S6 New Who speculation post
Cross-posted to doctorwho, but thought it best to share it here.
So I'm working on a speculative fic, and the speculation posts started to drive me insane as I stared at them, going cross-eyed. I work best with outlines, so I decided a compilation of the ideas wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. Anyone who wants to talk about New Who S6 and particularly That Scene in 6x01, click on the cut, if you would be so kind:
So, there are a number of possibilities with regards to the Doctor's apparent death in 6x01 and who was in the spacesuit during the lake scene. If I haven't included something in here, by all means, tell me and I'll edit in. Forgive the crazy thoroughness and formatting; I studied far too much philosophy and I'm an Aristotelian. I like outlines.
Many of these ideas are from other people anyway, so if you recognize them, I promise I'm not actively stealing, just compiling!
1. To start: Melody = River = the little girl who regenerates.
2. We take the 1103-year old Doctor at his word and presume he's spent two centuries doing heaven knows what (quite possibly running around with River based on the diary conversation?). Thus it is the actual Doctor who dies at the lake.
3. The 1103-year old Doctor is lying about his age, and is the same version of the Doctor who left Demon's Run to find Melody at the end of AGMGTW. Thus it is the actual Doctor who dies at the lake.
4a. The 1103-year old Doctor is the ganger!Doctor from the Flesh arc stabilized by the Vortex/TARDIS/whatever that technobabble was, and he's the Doctor that River spends the bulk of her adventures with (in a timeline that will be negated, as we will likely never see the stories from her point of view).
4b. This ganger!Doctor is working with the actual Doctor (albeit a future version from post-AGMGTW). More on this later.
5a. The 1103-year old Doctor is the ganger!Doctor from the Flesh arc stabilized by the Vortex/TARDIS/whatever that technobabble was, and was kidnapped by the Silence/Kovarian/an alliance between the two to bring the Doctor into a trap centered around stealing Melody and raising her as a weapon.
5b. There was no intention of killing the actual Doctor at the lake: rather, the Companions' desire to beat the Silence, who they think are to blame for the Doctor's apparent death, will allow the Silence/Kovarian/alliance to kidnap Amy, replace her with a ganger, and acquire baby Melody/River.
6a.The 1103-year old Doctor is a new ganger created by the Silence/Kovarian/an alliance between the two to bring the Doctor into a trap centered around stealing Melody and raising her as a weapon.
6b. There was no intention of killing the actual Doctor at the lake: rather, the Companions' desire to beat the Silence, who they think are to blame for the Doctor's apparent death, will allow the Silence/Kovarian/alliance to kidnap Amy, replace her with a ganger, and acquire baby Melody/River.
To the spacesuit question:
7a. The most obvious (but personally, least satisyfing): Melody/River is trapped in the suit and forced (by the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance) to murder the actual Doctor (see 2 and 3). Fulfills the Good Man murder but has its own problems.
7b. Melody/River is trapped in the suit and forced (by the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance) to murder who they think is the actual Doctor, but is in fact either the ganger!Doctor on the Doctor's side (see 4), the ganger!Doctor on the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance's side (see 5), or a new ganger!Doctor on the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance's side (see 6).
Now to the fringe theories:
8a. The post-AGMGTW Doctor is in the suit, and kills the ganger!Doctor (see 4) to get the Pandorica Alliance and similar forces off of his scent, etc.
8b. The post-AGMGTW Doctor removes Melody/River from the suit, lets her loose (regeneration scene proceeds as obvious), and puts someone else in the suit in her place without the knowledge of the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance etc. Proceeds to 8c, 8d, or 8e.
8c. On the post-AGMGTW Doctor's orders, younger!Canton is in the suit, and kills the ganger!Doctor (see 4) in a plot contrived to throw various alliances off of the Doctor's scent. The post-AGMGTW Doctor's TARDIS is underwater, and Canton needs the suit to emerge from the lake so suddenly, to have enough firepower to kill the Doctor for good, and to escape River Song, because seriously. Obviously, Older Canton is lying to the Companions at the lake. This could account for some of the time during Day of the Moon where Canton and the Doctor's whereabouts aren't readily obvious (I think?).
8d. A future version of Amy or Rory is in the suit, and kills the ganger!Doctor who knows Amy and Rory from the Flesh arc (see 4 and 5) in a plot contrived to throw various alliances off of the Doctor's scent, or new!ganger!Doctor (see 6) who retains enough of the original to sort out who might be in the suit. Works better with 4 or 5. We may be seeing the results of later extensive plots in this early two-parter.
8e. A future/past version of River (it's River, it's complicated) kills the ganger!Doctor as part of a plot contrived to to throw various alliances off of the Doctor's scent. Ganger!Doctor sacrifices himself, and is River's Doctor, thus she's "killed the greatest man she's ever known."
9. An earlier version of River is arrested and put into Stormcage for the murder of the ganger!Doctor, whether she committed it or not, because all evidence points to Melody having been in the suit when the murder was committed. Thus, River thinks/knows she killed the Doctor, but not when or why, and agrees to stay in Stormcage despite that she can break out when she likes based on the guilt.
10. Another fringe theory: The Silence were in fact not working with the Kovarian Alliance, and, instead of being the ones to kidnap Melody or Amy/put her in the suit, made efforts to keep Amy out of the hands of the Kovarian Alliance, and were the ones to break Melody out of the suit. Reasons? Who knows -- possibly they wanted to be left alone and not taken out by the Doctor. (We see how well that worked.) There's at this point NO evidence that the two were working together that I can recall.
I feel like I've left things out, but am interested in any input y'all might have ♥ Ta!
So I'm working on a speculative fic, and the speculation posts started to drive me insane as I stared at them, going cross-eyed. I work best with outlines, so I decided a compilation of the ideas wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. Anyone who wants to talk about New Who S6 and particularly That Scene in 6x01, click on the cut, if you would be so kind:
So, there are a number of possibilities with regards to the Doctor's apparent death in 6x01 and who was in the spacesuit during the lake scene. If I haven't included something in here, by all means, tell me and I'll edit in. Forgive the crazy thoroughness and formatting; I studied far too much philosophy and I'm an Aristotelian. I like outlines.
Many of these ideas are from other people anyway, so if you recognize them, I promise I'm not actively stealing, just compiling!
1. To start: Melody = River = the little girl who regenerates.
2. We take the 1103-year old Doctor at his word and presume he's spent two centuries doing heaven knows what (quite possibly running around with River based on the diary conversation?). Thus it is the actual Doctor who dies at the lake.
3. The 1103-year old Doctor is lying about his age, and is the same version of the Doctor who left Demon's Run to find Melody at the end of AGMGTW. Thus it is the actual Doctor who dies at the lake.
4a. The 1103-year old Doctor is the ganger!Doctor from the Flesh arc stabilized by the Vortex/TARDIS/whatever that technobabble was, and he's the Doctor that River spends the bulk of her adventures with (in a timeline that will be negated, as we will likely never see the stories from her point of view).
4b. This ganger!Doctor is working with the actual Doctor (albeit a future version from post-AGMGTW). More on this later.
5a. The 1103-year old Doctor is the ganger!Doctor from the Flesh arc stabilized by the Vortex/TARDIS/whatever that technobabble was, and was kidnapped by the Silence/Kovarian/an alliance between the two to bring the Doctor into a trap centered around stealing Melody and raising her as a weapon.
5b. There was no intention of killing the actual Doctor at the lake: rather, the Companions' desire to beat the Silence, who they think are to blame for the Doctor's apparent death, will allow the Silence/Kovarian/alliance to kidnap Amy, replace her with a ganger, and acquire baby Melody/River.
6a.The 1103-year old Doctor is a new ganger created by the Silence/Kovarian/an alliance between the two to bring the Doctor into a trap centered around stealing Melody and raising her as a weapon.
6b. There was no intention of killing the actual Doctor at the lake: rather, the Companions' desire to beat the Silence, who they think are to blame for the Doctor's apparent death, will allow the Silence/Kovarian/alliance to kidnap Amy, replace her with a ganger, and acquire baby Melody/River.
To the spacesuit question:
7a. The most obvious (but personally, least satisyfing): Melody/River is trapped in the suit and forced (by the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance) to murder the actual Doctor (see 2 and 3). Fulfills the Good Man murder but has its own problems.
7b. Melody/River is trapped in the suit and forced (by the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance) to murder who they think is the actual Doctor, but is in fact either the ganger!Doctor on the Doctor's side (see 4), the ganger!Doctor on the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance's side (see 5), or a new ganger!Doctor on the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance's side (see 6).
Now to the fringe theories:
8a. The post-AGMGTW Doctor is in the suit, and kills the ganger!Doctor (see 4) to get the Pandorica Alliance and similar forces off of his scent, etc.
8b. The post-AGMGTW Doctor removes Melody/River from the suit, lets her loose (regeneration scene proceeds as obvious), and puts someone else in the suit in her place without the knowledge of the Silence/Kovarian/Alliance etc. Proceeds to 8c, 8d, or 8e.
8c. On the post-AGMGTW Doctor's orders, younger!Canton is in the suit, and kills the ganger!Doctor (see 4) in a plot contrived to throw various alliances off of the Doctor's scent. The post-AGMGTW Doctor's TARDIS is underwater, and Canton needs the suit to emerge from the lake so suddenly, to have enough firepower to kill the Doctor for good, and to escape River Song, because seriously. Obviously, Older Canton is lying to the Companions at the lake. This could account for some of the time during Day of the Moon where Canton and the Doctor's whereabouts aren't readily obvious (I think?).
8d. A future version of Amy or Rory is in the suit, and kills the ganger!Doctor who knows Amy and Rory from the Flesh arc (see 4 and 5) in a plot contrived to throw various alliances off of the Doctor's scent, or new!ganger!Doctor (see 6) who retains enough of the original to sort out who might be in the suit. Works better with 4 or 5. We may be seeing the results of later extensive plots in this early two-parter.
8e. A future/past version of River (it's River, it's complicated) kills the ganger!Doctor as part of a plot contrived to to throw various alliances off of the Doctor's scent. Ganger!Doctor sacrifices himself, and is River's Doctor, thus she's "killed the greatest man she's ever known."
9. An earlier version of River is arrested and put into Stormcage for the murder of the ganger!Doctor, whether she committed it or not, because all evidence points to Melody having been in the suit when the murder was committed. Thus, River thinks/knows she killed the Doctor, but not when or why, and agrees to stay in Stormcage despite that she can break out when she likes based on the guilt.
10. Another fringe theory: The Silence were in fact not working with the Kovarian Alliance, and, instead of being the ones to kidnap Melody or Amy/put her in the suit, made efforts to keep Amy out of the hands of the Kovarian Alliance, and were the ones to break Melody out of the suit. Reasons? Who knows -- possibly they wanted to be left alone and not taken out by the Doctor. (We see how well that worked.) There's at this point NO evidence that the two were working together that I can recall.
I feel like I've left things out, but am interested in any input y'all might have ♥ Ta!