Is the current Doctor REALLY the 11th?

[Umbran]

Haven't we already seen the final incarnation of the Dr. in the Valeyard?

The Valeyard was an aspect of the Doctor taken from somewhere between his 12th and his final incarnation, and wasn't the final one itself. The Valeyard, like the Master, was focused upon extending his own life, willing to even steal regenerations from his earlier self.

Mind you, the Valeyard was seen on Gallifrey. Presumably, the Time Lock now makes that timeline impossible, as the Doctor can no longer reach his homeworld.

 

[Sutekh]

Actually thats wrong re the Valeyard. The season long series Trial of the Timelords ( or rather the trial component) is actually set on a Space Station. Assuming it was orbiting around Gallifrey at the time (and we dont know either way on that one), it would of got locked. If it was located in deep space, maybe not.

The Valeyard was a personification of all that was 'evil' within the Doctor and was taken from between his 12th and final regeneration. So that for me dosnt make it certain that he actually is the Doctor.. However he is trying to get the Doctor's Regenerations which does to me make it seem that he is a regeneration. Robert Holmes never really dug too much deeper into this subject making any further speculation problematic at best. Im even going to go out on a limb here and state that the Valeyard will never be mentioned again in Dr Who. The current audience will have little grasp of who the Valeyard is or what his importance is to the story.

In regards to the Matrix, this has been depicted several times over the history of Dr Who. Its first appearance was in Deadly Assasin where the Doctor entered it .. here it was said to be the combined knowledge of past timelords downloaded into the Matrix. What it was in this case was a simulated reality generated by the person interfaced with it.. in this case Chancellor Goth In Arc of infinity, the Doctor is 'trapped' inside the Matrix by Omega and again later the Doctor enters the Matrix to find another simulated reality devised by the Valeyard.

The Doctor has however never downloaded the matrix.. and that probably isnt possible even with some Dr Who logic thrown in.

 

[Umbran]

Actually thats wrong re the Valeyard. The season long series Trial of the Timelords ( or rather the trial component) is actually set on a Space Station. Assuming it was orbiting around Gallifrey at the time (and we dont know either way on that one), it would of got locked. If it was located in deep space, maybe not.

As my father would have said - "same difference". As far as we are aware, only the Doctor and the Master evaded the Time Lock, right? But other Time Lords appear in Trial. Unless they want to start breaking the Lock in major ways, or step into an alternate reality, they can't have any future version of the Doctor in company with a collection of his fellows, as they are all Locked away. That version of the future cannot happen, wherever the Trial occurred.

 

[Tonguez]

I did a search on the TardisIndex wiki and apparently it was the Eight Doctor (yeah that one) who had the Matrix downloaded to his head just before the destruction of Galifrey, it was the cause of his amnesia

recorded in one of the novels so I don't know if its canon

 

[Sutekh]

To be honest with the rise of the 'watch' in the latest series of Doctor Who, I think it would be foolhardy on my behalf to say that there arnt any other Doctors out there now. I do think it was something of a convienient plot device for a 2 part episode (good episodes though) to have the Doctor become more vunerable for the plot. I think it was better played out with Professor Yana and with the subsequent rebirth of the Master. Do I think thats all the watches in use? No i dont. I think if they find a story that requires it there will be another one or two.

The recent Gaiman episode of Doctor Who cast light on the fact that there may be other Timelords in existence. The Doctor was getting a false distress message from perhaps an old colleague which lured him in, but considering that sometime has passed between the TimeWar and what the Doctor is doing now, could we assume that other Timelords escaped and got suckered in too even after the timewar was locked? The fact that the Corsair had been used (for organs and his /her Tardis) and the fact that House had killed previous Timelords makes me consider that other Timelords are out there in the Cosmos. Either the Doctors ability to detect them is no longer functional or some other force prevents the Doctor from doing so.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, the Doctor has crossed dimensional barriers into other universes that "couldn't be crossed"...perhaps the Time Lords of those other realities have also managed to do likewise.

Yes...with all the negatives that that implies.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

When Big Bang 2 went off, and the universe was remade without the Dr, could that have erased all other versions...and is any of the other drs refrenced post Big Bang 2?

remember Amy pulled him back to a world that was without him...maybe none of the other adventures happend

 

[BrooklynKnight]

When Big Bang 2 went off, and the universe was remade without the Dr, could that have erased all other versions...and is any of the other drs refrenced post Big Bang 2?

remember Amy pulled him back to a world that was without him...maybe none of the other adventures happend

Then why is The Silence so afraid of him?

No, it all happened.

 

[GreyLord]

I don't mind a bad episode here or there. Even the new series has had a few. The movie gets so much heat from me because it was the opportunity to restart Dr. Who and they tried to do this by Americanizing it. And that decision made it lose all the appeal the show had for me. I think the new series has proven the point that Americans will watch a good show whether it is Americanized or not. I thought at the time that the TV movie was Dr. Who's death knell and I was (pleasantly) surprised when the new series started.

Why do you watch the New Docto Who?

The Movie tried to Americanize it the wrong way, in the way of network Fox TV.

The New Doctor Who has completely Americanized it (IMO, fan of the Old Doctor Who...so might explain some of my views) with more concentration on neat special effects, computer animation, and violence (never saw the doctor with so much violence in the old ones as you do in the New ones. The new ones have more violence and a more touches of horror than an entire serial, or a few serials all put together did of the old Doctor).

It's also gotten that American groove of putting a dark touch into the Sci-Fi with a little of horror, or just darkness (MUCH more dark than the Old Doctor Who). Not that this is necessarily a BAD thing, but I see the New Doctor Who as completely Americanized. I think that's why the American Audience has grown so much in relation to the New Doctor Who.

Take my wife for instance, she LOVES the New Doctor Who...finds the Old Doctor Who boring.

Personal take though, I love the 5th doctor, that's one of my favorites. I think I like the 3rd Doctor the best however. He simply LOOKS like the Doctor. The New Doctor Who...these guys just look young. Then again, that's another Americanization...they go for the youthful look rather than what one may imagine an old foggy kind of whacked out doctor may look like.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

By my recollection, most of the horror in the old Doctor Who storylines was at a slight remove from the Doctor and his companions- people die in horrible ways, but companions and the Doctor get threatened, but rarely actually harmed. There are exceptions, of course, but almost all of the darkness flows towards the Doctor, and he turns it away.

The new Whos are darker. They do have an angrier side. They act in ways previous incarnations might not have.

But I wouldn't necessarily call that "Amaricanized"- I'd call that "modernization". I've seen the same increase in darkness in British, Australian, Russian and Hungarian Sci-Fi.