The Curator.... Who is he? (SPOILERS for "The Day of the Doctor")

I just got an idea I fancy very much.

What if BBC secretly shot some open-ended footage with Tom Baker intended to be randomly discovered around the 100th anniversary that could be fit in any multi-doctor story?

We know that the Curator could never appear again, because if he is a future or the last Doctor, it makes no sense to feature him in any story (well, it might make some sense for Trenzalore, but other than that...) Unfortunately by the time any story involving him makes sense, he'll sadly no longer be among us. So it basically can't happen. We won't ever know his character is up to.

Unless BBC prepare with some footage beforehand.

(Obviously, won't happen, but the thought gives me a pleasant sensation)

 

I think under normal circumstances, a Time Lord can and does control the process. Look at Romana and the Covair.

It's just the Doctor seems to always needs to regenerate after some trauma that probably makes it impossible to control what happens.

 

Or usually the Doctor doesnt care about appearance. I believe Moffet said that the Doctor, when regenerating, is like shopping off the rack. He simply takes what hes given.

 

Pretty sure if he had any control over it he would have been ginger...

 

Romana tried on like 3 or 4 looks when she regenerated. So we know its possible.

 

Although, if he cares so much about being ginger, why doesn't he just dye his hair?

 

At the risk of making your head explode, that's about the most bloody brilliant idea I've heard today... In 50 years, about the only one who might be around is Smith... Maaaaybe Tennent... But both would be far too old to really participate... But capturing them now with some generic but plausible sequences that could be written around... Plus some one-off "Happy 100th" promo shots with all the Doctors still currently with us... Might be a bit morbid for some, but I think that would be awesome...

 

^^Smith would be 81, which is only two years older than Tom Baker currently is, so he could very easily have a similar cameo in the 100th.

 

That was the most different regen ever on the series--the most special. There was also a 4th Doctor episode where he aged a great deal--you might make something from that too.

Or maybe, like the image of Rose, this was The Moment....

 

Fourth Doctor: It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for.

 

Arghhhh!!!!

 

I really like the idea that the Curator was just the Moment in another guise. It had to go somewhere after the Doctors decided not to use it. Safest place would be in the Tardis. And it chose Rose/Bad Wolf because of how important and crucial she was to the Doctor after the war. I could see it taking on the appearance of one of the older incarnations, back when the Doctor was happier and secure in knowing his home was still out there.

But just as the Moment took its own spin on the whole Rose/Bad Wolf entity, it probably decided to alter the fourth Doctor and age him a bit. Just the right person the Doctor needed to see to motivate him in his search for Gallifrey.

 

I like the idea that the Doctor, at the end of his many regenerations, opted for a secluded life on Earth, the planet he always had great affection for. IIRC, the novelisation of Shada has it that some Timelords settle down into some sort of role like this towards the end (in that book, Prof Chronotis, the Doctor's old mentor, is a don at a university). By then, the Doctor has mastered the art of controlling his appearance when regenerating and decides to revisit an 'old favourite.' And he decides to take up that role of Curator that Elizabeth I offered one of his old incarnations.

But like the 'Who knows?/Who Nose!' line, it's left with just enough ambiguity that if you choose to take another interpretation, your reading is just as likely to be correct as mine.

 

Nice callback to Shada! Kinda makes sense, in that way.

 

So, here's some of the ideas, gathered:

*The Curator is the Moment, in disguise.
*The Curator really IS a Future Doctor, now a master of choosing a previous face of his.
*The Curator is the above, but at the same time, the same character as Tom Baker in JNT's version of Shada.
*The Curator is a splinter of the Fourth Doctor, who went on to live the rest of his life on Earth AS the Curator, before "regenerating" into the Watcher and reuniting with the real Fourth Doctor in the past.
*The Curator is the actual Fourth Doctor from an alternate universe.
*The Curator is the Nth Doctor - the Final Doctor.

Missing anything?

 

^Well, given that Tom Baker said he'd like to come back to DW as the Master, let's throw him in for good measure!

(Not a serious suggestion, I hasten to add)

 

Yes, you're missing a big one. He's the normal Fourth Doctor.

 

A few more, he's:
-Another Time Lord
-Really is a humble museum curator
-Tom Baker wandered onto set and started jabbering with Matt Smith

 

Poor Tom. That meme is being repeated so often, people are actually going to start "remembering" that's what happened

Perhaps that's why he wasn't in the protest Video, he worked his own angle, that the Producers weren't able to avoid, by himself

 

How is that possible?