Return of the Zygon

Steven Moffat has come out to explain his reasoning to bring back the Zygons in the 50th anniversary special.

Moffat told Radio Times:

“Every year since I took over [Doctor Who] I’ve been trying to get the Zygons in and then I thought ‘Well, it’s the 50th…’

The Zygons are beautifully designed monsters, they are so wonderful… We barely changed the design at all because it was so good.”

He also added:

“Obviously the Daleks had to be there, the Daleks had to come to the party because they’re really scary and are part of the iconography of Doctor Who – possibly the central part – so we had to have them.

”And in a way it was fun to bring back Doctor Who’s biggest monster success ever, the Daleks, and then go to maybe the smallest monster success [the Zygons] – they were only in it once but everyone remembers them – great monsters, great outfits… and they have these nice whispery voices…”

A Theory on The Doctor’s Greatest Secret

As the 50th anniversary draws clower there have been many theories concerning the overall story. One of the biggest mysteries yet to be revealed is what exactly did John Hurt’s Doctor do that was so horrible that he lost his title of “The Doctor”. Well, lets look at a few hints from previous episodes and see what we can come up with.

In the episode The Beast Below, the 11th Doctor mentions that he would have to change his name after killing the star whale because he would no longer be a Doctor. So it’s probaby safe to assume that death was involved (genocide?). In the episode The Doctor’s Wife, the Doctor admits he was responsible for the destruction of the Time Lords. One possible theory is that The Doctor did in fact kill all of the Time Lords but at a specific point in time. The time was (maybe) after the end of the largest Time Lord victory during the war at The Gates of Elysium.

Here’s the theory: after the battle at The Gates of Elysium, Davros had fallen, the Daleks were driven off Gallifrey by the Time Lords, and they were all but victorious. However, this victory wasn’t enough for the now power hungry Time Lords. They wanted to erase every last Dalek out of existence. A new offensive was led by the Time Lords and a second Great Time War began. Knowing the Time Lords had to be stopped, the Doctor took it upon himself to end this Second Time War before it started. He tells the Time Lords that he is finished fighting and walks away from the war effort. He leaves the Time War and the Time Lords to start building “The Moment”

The Doctor returns some time later and uses “The Moment” to destroy all of the Time Lords (much like the Immortality Gate in ‘The End of Time’) and converts all of them into regeneration energy which is absorbed by The Doctor (John Hurt) giving him billions of regeneration opportunities. Then using the power of all the Time Lords, the Doctor “time locks” the events of the first Time War so that the war mongering will cease.

I believe that the crimes of John Hurt’s Doctor was the desctruction of a billion Time Lord lives. This does away with his regeneration limit and also explains why there aren’t any Time Lords left after the Time War except those left locked during war time. Its possible he put them in an infinite loop of fighting the same battles with the same outcomes, always ending on the day of their demise and beginning again on the day the Daleks first invaded. This is after all just a theory…

The 10 Most Wanted Missing Episodes of Classic Doctor Who

According to Doctor Who TV:

Earlier in the week Doctor Who TV asked you to vote on the missing episodes you most wanted to see. Ahead of the impending announcement we can now present the results.

Unsurprisingly, the Dalek stories reigned supreme claiming the top three positions. Of the three, The Power of the Daleks comfortably took the top spot to become your most wanted.

1. The Power of the Daleks (13.97%)
2. The Daleks’ Master Plan (10.6%)
3. The Evil of the Daleks (10.4%)
4. The Tenth Planet (9.59%)
5. The Web of Fear (7.48%)
6. Marco Polo (5.74%)
7. The Abominable Snowmen (5.43%)
8. The Celestial Toymaker (4.62%)
9. The Ice Warriors (4.53%)
10. Fury from the Deep (3.52%)

Whovians can create their own Daleks at museum exhibit

The National Media Museum is going to be invaded by Doctor Who fans. To celebrate the 50th anniversary, the museum is opening up its doors for Doctor Who Family Fun.

The exhibition will be a host of activities for Whovians of all ages. Visitors will be able to create a light-up TARDIS, a moving Dalek, or make their own Doctor Who monster to take home with them. The exhibit will also feature a behind-the-scenes film showing how Doctor Who is made.

The episode ‘Nightmare in Silver’, featuring Matt Smith taking on the Cybermen, will also be shown for visitors.

The whole family will be able to participate in a Doctor Who trivia while the children are making their own monsters.

The museum’s learning program coordinator Elaine Richmond said: “We hope families will join us this half term to help keep the Museum from the clutches of the dreaded Daleks. We’re very excited about this event and promise a lot of Doctor Who-themed fun and activities in anticipation of the 50th anniversary episode next month.”

The Doctor Who Family Fun takes place at the National Media Museum, Bradford from October 26 to November 3.

Blink and Seek by Patrickballesteros [DeviantArt]

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Doctor Who: A Guide To The Ninth Doctor

When we are introduced to the Ninth Doctor, he is once again seen as a man of mystery. The last time we saw him he was going against The Master, but we don’t know anything about the Time War between the Daleks and Time Lords. It is also unknown exactly when his regeneration between the Eighth and Ninth Doctor occured. Recently, there has been some speculation as to whether there was another Doctor in between eight and nine that was doing stuff that subsequent Doctors were too appalled to discuss. A key aspect of the Ninth Doctor’s character is that he has experienced a lot and lost very much and as a result he carries a heavy burden on his shoulders. He starts off dazzled and defeated by war, and its not until he meets his compantion Rose Tyler that he begins to come out of his shell.

The ninth Doctor is no longer the lovable gadabout space traveler with a lavish fashion sense, he’s a veteran of war. The multicolor shirts, sparkling eyes and frock coats have all been replaced with a scuffed leather coat and a hard stare, with a ton of nervous energy. He is no longer on the run from the stifling self-regard of Gallifrey’s high society, he is just on the run, because he has nowhere else to go. So with a backstory like this, it was a masterstroke to cast Christopher Eccleston as the first Doctor in the reboot of the series.

Had the Doctor been the charming yet eccentric egghead from the home counties, the harsh reality of his time at war would have much more difficult to bring across to audiences. The Ninth Doctor has the least gentlemanly manner of all of his incarnations, because he’s been a soldier in a horrible conflict and was forced to end it by destroying everyone that was involved.

“It might be theatrical shorthand, but by giving the Doctor an accent rooted in the industrial heartland of the British Isles, Russell T Davies takes him out of officer class and puts him amid the rank and file of serving Time Lords, as if the Time War was so extreme it made even this eternally foppish flibbertigibbet look at himself in the mirror with such venom he had to become a hard-bitten working man just to get by.” (Source: BBC) Rose points this out when she asks, “if you are an alien, how come you sound like you’re from the north?” to which Nine replies “lots of planets have a north,” with a slightly beaten tone, as if called out.

This all comes out during the confrontation in the story, “Dalek,” a scene in which fear, anger, horror and glee are expressed, only to be replaced with sense of loathing for himself, the Daleks and hatred.

We have not seen this side of the Doctor until now. And at certain times he does not seem entirely sure about himself either. There are moments during this exchange when you can almost see him thinking “is this what I do now? That doesn’t seem right.”

Luckily, as usual, the Doctor finds a new companion that slowly helps to resets his spirit and level his mind. It’s nonsense to consider Nine without Rose, who shows him how to regain his sense of blance and warmth.  In return, she gets to play with time (she get to meet her dead dad as well as reunite him with her mum), and destroy an entire race of Daleks. Their relationship is very symbiotic. So it’s fitting that this is the Ninth Doctor’s final act.

He takes his view of the universe (in the form of the time vortex) out of Rose’s mind, and somehow finally heals the embittered part of him. In a character arc for the ninth Doctor, all he has left to do now is let himself die, so that he can be regenerate into a significantly less traumatised and more posh Tenth Doctor.

A fantastic outcome all round.

And if you want more on the Ninth Doctor, Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited – The Ninth Doctor is on BBC AMERICA on Sunday September 29 at 8/7c.