So who was the woman in white?

[VDCNI]

I presume you mean C.S Lewis rather than Luis oh and Norman Ashby doesn't actually exist but never mind.

RTD personal feeling was that she was the doctor's mother which is what he said when he was asked about it but was quite happy for fans to speculate and come to their own conclusion.

I don't see why that is so hard to understand, are their many writers running around insisting that there is only one way to interpet their work?

 

[Technobuilder]

I suppose it's alright to speculate and even decide for yourself who the W.I.W. was... but if Moffat or a future writer ever does pick up this plot thread then surely people will have a conniption upon having to revise their previous guesses/assumptions.

Hope no one minds getting that little bubble popped when the day arrives. (if it ever does)

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Not only is it alright but RTD has encouraged it.

 

[Technobuilder]

Beh, I could care less what RTD encourages or discourages.

Ambiguity here follows two probable origins, the intentional crafting of plot to induce speculation, or the result of a plot hole created when a script ran too long and needed to be cut for production purposes.

I'm more inclined to consider the latter here than the former unfortunately, but then again...whatever. Nothing against RTD, I just prefer points of impetus to be given substance within the current story or series/season of origin.

(Unless of course they're setting up a cliffhanger to be resolved relatively quickly like "The Silence Will Fall", "He will knock four times", etc.)

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ In that case then the definitive answer is that the Woman in White without question is the Doctor's Mother. Sigh.

 

[Technobuilder]

What information is known about the Doctor's past? his lineage?
Has his family ever been discussed?

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Just in the Longburrow novels I think. The only family member we've seen on screen prior to the Woman in White is of course Susan.

 

[starsuperion]

and technically Marylin Monroe..(though it wasn't a real church??)

 

[Whofan]

This might help, Techobuilder. It's a nice summation of the Doctor, but also contains many references to the Doctor's past. It only goes up to the fourth season, and contains some stuff from the TV movie, which have been mostly retconned:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc4HSf6NKiQ

 

[Technobuilder]

Very interesting Whofan. Thanks for bringing that clip to my attention.

I found it especially fascinating that a series like Doctor Who was able to maintain certain commonalities of background information between different Doctors.

The old hermit for example.

 

[Whofan]

Sometimes the consistency is due to some of the same writers-Terrance Dicks script-edited The Time Monster and Planet of the Spiders, which featured the hermit, and also wrote State of Decay which featured another Hermit reference.



While the new series has of course kept the main backstory of the Doctor fleeing Gallifrey in a 'borrowed' TARDIS, it's also added a bit more to the backstory (apart from the Time War, that is) of his friendship with the Master, and hints about the nature of his real name.