Doctor Who

The map of River Song's Timeline

2013-05-24T11:23:15Z

What it says in the subject header.

Via Tor and drwho-online I give you River Song's timeline. This brilliant infographic was devised by Will Brooks (DWO's Senior Art Editor and Editorial Team Member) and a high-res version can be found on photobucket HERE.

It's a must see, and probably a must have item for those of us who meta or write fanfic.

Golden "Who"bilee specials: May

2013-05-24T11:22:47Z

If it's May, then it's the Fifth Doctor.

Airing at 8pm ET on 5/26 on BBC America will be "Earthshock". And since you can't have Memorial Day without TV show marathons, the first four "Revisited"s will air, starting at 6pm ET.

The Doctor vs Edison

2013-05-23T23:28:10Z

Here comes a silly idea I once had. It is said that Edison's inventions were not his own, and that he may of had stole ideas passing them as his own.

Whether that is accurate or not, let's say that is the case, and The Doctor lands on his timeline, then Edison attempts to get the TARDIS as his own invention when he manages to enter it (plot elements aside).

What would anyone here think of the idea?

And he took me to the river, where he slowly let me drown...

2013-05-23T16:48:21Z

And he took me to the river, where he slowly let me drown... Eleven/River. Clara Oswald. 18. Dark. 965 words.
She would deliver his end with an embrace...
Author's Note: Written for who_contest 'Killer' challenge.
Disclaimer: The names, images and logos identifying the BBC and their products and services are subject to copyright, design rights and trade marks of the BBC. Used without permission for non-profit, non-commercial personal use.

( And is it worth the wait, All this killing time? )

Chris Eccleston

2013-05-23T11:25:31Z

On a forum elsewhere it came up about Eccleston refusing to be in the 50th show, and someone replied that they hated actors like that, who acted like it was beneath them, and was probably just bitter than 10 proved so popular compared to him.

However I remember his stated reason for leaving was not wanting to be type cast, and there were rumours that it was due to backstage issues (iirc he announced leaving even before filming was over).

Was there ever found to be any truth to the idea he didn't get on with anybody backstage? Or do we know more as to why he didn't want to commit to this?

Thanks for any info

A Day at the Spa - (River Song, 11th Doctor)

2013-05-23T11:24:41Z

Title: A Day at the Spa
Author: betawho
Rating: PG
Characters: 11th Doctor, River Song
Words: 1185

Summary: River is enjoying a day at the spa, until the Doctor shows up... (Read More...)

Another Clara theory

2013-05-23T11:23:56Z

I read this great theory by misterandersen over at noscans_daily and repost it here with permission.

Something occurred to me about the scene at the end of the episode with the Doctor & Clara in the TARDIS repair bay on Gallifrey.

Some people think this means that Clara was reborn as Gallifreyan or even possibly a Time Lord.

But consider this -- we know from Hide that the TARDIS has the ability to project an interface of her intelligence outside her physical form...

Remember that in The Doctor's Wife the TARDIS said she stole the Doctor...

So, what if that's what we're seeing here? The moment she stole her Time Lord.

What if this echo of Clara was reborn as the intelligence behind the Doctor's TARDIS?

Because the TARDIS has always known where the Doctor needs to go, and how better to know that than to have just fallen through the entirity of his personal timeline? And it would explain why she dislikes Clara, because it's effectively her crossing her own timeline.

Question about the latest episodes

2013-05-22T20:56:25Z

Cut for those who haven't seen the newest episode

[Spoiler (click to open)]

At the beginning of the episode when the Doctor is stealing the TARDIS, who is he escorting into the room, right before Clara says "You're making a big mistake"? Is it supposed to be Clara? Also, I'm assuming that they took footage from another episode. Is there footage online somewhere?

Thanks!

Who put the bomp

2013-05-22T17:31:50Z

This came up in my thread yesterday but, because I'm self-aggrandizing, I felt it was worth posting as its own separate discussion topic. Thanks to, jadedanielle, who crystalized the question for me. Who wrote The History of the Time War?

1) The Doctor himself
Pros - Well he's arguably the only winner of the Time War and, "History is written by teh victors" (not actually confirmed to be by Winston Churchill but frequently attributed to him)
Cons - If he's so caught up in denying the actions of JH, why does he use/associate those actions to his own name and alias? Or is that one lie too far, or is Clara just wrong, or is Clara right because her fractured nature allows her to understand the truth because a portion of her, the Gallifreyan portion from The Name of The Doctor, knows it

2) Some other participant in the Time War (Nestene, Gelf, Daleks)
Not likely, as most were believed to have died.

3) The TARDIS
Pros - The TARDIS has known him longer than almost anyone, refers to him as her thief, and probably is aware of truths the Doctor will not acknowledge, and can literally create anything as demonstrated in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS. Additionally it was connected to item 5 which I'll get to in a bit
Cons - Why would the TARDIS write something in non-Gallifreyan, since Clara should not be able to read it and the TARDIS doesn't translate Gallifreyan text, as mentioned in A Good Man Goes to War

4) The Matrix
No wait, not that one

5) This Matrix
Pros - Undeniably knows the Doctor's name, is linked to every TARDIS and every Time Lord, and would have information that the Doctor missed out on during the Time War because he was involved in other parts of it
Cons - In addition to the problems mentioned in 3, arguably the Matrix did not survive the Time War, unless the Doctor did something about it, and why is it in written word when the Encyclopedia Gallifrey is in liquid form?

I'm sure I've missed some options. Who do you think wrote it?

Twenty - Five Amy Pond icons

2013-05-22T17:31:05Z

Twenty - Five Amy Pond icons for doctorwho20in20

Comments are good, credit is appreciated. Hotlinking is not, please don't do that. Blanks are not bases.

( My name is Amelia Pond

River Song is Queer

2013-05-22T17:30:54Z

. . . and I'm not just talking about her being bisexual. "Queer" also refers to "people whose sexual orientations or activities place them outside the heterosexual-defined mainstream." I discuss her sexuality in my post:

Just as Captain Jack Harkness is flamboyantly gay, River Song is flamboyantly queer.

That's why I like her.

FIC: Smaller on the Inside

2013-05-22T17:29:46Z

title Smaller on the Inside
author charlottetrips
characters Clara Oswald, Eleven, River
pairing Clara/Eleven (squinting)
rating, word count PG, 499, SPOILERS
genre character study, introspection
an I have Eleven/Clara feels following the series finale so beware…that’s mainly what I feel like writing right now. I feel like this is the first in a few to come
summary He was larger than life. Most times.

Question

2013-05-22T17:29:27Z

Hi! I remembered Bells of St John and remembered Clara said something about a nice woman giving her the Doctor's phone number. Now if I remember correctly, it was never mentioned who she was, right? After the finale, and what happened with her (and after River's little comment) does it mean the woman is actually an older scattered Clara or was it actually River?

Who Fanfic on LJ?

2013-05-22T17:28:49Z

Is there a place to post one's DW fanfic on LJ? I've tried searching but I haven't really found much... If not, I may just create a comm if I can. If we're allowed to here, sorry for the post; obviously I didn't know we could, lol.

M

What is the worst thing that the Doctor could do?

2013-05-22T17:28:29Z

Spoilers ahead for those who still haven't seen "The Name of The Doctor" (which you should really see soon if you haven't already!)

The big reveal was that the Doctor, or rather John Hurt's non-Doctor Doctor, did something that was so bad that he lost his claim to the title.

The three biggest guesses is that this Doctor predates the First Doctor, or took part in the Time War, or is a future incarnation (perhaps the Valeyard). But one of the big questions is what he did was so bad that he lost claim to the title of The Doctor.

As has been mentioned, The Doctor hasn't been that shy about broadcasting what he did during the Time War. And even before that, and since that, the Doctor hasn't been shy about needing to kill or destroy. He does these things with regret, but usually they aren't contrary to his nature. For example, after he killed the Racnoss, he certainly felt bad, he almost let himself drown, but he didn't decide that 10 wasn't a valid incarnation.

I think that beyond destruction, what would destroy the Doctor's character was enslaving people. Maybe enslaving an entire planet? Notice that The Doctor said that what he did was in the name of "Peace and Sanity". Imagine the Doctor going back in time, finding a civilization that was insane and warlike, and reducing that planet to slavery with him as the dictator. Maybe he did this as part of the Time War. But in any case, this is the one thing that could not be done "In The Name of The Doctor", because it wasn't making people better. It was making them slaves.

It makes sense internally, but I now doubt that Moffat could go for anything like this. I think it will just be a matter of him feeling guilty about the amount of explosions he set off.

Dalek-Clara's Mother

2013-05-21T19:52:27Z

Okay, this is a silly question which probably is not important at all, but it's always bugged me. The dalek-puppet that tricks the doctor in Asylum of the Daleks has a daughter, one that is apparently in the Asylum. Moments later, Dalek-Clara is talking about her mum's birthday. The implication is that she is the dalek-puppet's daughter, but it's never confirmed or denied. Is she?

Doctor Who Magazine

2013-05-21T18:29:19Z

Whovians,

A friend of mine offered to give me his set of "Doctor Who Magazine" (which has gone by a couple different names in its long history) and I'm curious whether you would recommend them.

He has most of the 1989-1994 run, and then Sept 1987 and July 1997.

Of course this is mostly the era of the Seventh Doctor and then the Gap between Doctors. In Classic Who I'm mostly into the Fourth and Fifth Doctors. But especially since I understand that the magazine featured stuff on previous Doctors during the Gap years, I'm wondering if there might be gems about Doctors Four and Five in there?

Also - are they particularly collectable? I'll let him know if they are valuable at all.

Reaction to The Name of the Doctor (spoilers within)

2013-05-21T17:14:07Z

As I don't wish to spoil anyone here, I will confine my comments to an LJ cut because I'm just that nice.

[Spoiler (click to open)]

OK, so, The Name of the Doctor:

I knew that they weren't going to give him an actual proper name. That would have been just wrong.

The resolution to Clara's arc made sense about as much as anything in Doctor Who makes sense. I did struggle a bit with the GI's motivations for what it did, but I resolved that it was a combination of revenge and a longing for release from what apparently was an agonizingly empty immortality. It apparently already knew all there was to know about the Doctor, and that wasn't enough. It had to destroy him and thus destroy itself.

Part of me wishes that the Paternoster gang could have its own spinoff, but I suspect that the charm of that group would get old very fast independent of the parent show. Nonetheless, Strax is the first Sontaran I've actually liked in the history of the show. The kind of Sontaran you'd want to go out on a bender with, you know? (Except he'd probably just go around bending things)

Now to the biggie: The nameless incarnation of the Doctor.

I gotta admit I did NOT see this one coming. I knew John Hurt was going to be in the 50th Anniversary special but had no idea who he was playing. The internet is rife with all kinds of theories about who or what he is. Here are some ideas of mine:

I think, first of all, that any notions of him being the Valeyard are unlikely in the extreme. That would just seem too prosaic for Steven Moffat's style, even if the GI named the Valeyard already. Personally I wasn't nuts about the Valeyard, as he just didn't seem like a very well written character, but that's me and I don't hold it against anyone who liked him.

So, who is he? The Doctor emphatically states "I said he's me, I never said he was The Doctor!" The obvious implication is that this incarnation (whom I will call, for sake of clarity, Hurty) was the one who participated in the Time War. This makes sense for a number of reasons, the most clear of which to me is that Steven Moffat has only really alluded to the Time War, but never had a story that dealt directly with it. I think this was a smart move on his part as Russell T. Davies referred back to the Time War often, and sort of closed that loop during his tenure, at least insofar as explaining why it was necessary for both sides to be destroyed (the Time Lords end game ultimately being no different than that of the Daleks).

However, with the 50th Anniversary, it would surprise me if Moffat didn't finally tackle the Time War given how significant it is in the canon of the show. The allusions to it this season have suggested that it would become a more significant story line, and the presence of Hurty all but confirms it for me.

So, why is Hurty the Doctor's secret? Well, for one thing, he apparently did something really bad that, though he had no choice in the matter, was nonetheless something bad enough that the Doctor disowns Hurty from the timeline of the Doctor. One assumption is that Hurty is the one who threw the switch that made everyone go boom. Well, yeah, but we already knew that the Doctor killed the Daleks and Time Lords, didn't we? He has admitted to doing so time and time again. This would seem to argue against Hurty being the one who did it. So then, what did he do?

My current theory is that it was he who started the Time War.

Thoughts?

Solonian Seasons

2013-05-21T17:13:27Z

In honor of the 50th Anniversary:

Title: Solonian Seasons
Author: betawho
Rating: G
Characters: 4th Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith (references to 3rd Doctor, Jo Grant)
Words: 2185

Summary: In the 3rd Doctor story "The Mutants" the natives of the planet Solos metamorphosized as their planet moved from its 500 year spring into summer. What happened at the other seasons?... (Read More...)

This is based on the episode "The Mutants," a Classic Doctor Who story where the aliens metamorphosize to adapt to their planet's extreme seasons. The different phases in this story are derived from the symbols on the tablets the Time Lords sent the Doctor to deliver in the episode.

It is written as an article by Sarah Jane Smith, with a surprise at the end.

Here's a picture of the tablets.

Solonian Seasons
by
Sarah Jane Smith

(Read More...)

Radio Free Skaro #367 - Everybody Hurts

2013-05-21T17:12:45Z

A new Radio Free Skaro episode!:

Well, the most recent series of Doctor Who has wrapped up, and what a way to do it – a fangasmagoria from Steven Moffat containing notable nods to the past and tantalizing hints of what’s to come. “The Name of the Doctor” gave fans what they wanted (and more) in a 50th anniversary story, and it was six months early! But what did the Three Who rule think of this extravaganza? Also discussed in this episode were the now assured future of Doctor Who and the show’s return in Series 8, stats, more stats, and the potentially damaging effects of Eurovision. And now, six months to wait until more new Doctor Who…but what else does the BBC have in store before then?

Check it out: http://www.radiofreeskaro.com/2013/05/19/radio-free-skaro-367-everybody-hurts/

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/freyburg/rfs367.mp3

Check http://www.radiofreeskaro.com for your Radio Free Skaro needs!

iTunes users can subscribe at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=217580108

Recurring Themes of 7b

2013-05-21T17:12:24Z

I was wondering how people see the recurring themes of 7b in the finale, and how they might play out in the 50th?

--Reflections, duplicates -- this seems pretty clear in terms of Clara's scattering throughout time, and the Doctor meeting a dark version of himself.

--Monstrosity-- the theme has been that monstrosity is an issue of perception, but also, that a monstrous reflection can freeze, throw into stasis, put a shard of ice in one's heart. Because redemption stories thrill me the most, I'd like to see this Dark Version somehow integrated with the Doctor; or, maybe, the terrible thing he did for peace and security might be reinterpreted. My flisters point out that we already know the Doctor had to do Terrible Things to end the Time War, so what is more terrible than multiple genocide to make him Unnameable?? Based on the fact that Eleven recognized him, I assume he's not a Future Doctor .... but there is that hint of the Valeyard about him, coming back from his own future to condemn himself as a traitor ... Hm?

-- Family -- there was so much emphasis on familial relationships that didn't seem to play out in the finale. Clara didn't turn out to be the Doctor's family member at all! She wasn't even CAL from the library, or the Doctor and River's offspring, or anything! Does the theme of family underpin the finale in some way I'm not seeing?

-- The Tardis as Goddess and/or World Tree -- wow, that imagery was still all over the finale, am I right?

--other themes people would like to mention?

Two throwaway lines in episodes other than The Name of the Doctor

2013-05-21T13:21:33Z

All in all, The Name of the Doctor was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Very good concept, very good acting, but the actual execution left much to be desired. The villain was so upset because the Doctor had beaten him what.. four times in 200 years?

Now I want to stress that I don't think there's been some sort of long game (heh,heh) here by RTD and the Moff but there was a line in School Reunion that bugged me from the moment it was uttered.

From Planet Claire's Doctor Who quotes

"Sarah Jane: It's you. Doctor. Oh my god, it's you isn't it? You've regenerated.
The Doctor: Half a dozen times since we last met."

This line always bugged me, because, while the last Doctor she actually traveled with was the fourth Doctor, which would make the count work out (10-4=6), she actually meets Peter Davison's fifth in The Five Doctors

(Yes, I know it's a promo shot, those of you who've not seen it will just have to trust me).

But, what if Ten isn't wrong/lying? What if the way he phrases it, "half a dozen times" leaves him the opportunity to be honest to the one person to whom he is unwilling to lie? Suddenly, John Hurt gets put into the picture in between Five and Ten, and he's no longer bad at math/a liar, just someone who doesn't disclose everything.

The second line, one which arguably helped solidify Eleven's identity after an erratic first season, is from A Good Man Goes to War (same source as the other quote)

"Madame Kovarian: The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules.
The Doctor: Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."

Arguably, John Hurt is the opportunity we've been waiting for.

That day may not have been the day to find out why the Doctor has so many rules, but November 23, 2013? That's a different story.

Undo - Redo - Undo?

2013-05-21T13:19:46Z

I was just thinking about the moment in the latest episode... (Cut for spoilers)

When Clara remembers some parts of the episode "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS", most notably the "I'm the impossible girl!" part I came to think.. why was that episode forgotten in the first place?
Would the pacing have been /SO/ off and /SO/ wrong if the episodes went: SV -> NiS -> JttCotT -> tNotD instead? Leading you up to that big moment, the big reveal?
..Meaning Clara wouldn't have to forget and then re-learn all that adventure?

OH, and I REALY wish they didn't bring Jenny back to life with the flick of a switch - wouldn't it have been better if a distraught Vastra called out something along the lines of "I NEED MY JENNY" when the world started collapsing, giving an awesome love-parallel to the Doctor and River? Then, at the end, when everything is *fixed* again she returns just like Strax did?! WHAT WAS HER PURPOSE APART FROM STANDING AND LOOKING AROUND?!

Not to say I didn't enjoy things how they were.. I just felt like the amount of un-doing of plots and development really changed the flow of these last episodes.

Costume similarities

2013-05-21T13:18:28Z

[Spoiler (click to open)]

I dont think I saw anyone point this out yet.

John Hurt's Doctor on set pictures:

http://www.followingthenerd.com/site/wp-content/uploads/john-hurt-doctor-who.jpg

http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/john-hurt-doctor-who-50th-filming.jpg

But JHD seems to have a more roughed up, dirtier Ninth Doctor jacket. Although on Nine the jacket doesn't seem to reach that far down, though I'm not sure about the height different between the two actors/incarnations. The Jacket under that seems similar to Eight's style. He also seems to have some sort of strap going across in a similar manner to the Eighth Doctor's revised costume w/ bag. Kind of supports the whole 8.5 theory.

doctorwho @ 2013-05-20T21:35:00

2013-05-21T13:17:21Z

Forgive me as I think I might've asked about this fic a few years back but now I can't remember the name of the story or who wrote it...

I am looking for a fanfic in which Amy is being more than a little curious about Rose and she does not back off until River (who is with them) tells her to --

[Spoiler only if you don't know who River is or who her parents are!]

this story was written before we learned River was Amy and Rory's daughter

-- telling her something along the lines that the Doctor has to be the one to make the decision whether or not he will tell her about Rose.

Anyone know the fic?