The Day of The Doctor – The 50th Anniversary Special

[Elouise @elouise]

If the next doctor is a woman, there will be other problems as well, say, traveling back to a time where women didn’t have anything to say? I guess it could give some humorous and intense scenes 😀

[SatsumaJoe @satsumajoe]

@osakahatter

Any other thoughts on why the HurtDoctor has a more definite presence in the timestream than the other doctors?

I had thought it served as a kind of prison. That, assuming he had (or, as you suggest, hadn’t) done something, he was compelled to face the consequences of it – both from his stance and not running from whatever he was looking at. Might that be a suitably Time Lord/Doctor punishment to mete out?

On top of which, I think it goes back to the attitude of Kahler-Jex. Perhaps.

[Anonymous @]

@pedant – you might fancy her, but do you really think Gina Bellman would make the grade as the first female Doctor?  🙂

@bluesqueakpip and @jimthefish – well, how demanding do you think Helen Mirren’s day was in ‘Prime Suspect’?  But I do take your point; any new Doctor casting, what with the ‘running and running’ and all, probably negates an actor after ‘un certain age’.  (And note that I previously suggested several 40’s-aged actresses for discussion.)  Or … will that ‘running and running’ be left on the sideboard as one of the Classic Who & RTD/Moffat tropes, in order to introduce an entirely new kind of Doctor?  (he he;  👿  … John Hurt)

Yikes, I think I just obliquely suggested a Sherlock-y stylee Doctor.  OK, no;  so, it’s back to running and running.  Because Sherlock simply cannot break a sweat; it’s practically part of the casting call for that character.  Whereas the Doctor … s/he must run and run and run and run.  😀

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

how demanding do you think Helen Mirren’s day was in ‘Prime Suspect’?  

@Shazzbot – firstly, Helen Mirren was in her forties when she first started playing DCI Tennison (exactly the age I suggested). Secondly, Prime Suspect wasn’t a thirteen episode series (running time 546 minutes per year). It was 200 odd minutes per year.

So you’re talking the difference between a gruelling five months each year for three years and a gruelling ten months each year for three years.  🙂

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

If the next doctor is a woman, there will be other problems as well, say, traveling back to a time where women didn’t have anything to say?

@elouise – I suspect they’ll deal with it exactly the same way they dealt with Martha being black – sometimes it was a problem within the story, sometimes they used the ‘act as if you own the place’ method to basically ignore it. Sometimes they used it to point out that our conception of an all-white past was a load of rubbish. 🙂

It would be similar for a female Doctor; if they want to use it as part of the story, they will. Otherwise – act as if she owns the place and everyone will promptly assume the Doctor’s from the aristocracy. Male or female, messing with an aristocrat was generally a bad plan – there was always the question of ‘exactly how powerful are her relatives?’

The Victorian Claricle managed to move very smoothly between working-class barmaid and middle-class governess simply by adopting either the behaviour of a middle-class Victorian lady or the behaviour of the perfect barmaid.

[Elouise @elouise]

No doubt, but it could still make some great scenes if they decided to use it so that at last everything depended on the companion because someone wouldn’t let the doctor do whatever needed to be done 🙂

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@elouise – they could, but Steven Moffat already has enough flak in his life from his supposed inability to write strong women characters. So if he did bring in a female Doctor, I really doubt he’d then start having a male companion playing the Doctor’s ‘save the day’ role.

If they did, it’d definitely be played for comedy. The companion would be hopeless – and the new female Doctor would probably try out some of the old Venusian Akido skills.

Traditionally, companions from Sarah Jane onwards have given the ‘you can’t do that, you’re a woman!’ thing rather short shrift – or in the case of Leela, a short dagger 🙂 . Romana particularly (both Romana I & II had a nice line in icy glares).

 

[Elouise @elouise]

I’m looking forward to find out 😀 And then maybe a woman who looks like a man? I mean, I know quite a few whose gender i could not determine for quite some time 😉

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

Perhaps it is time to move an idea I raised yesterday on TNoTD thread about the Great Intelligence over to this thread, as it may have implications for what happens in November.

Picking up on the questions I asked yesterday, what if there is a connection between the GI and the Hurt Doctor? What if there has been a long game plan, begun in The Snowmen (or earlier), by the GI to locate and release the Hurt Doctor? Seen this way, the GI could have, for some time, being looking for The Impossible Girl, just so that she would do exactly what she did in TNoTD–jump into the Doctor’s time-stream to save him, but with the unintended (for Clara and the Doctor) but intended (for the GI) consequence of locating and releasing the Hurt Doctor. Indeed, if there is a relationship between the GI and the Hurt Doctor, who is controlling who? Is it the GI who wants to access the Hurt Doctor for some reason, or is it the Hurt Doctor who has been using the GI for his own ends?

However, since this post is after only one cup of coffee, I may feel differently after two.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@blenkinsopthebrave – suppose the plan is not to release the Hurt Doctor from the time-stream, but to draw the current Doctor in?

That is, the plan is to cause the current Doctor (or Doctors) to change the events that led to the Hurt Doctor being ‘cut out’ of the continuity?

Oh, and another thought – is the reason we’re going to get David Tennant and Billie Piper in the Special not because the Eleventh contacts them deliberately, but because he and Clara are now lost in his own timestream? That glowy-light-thingy looked awfully like his time-stream closing. And they were terribly careful to specify that the Paternoster Gang had a route home.

(In which case, my jokey pre-finale scenario got one point right. The Paternoster Gang will have to either get a lift from the TARDIS or walk home) 😀

[Anonymous @]

@bluesqueakpip – no, no, no, no, no.  😀

The Pat Gang were instructed to take the Tardis home via its (hers?) ‘fast return’ thingy.  But the Tardis clearly took off from the Maitland’s house in modern-day London.  The Pat Gang ain’t goin’ nowhere near Victorian London if all they have is a return-trip to where the Doctor lifted off from.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@bluesqueakpip

Two things keep rolling around in the back of my head. 1. That this representation of the GI seems rather different from his/its original incarnation in old Who (and this is not the case with other monsters/antagonists from old Who that are brought back in nu Who); and more importantly, 2. the fact that the Doctor could not really remember the GI in The Snowmen. I have not seen a good explanation for that yet. And I think it is significant.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@Shazzbot – yes, but is the TARDIS smart enough to figure out that this particular ‘return’ is to the Companions’ native time-stream? Old Sexy is pretty smart when she wants to be. 🙂

[Anonymous @]

@blenkinsopthebrave – is the dissonance of the Doctor’s inability to remember the GI in Snowmen down to the GI’s subsequent interference in the Doctor’s timeline?

[Anonymous @]

@bluesqueakpip – aww, Bluey, are you doing a D*M with Sexy?  😆

Because what you’re proposing is outwith what we know about that whole return-trip thingy.  (I’d like to be more precise, but it’s awfully late  😕  )

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@Shazzbot – there’s good old Emergency Program One. I don’t think the Doctor would mention exactly what that means until the Paternoster Gang are in the TARDIS – because if they knew, they’d dive in after him.

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @pedant]

@Shazzbot

Yes I do (and I remain loyal to Jessica, anyway 🙂 ). If you think the kind of comedy she did in Couple is easy, think again and her record goes well prior to that. Somewhere on t’interwebs is her voice-over demo reel. Sexist. Voice. Ever.

I suspect it is only marginally coincidental that JLC has a similar look to her.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@blenkinsopthebrave – it is rather different, but I think the difference may be timey-wimey. It changed its own timeline when it went into the Doctor’s timeline. You can see the moment in The Snowmen when it changes itself – the Doctor removes Simeon’s memories, the GI starts dying – and then revives, with the words ‘now the dream outlives the dreamer’.

So, yes, significant. But significant because it shows that you can change your own time-line.

As to whether it’s long term significant, that’ll depend on whether Richard E. Grant has been secretly booked for either the 50th or Series 8 😀

 

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @pedant]

@bluesqueakpip

they could, but Steven Moffat already has enough flak in his life from his supposed inability to write strong women characters.

Supposed being the operative word. A noisy bunch of academic feminists got a bee in their collective bonnet. The rest of the world notice River, Amy, Adelaide Brook, Nancy, Reinette, Vastra, Liz 10 – even Cleaves and Rita.

Speaking of academics with bees in bonnets

[Anonymous @]

@pedant – are you actually, really, calling Telegraph writers ‘academics’ ?

Thank you for a late-night laugh with your link.  What a load of tosh.  Thank goodness we don’t live our lives via the world-view of that loo-roll of a so-called ‘newspaper’.

(erm, did I express my disdain strongly enough?  😀 )

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@bluesqueakpip

It changed its own timeline when it went into the Doctor’s timeline. You can see the moment in The Snowmen when it changes itself – the Doctor removes Simeon’s memories, the GI starts dying – and then revives, with the words ‘now the dream outlives the dreamer’.

So, yes, significant. But significant because it shows that you can change your own time-line.

Good point. Shows the dangers of posting after only one cup of coffee.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@budinacup

2 of these (female Time Lords) did not agree with what was happening and had to cover there faces

I always thought that those Time Lords looked distinctly Weeping Angel-ish. Just sayin’

[WhoHar @whohar]

@bluesqueakpip

the Doctor nearly faints when close to the paradox of his own time-line

but Clara didn’t. Does this kibosh your Clara as Doctor theory?

[WhoHar @whohar]

@pedant

Gina Bellman. Seconded.

Also knows the Moff from Jekyll, which I also loved.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@omega21

I wonder if all this should be on the Spoilers page?

So here is what we know so far

Not everybody is aware of all of this. I know I wasn’t.

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@omega21 @blenkinsopthebrave I’ve moved that post to the spoilers thread

Omega21 A lot of people here try to stay away from everything except official BBC news. Rumours etc should be discussed on the spoilers thread.

[PennyInTheAir @pennyintheair]

Hi,

I was posting in the TNotD thread about Clara’s mom when @shazzbot mentioned more theories being made over here. I hope it’s okay to come here and add to the list?

I got distracted from my Clara and her mom theory when I made the mistake of mentioning ‘the leaf’. My mind kind of turned left, and kept on going. This is what it came up with.

 

Leaf Theory:

 

The Doctor sends Clara her leaf when she is lost in the time stream. (Not the present version of the Doctor we see jump into the time stream). So the voice telling Clara he is sending her the leaf is from the future.

At some point, still in the time stream, or after escaping it, the Doctor realizes that a future version of him self sent Clara the leaf.

The leaf, being connected to a combination of the Doctors time stream, and the Tardis (where the time stream is entombed) is now imbued with regenerative powers. (stemming from being in close contact with all the regenerated versions of the Doctor).

The Doctor realizing the significance of this leaf then starts popping back through time so that at some point he can send Clara, and himself the leaf in the time stream.

The Doctor goes back in time to Clara’s parents’ first meeting, (when the leaf blew into the dad’s face).  (Now, this part isn’t strictly necessary, as long as the ‘time stream leaf’ finds its way into Clara’s book before TBoSJ) So future Doctor could have brought about Clara’s parents meeting, or simply substituted the TS leaf at any point before TBoSJ, where present Doctor tastes it and gets suspicious.

Future Doctor then goes to TRoA to distract past Doctor, so that Clara can meet the Queen of Years. (Where the Doctor disappeared in the marketplace). Clara later feeds the leaf to grandfather, and the Doctor and Clara leave to go home. After they leave, future Doctor shows up at the spot where Clara fed the leaf to grandfather, and watches the leaf regenerate. Picks it up, and heads back to the future (The Name of the Doctor) where he can send the leaf back into the time stream.

At this point I’m not quite sure of the significance of the leaf. Does it somehow help the Doctor and Clara to escape? Or with those regenerative powers, (along with the ‘infinite potential/possibilities’ which the leaf represents), could the Doctor use the leaf to grant himself infinite regenerations?

This ‘bonkers theorizing’ might just be addictive. 🙂

 

PennyInTheAir

 

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@pennyintheair

Wow, that is quite a theory! I confess that I have never really got my head around the Leaf. But–and I hate to be a party pooper–could the leaf simply be a metaphor for (or symbol of)  parental love?

 

[Whisht @whisht]

@pennyintheair – love your leaf-theorising! Will try and wrap my head around it, but I do think you’re right, in that there are elements of the last series that i still think will be resolved.

I hadn’t thought the 50th would be an appropriate point to tie them up, but if they were visited as ‘illustrative’ as to how travelling in the timeline helps the Doctor, then perhaps no problem!

eg Clara and Rose (re)visiting previous adventures (eg tBoSJ) to ensure Clara gets to the Doctor (ie Rose is the “woman in the shop”; 10 causing the screeching tyres we hear while they’re in the cafe, unless its one helluva Chekhov’s Duck!).

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@pennyintheair That’s a theory and a half 🙂 I love the idea of a regenerating leaf <works really hard not to make leaf jokes 😉 >

@whisht (and others) Agree there may be some things picked up from this episode, but I suspect it may be mostly standalone (esp if it’s also getting cinema release). So will start with them being outside the timestream again – possibly not even on Trenzalore, but possibly back (or forwards) in time to HurtDr’s time.

@Shazzbot @pedant  Re article about racism in Dr Who – seems to be the year (can’t think why!) for people to jump on bandwagon and knock the show with poorly researched books. Seems a bit much to knock the show now with stories from 40 years ago. It was sexism last month, homophobia next I should think 🙂  Not that I don’t think the show shouldn’t be taking these issues seriously – it can be a lot subtler than just casting – but this study and especially the media that report it are just trolling.

 

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@Shazzbot @osakahatter

Hartnell and Troughton did their share of running – it may not have been stylish or fast but they did 🙂

Running, corridors, fainting assistants spraining their ankle, hypnosis/brainwashing – ah, 60s memories 😉

[Whisht @whisht]

@scaryb? or was it @osakahatter (who had some beauties upstream) or @bluesqueakpip..? have trawled back but can’t find the posting I’m trying to reply to, but….

The idea that at the end of the 50th, Trenzalore is ‘undone’ ie it is no longer the death place of the Doctor – completely agree!
imo this is essential, otherwise Moffat’s left another plotline towering over all of the next series (ie “the Doctor can’t die at the hands of this alien – he dies at Trenzalore” – so no tension).
It would also mean having to have that broken Tardis window through the whole of the future of the show (as the tomb-Tardis has this broken window).

So – end of 50th is not ‘just’ HurtDr rehabilitated, but Trenzalore undone.

[Whisht @whisht]

@bluesqueakpip, @Shazzbot (and probably loads of other people!!)
In terms of regenerations and a limit… I’m obviously going to ignore the possibility it was a throwaway line/ inconsistencies in the scripts, years apart.
(as if! and we’ve no truck with that kinda nonsense here!!).

I wonder if it could be this simple (did I really just type that..?):

Could it be that the Timelords have a self-imposed 12 regeneration limit. There are no physical limits, but 12 is a way to ensure Rassilon/Omega megalomania-madness doesn’t ensue (as well as not stultifying the Gallifreyan aristocracy even more than they are).

The Master has to ‘ask’ for more regens and the TLs allow him to continue (he doesn’t need to ‘do’ anything, its just that their big-book-of-reckoning notes he has a dozen more regens).

So, the Doctor could go beyond 12 without doing anything if the TLs are still locked.
And if they’re unlocked, he could still go beyond 12 with or without their agreement (though if he went against them then he’d be running for another reason!).

And he’d still be worried about the possible ensuing madness that could creep in (as well as not wanting to go/ fear of Valeyard etc if that is providing any dramatic tension).

[overunder @jamesunderscore]

@whisht – I think the problem with that theory is that the Master was hardly the kind of person to worry too much about the rules of the time lords, so probably would have just not worried about their “regeneration ledger” rather than going to the extreme lengths he did to prolong his life (nearly destroying Gallifrey in Deadly Assassin, stealing Tremas’s body in Keeper of Traken, turning into a weird snake thing and then possessing Eric Roberts of all people in the TV Movie).

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@elouise

back to a time where women didn’t have anything to say?

When was that???!! 😉  I take your point but I don’t see it as a problem.  A male Dr could have exactly the problem you suddest going to a planet where eg humanoids are not taken seriously.

Key thing (as others have said) about casting the Dr is to get the right actor (male, female, non-white, pink, polkadotted or alien). Am sure Judy Dench can still run along a corridor or 2 🙂  When they do cast a female Dr she’s going to have to have an extremely thick skin!

But yes, being Dr Who is a full time job – which may discourage better known faces – never mind producing the show, there’s all the PR on top of it – don’t underestimate the amount of time and energy that takes. And I bet the contract includes several “best behaviour” clauses (what you can and can’t do “in the name of the Doctor”)

I ws v impressed with JLC in NotD – her biggest problem is that she looks about 16 on screen!! (But she brings a mid 20s experience with it, so can do the emotions)

[Whisht @whisht]

ah @jamesunderscore – I bow to your superior argument!

No one, no matter how megalomaniacal, would possess Eric Roberts!

back to drawing board (knew it couldn’t be that easy really!)

;¬)

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@whisht Agree with you re death at Trenzalore, esp since it looks like it’s Eleven’s (noooooo 🙁  )  Depending on whether regeneration is a thing TimeLords do naturally or if it’s something they are given on qualifying as a TL – if they are given it maybe there’s a master switch in their matrix file which needs to be updated to get more regenerations.

@jamesunderscore Well the master did generally take a bit of a Dick Dastardly approach to cunning plans

 

[Whisht @whisht]

@scaryb – I’m with you in that JLC could play the Doctor; I just think that they can’t do it now, as it’d be terribly hard to shake the “promoted companion” tag.
But she’s got the ability, no doubt. As an actress, she comes across as smart (and she probably is in life).

oh, btw @jimthefish – Julia Davis was me (and I’ll leave that hanging there for everyone who hasn’t a clue what that means!)
;¬)

[Anonymous @]

@whisht , @jamesunderscore – yeah, my lack of knowledge of BG Doctor Who means I left out all that Master regen request business from my theory about losing a regen limit in the 50th.

But I still think it shouldn’t matter, even though your comments (and others’) have me resigned to seeing a regen limit continue in the programme.

[Anonymous @]

@scaryb – you’re exactly right that an actor/actress with an established name and reputation might not want to join the juggernaut that is both making and promoting the show.  cf Christopher Ecclestone leaving after 1 series.  Although to be fair, CE was re-booting the programme and I imagine things have changed in the last 8 years so drastically that his experience was radically different back then.   The show really has become a global phenomenon, and as Steven Moffat said in an interview, it’s the BBC’s biggest programme now.

@whisht – yup, ‘promoted companion’ is a sticky wicket.  But seeing as how it’s been widely reported that JLC is signed up for at least one more series, if she’s not turning into the Doctor herself, I can’t see a female Doctor with a female companion (assuming Matt Smith leaves before JLC does).

It would have to be a male companion with a female Doctor, or ideally, multiple companions (male and female [and hopefully alien too!]).  However, just typing those words made me think of the Paternoster Gang – which is essentially a female Doctor of sorts, with multiple companions, one female and one alien.  If the Pat Gang get their own spin-off, then I fear the Doctor will not be cast as a female while that spin-off is on air.

[overunder @jamesunderscore]

@Shazzbot – don’t get me wrong, I think the regen limit will probably be either abolished or significantly increased, but I don’t think it will be because of anything that we already have seen.

What I’m really hoping for, if not in the 50th, then at some point, is an episode that actually focuses on the whole idea of regeneration, exploring how it works, why the subject ends up with the appearance he does (can it be controlled? is it easy to control when done voluntarily but much harder when done under duress?) and whether the Doctor is unusual (as I suspect, and others have said) in having regenerated ten times already by the time he’s in his 900’s. The whole concept is such a beautiful metaphor for the way that we grow and change as people throughout our lives, and I think there’s mileage in really digging into it.

In the AG series under Moffat in particular we’ve have several mentions of “Regeneration Energy”. This implies to me that, rather than the limit being a result of an arbitrary number, a Time Lord has a finite supply of this energy – we see the Doctor use some to heal River’s wrist in Angels Take Manhatten, and River tells him off for wasting it. Maybe the Doctor will stumble across a supply of this energy somewhere, and refuel, as it were?

[Anonymous @]

@jamesunderscore – “The whole concept [regneration] is such a beautiful metaphor for the way that we grow and change as people throughout our lives”

Well put.  And it reminded me of something else I hope they can do away with in / after the 50th show –

The Doctor is very, very old.  And the programme since the re-boot has dwelled on the weight of all those years on the Doctor – practically wallowed in it.   I’m not positing that the show ignore his lengthy time in the universe, just hoping that it won’t put so much focus on the negatives of having so much history.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

but Clara didn’t. Does this kibosh your Clara as Doctor theory?

@whohar – not really, because the Doctor is standing around delivering truckloads of exposition before he faints. He faints when he starts mentioning the paradox, and it’s implied he faints (while still manfully delivering the exposition) because of the developing paradox.

For the Eleventh, that time-line represents a paradox. It’s about to be changed; his future and his past. Both his and the GI’s presence are creating that paradox – he faints.

For Clara, however, that same time-line doesn’t represent a paradox. She always did go into the time-line, to change the Doctor’s past back to what it should be. There’s no paradox, no reason she should faint. And indeed, once Clara goes in and the burgeoning paradoxes are removed, the Doctor leaps to his feet (and delivers yet more exposition).

Now, when we see Hurt Doctor, Clara doesn’t know who he is – and faints on being told ‘he’s the one who broke the promise’. If we’re going for a bonkers ‘Clara is the Doctor’ theory, she faints for exactly the same reason the Doctor fainted: she’s just been presented with a paradox in her own time-line. The Eleventh is fine; this isn’t a paradox. This is his past. Clara hits the deck – the implication is that this is a big paradox for her past.

Conclusion: she comes from a future where ‘the Doctor’ never ‘broke the promise’. All @juniperfish‘s bonkers theories about two time-streams are right. 😀

Either that or she’s a big fan of John Hurt, and went over all funny at the thought of acting with him. 😈

[lostmysonic14 @lostmysonic14]

River’s screwdriver from Silence in the Library is yet to make an appearance! does anyone think it could be John Hurt’s Doctor who gave it to her somehow?

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@bluesqueakpip

Re Clara fainting – interesting thought about her not being a paradox within the Dr’s timestream, but I also think her fainting is prepared for. The Dr says ClaraPrime will die in his timestream (as the GI presumably did) – which is why he goes to rescue her. We’re not told exactly how she’ll die, but she doesn’t look great (apart from being lost and very lonely) when the Dr finds her. Being in someone else’s timestream (even if you’ve always done it) isn’t good for your personal health.

Either that or she’s a big fan of John Hurt, and went over all funny at the thought of acting with him

😆

That works for me – am squeeeeeing at the thought of Smith, Tennant and Hurt all in the same episode (and all being the Dr (presumably, more or less!)

[Anonymous @]

@lostmysonic14 (aka planetclom555) – welcome to our forum!  You’re joining a great place for bonkers theorising.

That SiL sonic is still unexplained on-screen – but it could have happened during some of the many good times the Doctor and River had which were implied but never shown to us.

Or, as you posit, it could be the Hurt Doctor – what do you think the logic and circumstances for that might be?

[OsakaHatter @osakahatter]

@whisht – thanks!  Agree completely, if SM is making previous canon non-limiting, then why leave in place his own (unless he has a plan to resolve it soon enough).

 

Was wondering following the discussions upstream with @Shazzbot @bluesqueakpip et al about the regen limit though.  Maybe it’s one thing that won’t get fixed in the 50th, purely because it’s useful dramatic tension.  If TimeLords are guaranteed 12 regenerations, but after that, each death could lead to a regeneration or it could be it, then each life or death situation becomes that bit more tense.

 

@shazzbot re. Female Doctor being a ‘glass ceiling’ for female scientists.  I vaguely remember (from re-runs anyway) scenes in the UNIT labs with Pertwee as ‘scientific advisor’ and Liz Shaw – it hinted at the Doctor enjoying science and being bright, having an enthusiasm for the world at its workings.  It was a good example, and to reverse the roles somewhat, with a female Doctor taking the lead as the head scientist/teacher who wanted to tinker and understand things more, would be a great statement.  Imagine someone with that kind of mindset then witnessing a Genesis of the Cybermen event and be torn between fascination with the tech and revulsion at the concept.

No thoughts on who to play the Doctor though – most of my preferences have guest starred so are kind of ruled out!

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

 I bet the contract includes several “best behaviour” clauses (what you can and can’t do “in the name of the Doctor”)

@scaryb – I think Matt Smith once said that one of the procedures with a new Doctor is to pop them into a quiet room with the BBC’s PR staff and basically go through their entire life story for anything, anything at all, that a tabloid could use. So if the Scum manages to get ahold of a piccy of MS smoking a joint while at uni, the BBC already have a ‘damage limitation’ plan in place.

On the whole, if they’re regenerating Matt Smith at the 50th – which would make sense, thematically – then unless John Hurt actually is the new Doctor, they’ve kept it extraordinarily quiet. And I agree; they could have had a female Doctor with, say, Amy and Rory. But now they’ve replaced that working duo with one female Companion – if they then replaced Matt Smith with a woman, they’ll need to balance up the Companion roster. And Clara doesn’t have a boyfriend. More, it’s strongly implied that the Doctor is filling the ‘boyfriend’ slot, and everyone can see it.

Putting the fun bonkers theorising aside for a moment, the likeliest possibility is that both Matt and Jenna are continuing in their current roles, and the strange delay in official (as opposed to unofficial) confirmation is because Steven Moffat wants to hold out the prospect of a regeneration. Which is kind of impossible if you know the current Doctor is already filming S8. 🙂

That said, I come back to the point that – if you announce a female Doctor in advance, before she’s started working on the show – she’ll need not just the skin of a rhino, she’ll need the skin of an armour-plated rhino. I wouldn’t want to walk on set after six months of people writing newspaper articles, telling the world that this is a betrayal of Doctor Who. ‘Promoted Companion’ would sound a much better way of handling it.

[lostmysonic14 @lostmysonic14]

@shazzbot possibly the red settings may have assisted him in breaking the rules? something like that. My friend disagrees however, as he believes that the 10th and 11th would remember the Hurt doctor, hence remembering river and giving her the screwdriver. im hoping they find a way to sneak it in:D

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@bluesqueakpip “would need skin of armour plated rhino…”   Or  a dalek  😉

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