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

[Sparky]

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?

The dialogue was so perfectly Tom Baker that after I had picked my jaw up off the floor I was grinning from ear to ear. Personally I'm going with he's a future Doctor who has retired. Every few centuries he pops over to Karn for a pick me up regen elixir.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

You know, I just realized the joke behind his appearence. Tom Baker plays Doctor Who.

 

[Iamnotspock]

In my mind, he was exactly who he appeared to be -- the fourth Doctor, aged and infirm. Somehow, in some way, he retired and grew old like his old mentor, Professor Chronotis. I don't know if he was from an alternate timeline. Don't care, really, especially since I doubt we'll ever see him again.

He's a character for the fans. Like Wormhole says, he's who we want him to be.

The best theory I've read so far is that he's an alternate version of the fourth Doctor who was taken out of time by Bad Wolf/The Moment (who may also have been the Watcher) at the point of his regeneration and allowed to live on.

"It's the end, but the Moment has been prepared for."

 

[Professor Zoom]

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

Because when she went into the Doctor's time stream, there was only 11 (12) faces to see. The Curator is a future version of the Doctor, so hasn't yet--at the point Clara jumped in--become a part of the current Doctor's time stream.

Basically the same reason she didn't see Capaldi's Doctor.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

But it's the same face as the fourth Doctor, just a little older and the same voice.

 

[Reverend]

I didn't think it was ambiguous at all. It's pretty clear--well as clear as it can be with Tom Baker--that he's a distant future regeneration of The Doctor who has somehow chosen to become some of his old selves again.

"I never forget a face."
"In years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few. But just the old favourites."

It's all done with a nudge and a wink (to give future writers some wiggle room no doubt) and I suppose it's not explicitly spelled out, but I'd hardly call it a mystery.

P.S. Small point, but didn't Elizabeth I specifically name The Doctor as the curator of the gallery?

 

[Sindatur]

"I never forget a face."
"In years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few. But just the old favourites."

I suspect, more than anything, it's a wink at the fans who like to revisit their favorite (Favourite) Doctors and episodes on DVD and it was deliberately written in a manner that can be interpreted in the way you suggest.

 

[Professor Zoom]

But it's the same face as the fourth Doctor, just a little older and the same voice.

Fair point. Perhaps Clara IS the Impossible Girl. The impossibly STUPID girl.

That's my new explanation.

 

[RoJoHen]

There's no telling exactly what Clara remembers from the Doctor's past. Sure, maybe she saw all the faces, but she was disoriented and then passed out. Especially if it's been years since the events of "Name of the Doctor," there's no reason she'd remember all of his faces clearly.

 

[Reverend]

There's no telling exactly what Clara remembers from the Doctor's past. Sure, maybe she saw all the faces, but she was disoriented and then passed out. Especially if it's been years since the events of "Name of the Doctor," there's no reason she'd remember all of his faces clearly.

Plus of course he looks a good 40 years older, has put on weight, has shorter hair that is now very much white and is wearing his signature hat, coat and scarf (which he apparently lent to that asthmatic girl) and did in fact totally fail to offer anyone a jelly baby.

...on the other hand, maybe she did recognise him and just felt like surprising *her* Doctor.

"I never forget a face."
"In years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few. But just the old favourites."

I suspect, more than anything, it's a wink at the fans who like to revisit their favorite (Favourite) Doctors and episodes on DVD and it was deliberately written in a manner that can be interpreted in the way you suggest.

Maybe, but in the context of the story...he's the Doctor.

 

[RoJoHen]

I think people are looking for ambiguity in the dialogue that simply isn't there.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

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

Because when she went into the Doctor's time stream, there was only 11 (12) faces to see. The Curator is a future version of the Doctor, so hasn't yet--at the point Clara jumped in--become a part of the current Doctor's time stream.

Basically the same reason she didn't see Capaldi's Doctor.

As Eleven collapsed in the Tomb/TARDIS, didn't he say that his timeline rotating in front of him represented ALL of his travels - even future ones that he had NOT YET experienced... and that was why the time paradox was particularly damaging to him at that point?

If this is the case, shouldn't Capaldi's Doctor -and all future Doctors- be running around in there, visible to Clara? I could see why this complication would not work very well within the storytelling of this episode, but shouldn't Clara have seen ALL Doctors (past, present & future) while she was trapped within the mists of that timeline?

 

[Skellington]

^ I'm wondering if the scar is somehow a fake or a substitution (e.g., of the TARDIS's own timeline). if not, then the only real alternative seems to involve the death and dissolution of the Doctor's original body; though whether it'll stay that way is another question.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

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

Because when she went into the Doctor's time stream, there was only 11 (12) faces to see. The Curator is a future version of the Doctor, so hasn't yet--at the point Clara jumped in--become a part of the current Doctor's time stream.

Basically the same reason she didn't see Capaldi's Doctor.

As Eleven collapsed in the Tomb/TARDIS, didn't he say that his timeline rotating in front of him represented ALL of his travels - even future ones that he had NOT YET experienced... and that was why the time paradox was particularly damaging to him at that point?

If this is the case, shouldn't Capaldi's Doctor -and all future Doctors- be running around in there, visible to Clara? I could see why this complication would not work very well within the storytelling of this episode, but shouldn't Clara have seen ALL Doctors (past, present & future) while she was trapped within the mists of that timeline?

Well the Christmas Special flat out saying 11 is the one who was at Trenzalore does give them an out on this.

 

[Relayer1]

He mentions trying on a few favorite old faces. He knew who the Doctor was. He IS the Doctor, wearing an old face for a second time.

Yes - this was laid out pretty clearly...

Why did the installation on the wall of the gallery look like part of the interior wall of a TARDIS console room? Did the TARDIS also retire and become the National Gallery or did the Curator create the installation as a memento?

I think it was Tom's Tardis - he had eventually fixed the chamelion circuit and disguised it as an exhibit...

 

[RJDiogenes]

If the Curator was a future Doctor (and he was!), then the Doctor must someday find a way to go beyond the limitation of twelve regenerations (as the Master once did). Perhaps Clara could only see those initial twelve regenerations.

Or perhaps she simply didn't recognize him because of his age. We knew who he was, because we've been familiar with him for years. She probably only saw him for a few moments.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Here's something I began to wonder today.

If Baker hadn't agreed to appear as the Curator, would Moffat have offered the role to Davison? Or would that scene never have happened?

 

[Gov Kodos]

That depends on whether this scene is setting up a future arc, no?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

True, but the question, I guess, is whether or not Baker was the only choice for the scene, or would the information have been conveyed another way?

Moffat could have fallen back on Davison as a back-up, but Colin and Sylvester would probably never have been Moffat's back-up plan as he doesn't think much of either of them as actors.

 

[Gov Kodos]

True, but the question, I guess, is whether or not Baker was the only choice for the scene, or would the information have been conveyed another way?

Moffat could have fallen back on Davison as a back-up, but Colin and Sylvester would probably never have been Moffat's back-up plan as he doesn't think much of either of them as actors.

No, I don't think he was the only choice to make the scene work, but Baker does carry a gravitas due to how iconic his Doctor has become that another choice likely would not have. The conversations would be focusing on what such a search for Gallifrey might entail for the Doctor rather than who Baker was meant to be in this scene as so much of this thread has been. I recall an old interview of Baker's (maybe made up in my head) that he'd like to come back to the show as the Master. It would be pretty mind blowing to find out the Curator is a retired Master.