Truly an amazing, emotional, inspiring episode. ❤️

Unlike Born Again (2005) and Time Crash (2007), it's completely frustrating that the 2023 Children in Need minisode Destination: Skaro (plus its Unleashed episode) still hasn't been released on the 60th Anniversary Specials DVD/Blu-ray/Steelbook sets. Here's a list of reasons why Destination: Skaro needs the official physical media treatment:

• The minisode is only available on YouTube (via Doctor Who, BBC and CiN channels)
• The minisode and its Unleashed episode are no longer available on BBC iPlayer (the latter can be watched on YouTube)
• The PDF script is available on the BBC Writers website
• The minisode has been officially novelised) by Steve Cole, and later reprinted in an anthology

Putting the Davros controversy aside, it's very important that we try and find ways to get the minisode physically released, as it originally aired on BBC One during the 2023 telethon. Same too for the Unleashed episode, we shouldn't let them become lost media.

Genuinely why am I seeing so much Doctor Who AI slop channels recently? Why are there so many people in this fanbase that has started using AI all of a sudden?

Honestly not quite what I expected. No Doctor and the only thing inside was a toilet? Very disappointing

A selection of images i took at Whooverville 17 in Derby last weekend.

I'm rewatching Matt Smith's Doctor and it's honestly great, it was great to be reminded of an era where Doctor who still had substance. Anyway, I'm really noticing how badly Rory is treated in the show, mainly by Amy. He's constantly caught in-between the Doctor and his so-called fiance. She's constantly flirting with him and making Rory play second fiddle to the Doctor. And yes, I'm aware that she improves as the show goes on but the instances in which Rory is left feeling hurt and betrayed happens more often than he deserves. It's frustrating to see, Rory; the absolute goat that he is, develops into an amazing character. The last centurion, waiting thousands of years outside the pandorica for her and there are still instances where she's still on the fence for some reason. Immediately after rebooting the universe, at their wedding; Amy sees the doctor and says something along the lines of "you may kiss the bride". I don't know, whenever a scene like that happens; and it happens often, it's just so heavy and unfortunate for Rory. I really like the power couple they became at the end, I just really wish Rory didn't have to suffer as much as he did.

I showed my husband “Blink” and he became a fan. What episode did you show your person? OR, what episode WOULD you show them if you could have one shot at it?

I’m an American in London this week, and as a fairly big but somewhat recent Whovian, I initially thought it was absolutely necessary to visit The Who Shop. But after being here for a few days and seeing just how massive the city is, I’m starting to get cold feet.

We’re staying in Chelsea, so getting to the store will take some effort. That’s not a problem if the experience is worth it. I’d also want to see the museum which is reservation-only and a 30-minute experience.

There’s hardly any evidence of Doctor Who even existing in London besides the old Police Box by Earl’s Court station. This seems to be the biggest and best place to indulge in my hobby despite the major detour.

I know this isn’t the usual topic for this sub. If anyone who’s visited can give me an honest opinion, it’d be so appreciated.

I’m visiting London and Oxford next week. Just wondering if I should go out of my way to see The Who Shop. Is their museum worth the £5 entry fee?

I had a post in the super powers subreddit, where you could pick you own power. I was going the add the doctors regeneration, but got too tired now that I’m think about it tho. Regeneration is terrifying, everything that makes you yourself is pretty much gonna be gone. Like it’s you, but it’s not you. The person has every about you other then your face and body, your memories are still there but who’s the say the new guy or girl will have the same attachment to them as you do? Who’s to say they’ll maintain those relationships at all in favor of making new ones. They will act completely differently form how you are and who’s to even say how you acted was how you were originally pre regeneration? It actually terrifying when you look at it like that.

My partner's been watching Doctor Who for the first time and they mentioned how perfect Stupid Song is for these two so I had to make my first edit for them to watch after finishing the Angels Take Manhattan. Please let me know what you think!

https://www.tiktok.com/@velcopenguin/video/7682869609728445727?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

There’s a clip, where River explains to Rory and Amy, how she got her name. During the clip she explains that there is no pond in the forest, only a river.

Are The People of the Forest ever mentioned again in any media from the expanded Who verse?

I love all the wonderful behind the scenes stuff in and around old school British Scifi. And Dr Who stands triumphant on the top of that pile. It was a great video.

so just finished re-watching this episode.

and at the end <!when Yas is sitting on the couch with her Grandma. I feel very wtf your not gonna tell her about your time-travel adventure after that. I suppose her gran saying let me tell you about the broken watch could imply that she remembers them. !> what do you think?

Season 17, Episode 3

The Creature from the Pit(4 parts)

-Written by David Fisher

-Directed by Christopher Barry

-Air Dates: October 27th-November 17th, 1979

-Runtime: 97 minutes

Or as I like to call it...

The one with the phallic blob monster

We Begin!!! On Chloris, where Lady Adrasta is having her guards throw a man into the titular pit as punishment. Elsewhere the TARDIS is flying about as Romana is rummaging through The Doctor's variety of things in which she finds an MK3 Emergency transceiver which The Doctor had removed to stop getting missions from the Time Lords. She decides to reattach the device to the TARDIS console at which point the TARDIS immediately picks up a distress call from the planet Chloris. They decide to head over and investigate, not finding anyone when they land, just the pieces of a giant egg, with The Doctor quickly realizing the transmission is coming from the egg. While he's investigating further he's set upon by Wolfweeds who attack him until the Adrata's men arrive who at first say they must be put to death for trespassing, though the Adrata's Vizsier decides to just have them arrested for the time being instead after an interaction with Romana. As they're being taken to Lady Adrata, they get ambushed as a bunch of metal thieves come in and try to steal their metal, which is an incredibly valuable commodity on Chloris due to its lack of it. Romana gets taken in the ambush as The Doctor is brought to Ladry Adrasta who is interested in learning about the egg itself and what the travellers know about it. Though Romana quickly manages to free herself with the help of K9, the danger isn't over for the TARDIS crew yet, as their dealing with the whims of the tyrannical Lady Adrata and if they get on the wrong side of her, they might just have to face the terror of the creature from the pit(eyyy).

Episode Proper

Well that was a fast end to good episodes, real nosedive in quality this is from City of Death. The Creature from the Pit, not an awful episode, but not really that good of one either, it’s an alright watch but definitely one of the more forgettable episodes I’ve come across so far on my watch through of the Tom Baker era. This episode just failed to really grab me all that much, and though I did have fun with some parts of the episode, it was not really one that really captured my imagination or anything like that, which coupled with the flaws that the episode does have, makes it one I wasn’t really all that thrilled by coming out of it. The whole episode sort of washed over me and just didn’t leave much of an impact on me, which makes sense as out of all of The 4th Doctor stories there are, this is one of the ones I’ve heard the least about; now I can see why.

The episode premise itself is pretty simple and not really the most engaging when put simply, basically just being about a tyrannical ruler who holds a monopoly on the planet’s most precious commodity and keeps a monster held in a pit that she uses to execute people, though of course there is more going on than meets the eye. That idea isn’t the most gripping out of the ones we’ve had beforehand like two intelligent races locked in a logical stalemate or an alien trying to steal the Mona Lisa, in comparison it didn’t really grab me as those other two. Not to say it’s a bad story idea of anything, it just wasn’t one that really got me all that invested in what was going on in this story; of course there are interesting things that can be done with the concept as long as it develops in a cool and interesting way from there, which the episode does kind of do.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for really talking about this episode, I feel nothing that strong for it, not love but I don’t particularly dislike it either, there was some stuff I did genuinely enjoy about the episode. The whole idea of a metal shortage on a planet that has advanced to a sort of Middle Ages is pretty interesting and plays well with different planets materials, making it so certain things that are common on Earth become incredibly rare on other worlds with different make up. It’s utilized well with the villain, Lady Adrasta, who holds the monopoly on metal and uses that to hold great power and influence over the rest of the people, informing her motivation over the entire episode as she attempts to maintain this monopoly over all those who would try and infringe on it.

I liked how the episode utilized the whole metal shortage aspect of it, with there also being a bunch of metal bandits who steal the metal from roaming guards in order to try and pilfer whatever they can to make a fortune, eventually teaming up with one of Lady Adrasta’s people to try and pilfer a metal shortage for themselves. The episode does well to touch on themes of greed and corruption and how people will often hurt their own people and even the future prospects of their society just to maintain power and control; something which is still frighteningly relevant to today. This is especially well done with the reveal of the trade deal and the attempts by two different parties to stop it and keep the monopoly on metal before it becomes worthless, with that scene of K9 destroying the precious metal of the bandits being pretty impactful as otherwise they were willing to risk the destruction of their world for this power and wealth; definitely some of the most effective stuff in this episode which I did really enjoy.

The mystery of the egg was also pretty good, with it giving some nice intrigue which I enjoyed as there are questions about the origins of the egg and what its purpose was for, especially as The Doctor and Romana picked up a strange signal from it that adds to that mystery of just what is going on with it. The desire of Lady Adrasta to know the secret also helped the mystery, especially when she changed her tune to wanting to destroy the creature, making it clear there is a connection between them. I liked the scenes in the pit dealing with the creature with it doing well to add to the episode’s intrigue, with some good tense moments dealing with the titular creature and trying to figure out just what its deal actually is as we begin to learn more about which I found pretty interesting.

I really loved the reveal of what the creature from the pit(eyyy) actually is and its connection with all the other pieces that this episode has built up, like the strange piece of metal in Lady Adrasta’s office, the pieces of egg, and the metal shortage. It makes for a solid finale as the truth of the situation is laid bare in an excellent confrontation scene between everyone in the story up to this point where we learn who the creature really is, a delegate named Erato who had been imprisoned by Lady Adratsa because the trading agreement he proposed would threaten her monopoly and control over the rest of the populace, which is why she desperately wanted to kill him before the truth got out. This portion of the story was so good and served to tie up a lot of the plot threads in a cool and satisfying way which I really enjoyed.

For some reason though the episode still keeps going after this really good ending point though. Lady Adratsa literally died and Erato is freed so it really feels like the episode is over, but somehow it still keeps going for like 13 minutes on from that point, introducing a second climax involving Erato’s species having launched a destructive star to blow up the planet in retaliation for the capture and presumed death of Erato, which leads to a whole bunch of running to different places and technobabble to stop the star that can’t help but feel so incredibly tacked on. While there were some good scenes in this last portion of the story, the one with K9 destroying the metal was excellent, it can’t help but feel so unnecessary and like it was just included to drag part 4 out into a full runtime instead of leaving half a part down. It was tedious and it very much did help in dragging this episode down for me, as I was left waiting for it to end; they really should’ve stopped while they were ahead. 

Pacing, Sets, and Special Effects

The pacing for this episode was fairly good, it flowed well enough even if it was a bit slow at parts, doing a decent job until the ending portion. By that point the pacing takes a real downturn and makes this episode feel like a slog with a whole second climax that feels unnecessary and unearned, feeling like it’s just there to fill up space so the episode can make it to the necessary runtime. It feels like the same problem at the end of The Power of Kroll, though the pacing here was much better than it was there, even if this second climax does drag the episode out more than the former. I sincerely believe that this could’ve and should’ve been a 3 parter, trim a couple of the slow moments and cut out a bit of filler and you could easily cut this episode down one part into a nice and much better 3 parter. The pacing for the entire episode isn’t the worst, just a little slow which leads to the major problem of the ending portion dragging it on for time; it’s not great.

The sets for this episode were pretty good, I liked the jungle location for the outside shots with that stuff looking nice, with the indoor shots of the palace and the underground caves looking fairly good as well. The special effects for this episode were your usual fare of cheap effects, nothing much of note to them, though I did like the little brussel sprout looking creatures that Lady Adratsa commands. The most infamous special effect in this episode is of course, the titular Creature from the pit, which looks pretty bad. The design lives up to its reputation of being incredibly phallic looking, with the tentacle-like thing of Erato being the worst offender, don’t even get me started when The Doctor puts his mouth on the damn thing; it does give this episode a hilarious so bad it’s good quality which I liked, helped to liven things up. The rest of Erato looks pretty bad, the size is impressive but at the end of the day Erato looks like a deflated green balloon with lights on it more than anything; definitely one of the silliest costumes we’ve seen so far.  

Erato

Erato was a fun creature for this episode, despite his incredibly shitty and phallic looking design, which admittedly made him a lot funnier. The intrigue surrounding Erato was pretty neat with it being interesting seeing us learn more about the creature that dwells in the pit, especially with each part we do learn about it answering some questions while raising other, as we learn the creature moving about is only part of a much larger creature that doesn’t really seem to be that hostile or even acknowledge them all that much. I loved how alien of a creature Erato is, being this ginormous blob that feels so unlike a lot of creatures that came before, with the way he can separate chunks of himself to move around or weave cocoon space ships and barriers pretty easily being incredibly interesting to me, with it being nice that they were having fun with what this really alien creature can do.

I really liked how Erato can communicate, having the device that allows it to essentially use other people’s voices in order to talk for them, depending on whoever is touching the device, since these beings normally lack the ability for vocal communication due to lack of those structures to do so. This means Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, and the Lady Adrastas actress Mya Francis get in on the fray of each individually voicing Erato during the scenes in which he needs to talk. I liked the reveal with him not being a harmful creature actually being pretty intelligent being, a Tythonian, who genuinely wanted to help both his people and the people of Chloris by proposing the trade agreement that would benefit both as their planet has a lot of metal and Chloris has a lot of chlorophyll which is what they seek, with it actually being Lady Adrasta's selfishness that caused him to be imprisoned; which he does still hold a bit of a grudge against even after being free before The Doctor assures him the rest of the people aren’t like her. Erato was a solid monster for this episode with a neat twist and fun alien feel which I really liked.

Lady Adrasta

Lady Adrasta was an excellent villain for this episode, being a good bit of fun as she tries to maintain her control over her people and the monopoly on the metal supply. Lady Adrasta is a character who could’ve easily been forgettable to me but her actress, Mya Francis, does such a good job in the part that I couldn’t help but enjoy her character as a delightfully wicked villain who wants to keep all the power and control to herself and doesn’t care what she has to do to get it. She is a good threat and powerful figure, owning the monopoly of all metal which she uses to rule with an iron(heh) first and makes sure people won’t act out of line with her rule, throwing whoever does into the pit. I like the intrigue with Lady Adrasta as it’s quick to see something is up with her, from her desperation to figure out what the egg exactly is, to her immediate switch to trying to destroy the creature after learning K9 has the capability to do so, it makes her incredibly suspicious.

It’s clear she does know a lot more than she cares to let on with her dropping some slips of the tongue by accident that confirm that she has information on the creature she honestly shouldn’t know, which builds up well to the reveal that the being was diplomat sent to make a trade agreement who she locked up to maintain her monopoly on metal, not wanting it it be threatened by the prospect of trade. It does such a great job at showing how she would do anything to keep her rule, even if it means holding her people back from something that would genuinely be beneficial to them just because it allows her to maintain power and status; something that is very much not unheard of even in the modern day. The whole confrontation with her was great, seeing her fairly cool demeanor give way as she screams and panics to not let the truth be let out before being forced to let Erato use her voice and telling the honest truth, who then kills her in revenge for her horrid treatment of him for several years; a satisfying end to her. Mya Francis did an excellent job as Lady Adrasta being a lot of fun and bringing some real life into this character who would otherwise feel dull I think, she did really well in the role.

Supporting Cast

The rest of the supporting cast for this episode was fairly good, fulfilling their roles well even if they're not the most memorable of characters. I liked the metal bandits, they were good fun, with some funny banter that helped to liven up the story, especially with the instance of the rest to do things democratically much to the annoyance of the one who clearly thinks of himself as their leader. I also enjoyed the character of Organon, an astrologist who is clearly a phony that was thrown in the pit and found by The Doctor when he goes down there, with him being a lot of fun, getting some good banter with Tom Baker as the two traverse the pit. He had some funny lines which I enjoyed, like when Lady Adrasta sees him and asks why he isn’t dead to which he replies he did certainly try to die. Organon is played pretty well by Geofferey Bayldon who did well to bring the humor to the part which I enjoyed.

The Doctor

The Doctor was good here, with some fun moments here and there, though really nothing to write home about. I do really like the opening of this story with The Doctor dealing with Romana who's going through a bunch of his old things and wondering what he's doing with all the junk. It's pretty funny to see how many random things The Doctor has collected and hoarded over his travels, especially when he dismisses the distress signal receiver which he unplugged to stop getting missions from the Time Lords which feels very much in character for this incarnation. I enjoyed the sequence in part 1 where they're cornered by Lady Adrasta's men, with us getting to see Tom Baker running around in a stock and beating up some men while in the middle of an ambush. I did like when he meets up with Lady Adratra with it being funny seeing him surprised at the fact that the villain actually respects and compliments him, acting offended at first but then realizing what she's saying. This attempt at respect is of course to try and get him to give her some information she wants, which The Doctor doesn't and leads to a really funny cliffhanger of The Doctor willingly jumping inside the pit; which he also in a funny line admitted was an unoriginal name for it.

There isn't too much in the rest of the story that's too memorable for me with The Doctor outside of the opening part, and that's probably due to the fact I watched it twice after my first attempt to watch the story was interrupted by personal reasons, though there are a few moments I did enjoy. I found the moment really amusing following the cliffhanger with him hanging on and trying to pull out a book as he puts in a pike to make sure he's doing it right before pulling out another book to help him read the first one since it was in Tibetan; good comedy scene. I already mentioned I liked Organon with his interactions with The Doctor being pretty good and welcome given how little of note the wandering around the titular pit actually is. I do enjoy seeing The Doctor trying to figure out more about the titular creature and communicate with it, if not just because it leads to that really funny moment of The Doctor putting his mouth on the creature's thing. Finally there's the confrontation scene with Lady Adrasta and giving the creature their voice disk back was excellent, having some good fun action and solid lines from The 4th Doctor as he lays into her and the plot she's been covering up; though it's the last good bit before the episode goes into the slog like I mentioned. Tom Baker was pretty good in this story, giving a fun performance and doing well getting more serious during that confrontation sequence, with his acting once more helping to bring life into a bit of a slow story.

K9

K9 is actually in this story for a change after barely being in the last two, though even here he is rather left to the backburner for a fair bit of the story, being on low power. The most notable thing about K9 in this story, and probably this story in general, is the fact that it's the first story sporting K9's new voice David Brierley, who would voice K9 for the rest of the season. I'm not too familiar with the BTS to understand why they couldn't get John Leeson this season, but it was certainly rather a shock hearing the different voice and I don't really like it. No disrespect to Brierley who does a good job in the role but Leeson's voice was just perfect for K9 and anyone would struggle to match it in any way as his voice really is just what you'd think of when you think K9, fitting the design and character of the tin dog so well. I also personally don't like how human his take on K9's voice is compared to Leeson's, with it feeling much less like a machine or animal and feeling a bit too pompous for K9, if that's possible. It just doesn't match up with K9 for me and feels like it should be to a different character; again Brierley isn't bad, he actually does a good job, but I just can't help but compare to the original, and in my opinion more fitting voice of K9.

To speak on his actual part in the story itself, K9 is also just good, getting some decent bits and participation in the story, primarily in the form of laser blasts. I do find it funny seeing K9 get surrounded by the balls of weeds and overwhelmed, being wrapped in webbing; a rather amusing sight for sure. I also did like the detail, similarly to The Armageddon Factor of K9 almost being taken apart for scraps, though here saved by Romana saying he information about the egg is in his data banks and can't be damaged. K9 spends a fair bit of this story unable to move and on low power, not having much energy for blasts after the attack, though even then he gets some decent snark like assuring Lady Adrasta that he's not made of tin. It is fun seeing K9 get these interactions one on one with the villain and having this agency here that he really didn't in the last two stores, even getting some fun moment like ordering the guards where to go as they're moving him around or him saying the shell is unbreakable followed by The Doctor immediately breaking through it with ease; that and some fun action for the final confrontation were some good bits from K9. Though it'll take a bit for me to get used to the new voice, David Brierley still does a good job as K9 here, playing the tin dog quite well; the puppeteers for him are good here, especially given he stays still for most of this story.

Romana

Romana is alright here, having some decent snark but otherwise feeling very underutilized here. I liked the start of this story with Romana going through The Doctor's things and criticizing the amount of stuff he's piled up over the years unorganized, with the following moment of her plugging in the transmitter that's supposed to be on the TARDIS being pretty amusing and nice show of the different ways the two Time Lords go about things. After getting a brief bit of investigating with The Doctor, she spends a good portion of this story captured, first by the bandits and then by Lady Adrasta for the rest of the episode. Still I do like how she doesn't remain still while she is captured and is fairly able to stand on her own, using the dog whistle to call K9 to help her escape or being able to stop K9 from being dismantled and trying to find ways out of her situation.

I really enjoyed Romana's snark in this story, with it helping to keep her fun even if she isn't given much to do, with her getting some good lines in here such as introducing herself as the commander and The Doctor as her subordinate for a change. Still there remains the main issue I have with Romana here, where she feels too reliant on K9 here, doesn't really feel she gets much of her own thing to do here after the opening. Romana's only role here feels like just to tell K9 to do certain things and feels unable to do much without him here. It feels like we went right back to Destiny in how little impact there actually is for her in this story, you could really take her out and have K9 fill in the rest and it doesn't feel like much would change honestly. Lalla Ward still does a good job here as Romana, playing her snark quite well, and definitely tries her best to breathe some more life into what is otherwise a rather lackluster appearance for her character

Closing Thoughts/TLDR

As a whole this was such a disappointing dive after the phenomenal City of Death, with The Creature from the Pit, while not being the worst episode, only being an alright watch at best and a rather forgettable story at that. The actual story proper is decent but nothing too notable that grabbed me either, I like the metal shortage aspect of the plot as well as mystery of the egg, with both leading to a solid confrontation at the end, but still doesn't help that a good part of the plot just isn't memorable and just sort of washed over me. The pacing is alright but slow for most of the story before having The Power of Kroll problem but even worse this time as after the good confrontation with Lady Adrasta part 4 spends like 15 minutes adding another threat just to pass out the runtime in one of the worst cases I've seen thus far in my watch through; really should've just been a 3 parter. The sets are good here, with the jungle planet looking nice, and special effects are alright to rather phallic looking with the infamous props used for Erato, the creature, looking like a phallic deflated green balloon. Erato was a fun creature for the story though, I liked the intrigue surrounding him and learning the truth behind him being trapped there and that he's not hostile with his way of communication being really novel and interesting. Lady Adrata was an excellent villain for this story being good fun as we see her attempts to maintain her power and cover her tracks; Mya Francis helps bring some life into what could've been a dull character. The rest of the supporting cast was alright, though I did quite like Organon, finding him quite fun actually. The Doctor was good here with some fun moments though still one of the weaker outings with him. K9 is back in action with some good bits even if I'm struggling a bit to accept the new voice he has; again the actor is not bad but it personally doesn't feel like K9 to me. Romana is alright, with her feeling rather underutilized here and being too tied to K9 which is a shame after a strong appearance last time. Overall this was a story I hold no strong feelings for whatsoever, outside of the tedium of an ending, the whole thing came in and after this review I'll probably forget most stuff about it; could be worse but could be a lot better.

Next time: The TARDIS crew end up finding out what it's like to get in the middle of a fenderbender between two spaceships traveling in Hyperspace. Though they try to help the situation, it becomes clear there's more at work here, as this story makes it clear that they're doing what no Doctor Who story in the show had done before, tackle the topic of drugs; get ready for a very special episode of Doctor Who, tonight at 8:00.

Final Rating: 4/10

"Well, to be fair, I did have a couple of gadgets which he probably didn't, like a teaspoon and an open mind."

-The Doctor, delivering a funny line and one that is a bit iconic for me from him, though from having heard it in Babbelcolor's every Doctor Who story video and not this story specifically

I know that technically, a lot of enemies are some form of a criminal or other, but The Doctor seems to primarily deal with alien armies, dangerous creatures, megalomaniacs, evil scientists and God-like entities, many of whom have goals of universal conquest or destruction. What if instead, there was an incredibly ruthless but enterprising individual who headed up an organisation that spanned time and space with the sole goal of profit through immoral schemes enabled by advanced technology. Say, a former Time Agent, who after the fall of the organisation, put their skills and knowledge to use build such an organisation, exploiting time travel do things like commit sending someone to the site of a future bank vault and sending them forward in time so they materialise inside it, or they run a black market based around extinct animals plucked from their time periods, or abducting people who just disappeared without explanation to be sold into forced labour in a different time or even planet.

Having someone with that sort of knowhow about the rules and loopholes of time travel and even of Timelords could be a real challenge for The Doctor, and fit into a long-form arc by having otherwise standalone stories have some involvement from an aspect of the organisation, and a diverse group of subordinates The Doctor could encounter while following the trail to the leader. Not to mention the totally different MO of a villain with a Gangster-mindset would have when trying to deal with The Doctor. How does The Doctor act when they're told to back off if they don't want one of the many, many former Companions to "have an accident"? Also the coldblooded mindset of someone trading on suffering and misery at that scale using time travel just for profit and with a coldly pragmatic view of it as being a "lesser evil" than what The Doctor usually deals with. Maybe it's a little too involved an idea, and maybe there's a classic Who villain who's done something like this that I'm unaware of, but I think it could be interesting.

In all the years, I’ve never really thought about this. I’ve just sort of always took it as it was.

But was Jack’s death and resurrection in The Parting of the Ways really something they had planned after introducing him in The Empty Child? When you really think about it, it looks like a last minute change to the script, a bit like Eccleston’s regeneration as opposed to Rose’s tragic death.

I could be wrong, but I think my instincts are right.

So, in that case, how else would it have gone? What was the alternative they were planning? Could Jack have continued on into Series 2?

I had actually heard something vaguely from an interview where RTD maybe said (I really don’t remember) that he was glad Jack wasn’t in Series 2 as he thought the Doctor’s regeneration wouldn’t have worked with Jack present as well as he wouldn’t really have cared like Rose did.

But I’m not completely sure on that.

If he had remained on, would he still have died and been resurrected? If not, how else would he have survived the Game Station as its last line of defence? Maybe resurrected but not immortal?

I would imagine in The Christmas Invasion there would have been some humorous flirting between Jack and Jackie, and he would already know Mickey from Boom Town. Maybe the whole ‘relatability’ could have been affected with Jack in that kind of council, kitchen-sink environment.

I feel New Earth would have been different. With Jack there, it wouldn’t have been a ‘first trip for a new face’ as much. But how would the rest of the series have looked? Could it have worked? And how would he have exited after all that? Well, presumably before Doomsday I’m guessing…

There likely wouldn’t have been a Torchwood.

But what does everyone think? Comment below.

MASSIVE SPOILERS ahead regarding Circuit Breaker and specifically "The Kaleidoscope" by Jo Martin.

Here's an updated timeline of the Fugitive Doctor including all of the new reveals in said book, for anyone not intending to read it but curious about the lore/backstory details. Feel free to ask for any further details.

• She's the incarnation immediately after the timeless children (aka she's the final timeless child; the first to grow up and become an adult).
• When her incarnation was 9 years old she ran away from Tecteun and the TARDIS recognises her and "steals her". The TARDIS takes her from Gallifrey to Earth, where she is taken into an orphanage in Hackney, London.
• She's adopted by Professor Civeline Palmer and her husband Earl Durrant, who name her Stella and take her back to their home in Jamaica.
• Stella Palmer grows up a relatively normal childhood/adolescence in Jamaica, though her parents realise she's got two hearts and see her releasing regeneration energy when non-lethally wounded, so they end up believing her when she says she's from another planet called Gallifrey.
• She goes on to become a Doctor in anthropology and starts time travelling again during her research for her thesis.
• At some undisclosed point in her beginning to travel in time, she's discovered by the Division and her mind is wiped, turning her into the Doctor we've seen working loyally for Division, in missions such as the Siege of Atropos (as seen on the episode "Once, Upon Time".
• Eventually she begins to doubt Division's nature. This happens several times across media, which is explained as Division wiping her memory every time she begins to doubt them. Namely, it happens in:
  • "Betrayal at the House of Sontar", when Division make her part in beginning the Rutan v. Sontaran War.
  • "The Dimension of Lost Things", when Division make her hunt down her future (fugitive) self.
  • "The Deadliest Weapon", when Division make her acquire a forbidden weapon with devastating consequences.
• Finally she ends up managing to escape in Titan Comics' "Origins" and becomes the fully-fledged Fugitive Doctor. She escapes from two different and separate bounty-hunter like figures:
  • On one hand there's Gat, the Division agent working DIRECTLY with Tecteun.
  • On the other there's Cosmogon, a Time Lord detective who is NOT a Division Agent herself, likely as a "legal" channel of searching for the Doctor.
• After a long time running from Gat and Cosmogon (as seen in the Fugitive Doctor Big Finish sets), she goes for her last resource: the Chameleon Circuit, hiding in Gloucester under the fake persona Ruth Clayton. She lives as Ruth until the Judoon incursion on Earth where she meets her future self, the Thirteenth Doctor.
• At this point, UNIT call to her for help with the mysterious materialisation of objects in the Black Archive.
  • She gets her first sonic screwdriver, which UNIT manufactures by reverse engineering bits and pieces of several sonic screwdrivers of the Doctor's that have ended up in the Black Archive throughout the years.
  • During one of the final missions she retrieves a device called a Diaspora Locus which allows her to restore her memories of having been the Timeless Child: before this she'd believed herself to be the FIRST incarnation of the Doctor, because she had zero memories of ever having regenerated or been someone else.
• She knows that one day she'll forget this life and that she's got many incarnations in her future.
• Since she is confirmed to be the incarnation directly following the timeless children, this is also a direct confirmation that the Morbius incarnations come after her).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about transforming them into a Rambo type warrior dude. They would still be the Doctor, with their intelligence and (relative) pacifism. But with new options at their disposal now thanks to a much different body.