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

[Saga]

Or – and this was my reading of it – it's Moffat laying the first hint at this:

We are aware that Peter Capaldi’s played a big old part in Doctor Who before and we’re not going to ignore the fact… and Torchwood. I’ll let you in on this. I remember Russell [T Davies] told me he had a big old plan as to why there were two Peter Capaldis in the Who universe, one in Pompei and one in Torchwood. When I cast Peter and [Russell] got in touch to say how pleased he was I said “Okay, what was your theory and does it still work?” and he said “Yes it does, here it is.” So I don’t know if we’ll get to it… we’ll play that one out over time. It’s actually quite neat.
The big fun question is, we know that the Doctor when he regenerates, the faces… it’s not set from birth, it’s not that he was always going to be one day Peter Capaldi. We know that’s the case because in The War Games he has a choice of face and all that. We know it’s not set so where does he get those faces from? They can’t just be randomly generated because they’ve got lines and they’ve aged. When he turns into Peter he’ll actually have lines on his face – sorry Peter – so where did that face come from?​

Source.

Along with that whole bit about the Doctor 'going home' to Gallifrey, it seemed like the whole last ten minutes were all about seeding the future story arcs post-Smith.

this. i think we will see other lives that the Doctor has had. The Curator is one. Capaldi in Pompeii is one, Torchwood is another.

 

[Venardhi]

Capaldi in Torchwood most certainly was not The Doctor.

 

[JoeZhang]

Or – and this was my reading of it – it's Moffat laying the first hint at this:

We are aware that Peter Capaldi’s played a big old part in Doctor Who before and we’re not going to ignore the fact… and Torchwood. I’ll let you in on this. I remember Russell [T Davies] told me he had a big old plan as to why there were two Peter Capaldis in the Who universe, one in Pompei and one in Torchwood. When I cast Peter and [Russell] got in touch to say how pleased he was I said “Okay, what was your theory and does it still work?” and he said “Yes it does, here it is.” So I don’t know if we’ll get to it… we’ll play that one out over time. It’s actually quite neat.
The big fun question is, we know that the Doctor when he regenerates, the faces… it’s not set from birth, it’s not that he was always going to be one day Peter Capaldi. We know that’s the case because in The War Games he has a choice of face and all that. We know it’s not set so where does he get those faces from? They can’t just be randomly generated because they’ve got lines and they’ve aged. When he turns into Peter he’ll actually have lines on his face – sorry Peter – so where did that face come from?​

Source.

Along with that whole bit about the Doctor 'going home' to Gallifrey, it seemed like the whole last ten minutes were all about seeding the future story arcs post-Smith.

this. i think we will see other lives that the Doctor has had. The Curator is one. Capaldi in Pompeii is one, Torchwood is another.

It is just that he can pick his face, I don't see the leap to 'other lives' in there.

 

[FreddyE]

Maybe he is the fourth doctor from an alternate timeline who regenerated much much later or even only when that body "wore thin"? That "revisiting old faces" comment could also mean "old faces" in the sense of visiting old companions.

 

[Gov Kodos]

How much does adhering to the numbering matter? It's easy to see Baker here as a future Doctor if the numbering isn't particularly important or adhering to continuity (as if that has caused the makers of the show sleepless moments) is an issue. The show ends on the Doctor seeing a brightened future. Baker being a future regeneration makes perfect sense in that context. The Doctor is looking forward to his life for the first time in the new series. The guilt of surviving the Time War at last expunged and himself redeemed. And Baker will always be the Doctor, he's too identified with the role to be taken for anything else.

 

[Cutter John]

"A future incarnation" seems to be the easiest answer, so I'm going with it.

As for copying faces (Pompeii and earlier, Lt Maxill), I just assume its a case of a subconcious memory of meeting these people popping up during the regeneration, and molding him into that form.

 

[Pauln6]

Maybe he was a wandering splinter of 4th, an echo left over from when he was whipped from City of Death and trapped in the Five Doctors? It was around the time he fought a jagaroth after all.

 

[FreddyE]

I wouldn´t be supprised if he left splinters / echos of different incarnations all over the time space continium...with the lots and lots of time travelling he does.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

It was just a cameo by Tom Baker... and we'll never find out who the Curator is/was, because he'll probably never appear again.

 

[Zeppster]

It'll always be up to fan speculation but who cares. It was a great scene. Did it make sense? No. Did having all 13 Doctors in one scene make sense? No. But it still worked.

If I were to guess it was a future version of The Watcher form of the doctor going into either his death as a Time Lord or into another form of the Doctor. But that's just complete speculation. He was definitely some future form of the Doctor.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Again, I like to think he's the Watcher. A splinter of the Fourth Doctor that doesn't know how he came to be seperated from the actual Doctor ("Who knows?") and, before his own demise, had a word with his twelfth incarnation. And when he left, he re-appeared as The Watcher in Logopolis, as a half-regenerated Time Lord, to finally reunite with the Fourth Doctor, just as he'd regenerate into the Fifth Doctor.

Its a lovely theory, and I don't claim it being mine. But its just as possible as him being the Nth Doctor at the twilight of his years.

 

[Tom]

The dialogue was written so it is ambiguous!! 'Maybe I was you" , 'Or maybe you are me". "Or maybe it does not matter either way" . Just another Moffat nugget for fans to argue about. LOL

 

[Shatnertage]

At this point, I don't really care what was intended--it was just great to see "my" doctor back on the screen one more time. And the great thing about the show is that even if Steven Moffat gave us an intricately detailed explanation of exactly who Tom Baker was playing there, the fans would come up with a million scenarios to spin it their own way.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Capaldi in Torchwood most certainly was not The Doctor.

My mind was just blown.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I wouldn't be surprised if he left splinters / echos of different incarnations all over the time space continuum...with the lots and lots of time traveling he does.

Considering haw many times PBS re-ran the Tom Baker era here in the U.S., I think you're right

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I would like to know, how did Clara, of all people, did not recognize the curator as the Doctor?

 

[Maestro]

Because it wasn't the Doctor. And it was.

It was Tom Baker and the franchise making up and making it right with the fans. It's just not worth reading anything into, as that takes the magic away.

 

[Venardhi]

Capaldi in Torchwood most certainly was not The Doctor.

My mind was just blown.

So was his.

 

[Skellington]

Frobisher the whifferdill.
Alternate universe Doctor (imagine Tom Baker having Tennant's adventures).
The White Guardian or other Q-like being.
Obsessive Gallifreyan fan from after the return of Gallifrey.
Retired Doctor (I really like this one).

Or – and this was my reading of it – it's Moffat laying the first hint at this:

We are aware that Peter Capaldi’s played a big old part in Doctor Who before and we’re not going to ignore the fact… and Torchwood. I’ll let you in on this. I remember Russell [T Davies] told me he had a big old plan as to why there were two Peter Capaldis in the Who universe, one in Pompei and one in Torchwood. When I cast Peter and [Russell] got in touch to say how pleased he was I said “Okay, what was your theory and does it still work?” and he said “Yes it does, here it is.” So I don’t know if we’ll get to it… we’ll play that one out over time. It’s actually quite neat.
The big fun question is, we know that the Doctor when he regenerates, the faces… it’s not set from birth, it’s not that he was always going to be one day Peter Capaldi. We know that’s the case because in The War Games he has a choice of face and all that. We know it’s not set so where does he get those faces from? They can’t just be randomly generated because they’ve got lines and they’ve aged. When he turns into Peter he’ll actually have lines on his face – sorry Peter – so where did that face come from?​

Source.

Along with that whole bit about the Doctor 'going home' to Gallifrey, it seemed like the whole last ten minutes were all about seeding the future story arcs post-Smith.

This is intriguing (I mean the application to the "curator").

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

And clearly a fan.

Capaldi in Torchwood most certainly was not The Doctor.

Must rewatch that to see if he had a fob watch.

Capaldi in Torchwood most certainly was not The Doctor.

My mind was just blown.

So was his.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The dialogue was written so it is ambiguous!! 'Maybe I was you" , 'Or maybe you are me". "Or maybe it does not matter either way" . Just another Moffat nugget for fans to argue about. LOL

I was trying to remember the quote. It was whimsically ambiguous and I don't have a problem with that.

After all, Who knows?