Doctor Who Crackpot Theories: 50th Anniversary story theory and which Doctor's could come back!

I honestly don’t know how Steven Moffat (and RTD before him) and Co. and the BBC keep ANYTHING secret before it airs. Seriously. With fans as ravenous for information as us, I’m quite surprised they keep the scripts under wraps for as long as they do. I think the best they’ve done so far in Moffat’s time was keep Jenna-Louise Coleman’s pre-Christmas special debut in ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS under wraps and that probably only succeeded because the whole thing was shot on a soundstage and people probably assumed she was shooting the Christmas Special. In his book about S4 and the Specials, A WRITER’S TALE, RTD’s emails continuously point out how insanely surprised he is that both Martha and Donna’s casting were outed as companions by the ravenous DW-rumor grapevine even before their predecessors were done their series. In the world of a show with this hardcore a fanbase (and one that is constantly growing), I imagine keeping things secret is a full time job that never really works. It must be daunting.

That said, this week it became even harder to keep things under wraps. I know what you are thinking, and yes this IS a Crackpot Theories post, and yes I WILL get to the theory in a moment, but first I’d like to round up some of the Speculations, interweb buzzing and general comments about the forthcoming 50th Anniversary of our show.

First up, David Tennant. I think it goes without saying that the majority of DW fandom WANTS, no NEEDS to see Tennant return (whether that is as Ten himself, or even the human/time lord Ten Clone that lives with Rose on Pete’s World) to the role. It’s kind of a no-brainer. Well Tennant himself has been asked multiple times and up till a few weeks ago he gave the equivalent of non-committal hand waves “If they asked me…” ect.. And this was on top of the rumour that Steven Moffat had lunch with Tennant in the late summer and dinner with Peter Davison (5th Doctor) as well. Well Tennant is now making the media rounds for his part in NATIVITY 2 and he’s been asked two more times about the 50th, but his answers have gotten a lot more interesting:

First one, when asked if he’d be part of the celebrations for the 50th Anniversary he coyly replies “I don’t think there is going to be any celebrations are there?” and smiles. This is classic evasion and I love it.



The second one (starts at 49 seconds) is more telling. When asked he briefly says “Welll…” as if to answer the question and then catches himself and says “Oh, I nearly said something I shouldn’t have.” And then goes on to give similar stock answers he has been giving up to this point.




Last on the Ten front is that late yesterday Bleeding Cool reported that they had a very “solid” source telling them that:

Yes. David Tennant will be back in time for the Doctor Who anniversary. Be prepared to be surprised…


Is it wrong that I focus on the words “in time” implying that he might even be back BEFORE the 50th. This would fit with other reports that the Anniversary will be marked by not just one episode but two or more. It would actually make decent sense to me for the 50th to be celebrated as a set of 4 or 5 eps in the fall of 2013, and that would fit with Moffat’s schedule change for the shows 7th series. On top of that the dinner with Davison is telling, making me think that he’s looking to include 5 in the specials as well. I think it was a few months back when Paul McGann (8th Doctor) was asked and gave the stock non-commital “If they asked me…” answer, but that has changed more recently to a more explained answer about not yet being asked and that speaks more of evasion to me. Lastly, Matt Smith actually told someone in an interview that “it would be great to see Tennant and Eccelstone back for the 50th” and something tells me that’s not just Matt Smith giving fanboy’s hope, it seems like he’d be in the know.


Now, prepare thyselves:

CRACKPOT THEORY time!

So. Let’s assume they want multiple Doctor’s for the 50th. Let’s take that as a given. Well, they’d need villain wouldn’t they? It can’t be the Daleks, or the Cybermen, or the Silence….too easy and overdone right? So what?

Omega

For those who don’t know about Omega, click the link and edumacate yourself.

Now, we have known since the S5 episode THE BIG BANG that the TARDIS explodes at some point in the future. It created the cracks and the Silence at least had SOMETHING to do with that. We know that this was avoided with the help of River Song. What we don’t know is who or what caused it to explode and why. Okay, so stay with me here. In THE END OF TIME, Ten stopped Rassilon and the other Time Lords from using The Master as a link to reality and coming back, essentially unlocking the Time War and all that came with it. Basically unleashing hell. Well, there was once a person who was even more powerful than Rassilon and was (for a time) considered a hero amongst their lore. Omega was the man who set Rassilon on the path to harnessing a dying star to create the power source for the TARDIS and essentially allowing Time Travel. Omega disappeared in the attempt and Rassilon went on to found the Time Lords. When Omega returned (from a parallel anti-matter universe) he was upset and thought he’d been abandoned, and tried twice to destroy the universe (in THE THREE DOCTORS, and ARC OF INFINITY). What if Omega survived the events that the Time Lords thought were his final demise. Remember that the "omega symbol" seems to be the avatar of the Clerics and Headless Monks (there were Greek omega symbols all over Demon's Run) in Series 6. What if he tried to unlock the Time War using his not inconsiderable powers and the resulting reality clash causes time and space to splinter. This splintering could cause the only Time Lord to have escaped unscathed to break into his previous incarnations as pieces. So 11 incarnations of the Doctor could exist at once, but the 11 TARDISES existing together was too much for the universe to handle and THIS is what causes the explosion. The power of 11 supernova stars but all are still the same star….paradox of universe destroying proportions. So 11 versions of the doctor have to work separately to restore time and space to it’s unsplintered existence while fighting Omega and trying to stop him. This would allow for the older actors who are still alive to account for their aging and the like (AKA in these timelines they never died or regenerated just kept on living their lives), and would account for the Doctor crossing his own timeline not causing a paradox.

In my head I can see the 50th being a really BIG event, and I just think that Omega fits the bill. You could also allow The Master to come back, and you could show bits of the Time War. You could have Smith, Tennant, Eccelstone and maybe even McGann on screen together quipping with one another…which I don’t need to explain would be GOLD!

Whatever happens, I cannot wait!

Crackpot Doctor Who Theory: 50th Anniversary Speculation

Interesting Iceberg Ink Fact:

The most consistently visited post in our blog’s yearlong history is my original DOCTOR WHO Crackpot Theories: River Song Is The TARDIS post. Without fail, most months, it tops the list in hits and holds the record for most views ever by a country mile. What’s funny about that is the theory has long ago been blown out of the water by the revelations of who River Song actually is, but the post still gets hit numerous times every month.

Why do I bring this up? Well as you can see by the post title, it’s that time again. Crackpot Theories time!

Up this time, I speculate on the nature and story that will be told in the upcoming 2013 50th Anniversary special(s). Recently Moffat stated the following in an interview about the 50th:

"Why talk in the singular? The plans are at an early stage, but we have some very clear ideas about some of the things we're doing, and I think Doctor Who fans and kids will think it's the best thing ever. We've got a load of very big plans – the mere fact that we're talking about this two years before the event should tell you how seriously we're taking it." ~Steven Moffat

The notion being that perhaps the 50^th anniversary will be spread over more than one episode. This prompted me to my theory. Now stick with me for a bit while I wax on the immediate future of DW (AKA Series 7) first.

Matt Smith’s 11^th Doctor, we now know is headed into the 7^th Series. As quoted by Dorium Maldovar in the final Series 6 episode THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG:

“On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the 11th, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a Question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered. Doctor Who?”

So this leads me to the immediate belief, that the “fall of the 11^th” could very well be the 11^th Doctor’s death and regeneration into the 12^th Doctor (implied by the fact that Matt Smith may be leaving the role after Series 7). So to me that means that perhaps, just perhaps the 50^th Anniversary special(s) will be when we actually see the prophetic events at the fields of Trenzalore.

So here we come to my crackpot theory. If there might be multiple episodes for the 50^th, and so far people have speculated that previous Doctor’s (David Tennant chief among them, and hopefully Peter Davison or even Tom Baker) will be returning in some way (like the previous many Doctor’s eps like THE FIVE DOCTORS), why not dedicate an episode to each Doctor. That way you have 4 or 5 disparate stories, each with a different Doctor in the lead that all head in the direction of the 11^th Doctor’s fall at Trenzalore. Then cap it all off with one final episode where all the stories come together and all the Doctor’s star in it at once helping one another to whatever narrative common goal or resolution.

It’s seems to be only a bit of a stretch, since the commonly held notion that multiple Doctor’s would feature in the 50^th. So jumping to the conclusion that there might be multiple-Doctor arcs to the overall story doesn’t seem so much like fanboy crackery as it does common sense to honor the franchise. Created by Steven Moffat, the ultimate DW fanboy himself.

I’d like to see this happen. Sadly, I doubt we will know ANYTHING about it until later next year when they start shooting the special(s).

What do you all think? Fanboy madness or believable prophecy?