Your favourite pet theories of your own

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I found this thread on GallifreyBase, and thought we'd a thread here. Do you've any theories about the show/audios that you'd like to share?

Here's a couple that I've read over there but liked enough to share:

The Great Intelligence "created" the War Doctor. It caused the ship Cassie was in to crash, causing the Doctor to die, and one of Clara's splinters was in the Sisterhood and notified her superior about the Doctor's incoming arrival.

The First Doctor didn't visit Earth's past in An Unearthly Child... but Skaro's!

This one is actually close to my liking: The Emperor Dalek in Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways is Davros, post-Terror Firma. I can tell you, I've adopted this one already - especially since I think that Terror Firma occured chronologically for Davros after Journey's End.

The scarf Osgood wears is the Curator's, who gave it to her after immense guilt for not saving her in Death in Heaven.

Handles is the Brigadier (lol).

The first half of series 7, from the Christmas special up to Angels Take Manhattan, occurs in reverse for the Doctor himself. And the reason he's mopey in The Snowmen is because he dropped River off in the Library.

This one is close to my heart, because I still think so when I watch the Ninth/Tenth eras and the majority of Eleven's run: As to the Time War, my theory is that the reason the previous New Who Doctor's still believe they destroyed Gallifrey is because they did. Their memories aren't faulty, their angst is real.

The events of the TV Movie and the audio drama Mastermind occur, chronologically for the Master, between Frontier in Space and The Deadly Assassin.
​

Anyway, do you've anything similar to add? This is so much fun!

 

[Iamnotspock]

The first half of series 7, from the Christmas special up to Angels Take Manhattan, occurs in reverse for the Doctor himself. And the reason he's mopey in The Snowmen is because he dropped River off in the Library.​

I can't see that. So, 'The Power of Three' happens just after '...Manhattan' for him? When do you mean by "he dropped River off in the Library"? It was the tenth Doctor who witnessed her death and uploaded her consciousness to the Library.

There's an interesting conjecture in the latest DWM; the Doctor was born half-human, but the Time Lords "rebooted" his genetic make-up in 'The War Games' when they forcibly regenerated him, making him, physically, fully Gallifreyan. That explains why he identifies so strongly with Earth and humanity, even describing himself as human in 'The Sensorites', and why he appears to have only one heart ('The Edge of Destruction', 'The Tenth Planet' and 'The Wheel in Space' all feature scenes of someone checking the heartbeat of an unconscious Doctor and reporting nothing unusual). With his seventh regeneration, some of his old human DNA reasserts itself, and so the eighth Doctor identifies as half-human.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I can't see that. So, 'The Power of Three' happens just after '...Manhattan' for him? When do you mean by "he dropped River off in the Library"? It was the tenth Doctor who witnessed her death and uploaded her consciousness to the Library.

Well, here's his quote (took out the username for respect)

I had to return to this thread to mention a theory I saw recently about Series 7A. I happened to be approaching 7A in my marathon at the time and so me and the OH watched it with this in mind, and we're both thoroughly on board with it. I can't find the website again so I'll explain it here, but I'm not taking credit for it!

The basic premise - Series 7A is happening in reverse order for the Doctor, up to and including The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. The evidence is thus:

The Angels Take Manhattan - The Doctor loses Amy and Rory. This takes him completely by surprise and it is clear that he is somewhat in denial about what has happened. From her afterword, Amy asks the Doctor to go and be with her younger self to comfort her. The Doctor takes inspiration from this idea, and decides to travel back down Amy's timeline to travel with her and Rory for as long as he can before there is no longer room for him in their lives - neatly setting up the theme for the whole of 7A, whichever direction the theme travels in.

The Power of Three - The Doctor arrives at a time where the Ponds are very settled, where there is ample opportunity for him to have an adventure with them. He deliberately takes advantage of the Ponds' trust in him by setting up a long, extensive adventure involving Zygons and Henry VIII that they didn't sign up for and which takes 6 weeks. He then lives with them for a while, admits to the Ponds he "misses them", and has a long conversation by the Thames with Amy which at times heavily implies what he's doing - "I'm running to you, before you fade away". At the end of the story, Amy and Rory decide to have a trip with the Doctor, and off they go to....

A Town Called Mercy - hear we have concrete proof that something is happening in the wrong order. Why? Rory mentions the incident with Henry VIII. Yep! Clear as crystal that the stories happen in reverse order. The Doctor's anger and revenge-mode is in full flow during this episode, reflecting his resentment at losing the Ponds and the awful situation he's got himself stuck in - he knows he has to keep going down their timeline as Brian already knows him and the Ponds know the Doctor isn't dead. Fed up of the situation and knowing this is not healthy for him, he resolves to tie up the loose ends and say a proper farewell.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - First of all, the Doctor addresses the Brian issue - in The Power of Three, Brian already knew him, so the Doctor kidnaps him at an earlier date to bring about their meeting. At the end, the Ponds refuse to go with him on his next trip, and knowing he has to leave space between adventures for the Ponds to live their lives as he has seen so far, he knows his time is rapidly running out, hence the mournful reaction.

Asylum of the Daleks - this one is completely accidental and nothing to do with the Doctor. The Daleks kidnap the Doctor and the Ponds and here the Doctor learns about what was happening to Amy and Rory's marriage between The Wedding of River Song and this episode. He successfully fixes it but now knows there are very few remaining opportunities for "the gang" to be together.

Pond Life - the Doctor realises he has arrived at the point of the Ponds' split, but cancels his message to Amy asking if she is okay. This is because he knows he cannot get involved until Asylum of the Daleks.

The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe - the Doctor finally ties up the last loose end with the Ponds, on Madge's orders. He visits the Ponds on Christmas Day 2011 to inform them that he is alive after the events in Utah. Amy mentions that she has not seen him since then, confirming that the Doctor cannot go back any further and this is the end. As Amy and Rory invite him in for Christmas dinner, the Doctor cries, overcome with emotion. As sad as he is that his time with Amy and Rory is over, he is overjoyed that he has received closure, and their relationship can have a happy ending over Christmas dinner. The End.

What do you think? After watching the episodes again with this theory in mind I just can't ignore it, it works so well! Full credit to the creator.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the explanation for the Doctor's demeanour in The Snowmen is that he has sent River to the library.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

There's an interesting conjecture in the latest DWM; the Doctor was born half-human, but the Time Lords "rebooted" his genetic make-up in 'The War Games' when they forcibly regenerated him, making him, physically, fully Gallifreyan. That explains why he identifies so strongly with Earth and humanity, even describing himself as human in 'The Sensorites', and why he appears to have only one heart ('The Edge of Destruction', 'The Tenth Planet' and 'The Wheel in Space' all feature scenes of someone checking the heartbeat of an unconscious Doctor and reporting nothing unusual). With his seventh regeneration, some of his old human DNA reasserts itself, and so the eighth Doctor identifies as half-human.

That is an interesting theory, I've to say. Although I recently listened to The Apocalypse Element, and in it the Doctor registers Evelyn's eyeprint to his TARDIS' gateway, adding human DNA to the Eye of the Harmony. This was BG's attempt to retroactively state that what the Master saw in the TV Movie was the result of Evelyn's meddling with the TARDIS.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Mine:

• The Valeyard was not so much the Doctor as he was created from the Doctor.
• The TARDIS chameleon circuit works, but only periodically changes into different blue police boxes.
• "Fixed points in time" is more of a Time Lord rule the Doctor observes rather than something that can't actually be changed.
• The only reason why the TARDIS really dematerializes and rematerializes is to enter and leave from enclosed spaces.
• The TARDIS console room seen during the time of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors is actually the default configuration for a Type-40, but not kept up very well (it would otherwise be white, more brightly-lit, and without cables hanging about).
• The Doctor has had many companions we haven't seen onscreen, including some notable historical figures.

 

[DWF]

Mine's rather sedate, I jsut think the events in The M ind OF Evil and The Day Of The Daleks led to Britain getting the destructor codes that were used in Robot. And I do think that the Doctor left in Robot while Sarah Jane was pounding the door and had his little adventure on Leela's planet.

 

[Iamnotspock]

• The TARDIS chameleon circuit works, but only periodically changes into different blue police boxes.

That's pretty much canonised in 'The Day if the Doctor'; note the different Police Boxes when all 13 TARDISes arrive at Gallifrey.

 

[Skellington]

^ Good point.

My chameleon circuit notion: The TARDIS has some motive for always turning into a police box. Possibly it considers that if the Doctor's promise is in his name then the TARDIS should have a complementary one printed above its door. Therefore they are a team, policing history (and, er, Doctoring it). Or possibly it just likes the aesthetic of a spinning blue police box.

 

[diankra]

There's a cut line from a Ninth Doctor script, where Rose (or maybe Mickey) asks why the TARDIS looks like a police box: the Doctor explains that the TARDIS analyses the environment just before landing, runs through millions of possible guises... and then always goes for a police box (implying that the TARDIS just likes it).

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The Great Intelligence "created" the War Doctor. It caused the ship Cassie was in to crash, causing the Doctor to die, and one of Clara's splinters was in the Sisterhood and notified her superior about the Doctor's incoming arrival.​

More interesting than Clara watching 8 (and 2) run past her in a park.

There's a cut line from a Ninth Doctor script, where Rose (or maybe Mickey) asks why the TARDIS looks like a police box: the Doctor explains that the TARDIS analyses the environment just before landing, runs through millions of possible guises... and then always goes for a police box (implying that the TARDIS just likes it).

That ended up being a line for 11. I can't remember the episode at the moment.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

More interesting than Clara watching 8 (and 2) run past her in a park.

It certainly aknowledges that there really WAS no War Doctor before, at all, and infers that his creation was what allowed for Gallifrey to be saved in that pocket universe. And in Nightmare in Silver, the Doctor wouldn't be lying anymore, cause back then he did have one more regeneration left in him.

Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I found this thread on GallifreyBase, and thought we'd a thread here. Do you've any theories about the show/audios that you'd like to share?

The First Doctor didn't visit Earth's past in An Unearthly Child... but Skaro's!​

I've not heard that theory. I have heard the theory that the Tribe of Gum is from Mondas, however.

The scarf Osgood wears is the Curator's, who gave it to her after immense guilt for not saving her in Death in Heaven.​

That's nice, but I'm still not convinced that the Curator is a future Doctor.

Handles is the Brigadier (lol).​

I have also heard this one, but I don't believe it because the eleventh Doctor never knew that was his best friend.

The first half of series 7, from the Christmas special up to Angels Take Manhattan, occurs in reverse for the Doctor himself. And the reason he's mopey in The Snowmen is because he dropped River off in the Library.​

The variant of this that I've heard -- and think works for the most part -- is slightly different. "Angels" is first for the Doctor, and then the first four episodes happen in order (except for "The Town Called Mercy" which clearly takes place during "The Power of Three"), with the Doctor having more adventures with his friends because he can't deal with losing them. Then the Doctor contrives a reason to leave -- maybe he has to run out to the TARDIS -- so he can leave them, knowing that his younger self is about to pick them up and take them to New York in 2012 for "Angels."

I'm not sure the part about River and "The Snowmen" works with "Night and the Doctor."

Among my personal pet theories, the Hand of Omega didn't destroy Skaro. Its sun, sure. But the planet itself survived the nova, which is possible.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The Doctor has had many companions we haven't seen onscreen, including some notable historical figures.

I'm down with that.

Among my notable companions (and Doctors!)--

Giordano Bruno, with the fourth Doctor (between Sarah and Leela).

Jean-Luc Picard (post-Stargazer, pre-Enterprise), with the sixth Doctor (before Mel).

Mary Tudor (a teenager, before she became Queen Mary) and Teddy Roosevelt (when he's about fifteen), with the tenth Doctor (between Martha and Donna) for a TARDIS trio.

 

[Iamnotspock]

That ended up being a line for 11. I can't remember the episode at the moment.

"Meanwhile in the TARDIS", Episode 1, 1:05 in.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The alternate Earth (from Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel) is Mondas.

 

[The Wormhole]

The scarf Osgood wears is the Curator's, who gave it to her after immense guilt for not saving her in Death in Heaven.

I have an opposite take on that. The reason Osgood had to wear a bow tie in Death in Heaven is because the Curator asked for his scarf back.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I always feel that the Movellans are the ultimate evolution of the Cybermen- they started off looking robotic, but being mostly organic inside. Over time, as they updated themselves, constantly changing in every appearance, some subconscious impulse to regain their lost humanity was at work, and so in a huge irony they end up looking like perfect humans, while actually being totally robotic...

(It always struck me that the glass plate in the Earthshock Cybermens' chest units, and the transparent bit the Movellans' chests were too similar not to make something of!)

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I like the one about Handles being the Brigadier.

And I'm intrigued about the one that says that, from the Master's perspective, the 1996 movie takes place between "Frontier in Space" & "The Deadly Assassin." I'll need to try a rewatch of these 3 in this order to see if it works.

My current pet theories, based on absolutely nothing except stuff that sounds right to me:

The first Doctor that Strax encountered was the 4th Doctor (probably during the gap between "The Invasion of Time" & "The Ribos Operation").

The first Doctor that Madam Vastra encountered was the 9th Doctor during one of his very earliest adventures.

 

[Iamnotspock]

The first Doctor that Madam Vastra encountered was the 9th Doctor during one of his very earliest adventures.

It's been a while since I've seen "The Hungry Earth", but had the Doctor encountered the Vastra breed before that story?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The first Doctor that Madam Vastra encountered was the 9th Doctor during one of his very earliest adventures.

It's been a while since I've seen "The Hungry Earth", but had the Doctor encountered the Vastra breed before that story?

She seems to know about regeneration in Deep Breath.

She gets the Brig's line "here we go again".