It has been roughly a week since I've seen the Doctor Who Series 7 finale and to be honest, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that cliffhanger of an ending. Having to wait till November of this year for any semblance of a resolution to a yet unknown story is quite unbearable, to say the least. Should you have not seen the finale 'The Name of The Doctor' you may wish to catch it in the embedded video below as some of what I will be writing here will be based on the ending there. Read on if you don't mind spoilers but best to catch the episode quick before Youtube decides to block it again.
By now you should already know that there's a new (or maybe old) Doctor in the works. The capture of John Hurt to be cast as The Doctor is absolutely amazing; then again that might not need saying at all. The question on all Whovian's lips is just who (yes it's a pun, I know) will John Hurt be playing. We know that he is one of the regenerations of The Doctor and apparently one that was kept secret but which? Guess this is as good a place as any to start off the theorizing and rumour mongering for the 50th anniversary special.
The real 9th Doctor
The 8th Doctor played by Paul McGann
This seems to be the most popular theory that is floating around. When the show restarted there was a huge gap in the storyline between the 8th Doctor (Paul McGann) and the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and with it, no explanations on how the 8th regenerated into the 9th. The only thing that was somewhat explained throughout the series was that there occurred The Last Great Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks for the sake of all creation and this seemed to fall somewhere between the period of the end of the time of the Paul McGann Doctor and the beginning of the Christopher Eccleston Doctor. Which makes it the perfect fit for John Hurt's Doctor to be the real 9th incarnation that took part in that Time War.
The 9th Doctor played by Christopher Eccleston
This assumption makes sense as The Doctor in all his recent incarnations has stated that he has done 'unspeakable things' during the Time War and claimed to have been the destroyer of the Time Lords' mortal enemy, the Daleks. Such are things that one with the name of The Doctor would not ever do as it has been recounted over and over again throughout the most recent number of series. John Hurt's Doctor however has done these unspeakable things for which he has been 'disowned' by all the other incarnations of The Doctor makes this character a perfect fit as the real 9th Doctor that was involved in the Time War. The picture of John Hurt in his Doctor costume also resembles both the 8th and 9th Doctor's in parts lending further credence to this particular theory.
A mix of the 8th & 9th Doctor's attire sans blue jacket and cap
The Valeyard during the 6th Doctor's (Colin Baker) run
The Valeyard
Another somewhat popular rumour is that John Hurt's Doctor is The Valeyard or a precursor to him. It's definitely an interesting thought but there are some issues with this particular notion. For one, The Valeyard is possibly one or more of a series of incarnations of The Doctor between his 12th and 13th incarnations (or regenerations, I forgot which) at which time The Doctor had supposedly turned evil and seeks to prolong his own life through immoral and unethical means by Time Lord standards. And since that means that he is probably set to be in the future in the Doctor's timeline, how could it be that all his current incarnations 'disown' him? Also, how could The Doctor recognize his future self with them having met for the first time? And also, for all intents and purposes, John Hurt doesn't look anything like Michael Jayston who played The Valeyard. And if John Hurt's character were to be a precursor to The Valeyard, again it would have to come after the 11th Doctor's time which again brings the question of how would they even know him to 'disown' him? Although I am quite intrigued by this particular rumour, especially seeing as The Valeyard was such a cool villain who just happen to supposedly be The Doctor's future self, there's just too many black hole sized plot holes for this one to stand on it's own.
Doctor Zero
The 1st Doctor (William Hartnell)
This is another interesting theory which posits that John Hurt's Doctor is the incarnation from before the 1st Doctor (William Hartnell). This makes some sense as there has been speculation, at least in the books, that The Doctor was part of the trinity of founders of Time Lord society in his previous life, before he was re-loomed. Namely, Rassilon, Omega and The Other, with The Other being the one most commonly associated with The Doctor. It would certainly be interesting if John Hurt's Doctor was indeed The Other as there were many unspeakable acts that occurred before the founding of Time Lord society. And the use of the name, The Other certainly does not make him one of The Doctors and the odd one out so to speak and would certainly tie in with what was said in the finale. However it doesn't tie in with John Hurt's costume nor does it resolve that huge hole between the 8th and the 9th Doctor.
11th Doctor or is it 12th?
Of course all these (apart from the Doctor Zero theory) would mean that The Doctor's regeneration would be bumped up a place and seeing as a Time Lord only has 12 regenerations and we would be on the 12th Doctor now (bumped up from 11th (Matt Smith)) which would mean that there's only 1 regeneration left, I personally feel that something else would be in the works to circumvent this.
Perhaps what John Hurt's Doctor did or at least one of the things he did already circumvented this? Perhaps that was the unspeakable things that made the others refuse to accept him?
Three Doctors revisited?
David Tennant (l) & Matt Smith (r) reading their scripts for the 50th Anniversary
One of the rumoured occurrences in the 50th Anniversary is that there will be three Doctors in it. Matt Smith's Doctor, John Hurt's Doctor and my favourite, David Tennant's Doctor. John Hurt has pretty much confirmed this as he said that he will be "....playing a role as part of a trinity which would include Matt Smith, David Tennant and myself." Though how John Hurt's Doctor gets to 'escape' from the time stream that both he and Matt Smith's Doctor are in would prove to be an interesting one to ponder. Also seeing as how David Tennant's Doctor would escape from the time stream as well due to it collapsing? Or perhaps he'd likely be the Doctor that was created from the meta-crisis with Donna Noble which may also open the door for Rose Tyler's return. Given Moffat's fondness for The Three Doctors episode, this one may be more than just a rumour.
Omega returns?
The known faces of Omega
Not really one of the more prominent of rumours but it is certainly in the grapevine. One of the founders of Time Lord society and also likely the original big bad, Omega. Not much of a surprise that this rumour came up seeing as how fond Moffat is with The Three Doctors episode and how central of a role Omega plays in that episode. So a reintroduction of this character for the 50th would be an interesting one seeing as for all intents and purposes, Omega is still alive and well in the anti-matter universe.
The Time War unveiled?
Gallifrey left in ruins during the Time War
Another rumour that seems to permeate the internet is that due to John Hurt's Doctor, which is assumed to be the real 9th Doctor that was involved in the Time War that the Time War itself or aspects of it would be revealed come the 50th. Though I can possibly imagine that there may be flashbacks on the critical aspects of what John Hurt's Doctor did during the time war, I doubt that it would be the main storyline for this special. Seems a more fitting story for a series of books or comic than a TV special due to the sheer number of events that would be happening in said war.
A 2 or more parter 50th Anniversary special?
This is another of such rumours which is somewhat plausible. The 50th Anniversary would try to incorporate as many of the show's more recent characters into it with a storyline that may just be too big for it to be encased within a single 1 hour episode. I'd expect the 50th to be spread to a 2 or 3 parter which would also use up the usual Christmas special as the end point of this story. Not that unlikely if you really think about it as Moffat does have a tendency to like coming up with such cliffhangers and what better cliffhanger than to leave the resolution of the 50th's storyline hanging and only to be concluded come Christmas?
Then again, these are all just rumours and nothing concrete has come out of the studios or Moffat himself. There are also 5 more months till the 50th will air and though filming has begun, I'm quite sure the writers, producers and directors are quite open to changing things if need be.
Regardless though, I'm still psyched by the prospect of watching Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary, just a bit annoyed that I have to wait so long to see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment