Cracktastic Doctor Who Theories
WARNING!!! There are potential spoilers in here if you haven't seen everything that has been broadcast through Listen. Disclaimer: It is entirely possible that I am seriously overthinking things, and/or need way more sleep than I am getting. Or maybe I just need to resume writing fan fiction.
Cracktastic Theory #1:
David Tennant filmed more scenes when he was on set for the 50th than we have seen yet.
This is based on:
Twelve's lines in Deep Breath about his new face looking familiar are a plot point, not just throwaways to explain that Capaldi had played 2 previous characters in the Whoniverse. And there seems to be a strong connection to the Cybermen.
This is based on:
The similarity between "The Promised Land" and "Utopia", and Missy potentially being short for Mistress, which might be what the Master would call himself if he regenerated as a woman, are deliberate red herrings.
This is based on:
That's all I have right now. Let me know what you think, or if you have any cracky theories of your own!
Cracktastic Theory #1:
David Tennant filmed more scenes when he was on set for the 50th than we have seen yet.
This is based on:
- When Ten was roaming around alone, he said that he had married Queen Elizabeth I and named a galaxy Allison. In Into the Dalek, the second female soldier decided to sacrifice herself to allow the others to escape from the antibodies. She said "My name is Gretchen Allison Carlisle. Do something good and name it after me." The Doctor said, "I will do something amazing." If the galaxy is named after her, the Doctor would need to be time looped somehow. (And really out there, Carlisle could be a clue to DT, since that was his character's name in Blackpool.)
- In Tom Baker's amazing cameo in The Day of the Doctor, he said to Eleven that he might find himself revisiting old versions of himself from time to time, but only the old favorites. That was clearly a nod to Four being one of the old favorites, but maybe others as well.
- They often use what seems like a throwaway line to set up a larger storyline later. For example, Queen Elizabeth I calling Ten her sworn enemy and him saying he hadn't even met her yet in The Shakespeare Code set up the central idea of meeting people in the wrong order which played out later in Blink, and the entire run with River Song.
- They didn't have to loop back on the marriage to QE I in the 50th, but they did. The reason it was used as a plot point could be because they needed another plot point from that same speech and wanted additional help to remind viewers of it.
Twelve's lines in Deep Breath about his new face looking familiar are a plot point, not just throwaways to explain that Capaldi had played 2 previous characters in the Whoniverse. And there seems to be a strong connection to the Cybermen.
This is based on:
- One line Twelve says about his new face is something like "It's like I'm trying to tell myself something, but what could it be that I just couldn't tell myself?" If he is time looped with previous versions of himself, he may not be able to remember everything, as they pointed out in the 50th special.
- We've only seen 4 episodes, and have already had two examples of spaceships that crashed on Earth in the past. There was an overt connection with the SS Marie Antoinette and the SS Madame de Pompadour in Deep Breath, but then it came up again in Robot of Sherwood. It's not surprising that the Doctor would find the situation of robots harvesting body parts to repair machinery familiar but have trouble remembering Madame de Pompadour, since by his personal timeline that happened more than a thousand years ago. However the most recent previous instance (in the Doctor's personal timeline) of him dealing with a ship that had crashed on Earth in the past was the Pyrovile's ship from Fires of Pompeii, where Caecilius had a familiar face. Prior to that, the Cybermen who crashed in Victorian London in The Next Doctor. And prior to that, Earthshock, where a Cyberman ship crashing wiped out the dinosaurs, and memorably put an end to Adric's time as a companion. Perhaps this face is also a reminder that it's okay for him to save people - or even that a previous version of him had already tried? What if Ten, in his "I can do anything, the laws of time are mine to command" hubris and "I'm gonna die soon anyway" despair tried to go back and save Adric? He is the most prominent companion who the Doctor failed to save, and Moffat likes Five.
- We know from the series preview reel that there is a Cyberman story coming. Maybe the T Rex wasn't just an accident. Maybe Twelve in his confused regeneration state went to the Jurassic for a reason. Maybe ending up in Victorian London is another clue.
- I think the calculations he has been working on this whole series could be him trying to work out a plan . . . maybe a plan to help a previous version of himself with something safely, or maybe just for finding Gallifrey?
The similarity between "The Promised Land" and "Utopia", and Missy potentially being short for Mistress, which might be what the Master would call himself if he regenerated as a woman, are deliberate red herrings.
This is based on:
- It's just so obvious, which really isn't Moffat's style.
- I don't think the Master would ever choose to be a female, unless he really has no control over it.
- I kind of like the theory that Missy is the Rani, but that would mean she had to have either avoided the Time War completely, or was on Gallifrey but found a way to escape through the crack. She is pretty clever, so if anyone could do it . . .
- Could the reference in The Doctor's Wife to the Corsair having regenerated once as a woman be a set up to the Master doing so? Maybe, but it's probably just a coincidence.
- In Listen they are at the end of the universe. Could that be another coincidental reference to the end of series 3 and the Master?
- Of course, to paraphrase Queen Victoria, "Coincidences around Moffat tend to be planned."
That's all I have right now. Let me know what you think, or if you have any cracky theories of your own!