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

Queen Elizabeth made the Doctor the curator for those royal paintings. She said so in her letter to him. How a Work of Gallifreyan art came to be in the Royal Collection is another story.

 

He's a future Doctor. I don't understand the questioning. The only problem is we'll never see it, because it's probably quite out there and Baker probably won't still be able to play the part. Or- after Capaldi, he might want/need to relax a little and take on this old favorite face for a few years.

And by the way, The Doctor was appointed Curator of the Undergallery (or whatever it's called). Did this take place down there? If it did, it could only be a Doctor who was curator.

 

In my mind, too..

 

Speaking of The Curator, there's a character by that name in Amelia Williams' novel Summer Falls.

 

If he could revisit past regenerations then say hello to Paul Mcgann in a few years time!

 

I'm another one on board with "He's whoever you see him as", and I personally see him as an alternate 4th that grew to that old age.

as to "revisiting a few old faces, but, only the favorites", that sings out to me a wink to the fans who rewatch their favorite Doctor Who episodes/Doctors and the statement also has the advantage of being able to be taken in a myriad of ways to support your own personal Canon as to who the Curator is.

 

I see enough evidence in the dialog to support the opinion that the Curator is a later incarnation of the Doctor who has chosen to revisit an old, favorite face for a regeneration. It is equally possible, however, that this Curator is not the Doctor, but someone (maybe even a future companion?) with a quite playful sense of humor and irony who -like the Brigadier- came to know a few [future] incarnations of the Doctor quite well, and was thus able to learn all the information that he clearly has shared with Eleven in that scene. He clearly was involved in the acquisition of the Gallifreyan artworks. I hope we'll never know for sure. It is indeed a warm, sweet smile & wink to the fans-- and it should remain 'frozen in time' as the gem it is.

 

Except he explicitly states that he is...

 

^
Rule One: The Doctor lies.
Rule Two: People other than the Doctor Lie.

Personally, I DO think it is a later incarnation of the Doctor who has become the Curator and is having a moment with Eleven. Behind the scenes, he was helping the plan move forward.

I do not believe the Curator is an alternate, aged version of Four. I don't think he is a very well-informed 'someone' pretending to be the Doctor, either. BUT-- I do feel there is leeway in the presentation for others to interpret things differently- and I am willing to leave it open to the individual to choose. That is what they say about a lot of artwork, isn't it? The interpretation is left up to the viewer.

 

I would say that he is obviously The Doctor, but not quite in the traditional sense.

The Curator is The Doctor...after has died for real. Something greater awaits in the universe of Doctor Who, and thus far in the future after the Doctor has died he goes on to other things.

The idea that after you have lived your life, you relive your life, is not a new concept, but for someone like the Doctor, it is an exciting one.

 

Tom Baker was portraying a smooth headed Klingon from 1996

 

Jesus... what does he have to do, wear a name tag that says I am The nth Doctor? It's the doctor, in a future regeneration. It's on the screen, not a wink to audience.

 

I still think he's the 4th Doctor and he is from just before "The Lesure Hive". Why? Look at the scarf Osgood got on. It's the pre-"Hive" multi-coloured one.

[crackpot theory] He gave her his scarf and when he snaped back to his own time stream replaced it with the red tones one.[/crackpot theory]

 

Explicitly? I don't recall him saying anything like "I'm the Doctor!" So how "explicit" was this statement?

That would help. Until someone retroactively places a tag on the screen that says "Hey, it's the nth Doctor here!" I'll just be thankful for the wink and nod to the classic Doctors, but that's it.

 

I've been watching since '77 and that was truly one of the trancendent moments of the entire run. I am firmly in the camp that The Curator is a future or final Doctor enjoying his retirement. With Galifrey back, I would think that the day may come when The Doctor can be relieved of his duties looking after the universe. You'd think that eventually the Time Lords will realize that "intervention" like the Doc's been doing alone is worthwhile.
As for The Curator, he's too good a character to never see again. However, any future appearance should be special, not a run of the mill ep. Maybe a Christmas Special or something.
How great is it that, in 2 minutes, Tom Baker creates a second memorable character for this series? It also wasn't lost on me that he was the only classic Doc not to participate in the 20th anniversary and was the ONLY classic Doc in the 50th. The damage to the Vortex has been repaired.

 

I hadn't thought about the second part of your statement until just now, but there is no small irony in that. I suspect we'll never know for certain who he was meant to be, though personally, I like the idea that his is indeed the Doctor's final incarnation, and that he did retire to become 'The Curator' of this place.

Either way, it was both brilliant and touching, and I loved every second of it.

 

Honestly, though, since the minisode Night of.. was filmed in the last two days of production for the Day of.. its reasonable to argue that Tom Baker AND Paul McGann did appear in this. And really, its only fair for McGann, too - poor old Sylv is the only one without a televised multi-Doctor story.

Back on topic... Personally, and after some thought, I really like the idea that this is a splinter of the Fourth Doctor that did leave out his life in retirement as the Curator. And furthermore, I also like to entertain the idea that HE is the infamous Watcher. Would make sense, as they'd be both Fourth Doctors, but the Curator would probably need to "fuse" with the proper Fourth Doctor, to complete the regeneration for both sides.

Its a fan theory, obviously, but really, its a nice one. The idea that somehow the Fourth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor had a scene together just fills me with glee.

 

The 11th Doctor and the nth Doctor had a scene together. And it doesn't necessarily mean that the Curator is the last Doctor. He could have spent 50 years "curating", then "died" then regenerated.

And since Queen Elizabeth I declared the Doctor as the Curator of the Undergalley, the job was always his when he wanted to be active at it.

 

The Curator was a crafty Zygon who bamboozled The Doctor enough to leave him alone.

 

It was Tom Baker making up for the 20th. It was Tom Baker thanking the fans. It was Tom Baker congratulating the franchise. It was the franchise thanking him. It was beautiful, it was romantic, and any further analysis, IMHO, completely ruins the romance and the beauty. It was the Doctor, Tom Baker's Doctor, it's what many have wanted since Logopolis or since the 20th... and it made me cry.