The Watcher

[Eagle]

I'm currently renting discs from the Classic Who era, specifically from the New Beginnings box set onwards. One question I have about Logolopolis: If The Watcher is The Doctor from a future incarnation then how will this be addressed in nuWho in the future ? And why is he wrapped up like a mummy with cobwebs all over him ?

Of course, I'm asking for speculation because all we have to go on ( that I know of ) is what they said in Logolopolis and the special features on the disc it came on.

 

[Stevil2001]

He's a future incarnation, but he's the fifth incarnation, arrived early because of the entropy released at Logopolis. Or something. He's formless because the fifth Doctor doesn't actually have a form yet.

I've always wondered how the Watcher traveled to Traken to pick Nyssa up.

 

[Eagle]

RE: Steve Mollmann

Ahh - I see, thanks. That's why The Watcher walked in to #4, I was a bit confused by that part. I was also wondering the same about Nyssa - if The Watcher is an energy form, say, then maybe he can somehow phase between places and bring people along with him. That's my bit of made up wibbly-wobbly logic to explain it to myself .

 

[matthunter]

Various sources extraneous to the series (but written by people involved in it) have attempted to explain the Watcher as a psychic projection of the Doctor. The part of his consciousness that will make up the dominant personality traits of the Fifth Doctor becomes manifest through the Fourth Doctor's telepathic abilities, albeit subconsiously on behalf of Four.

A similar situation can be seen with Kan'Po/Che'Je in Planet of the Spiders and something along the same lines happens in the DS9 episode Second Sight where a telepath unwittingly projects an alternate personality that Sisko falls for. It's also believed the Valeyard may be a Watcher between the Doc's final two lives that achieves sentience and independent existence.

 

[Captain Pike]

I've always found it a bit odd myself. It's some kind of backward projection.

I think Chris Bidmead or whoever came up with the concept was munching on mushrooms myself..

I remember watching it for the first time as a youngster, the first few glimpses of the watcher seemed pretty spooky - it does have that quality to it a bit.

 

[Tom]

To the Watcher was similar to what the valeyard was, an amalgamation between two incarnations of the doctor, something like that.

 

[C.E. Evans]

One idea I recall being flitted about was that the Fourth Doctor had overreached himself--stayed around longer than he was supposed to and thus bringing about the Watcher--and that all the entropy chaos released had merely brought things to a head...

 

[FalTorPan]

The Watcher never made any sense to me.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I also saw it as a slightly less advanced version of what K'anpo did for himself. Cho-je was a fully-formed projection of his future incarnation, sent back to help his (very frail) previous self much in the same way as the Watcher appeared. When K'anpo was "killed" by the spiders, the projection vanished and he regenerated into Cho-je' likeness. You can probably chalk up the difference to the Doctor being a little less skilled at the projecting stuff backwards onto your own timeline thing. Also, by trying to keep the identity of the new DOctor a secret as long as needed. :P

Mark