Line #7 FandomSpecificPlot/DoctorWho


1	'''All spoilers are unmarked.''' Oh, and if you're looking for ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''-specific plots, they have [[FandomSpecificPlot/{{Torchwood}} their own page]].
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3	[[AC:In General]]
4	* Series X rewrites with Character Y. Usually Series 3 (and sometimes 4) with Rose, which is practically a genre unto itself.
5	* Series X rewrites with an OriginalCharacter are just as popular, especially Series 5.
6	* More like Fandom Specific Title, but the LiteraryAllusionTitle "[[Creator/AndrewMarvell World enough, and time]]" was practically irresistible to Whofic writers, until the franchise proper [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E11WorldEnoughAndTime finally got around to it]].
7	* So you have a story. In it, the Doctor lands the TARDIS on Earth near where you live and meets a [[OriginalCharacter human OC]] [[SelfInsertFic with an inexplicable resemblance to you]]. They decide this human will be their new companion and the two of them go off to have wacky adventures together.
8	** A common variant of this plot is the "timejump fic", where the OC "jumps" around the Doctor's timeline at random. Almost invariably with only a few exceptions, they'll later be revealed as a Time Lord [[MostFanficWritersAreGirls (or rather, Time Lady)]], and will regenerate at some point. At one point in the story, they ''will'' marry the Doctor and have their kids and/or run into them while time-jumping. This kind of fic also likes to ignore the fact that the Doctor does ''not'' take just anyone as a companion, and also conveniently forgets just how irritated they are by other people popping around out of order in their timestream [[HypocriticalHumor (but it's okay for him to do that to other people).]] These also tend to focus mainly only on stories from the revival, with fics featuring classic stories less common and fics focusing on them even rarer.
9	* Fics where the Doctor regenerates into an eight year old/an animal/pretty much anything else!
10	** This is particularly common whenever a new official Doctor is cast, as the fans write what they thought the new Doctor "should have been". Especially in the Thirteenth Doctor's case, as the GenderFlip was contentious among the fandom.
11	** On that note, before it was made canon with Thirteen, the Doctor being a woman was a common theme; expect [=FemDoctor=] to be paired with either Captain Jack or The Master[[note]]may be femslash with Missy[[/note]].
12	* Fanfics involving River and the Doctor going to the Singing Towers of Darillium were common until the canon version of the event was depicted in "The Husbands of River Song" in 2015. And after that aired, what River and the Twelfth Doctor got up to during that night on Darillium, which lasted '''24 Earth years''', became a popular jumping-off point for fics.
13	* Due to the sheer amount of FoeRomanceSubtext in the series, there are ''tons'' of fanfics centered around The Master and The Doctor having a romantic relationship with one another. Bonus points if either The Doctor convinces The Master to become good or The Doctor decides to join forces with The Master and turn evil.
14	* Stories about The Master trying to redeem themselves have become popular.
15	* Intra-fandom crossovers involving multiple TARDIS teams meeting, often out of order, have become increasingly popular since the revival.
16	* Following the death of Creator/ElisabethSladen, fics featuring The Doctor learning about Sarah Jane Smith's death and coming to terms with it became common. Sometimes, they would have multiple companion cameos, and some would be Multi-Doctor fics. While Sarah Jane canonically [[CharacterOutlivesActor lived past the time of Sladen's death]], the precedent of the Brigadier dying after the death of his actor made such stories logically hard to resist. Eventually, an official one of these was released [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8sU45ax2Hs on YouTube]], mainly focusing on the cast of ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures''. Sarah Jane's death would finally be acknowledged and processed onscreen by the Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheGiggle The Giggle]]", [[spoiler:specifically by the [[Characters/DoctorWhoFifteenthDoctor Fifteenth Doctor]] discussing his past with the [[Characters/DoctorWhoFourteenthDoctor Fourteenth Doctor]].]]
17	* Shipfic that pairs up every Doctor sequentially with one specific companion, usually Rose or River.
18	* For a while, for some reason[[note]]The original cause was a typo: the Tenth Doctor was supposed to be naked apart from the Third Doctor's ''cape''.[[/note]] a [[http://www.whofic.com/series.php?seriesid=2338 popular fic meme]] was to write a story involving the Third Doctor and the Tenth Doctor being tied together, with the Tenth Doctor being naked and both of them covered in cake somehow. Interestingly and amusingly, despite the set-up most of the authors involved did ''not'' go down the sexual route that was opened up by this challenge.
19	* Pick a fandom, any fandom. You can practically guarantee that there will be at least one or two fics where Character X has a pocket watch and is secretly a Time Lord (usually either the Doctor or the Master). One teeny tiny proof -- so many WMG pages have an entry about a character who is actually a Time Lord.
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21	[[AC:Classic Series]]
22	* Adric has been the subject of many fics, usually stemming from a desire on the author's part to fix the somewhat off-handed way the series handled his death at the end of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]". There are also stories where he survived his encounter with the Cybermen, some of which involve him being rescued from the freighter, either by the Doctor or by another character. In addition, there are fics which deal with his feelings about his brother's death, which was barely acknowledged in the series, something Creator/MatthewWaterhouse, who was cast as Adric shortly after losing his real life brother, was less than pleased about. Not to mention attempts by some members of the fandom to tone down or justify some of the traits which have led to Adric being regarded as [[TheScrappy one of the most annoying characters in the series]].
23	* The Eighth Doctor, in the one TV episode that we saw him in, was presented as a rather flighty, optimistic, romantic and sensitive sort. Naturally, this practically makes him a magnet for HurtComfortFic. While the new series Doctors get plenty of this themselves seeing as they practically have "tortured soul who's been put through too much and needs lots of big hugs" written into their DNA thanks to the Time War, something about the Eighth Doctor practically demands the author to do horrible, horrible things to him. Note that this also applies to the people writing for Eight in the [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]. ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' and the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' write more angsty HurtComfortFic than the average non-paid fan.
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25	[[AC:Ninth Doctor Era]]
26	* It seems you don't actually get your ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[WeirdTradeUnion fanfic writer's union card]] until you've written a Time War-centric fic. It helps that aside from the 50th anniversary special and its associated shorts, it isn't being depicted onscreen by choice, and it took a little while after that for the ExpandedUniverse to start addressing it.
27	* Many fanfics have run with the idea that Rose was changed as a result of looking into the Vortex in "The Parting of the Ways" and, as Bad Wolf, became immortal. This is also something that is sometimes tied in with "Journey's End" [=AUs=].
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29	[[AC:Tenth Doctor Era]]
30	* A number of Ten/Rose writers who felt that Ten, Rose, and (to a lesser extent) Mickey acted wildly out-of-character during "The Girl in the Fireplace" have written rewrites where they were done more in character.
31	* The episode "Doomsday" spawned hundreds, if not thousands, of 10/Rose reunion fics, an event which [[IKnewIt became canon]] with "Journey's End". After that, many are writing 10.5-and-Rose-in-the-alternate-universe fics.
32	** Despite this, there are many fans who can't accept the splitting and will try any means to get the Doctor and Rose together. Which generally results in "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End" rewrites designed to keep them from splitting up. Some rewrite the "Stolen Earth" ending so that Jack gets there a few seconds earlier and stops the Dalek before it can shoot the Doctor, or have Rose's reunion with the Doctor happen earlier (both options averting the Metacrisis), and thus use alternate means to defeat Davros (like Rose becoming Bad Wolf). Post "Journey's End", some rewrite the ending to have Rose decide to stay with the Time Lord Doctor rather than the Metacrisis, or they write reunions during the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor eras.
33	** Speaking of which, Eleven/Rose and Twelve/Rose reunion fics generally come in one of two flavors: either A) things didn't work out between Rose and Tentoo, or B) Rose comes back to the primary universe after Tentoo (and sometimes the rest of her family) dies, similar to Mickey's reasons for coming back. More often than not, these sorts of fics also tend to get combined with the "immortal Rose" headcanons above.
34	* Rewrites of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature "Human Nature"]] / [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood "The Family of Blood"]], with "John Smith" falling in love with someone other than Joan Redfern, usually Rose. This is also one that's combined with the "Series 3/4 with Rose" plots.
35	** For the ones that use Rose, there's usually some variation as to whether she's fobbed alongside the Doctor or not.
36	* Ever since the Master's backstory was revealed in series 3, angsty Master stories have become more popular.
37	* During The Year That Never Was in "The Sound of Drums" / "Last of the Time Lords", the Master rapes the Doctor, Jack, and/or Martha, with a heavy bias toward the Doctor. Note that he (almost?) invariably reverts the Doctor to his usual physical age before doing so[[note]]it's less common if the author keeps it limited to [[MindRape forced telepathic Time Lord sex]][[/note]]. Usually played as erotic yet angsty.
38	* "Forest of the Dead" received a bunch of {{Fix Fic}}s in which River's death is somehow reversed.
39	* Some rewrites of "Journey's End" revolve around the idea of "What if the Doctor had no choice but to regenerate completely?"
40	* {{Fix Fic}}s in which Donna recovers her memories are quite common, usually taking place either at the end of her life (usually elderly) with the Doctor visiting her one last time, or by miraculously being able to remember everything without her mind burning itself up in the process. The latter is accomplished by the Doctor figuring out some clever way to save her that he didn't before, or by regeneration. (ExpandedUniverse Whoniverse stories have done the same with Zoe, who had her memories of the Doctor partially erased by the Time Lords -- usually as a prelude to [[YankTheDogsChain chain-yanking]].) The "Donna recovers her memories and also becomes a Time Lord" SubGenre is quite popular.
41	** The series eventually did a canonical fix, which didn't quite fit any of these but was satisfying to many fans nonetheless, as it featured the Doctor settling down with Donna and her family (see the Fourteenth Doctor entry below).
42	* After [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], another kind of FixFic emerged which repaired both it and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E13JourneysEnd "Journey's End"]] in one fell swoop: When Ten regenerates, his mind/soul doesn't die. Instead it gets transferred into the body of 10.5, bringing 10 back to life and reuniting him with Rose.
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44	[[AC:Eleventh Doctor Era]]
45	* River Song's true identity used to be a mystery and many different scenarios and theories were written about it, usually by somehow making her a future version of a companion (Rose being one example). Needless to say, these died out when her identity was revealed in "A Good Man Goes To War".
46	* Rory's 2000 years guarding the Pandorica, and his unsuccessful attempts to stay out of trouble, are a major fanfic magnet. Big Finish eventually did a spinoff about it, ''The Lone Centurion''.
47	* Post-[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E5TheAngelsTakeManhattan "The Angels Take Manhattan"]], a large number of fics tend to focus on the Ponds adjusting to life in 1940s Manhattan. And, as always, we have the {{Fix Fic}}s where River brings them back to the present.
48	* After "The Name of the Doctor", stories about past Doctors not ''quite'' encountering echo!Claras (or, occasionally echo!Great Intelligences). Can be combined with DoppelgangerCrossover to reveal any character played by Creator/JennaColeman or Creator/RichardEGrant was an echo. (Yes, ''any'' character - if you're creative enough, even the Shalka!Doctor can be explained as such. It'd be a stretch to sneak ''The Curse of Fatal Death'' in there, though.)
49	* The climax of "The Day of the Doctor" from the perspective of Doctors that weren't War, Ten, or Eleven.
50	* The Doctor spending hundreds of years protecting Trenzalore from the various monsters that seek to destroy it.
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52	[[AC:Twelfth Doctor Era]]
53	* From Series 9, there's the further adventures of functional immortal Ashildr/Me between her four televised appearances, thanks to beaucoup FanficFuel: the event she ''wanted'' to forget to the point of tearing journal pages about it in "The Woman Who Lived", her decision to look after those the Doctor leaves behind post-"The Woman Who Lived", the unanswered question of ''how'' she outlived all other immortals to the end of time, the likelihood she met '''tons''' of other established characters on TheSlowPath, etc.
54	* The Series 9 finale spawned several fandom specific plots:
55	** The continued adventures of Clara and Ashildr/Me in their TARDIS.
56	** How and why Clara returns to Gallifrey and her final death at last, since it has to happen to avoid a RealityBreakingParadox.
57	** The Twelfth Doctor regaining all of his memories of Clara or revealing that he faked his memory loss, and from there his path crosses with hers once again somehow (the order of these events may be reversed). The order of these events may be reversed. Also an example of FixFic, and Creator/PeterCapaldi suggesting in June 2016 that the mind wipe may not have been as thorough as believed further encourages writers...
58	** Creator/StevenMoffat ended up restoring the memories just before Twelve's regeneration, opening the door for Thirteen onward to go looking for her.
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60	[[AC:Thirteenth Doctor Era]]
61	* After the Thirteenth Doctor was revealed to be a woman, River was easily the most popular character to pair her with in the fics that popped up, likely helped by Creator/AlexKingston's lustful expression upon getting the news in the middle of a panel. Even more specifically, River's second wife who reminded her of the Doctor actually was Thirteen.
62	* Series 12 spawned a considerable amount of actor-swap fanart in which Creator/JodieWhittaker plays the Master and Creator/SachaDhawan the Doctor, thanks to a number of fans finding it very easy to imagine them switching roles that series. Naturally enough, some of them have extended it back in time as well, switching previous Doctors and Masters. [[HilariousInHindsight Oddly enough]], Whittaker's finale [[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor "The Power of the Doctor"]] ended up having Dhawan play the Doctor for a bit.
63	* Following [[spoiler: the Fourteenth Doctor's bi-generation in [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheGiggle "The Giggle"]] and Creator/RussellTDavies's assertion that "every Doctor" bi-generated somewhere in a split timeline]], fics have now sprung up depicting Thirteen reuniting with Yasmin post-"[[Recap/DoctorWho2022CENThePowerOfTheDoctor The Power of the Doctor]]", with most fics having the intent of canonizing [[PortmanteauShipName Thasmin]], or starting the relationship off on a better, more equal footing.
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65	[[AC:Fourteenth Doctor Era]]
66	* After the happy ending post [[Recap/DoctorWho60thASTheGiggle "The Giggle"]], there are now plenty of fics that have sprung out about Fourteen's adventures on Earth with Donna and her family, exploring his trauma and bonding with the Temple-Noble clan. And, of course, for the 'shippers who can't help themselves, there are also a number of fics that have cropped up which depict Fourteen and Donna giving in to their ;secret' urges and sleep together, often with Donna's actual husband Shaun dealing with it amicably, aware that a Donna liberated from the constraints of the meta-crisis would follow her heart and pursue The Doctor.

Context FandomSpecificPlot / DoctorWho