always [there]". Ten petulantly rejects this and sets events in motion to force the Prime Minister from office.

*** "Time Crash" posed another theory that works on even a meta level. Five was a sweet, gentle soul who wanted to travel the universe, make friends, and solve conflicts. Unfortunately, the universe tended to repay Five with horrible luck and a high body count. Eight was also much the same way - out to have fun and merciful to a fault...which ended with the Time War and a potential Companion committing suicide out of fear of him. Ten ''really'' wanted the same things as Five and Eight, but knew all too well that the universe was going to punish him for it, so he developed a DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs streak that Seven would have approved.
** The way he treats his clone in "Journey's End" seems bizarre. After the clone wipes out the Daleks, the Doctor treats him [[InformedWrongness like a monster]] and exiles him to a parallel world. Yet the clone was [[StrawmanHasAPoint completely justified]] in doing so, as the Daleks were only incapacitated and had come very close to destroying entire Universes. What else was 10 expecting him to do? Give them another chance after they have kept proving themselves to be AlwaysChaoticEvil apart from very rare exceptions? In a similar situation in "The Poison Sky", 10 feels he has to give the Sontarans a chance before he activates a weapon to destroy them, even though he knows it is very unlikely they'll take it and he'll get killed by doing this. Before that, in "The Fires of Pompeii", he and Donna wipe out the Pyroviles to save Earth, even though this kills 20,000 innocent people, though this is a fixed point in time. Is 10 a jerkass who obsessively follow his hypocritical and obviously-flawed moral code to the point of TooDumbToLive and treats anybody who doesn't agree with him, no matter how valid their reasons, like a monster?

* InUniverse, the Eleventh Doctor episode "The Pandorica Opens" gives us an idea of how the Doctor is seen by species he doesn't save every week - particularly the AlwaysChaoticEvil ones, but possibly also the no-worse-than-humans ones as well: [[spoiler: he's a world-ending demon who must be shut away for all eternity before he destroys the entire universe]].

** Let's look back in "A Town Called Mercy", where the Doctor thinks that he may as well have pulled the trigger on everyone ever hurt by those he didn't take down. That mindset is completely justified. He has showed mercy to villains like the Master and Davros a lot of times in past, allowing them to live despite their horrible actions. This act, however, has gotten many, many more people killed whose deaths were caused by said villains later on. This was a major problem for 10, in refusing to finish the Daleks by killing Caan he enabled the Dalek race to survive and got angry at the idea of them being wiped out even after that. How can anyone honestly blame the Doctor for acting that way since that is just one example that his mercy has come back to bite him on the ass?

** The claim from [[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresTimewyrmRevelation Timewyrm: Revelation]] that the previous Doctors live in the Doctors mind does add a lot to this.

** Series 9: Is his choice in "The Girl Who Died" to save Ashildr in a way that makes her immortal a selfish outgrowth of self-pity over all the loss he's experienced in his lives (companions who inevitably leave him, one-shot characters who die helping him); borne of genuine affection, grief, and guilt for her specifically; '''and/or''' a noble effort to rise above his PragmaticHero tendencies seen most recently in "Before the Flood" (the previous episode), in which he takes special trouble to save a companion but not a one-shot character -- a rescue that's truly holding himself to his chosen title, proving he sees the preciousness of every life and resents the cruel laws of nature that keep striking them down?
** In "Hell Bent", is he ''just'' a Time Lord Victorious 2.0 in his mad efforts to [[spoiler: save Clara's life]]? Is his SanitySlippage to be blamed solely on his not summoning the inner strength to move on from a colossal tragedy and instead giving into grief and rage...or might he have been able to do so had he not been thrown into a lonely torture chamber, designed to prey on his fears and weaknesses, '''right after said tragedy happened''', which could only encourage said grief and rage? And with this in mind, should those who condemn his DrivenToMadness actions and show NoSympathy or even comprehension towards his plight, such as Ohila, consider mending fences with him once he's back to normal, a sadder and wiser man?

*** In Series 8, is his interest in her purely platonic, or is he [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy simply holding back for fear of ruining her life?]] Either way, in the wake of the events of "Last Christmas" he is noticeably, if unconventionally, more affectionate and open in Series 9, his actions in its final three episodes confirming that he loves her as he hasn't loved anyone since Rose Tyler.

*** With regards to Ashildr [[spoiler: betraying him and inadvertently paving the way for Clara's death]] in "Face the Raven", that's apparently a case of ThisIsUnforgivable and he never forgives her onscreen, although he does [[spoiler: allow her to follow him into the second TARDIS instead of leaving her to die at the end of time]]. Is he simply too consumed by soul-crushing anguish to realize that she was merely TrappedInVillainy in trying to protect the refugees, or were her acts truly despicable on a personal level after all he'd done for her '''and''' his willingness to not give up on her potential for good in "The Woman Who Lived"? The Doctor gives second chances, but rarely '''thirds'''.

* The Eighth Doctor in "The Night of the Doctor". Was he trying to save Cass by staying on the ship till it crashed? Or effectively killing himself out of despair, feeling he should do so if he was unable to save anybody? Considering how badly this character was broken in the Big Finish audios...
* Was the Fourth Doctor asexual or just only into Gallifreyans? In "City of Death", he made the uncertain statement re: a human woman, "You're a beautiful woman, probably."[[note]]The original script, however, has the Doctor stating this without uncertainty.[[/note]] Yet, in "The Pirate Planet" he unambiguously referred to Romana as being attractive.

** Something that a lot of people don't pick up on is that in "Journey's End" Rose clearly says she was working on travelling back to her world despite the Doctor saying this would destroy both worlds '''before''' the barriers between worlds began collapsing. Before that in "Doomsday" when the Doctor says returning would destroy both worlds her reaction is [[ItsAllAboutMe "So?"]] Is this really admirable and loving behavior or a dangerous obsession, Rose thinking her relationship with the Doctor takes priority over other peoples' lives, which makes this idea of her as a selfless figure quite questionable?

* Christina's meant to be seen as a adrenaline junkie FemmeFatale with a heart of gold but can be more easily seen as a borderline sociopath when you notice she had no regrets about getting her partner arrested, is extremely selfish, arguably kissed the Doctor just to manipulate him and only wanted to come along because the police were about to catch her. Also her saving the people on the bus wasn't an act of selflessness, it was because she was one of the people in danger.

** Is Timothy Dalton's character really Rassilon [[FaceHeelTurn fallen to the Dark side?]] Or is he just an arrogant dictator who took Rassilon's name to make himself sound important? (Bear in mind he's credited not as "Rassilon" but merely as "The President"). WordOfGod says he's the real Rassilon, having at some point re-emerged and reclaimed control, but since it was never said onscreen DeathOfTheAuthor applies.

* The Bad Wolf. Is it Rose using the power of the time vortex to save the Doctor, or the time vortex controlling the mind of Rose to stop the Daleks?
** Or given the events of "The Doctor's Wife", is it in fact the will of [[spoiler: The TARDIS]]?

* The Beast, from "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit". Is it actually the Whoniverse's version of the Devil, who fought before time against the followers of God, the Disciples of Light, and has inspired all the devils in every religion? Or is the Beast simply an incredibly powerful and evil being who lies to cash in on fears of religion's Satanic figures, so that the scared humans are more easy to defeat and influence? There's evidence for both, and by the end even the Doctor doesn't seem completely sure.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z57Wktiu5Qc This]] Website/YouTube video of a Doctor Who Confidential offers one for Madame Kovarian: a woman "of a certain age" who never had any children of her own. It seems to be suggesting that not only will [[spoiler: Melody/River]] be raised to be a weapon, but also that Madame Kovarian intends to make [[spoiler: Melody/River]] into something of a [[DaddysLittleVillain Mommy's Little Villain]].
* Elton, from "Love & Monsters" - despite several references to LINDA and Clom in later episodes seemingly contradicting this, it is commonly believed that Elton is insane, and is imagining the events of this episode (perhaps in order to deal with [[spoiler: his mother's death]]).

** The funny thing about Love & Monsters is that it's a rare episode where this trope isn't so much YMMV as deliberately invoked. We know the scenes with the camera HUD overlaid actually happened. Elton filmed them, we're looking at the footage as captured. We also know that at least one of the scenes, right near the top of the episode, with the Hoix and the bucket, definitely didn't happen as broadcast because it was patently ludicrous. The cards are on the table right from the start that this is a potentially unreliable account of what actually happened, but it never quite takes a side on how much was real and how much was in Elton's head.

* The Sisterhood of Karn. A group of wise individuals in the [[RightManInTheWrongPlace right place and time]] to give the Doctor the final push he needed to enter the Time War, or a group of [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative bastards]] who engineered the entire scenario [[FridgeHorror to begin with?]] The audience is [[TheUnreveal never told]] ''what'' caused Cass' ship to crash so close to Karn and it seems ''highly'' suspicious that they happened to have prepared all those regeneration potions - including the specially made one for the War Doctor - in less time than it took to retrieve their bodies from the wreckage? Remember also that in the previous appearance from the Sisterhood of Karn in "The Brain of Morbius", they were forcing all ships that flew near to crash in order to protect themselves (the Doctor's condition for helping restore the Flame was that 'it's got to stop').

* In "The Unquiet Dead", the Gelth - evil conquerors with no regard to sanctity of other life, or just one of many beings driven mad by the Time War, trying desperately to cling to life themselves?

* The Society portrayed in "The End of the World". The fact that religion is banned is meant as a good thing by the writer, who sees it as they have OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions. However it could easily be seen as an oppressive and bigoted regime, the fact they feel the need to ban it shows there must still be religion, not that there is no religion. Would the Doctor still be fine with this if they had banned atheism?

* The Thirteenth Doctor's first scene is scored with Rose Tyler's theme. With the previous version having entered into canon that a regeneration's appearance can be affected by a Time Lord's own history, could turning into a blonde woman with a pronounced accent (from the same region as Nine's, at that) be her attempt to be more like Rose?

* The Thirteenth Doctor's first scene is scored with Rose Tyler's theme. With the previous version having entered into canon that a regeneration's appearance can be affected by a Time Lord's own history, could turning into a blonde woman with a pronounced accent be her attempt to be more like Rose?

* The [[MissingEpisode rejected book]] ''Campaign'' exploits this for {{Metafiction}}. Various versions of Ian, Barbara and Susan appear, sometimes even using different names (such as Cliff, Lola and Mandy, or Susan English, or "Dr. Who") or with different professions (one Ian is not a science teacher but a physicist, another Barbara is an art teacher, one Susan is a rocker girl who had a teenage pregnancy, chain-smokes, wears a lot of leather and insists on being called "Sue", and "Tony" and "Amy" are (incestuous) brother and sister. Even within the narrative itself, there are elements of this - for instance, some of the members of the TARDIS crew remember Ian fighting alongside Alexander the Great, genociding innocent people, and have difficulty reconciling this with his usual noble personality. [[MindScrew It's a weird book.]]

* Regarding Davros: Are the heartfelt conversations in "The Witch's Familiar" between him and the Doctor ''just'' a ruse to trick the Doctor or were there some hints that at least some of them was genuine?

*** It is confirmed he is the real Rassilon in the novel [[Recap/NewSeriesAdventuresEnginesOfWar "Engines of War"]] though. Although since this is technically part of the DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse and not the television series proper, this one can depend on whether you view the novels as 'canon' or not.

* Was the Fourth Doctor asexual or just only into Gallifreyans?

* This carries on with another of Eleven's major companions, River Song. Is she an egotistical psychopath who cares more about herself and the Doctor than doing what's good? Should she be pitied because of his twisting path and timeline which has blasted every possibility of a normal life from her? Is she too dependent on the Doctor to the point where he's her only reason for being, and if that's true, should we interpret this as just part of her character, or [[GirlsNeedRoleModels a bad thing]]? Or considering that she teaches at a university and willingly breaks in and out of prison, is she ''independent'' and free to do as she likes, which occasionally involves the Doctor?

* Given all of the above issues, in Series 8 the Twelfth Doctor seems to be looking back at the Seventh Doctor, who, whether or not you consider him a chessmaster or a joker, certainly was more manipulative and a bit darker than other Doctors. It might be a Scottish thing. He's still a good (as good as the Doctor can get) man, and he still goes to save other planets, etc. but he doesn't have as many qualms about other people's feelings. Truthfully, when the Twelfth Doctor agonizes about whether or not he's a 'good man,' it almost seems like he remembers the times he manipulated other people, ("The Curse of Fenric", anyone?) -- and is terrified he'll end up becoming that again.

** Series 9: Is his choice in "The Girl Who Died" to save Ashildr in a way that makes her immortal a selfish outgrowth of self-pity, guilt, and grief over all the loss he's experienced in his lives (companions who inevitably leave him, one-shot characters who die in the course of his adventures -- often via helping him...)? Or is it a noble effort to rise above his PragmaticHero tendencies seen most recently in "Before the Flood" (the previous episode), in which he takes special trouble to save a companion but not a one-shot character -- a rescue that's truly holding himself to his chosen title, proving he sees the preciousness of every life and resents the cruel laws of nature that keep striking them down? Or is the act a bit of both motivations?

** Was the Doctor as ignorant of the outcome as he says, or did he know what would happen all along and pretended he didn't to pose a SecretTestOfCharacter? In the dialogue where he expresses his inability to see what will happen, he happens to namedrop the exact outcome (the Moon in the future being a different one), is this coincidence or a sign that he knows more than he says?
** Did Clara stop the countdown because she couldn't kill the Moon creature, or to save her own skin - seeing as the Doctor returned only after the bomb would have exploded?
* In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E8MummyOnTheOrientExpress "Mummy on the Orient Express"]], did the Doctor really save everyone? Or just Clara and Perkins? How exactly he managed to get everyone into the TARDIS is never shown, and he specifically asks Clara if it's easier to think of him as not heartless.
** His line "would you like to think of me that way? Would that make it easier?" could also be read as "would it be easier (to leave) if you had kept on thinking I'm heartless and do you want me to pretend?" Given Clara's change of heart, she takes it this way. He remembers the names of every person he couldn't save and recites them with emotion in his voice.
** This refers both to this point, the point about the 12th doctor's interpretation, and the Kill the Moon points. The 12th Doctor seems to be looking back at the 7th Doctor, who, whether or not you consider him a chess master or a joker, certainly was more manipulative and a bit darker than other Doctors. It might be a Scottish thing. He's still a good (as good as the Doctor can get) man, and he still goes to save other planets, etc. but he doesn't have as many qualms about other people's feelings.
*** And truthfully, when the 12th Doctor agonizes about whether or not he's a 'good man,' it almost seems like he remembers the times he manipulated other people, (Curse of Fenric, anyone?) and is terrified he'll end up becoming that again.

** Danny's final ReasonYouSuckSpeech - Correct, deserved, understandable bitterness in the face of death and betrayal, the former but [[MurderTheHypotenuse directed at the wrong person]] (in the sense that he should be upset at ''Clara'' for lying and not putting him first), or [[SoreLoser unnecessarily petty]]? Or intentionally being too harsh in an attempt to make the Doctor dial it back, for Clara's safety?

*** To be fair, after everything the Doctor has been through and lost, it would be unrealistic if he wasn't messed up. Also, his actions toward Colonel Runaway were not done in cold blood - they were an emotional reaction to what the Colonel had done to the Doctor's loved ones (and one of his main character traits is his incredible loyalty and protectiveness).

** Something that a lot of people don't pick up on is that in "Journey's End" Rose clearly says she was working on travelling back to her world despite the Doctor saying this would destroy both worlds. Before that in "Doomsday" when the Doctor says returning would destroy both worlds her reaction is [[ItsAllAboutMe "So?"]] Is this really admirable and loving behaviour or a dangerous obsession?

* Christina's meant to be seen as a adrenaline junkie FemmeFatale with a heart of gold but can be more easily seen as a borderline sociopath when you notice she had no regrets about getting her partner arrested, is extremely selfish, arguably kissed the Doctor just to manipulate him and only wanted to come along because the police were about to catch her.

* The Society portrayed in "The End of the World". The fact that religion is banned is meant as a good thing by the writer, who sees it as they have OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions. However it could easily be seen as an oppressive and bigoted regime. Would the Doctor still be fine with this if they had banned atheism?

* Ashildr (or "Me"): A classic case of ImmortalityImmorality? An UngratefulBitch who used the opportunities she had been given to selfish ends? An AntiVillain who demonstrates that The Doctor's benevolence has unforeseen consequences? TheSociopath? A JerkassWoobie who went more than a little cracked in the head from having an immortal life and a human memory? Someone who is trying to do the right thing, and just ends up blowing it instead? And does she [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn her happy ending]] of [[spoiler: becoming Clara's companion]], or is she a KarmaHoudini who gets away with [[spoiler: betraying the Doctor and inadvertently paving the way for Clara's death]]?