Doctor Who: Cold War - My Crackpot Theory
Am I the only one who thought that old man was the First Doctor? Maybe it's a deliberate misdirect, however I'm all but convinced it was him.
I mean there's the similar-ish look of him, but then there's more. He found the Ice Warrior. He told them that they shouldn't thaw it out until they get back to Moscow. He takes all of the bizarre events in stride. He listens to the signal. He saves the Doctor's personal effects.
He's also marvelously light-hearted and eccentric in the midst of all this. Making cracks about the organ-grinder and the monkey, singing songs, even making light of time travel. Before I even saw the man, I heard him singing, blissfully oblivious to the launch drill, and I honestly thought, "Is that the First Doctor?"
And then there's the interaction with Clara. It just feels very Doctor-and-Companion-y. He's engaging her in conversation to take her mind off all the trouble. He assures her that it wasn't her fault that her attempt to communicate with Skaldak went badly.
He just felt way too Doctor-y to me.
So, if he is, where's the TARDIS? Where is/are his companion/s? When is this in his timeline?
This is what gets me...it's really easy to make it fit.
Scenario A) Susan's at school in 1963. The Doctor got bored and wandered off to the 80's for a bit. This is before the Chameleon Circuit was damaged, so the TARDIS could be anything and it would even have a perception filter on it.
Scenario B) Same as before, and his TARDIS did the same as the Eleventh Doctor's because the HADS were on.
Scenario C) Phonebox TARDIS. Companion(s) in the TARDIS. HADS again and the companion(s) got dragged off with it.
Accepting that, what about the Doctors recognizing each other?
Well, Eleven would definitely recognize One, but he could have any number of reasons for not drawing attention to it. One would probably at least suspect Eleven's identity, but could be euqally wary of bringing it up for an equal number of reasons. We could go into memories, but there have been other multi-Doctor adventures to explain that away. The Doctor has, at times, forgotten things after regnerating. Perhaps the memories of multi-Doctor adventures are locked away by the regeneration process. Also: Time is not always a strict progression of cause to effect in the Whoniverse.
Lest we forgot, the TARDIS hasn't always taken the Doctor where he's wanted to go, but she takes him where he needs to go.
I won't be letting go of this theory very easily. At least not until after the 50th Anniversary. Does anyone else think this theory holds water? Or do I just sound completely mad??