The Forgotten is a Doctor Who Expanded Universe six issue mini-series published by IDW, written by Tony Lee with art by Pia Guerra, Kelly Yates, Stefano Martino and Nick Roche. It was published to coincide with the franchise's 45th anniversary.
The Tenth Doctor and Martha have found themselves in a strange museum. It contains various items the Doctor is familiar with, including an exhibition dedicated to his past selves. Shortly after discovering the exhibition, something terrible happens: The Doctor loses his memories! Well, at least all memories from before he looked like David Tennant. Trapped, TARDIS missing and dying, the Doctor must regain his memories with the various canes, recorders, jelly babies and umbrellas in the museum. All the while, a bearded figure watches, waiting for the Doctor to die....
This comic contains the following tropes:
- All Just a Dream: The entire story, in a way. The Doctor's been attacked by a cranial parasite trying to kill him following the events of "Journey's End".
- Amnesiac Hero: The Doctor suffers a unique form of amnesia throughout most of the series. He can't remember anything before regenerating at the end of "The Parting of the Ways".
- Been There, Shaped History: In the Ninth Doctor story, he helped organize the Christmas Truce of 1914, and refereed the soccer match between British and German soldiers. It is unknown if he learnt that one of the players was related to a certain Lethbridge-Stewart...
- Big Damn Heroes: The Ten Doctors facing off against the cranial parasite.
- Chase Scene: The Third Doctor's tale is this for the most part.
- Discontinuity Nod: It's suggested that the entire "half-human" thing was a ruse put on by the Doctor to mislead the Master (exactly how is never really explained) in case he attempted to escape his execution.
- Flashback: Ten prompts these with his past lives' Iconic Item(s).
- Frame-Up: Peri is framed and put on trial for murder in the Sixth Doctor's story.
- Iconic Item: The Exhibition of the Doctor has these for all (at the time) nine of his previous incarnations:
- The First Doctor's cane.
- The Second Doctor's recorder.
- The Third Doctor's keys to Bessie.
- The Fourth Doctor's jelly babies.
- The Fifth Doctor's cricket ball.
- The Sixth Doctor's cat broach.
- The Seventh Doctor's umbrella.
- The Eighth Doctor's cravat.
- The Ninth Doctor's Psychic Paper.
- The Tenth Doctor's fob watch.
- Iconic Outfit: The Exhibition of the Doctor has all the previous incarnation's costumes on display.
- I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Martha's reaction to seeing some of the Doctor's previous outfits:"I mean, I thought that trainers and a pin-stripe was a bit wrong but look at that multi-colored thing! Were you auditioning for Joseph or something?"
- The Siege: The plot of the Second Doctor's story, naturally.
- Reunion Show: The series climaxes with all the Doctors facing off against the villain.
- Shout-Out: Oh so many.
- Spaceship Girl: Martha turns out to be a mental projection of the TARDIS itself, who can take on the form and personality of anyone who has ever traveled in the TARDIS, to aid him in a fight against an invader. Most of the personalities it takes on are female (but then, so have been most of the Doctor's companions). A similar idea would surface in the TV series later on.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Several flashbacks reference the more well known story types of their era:
- The First Doctor gets a pure historical.
- The Second Doctor gets a base under siege plot.
- The Sixth Doctor deals with a trial, though this time it's Peri who's on trial.
