Doctor Who

It wouldn't be a problem if the producers of Brain of Morbius didn't pussy out and not follow through with the Morbius Doctors. Methinks the Watcher is, well, unexplained, because he was meant to be the writer's way of adding a new regeneration cycle to 4 so the Morbius Doctors don't throw a spanner in the works with the new "Time Lords are limited to 12 regenerations" rule

ABC iview gets it pretty quickly. But I think that's limited to Australia only.

Can you really do a Time Lord lore revision without blaming everything on Rasilon?

Jokes aside, obviously I have mixed feelings about this. Genuinely better than Chibnall's last finale though, so I think it shows writing improvement.

I wanted to feel more impact from the reveal. It wasn't terribly shocking, but perhaps that's because spoilers have been out since the first episode aired.

So here's a question...

If the Time Lords and their ability to regenerate are the result of splicing themselves with The Doctor's DNA, how were Amy and Rory able to have a Time Lord daughter with the ability to regenerate?

Edited by Anddrix on Mar 1st 2020 at 5:31:51 PM

But don't worry we've patched the Brain of Morbius canon hole now!

A lighter touch to revisions is certainly advantageous in some ways.

Well that was an episode. Most disappointing thing is that almost none of it was surprising since I called the Doctor being the Timeless Child from the moment it became a thing at the start of this Series and Ruth being pre-Hartnell was spoiled shortly after Fugitive and is something I never had a problem with. Aside from the lack of surprise, this was a pretty decent episode. Really the only surprise was 13 being arrested at the end but I expect that to be undone pretty early into next episode. What I'm most curious about is whether or not 13 will have a companion for the special and who the companion(s) will be for Series 13.

I want Missy as the companion. I don't care how unlikely it is.

Perhaps the Timeless Child/proto-Doctor was human, albeit a genetically modified one. The infamous "half-human" retcon is actually that the Doctor was once a modified human, then part of the genetic splicing added Shobogan/Gallifreyan/Time Lord DNA.

Gonna do the notes again because I am full of words. Be mindful of unmarked series 12 spoilers in the notes - main text is spoiler-tagged.

^note Back when Moffat took over, I had a problem with stuff like the War Doctor. Why go and monkey around with the Doctor's history like that? The Doctor is already the centre of the universe, you don't need to make the show all about them and how these current storylines actually stretch far back into the Doctor's backstory. It's like, why put your thumbprint on that? "Actually the Doctor had a secret regeneration they never talked about", "acksually the dotcor rebooted the universe", etc. The Doctor is a conduit for the TV episodes, and the real stars - to me - are the characters the Doctor helps. It's a team effort - it wouldn't work without the Doctor, but without a good supporting cast each episode, the show suffers. Going into the backstory sometimes is cool, but defining the show by the Doctor as the most important figure who ever lived detracted from that. I still believe that to a degree.

^note But honestly, even with my clear bias against Moffat in this case, I did enjoy the 50th anniversary special. And it helped me realise that the Doctor isn't a sacred cow. Some Brits (said with love) stumbled upon a plot device in a family show that let them keep their meal ticket running for decades - all these stories exist within the framework of a fluke. The Doctor has been so many different things to so many different people, and even if the essence of what I loved about this show is lost, I'm okay with the stories I loved as a kid and I can go forward with a clean slate. The episodes of DW I like best are those fresh, dialogue-driven RTD episodes that feel like a human drama with totally whacked out alien shit in them, instead of episodes so steeped in continuity that I wouldn't have had a chance without a clean start to begin with. And I can enjoy Doctor Who going forward with the understanding that while it breaks new ground and retreads old ground, it will never supercede or destroy the Doctor Who that I love. This Timeless Child stuff, if I didn't like it, wouldn't matter - it's one step foward in a show that's basically run a marathon, and I've got the last leg on DVD.

With that said - I loved this episode.

I think the Timeless Child stuff adds a fresh new spin on the series. The Doctor is a Time Lord, beyond a shadow of a doubt - but what was she before she was a Time Lord? This opens up room to explore heritage, new and old faces, and while there's room for it to be abused - what happens if every new series going forward hinges on there being a new Doctor? - it's not an unwelcome change. Moffat got credit for giving the Doctor a new set of regenerations, and now it's not an issue. Until it is again in the future, because writers and showrunners will add all-new stakes to the Doctor's life. This doesn't feel weird, because showrunners putting their giant thumbprint on the mythos really isn't anything new.

Loved Ko Shamus once again. Loved the fam, loved the Doctor, LOVED The Master - this might be his finest form yet, this new Master is killing it. I thought the Cyber Lord design was absolutely killer. This was a riveting episode of New Who, and it's my favorite episode in years. It had drama, suspense, pathos, heart - absolutely fantastic. Acting was on point for everyone.

My only hope is that Yaz, at the minimum, comes back. This was hardly a goodbye, though if Chibnall wants to let them off without sending them through a soul-crushing ordeal and/or death, I'll take it. I think everyone had an extraordinary moment this episode, but I'm not ready to say goodbye yet.

The Timeless Children was an excellent romp, and I enjoyed it very much. But there's an elephant in the room that's split the fandom, which I can respect. Here's what I have to say - it follows on from my other notes, but it's a tidy summation of how I feel about the outcome of this episode.

^note At the end of the day, Doctor Who is a franchise that has changed hands so many times and been twisted into whatever it needed to be at the time. It's a massive amalgamation of different concepts and ideas that contradict each other and supercede each other, and it's going to change like this until it ends. Personally? I wish it would get a little low-key again and focus more on the dilemmas faced by the supporting cast, and how the Doctor can help them. That's how I remember my favorite era of the show. But this is the path that the show has been on since at least series 7 of the revival series, and as long as the show can keep coming back with stuff like those absolutely sick Cyber Lord designs I'm willing to see where it goes.

So - hopes for next season? Personally I want to see the return of Tim Shaw.

I'm pretty sure the Doctor is/was a modified human. The alternate universe is home to more advanced humans who figured out time travel and a form of immortality with the Timeless Children.

I saw someone on Twitter freaking out now because they couldn't identify with the Doctor anymore. Like "I will never be a Time Lord, but I could be the Doctor." Except...no, you really couldn't. The Doctor is a Time Lord. That sentence doesn't make any sense.

Re: the Timeless Child — eh, I'm okay with it. It adds a bunch of blank space to the canvass of the Doctor's life, so that other writers can explore it and it makes it so that the Doctor's lives won't be so dominated by white men. We already know of the Ruth Doctor and we saw another Doctor (a black man) being recruited by the Division. We'll probably learn a lot more about the Division next season, since the Doctor was abducted by the Judoon probably at the behest of the Division.

As for where the original Timeless Child came from — I'm going to guess that Gallifrey is going to be rebuilt and repopulated by Time Lords (perhaps their DNA saved by the Doctor before the Master destroyed it) and then one of those children of Gallifrey is going to be sent back in time and become the Timeless Child, creating an eternal loop.

I've seen some fans headcanon the prison glimpsed at the end as being Shada, I'd love for that to be true. I eagerly await a plausible name-drop. Bet you it'll be a clickbait article before long.

Who wants to bet that The Doctor will meet Jack inside that prison in the special?

I called

Cyber timelords

The Doctor being the timeless child (who else was going to be honestly)

A tad predicable

Just impressed that the [[spoilers: Judoon got inside the TARDIS. But then again, if their sponsors are timelords, then makes sense that they would have been given... countermeasures]]

Also, i felt a bit sorry for: [[spoilers: the stolen TARDIS... just left there as a TREE. We know they're sentient! But the FAM have a TARDIS of their own as well... how will that work out? Especially with Graham's potential new girlfriend... feel we haven't resolved their arc yet, even with a sort of "happy" and "Safe" ending for them.]]

The fam returning seems pretty likely. Haven't seen any rumours or actor news though, some don't know whether that will be by some/all staying as companions next series or just one/two more episodes

Why didn't Clara learn about any of this when she jumped into the Doctor's time-stream?

But she didn't remember any of it? Just like she doesn't remember what happened with Oswin or Victorian Clara.

That and Moffat would have no idea what Chibnall was planning to do at the time. Assuming Chibnall had even thought of it yet.

I am hoping for a bit of Thraham Ship Tease next season

There's a very tiny bit of it in this episode, The bit where she opens her eyes, they come into focus on Graham's face, and that smile she gives right afterwards just melts me

A Tumblr friend of mine ships Thraham, I can understand and respect the ship. Personally not into it, I'm more of a Thasmin shipper lol, but I can see the Ship Tease potential for both.

Thasmin is the 'ship of choice for the Jodie fanbase, with her and Dawan's Master a close second as of this series.

Looks like Bradley's leaving anyway...and Tosin too, Mandip is apparently staying.

Jo Martin is also the cover girl for Doctor Who Magazine this month.

I get the keeping the fam at arm's distance point, I really do, but I'm hoping a 13+Yaz season.

Clara has an enormous period of time to travel to, maybe she wasn't in there long enough.

I'm pretty sure the Timeless Child was from a parallel universe humanity. The Early-Installment Weirdness when the Doctor was Ambiguously Human if the process was complete and the 1st/2nd Doctor's memory hadn't been totally wiped, so they subconsciously recall what they really are. River isn't just a human modified to be like a Time Lord, but a look into what a prototype for the Timeless Children would be. They're half-human in being an Artificial Hybrid, as are every single Time Lord. And the whole time the Time Lords stole from mankind, then they changed the universe so their version of homo sapiens never reached its potential.

If Missy comes after O, then it explains her boast that they've known the Doctor since he was a little girl

But it's still a lie as far as we are aware, since s/he has only ever known a female Doctor as an adult from what we've been shown. Leave it to Missy to tell the truth and still lie at the exact same time.