A Conversation for Doctor Who - The Television Phenomenon

Well. actually . . .

Post 1

TARDIS_hitchhiker

I would just like to clarify a couple of points stated in the start of this article.

1) Although the Doctors' name actually isn't "Doctor Who" and he does sometimes use the pseudonym "John Smith" (though only in the third Doctor series as he's stuck on earth) throughout the series lifespan he has consistantly maintained that no-one can pronounce his actual name. This has been demonstrated in both the TV series (see seventh and eigth Doctors) and in the novels (see The 'Eleventh Tiger' and 'Option Lock' and refer to the lengthy names of his house family in the novel 'Lungbarrow'). It is said and often collectivly believed that his true name will be revealed on his deathbed at the end of his thirteenth life.

2)Although there is a remote chance that the line suggesting that the Doctor is half-human in the TV movie was a joke, this notion is supported by the legend described in the novel 'Lungbarrow' (a seventh Doctor story) which was written before the TV movie. In the novel, one of the Doctor's family describes the process of creation (of Time Lords) on Gallifrey and thus the legend that seems to apply to the Doctor himself. Namely, that every Time Lord is 'woven' genetically from the family house Loom and that the Doctor defys this process as he has a belly button (the reason why the family refer to him as Snail). The Legend associated with the Looming states that before the Time of Rassillon there was a fugitive who was a hybrid of Time Lord and some other species unkonwn and who didn't accept the laws placed by the Time Lords concerning non-interferance with history, and he jumped forwards in time, thus getting genetically Loomed into the nearest Gallifreyian House. Therefore, there is a possibility that the Doctors' other parent from this process was human, accounting for his hybrid biology.

3)In "The Brain of Morbius" the other faces which appear when the Doctor is telepathically battling Morbius are a combination of his past regenerations and Morbius' past regenerations. Thus, this doesn't support the idea that the Doctor has undergone the proceedure for extra regenerations. Anyway, he's only a very young Doctor, an idea that is reinforced once you analyse his development over the life of the series, including that of date.


Well. actually . . .

Post 2

Smij - Formerly Jimster

All sound theories, but for the purpose of this entry we were only looking at the facts as given in the TV series. The Second Doctor was the first to use the pseudonym 'John Smith' (in 'The Wheel in Space'), though the TV Movie had him down as 'John Smith' instead of the more common 'John Doe' name given to unidentified bodies, while the novel Exodus has the Seventh Doctor using the name 'Johann Schmidt'.

However, it was never actually stated that the Doctor's name is unpronouncable in a TV episode; the first time this excuse was used was by Douglas Adams when he answered fan's letters (writing as the Doctor) asking about his real name. Around the same time, Doctor Who Weekly picked up on the idea and had 'the Doctor' writing his letters to the kids each week, and at one point he used the same explanation. But sticking strictly to the TV episodes, the nearest we get to this is the first Doctor saying 'Doctor Who? What is he talking about?' in the second episode, and much later, the Seventh Doctor refusing to answer Ace's questions in 'Silver Nemesis'.

As for the Morbius thing, I would say that most fans accept that the other faces on the screen were those of Morbius, but it was the intention of the production team at the time that those faces were unseen previous incarnations of the Doctor, which a few fans have decided to take on board. It's this that I believe Marc Platt was tapping into with his legend of 'The Other' in Lungbarrow.


Well. actually . . .

Post 3

Kerr_Avon - hunting stray apostrophes and gutting poorly parsed sentences

Marc Platt started writing Lungbarrow before the TVM, indeed it was originally pitched for the TV Series, but it wasn't finished until long after the TVM aired.

smiley - ale


Well. actually . . .

Post 4

TARDIS_hitchhiker

I understand that the article was only really concerned with what happened in the television series but in my view, both the TV series and the books are equally important in the Doctor's story as without them the Doctor would have had an extremely long holiday before the series was resurrected.
Also the books reflect what was happening to the Doctor between episodes in the TV series (and yes, I do know that they were only starting to be written a little after the seventh Doctor and a little before the eigth).


Well. actually . . .

Post 5

TARDIS_hitchhiker

I understand that the article was only really concerned with what happened in the television series but in my view, both the TV series and the books are equally important in the Doctor's story as without them the Doctor would have had an extremely long holiday before the series was resurrected.
Also the books reflect what was happening to the Doctor between episodes in the TV series (and yes, I do know that they were only starting to be written a little after the seventh Doctor and a little before the eigth).
Thanks for letting me know that Lungbarrow was being written before the TV movie, but doesn't this sort of validate what I was trying to say anyway?


Well. actually . . .

Post 6

Smij - Formerly Jimster

That's not what was said though. The original script of Lungbarrow was submitted to the TV producer but was eventually rewritten as Ghostlight, but the book wasn't published until well after the TV movie aired.

We don't have an entry on the Doctor Who book range though - fancy making a start on it? I'd love to see one on that subject.


Well. actually . . .

Post 7

TARDIS_hitchhiker

Thanks. Great idea. I might just start that. Don't know how good that will be though. smiley - smiley


Well. actually . . .

Post 8

klaire_kat

maybe the doctor's name in gallifreyan begins with the syllables dok-ter and then something unpronouncable, upon arrival on earth he tells someone his name and they reply 'doctor _WHO_???'smiley - biggrin


Well. actually . . .

Post 9

wonko the sane

i'd just like to point out that in a 4th doctor story The Armageddon Factor, the doctor meets someone who he went to the academy with. Drax (the guy from the academy) calls him Phoeta Sigma (sp?). He may have been mistaking him for someone else though. the doctor does remember him eventually.smiley - biggrin


Well. actually . . .

Post 10

Kerr_Avon - hunting stray apostrophes and gutting poorly parsed sentences

It's 'Theta Sigma', which is supposedly his nickname from when he was at the Academy. The seventh Doctor mentions it again in The Happiness Patrol.

smiley - ale


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