Monday 30 March 2020
Sunday 29 March 2020
An Eerie Similarity
These are dark days as the storm clouds gather around us, but you know what's really disturbing?
That 2020's The Timeless Children is just an adaptation of 1983's Birth of a Renegade - only, you know, not irredeemable crap written by someone who stopped giving a damn a long time ago.
The opening bits with the young blond Doctor and the skeptical ethnic companion:
"Any ideas what we're walking into?"
"This planet, this time period - we're in the very far future, immediate aftermath of the CyberWars."
"Sector 19 is a very remote area, a long way from the regular space lanes. No one ever goes there."
"Why not?"
"Because it's on the fringe of a supernova."
The derelict Cyber-carriers...
"What else can you see?"
"Dormant ships. Loads of 'em."
"That battle cruiser looks far from damaged."
"Don’t you think I'd noticed?"
The Master takes a moment to reminds us of his Deadly Assassin days.
"The Panopticon. We had some fun there, didn't we, hey? Graduated. Assassinated presidents. The best of times!"
"I also assassinated President Slann."
The Master has got the Cybermen onside.
"No. Don't bring them here. This is between you and me."
"Don't heckle, dear."
"Why would you give Gallifrey to the Cybermen?"
"You're about to have much bigger things to think about."
"It seems you will associate with anyone nowadays."
"Beware, Doctor - you have underestimated the Cybermen in the past... and to your cost."
"You think you can control them?"
"Of course, my dear Doctor. I am far more than you."
"So how will you buy their loyalty?"
"With something they have always craved; the knowledge of Time Travel."
The Master threatens to take down Gallifrey.
“Do you really think the Time Lords will allow it? They’ll destroy you first.”
“You think I lie? Do you not think me capable of bringing the Time Lords to their knees?”
"Look upon my work, Doctor, and despair. Remember how we used to run through those streets as children? The alleys where we'd hide from Borusa as we skipped classes? All gone now!"
Old secrets are raised.
"Ah! Truth and reconciliation time, Doctor. Well, maybe not reconciliation. But time you saw the truth for yourself."
"Let me put your mind at rest, my dear Doctor, before you overtax your brain trying to fathom how I plan to overthrow the High Council of Gallifrey. But first let me refresh your memory concerning a certain period of Gallifreyan history."
And it's about the Doctor.
"Welcome, Doctor. Are you suffering comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time..."
"Cast your mind back to the time of your crusty, eccentric former self... when you still lived on Gallifrey and were considered to be the finest TARDIS engineer ever... when your hair was long and white..."
And we don't know the full story.
"I told you before that everything you knew was a lie. Well, now you get to face the truth, with me at your side."
"Do you really think I'm going to believe anything that comes out of your mouth?"
"Brace yourself. This is going to hurt."
"So? Why waste time reminding me?"
"Simply, my dear Doctor, because should you be bothered to search around in your memory, you will find there are... gaps."
"Gaps?"
"Gaps in your memory, that however hard you may try, you will not be able to fill... That is, without my help. Your memory was selectively wiped, but I will explain everything in due course. Nothing will be held back from you."
And it involves a very precious little girl.
"She found a child. Abandoned. Alone. Tecteun had a choice to make. Abandon or save the child? She chose to rescue the foundling and adopt this refugee from another realm as her own."
"Who was this person?"
"She was known as the Lady Larn. The adopted child of Councilor Brolin."
"Child? How old was she?"
"Seven."
The child lead to Gallifreyan society being revolutionized.
"With Tecteun, they became a self-appointed ruling elite. And Tecteun proposed that they gene-splice the ability to regenerate into future generations of Citadel dwellers. The timeless child became the base genetic code for all Gallifreyans within the Citadel."
"Pundat’s grandfather wanted nothing more than to perpetuate his family’s control of the Lord Presidency. Create a dynasty."
And it's the Doctor's fault.
"You know what I find the most infuriating? You always behaved like you were different, like you were special. And you were. You can see why I'm angry. A little piece of you is in me. All I am is somehow because of you, and believe me when I say, I cannot bear that."
"Even when it was learned that Chancellor Slann, Pundat’s most evil disciple, had been named as the next Lord President, this only seemed to galvanize you into inaction. It was complacent fools like you who made it possible. Tired old men who would not admit to what was happening around them!"
And the Doctor was mind-wiped.
"I know my life. I know who I am."
"No, you don't. You never have. Your life has been hidden from you."
"I remember growing up. I remember you and me at the Academy together."
"That happened. It just wasn't your first life."
"Then why wasn't I terminated?"
"It was unacceptable. You were too highly respected... Instead your mind was selectively wiped. Ignorant of the events leading up to the coup you were considered harmless."
The technicians on Gallifrey had done their work well; his memory was empty.
But what happened to the kid?
"What happened to the child? What? What's so funny? What happened to the child?"
"Oh Doctor, really? Haven't you worked this out yet?"
"And the child... Lady Larn? Where is she now?"
"I’m surprised you haven't guessed who she is."
And the reveal?
"The child is you. You are the timeless child."
"No. No, I'm not."
"You always have been."
"Susan was the Lady Larn?"
"The very person. Your first companion in the TARDIS. I gather she affectionately called you “grandfather”. But then, of course, you did look much older."
The Doctor is appalled.
"Why would they lie? Why would they do that?"
"I wish it wasn't true, but it is."
"Why didn’t she tell me who she was?"
"She was, after all, a fugitive, a renegade... Not unlike yourself, in fact."
Could the Master be lying?
"It's all lies. None of this is the truth."
"For the first time in my lives, I can honestly say every word is true."
"I find it almost impossible to believe."
"It’s all quite true, my dear Doctor. The irony is that you hadn’t realized."
The TCE is used on a Cyberman:
"Oh, shoot! I should've said, 'somebody needs to cut you down to size,' then zapped you. I was just trigger-happy. I'll use it next time."
Susan swung round and fired the Eliminator. Instantly the Cyberman began to contract, the steel panels of his body splitting open. A moment later he was little more than a minute, crumpled heap on the floor, like a broken doll.
Things look bleak now the Cybermen are working for the Master.
"Where I go, they go now."
"Are you going to have them shoot me?"
"No, Doctor. As of now, I wish my enemies a long and healthy life, so they may witness my many triumphs, because they will be legion. I have broken you and created a new race. And now? Now I shall conquer... everything."
"You really think you can rule through Susan?"
"Of course. With her mind under my control and with a brigade of such troopers to enforce my rule, how can I fail?"
But the door opens and someone comes to the Doctor's rescue. The Master's not impressed.
"Excuse me, no gatecrashers."
"Such emotion even touches the iron heart of someone like me, but alas it must be curtailed."
The Master's got a bit of a death-wish in the last scene.
"Look how low I have brought you. I have won, Doctor. You may have made me, but I have destroyed you. Become death. Become me. Come on. Come on, come on!"
"Pray that I die, Doctor! Pray that I die because, should I live, there will not be a place in the universe where you or your friends will be safe!"
...
Am I the only one seeing this?
That 2020's The Timeless Children is just an adaptation of 1983's Birth of a Renegade - only, you know, not irredeemable crap written by someone who stopped giving a damn a long time ago.
The Timeless Children
by Chris Chibnall
-vs-
Birth of a Renegade
by Eric Saward
The opening bits with the young blond Doctor and the skeptical ethnic companion:
"Any ideas what we're walking into?"
"This planet, this time period - we're in the very far future, immediate aftermath of the CyberWars."
"Sector 19 is a very remote area, a long way from the regular space lanes. No one ever goes there."
"Why not?"
"Because it's on the fringe of a supernova."
The derelict Cyber-carriers...
"What else can you see?"
"Dormant ships. Loads of 'em."
"That battle cruiser looks far from damaged."
"Don’t you think I'd noticed?"
The Master takes a moment to reminds us of his Deadly Assassin days.
"The Panopticon. We had some fun there, didn't we, hey? Graduated. Assassinated presidents. The best of times!"
"I also assassinated President Slann."
The Master has got the Cybermen onside.
"No. Don't bring them here. This is between you and me."
"Don't heckle, dear."
"Why would you give Gallifrey to the Cybermen?"
"You're about to have much bigger things to think about."
"It seems you will associate with anyone nowadays."
"Beware, Doctor - you have underestimated the Cybermen in the past... and to your cost."
"You think you can control them?"
"Of course, my dear Doctor. I am far more than you."
"So how will you buy their loyalty?"
"With something they have always craved; the knowledge of Time Travel."
The Master threatens to take down Gallifrey.
“Do you really think the Time Lords will allow it? They’ll destroy you first.”
“You think I lie? Do you not think me capable of bringing the Time Lords to their knees?”
"Look upon my work, Doctor, and despair. Remember how we used to run through those streets as children? The alleys where we'd hide from Borusa as we skipped classes? All gone now!"
Old secrets are raised.
"Ah! Truth and reconciliation time, Doctor. Well, maybe not reconciliation. But time you saw the truth for yourself."
"Let me put your mind at rest, my dear Doctor, before you overtax your brain trying to fathom how I plan to overthrow the High Council of Gallifrey. But first let me refresh your memory concerning a certain period of Gallifreyan history."
And it's about the Doctor.
"Welcome, Doctor. Are you suffering comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time..."
"Cast your mind back to the time of your crusty, eccentric former self... when you still lived on Gallifrey and were considered to be the finest TARDIS engineer ever... when your hair was long and white..."
And we don't know the full story.
"I told you before that everything you knew was a lie. Well, now you get to face the truth, with me at your side."
"Do you really think I'm going to believe anything that comes out of your mouth?"
"Brace yourself. This is going to hurt."
"So? Why waste time reminding me?"
"Simply, my dear Doctor, because should you be bothered to search around in your memory, you will find there are... gaps."
"Gaps?"
"Gaps in your memory, that however hard you may try, you will not be able to fill... That is, without my help. Your memory was selectively wiped, but I will explain everything in due course. Nothing will be held back from you."
And it involves a very precious little girl.
"She found a child. Abandoned. Alone. Tecteun had a choice to make. Abandon or save the child? She chose to rescue the foundling and adopt this refugee from another realm as her own."
"Who was this person?"
"She was known as the Lady Larn. The adopted child of Councilor Brolin."
"Child? How old was she?"
"Seven."
The child lead to Gallifreyan society being revolutionized.
"With Tecteun, they became a self-appointed ruling elite. And Tecteun proposed that they gene-splice the ability to regenerate into future generations of Citadel dwellers. The timeless child became the base genetic code for all Gallifreyans within the Citadel."
"Pundat’s grandfather wanted nothing more than to perpetuate his family’s control of the Lord Presidency. Create a dynasty."
And it's the Doctor's fault.
"You know what I find the most infuriating? You always behaved like you were different, like you were special. And you were. You can see why I'm angry. A little piece of you is in me. All I am is somehow because of you, and believe me when I say, I cannot bear that."
"Even when it was learned that Chancellor Slann, Pundat’s most evil disciple, had been named as the next Lord President, this only seemed to galvanize you into inaction. It was complacent fools like you who made it possible. Tired old men who would not admit to what was happening around them!"
And the Doctor was mind-wiped.
"I know my life. I know who I am."
"No, you don't. You never have. Your life has been hidden from you."
"I remember growing up. I remember you and me at the Academy together."
"That happened. It just wasn't your first life."
"Then why wasn't I terminated?"
"It was unacceptable. You were too highly respected... Instead your mind was selectively wiped. Ignorant of the events leading up to the coup you were considered harmless."
The technicians on Gallifrey had done their work well; his memory was empty.
But what happened to the kid?
"What happened to the child? What? What's so funny? What happened to the child?"
"Oh Doctor, really? Haven't you worked this out yet?"
"And the child... Lady Larn? Where is she now?"
"I’m surprised you haven't guessed who she is."
And the reveal?
"The child is you. You are the timeless child."
"No. No, I'm not."
"You always have been."
"Susan was the Lady Larn?"
"The very person. Your first companion in the TARDIS. I gather she affectionately called you “grandfather”. But then, of course, you did look much older."
The Doctor is appalled.
"Why would they lie? Why would they do that?"
"I wish it wasn't true, but it is."
"Why didn’t she tell me who she was?"
"She was, after all, a fugitive, a renegade... Not unlike yourself, in fact."
Could the Master be lying?
"It's all lies. None of this is the truth."
"For the first time in my lives, I can honestly say every word is true."
"I find it almost impossible to believe."
"It’s all quite true, my dear Doctor. The irony is that you hadn’t realized."
The TCE is used on a Cyberman:
"Oh, shoot! I should've said, 'somebody needs to cut you down to size,' then zapped you. I was just trigger-happy. I'll use it next time."
Susan swung round and fired the Eliminator. Instantly the Cyberman began to contract, the steel panels of his body splitting open. A moment later he was little more than a minute, crumpled heap on the floor, like a broken doll.
Things look bleak now the Cybermen are working for the Master.
"Where I go, they go now."
"Are you going to have them shoot me?"
"No, Doctor. As of now, I wish my enemies a long and healthy life, so they may witness my many triumphs, because they will be legion. I have broken you and created a new race. And now? Now I shall conquer... everything."
"You really think you can rule through Susan?"
"Of course. With her mind under my control and with a brigade of such troopers to enforce my rule, how can I fail?"
But the door opens and someone comes to the Doctor's rescue. The Master's not impressed.
"Excuse me, no gatecrashers."
"Such emotion even touches the iron heart of someone like me, but alas it must be curtailed."
The Master's got a bit of a death-wish in the last scene.
"Look how low I have brought you. I have won, Doctor. You may have made me, but I have destroyed you. Become death. Become me. Come on. Come on, come on!"
"Pray that I die, Doctor! Pray that I die because, should I live, there will not be a place in the universe where you or your friends will be safe!"
...
Am I the only one seeing this?
Tuesday 10 March 2020
So... Timeless Child Evidence?
With the shock twist at the middle of The Timeless Children that our hero/ine is a mind-wiped orphan from Gallifreyan prehistory who suffered institutionalized child abuse, medical experimentation, and forced to work black ops on pain of death... well, Jodie was shocked but ultimately came to the conclusion this difference made no difference. Everything from William Hartnell onwards still happened, and she is the same person she was yesterday albeit with extra backstory.
Needless to say, fandom freaked out bigger than the Master and insisted this meant everything canonical was rendered meaningless. Of course, this ignores the fact that the Doctor, the Master, the Time Lords et all wouldn't have known the truth and thus would have said and done the exact same things as they did. In short, if no one knew the Doctor was adopted, they wouldn't treat her differently, would they?
But with this new perspective on the Doctor, does it actually clarify some anomalies?
So, looking back at Classic Who...
The Daleks
The Doctor tells Alydon "I was a pioneer once among my own people" which, in the context of the scene (where the Thals must change their entire way of life and society) doesn't match to anything we know of his past. It does, however, fit perfectly with the idea that he was once Tecteun's daughter exploring the universe for the fledgling Gallifreyan empire.
The Edge of Destruction
The Doctor deals with an awkward aftermath of an argument with Barbara by reciting "as we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves" which sounds like the justifying rhetoric Tecteun used to apologize to her daughter for the violent medical experiments.
The Space Museum
The Doctor notes "I've always had trouble solving the fourth dimension." An odd thing to say for an experienced time traveller, but it makes sense if spoken by something... timeless.
The Chase
The Doctor infamously notes that the time-path indicator has been in the TARDIS "ever since I constructed it". It sounds like a Hartnell-garbled "ever since I built the indicator, it is standard equipment in a TARDIS" which makes sense for a Division-fleeing Timeless Child needing to make sure she wasn't being followed by other time machines - or indeed, for Division operatives in general
The Time Meddler
It's left very unclear if the Doctor and the Monk recognize each other - the Monk sees the TARDIS materializes, listens to the crew and then captures the Doctor, who is already investigating time anomalies. In short, there is no evidence the Doctor recognizes the Monk as a Gallifreyan on sight. And given Time Lords are meant to be able to recognize each other's species type at a glance, this raises the anomaly that the Doctor can't. And that only makes sense if the Doctor isn't a true Gallifreyan...
The Dalek Masterplan
While Mavic Chen isn't surprised to encounter a time traveling monk, or that there are other people in the universe with bigger-on-the-inside time-space machines, he and the Daleks seem to think the Doctor is a humanoid-shaped abomination from an unknown galaxy rather than an average Time Lord like the Monk.
The Massacre
The Doctor bursts into tears at the realization he "can't" go back to his own planet. But it's established he could return to Gallifrey and call in the Time Lords whenever he wanted. The only reason he can't go back is he doesn't know where his own planet is, just like the Timeless Child doesn't know where she's from.
The Celestial Toymaker
The Toymaker plans to keep the Doctor forever playing games. He isn't remotely worried about the Doctor dying of old age if he gets turned into a toy. And it makes sense that a Celestial Toymaker would want to play games with the Timeless Child for all eternity.
The Savages
The Elders call the Doctor "the traveler from beyond time" - ie, "timeless". Though they welcome the Doctor to their planet, it's barely a day before he's strapped to an operating table while the elite try to suck out his life energies to make themselves more powerful - exactly like Tecteun did. Yet the experiment goes wrong because the Doctor has more energy than they expect, he is not like other Time Lords.
The Power of the Daleks
The Doctor has a lot of difficulty explaining regeneration, as though he can't quite understand it himself or even why it happens to him. There is of course the infamous cut lines: "I fought it, I fight it every time but I can't resist. I was wearing this the last time I was renewed..."
The Evil of the Daleks
The Daleks state that they believe the Doctor is unique because he has "traveled through time" too much, but they are confident they can put a Dalek Factor in his brain. They fail, showing that they are mistaken in their belief they understand his biology.
The Mind Robber
The Master of the Land of Fiction chooses the Doctor as the perfect replacement because he is "ageless" and will never need to return to reality. Or, he's Timeless.
The War Games
The War Chief recognizes the Doctor before the Doctor recognizes him, and there seems to be a sneer in the way all the Time Lords in the story mock the Doctor for "changing his appearance" - like he's a freak or something. Could Goth, the War Chief, et all, know the truth?
The Silurians
After having his memory altered to the point he can no longer remember the Silurians (though he remembers their pet dinosaurs), the Doctor claims he's lived for thousands of years. Before he was mind-wiped, he said he was 450 - which suggests that the two mental blocks are interfering with each other.
Inferno
The Doctor is vehemently insistent that there cannot be a parallel Doctor even though someone must have been around to defeat the Great Intelligence at the very least. Can there be parallel Time Lords without a Timeless Child?
Terror of the Autons
Despite being warned the Master is on Earth, the Doctor doesn't recognize him over the phone. He only recognizes a Time Lord when they materialize in mid-air with a TARDIS noise, shout at him, and he's met them before.
The Mind of Evil
The parasite's MO is to pick one memory/fear and use it to kill people. It overloads on the Doctor's memory, just like the Matrix in The Timeless Children. The Doctor also claims to have been a scientist for thousands of years. Yet the Master only has one memory to be taunted with, proving he has less experiences than the Doctor.
The Claws of Axos
Axos scans the Doctor's brain and realizes he's not a human, but need the Master to confirm he is also a Time Lord. They couldn't work that out on their on and needed confirmation.
Day of the Daleks
The Daleks don't recognize the Doctor and need a mind probe to prove his identity and even that nearly kills him before his mind-probe reaches pre-Hartnell. Clearly even his DNA is not easily-identifiable as a Time Lord.
The Time Monster
Kronos knows the Doctor "of old" and respects him while considers the Master an insect. The Doctor doesn't remember meeting her.
The Three Doctors
The Doctor doesn't recognize Omega as a Time Lord until told. The Chancellor notes the "earliest" Doctor they can timescoop is Hartnell and can barely manage that due to the power drain.
Planet of the Spiders
Again, the Doctor doesn't recognize K'Anpo. Twice. K'Anpo also says the Doctor is "slow on the uptake" on learning anything about his own nature, and is convinced that the Doctor can survive Metebelis radiation when everyone else (who are better-informed) is certain he will die. It's easy to think K'Anpo knows the Doctor is the Timeless Child and is waiting for the Doctor to work it out himself. Maybe K'Anpo became a hermit as penance for once knocking a little girl off a cliff?
Planet of Evil
The Doctor again seems to have some serious clout in other dimensions despite the fact he should be unknown
The Brain of Morbius
As The Timeless Child confirms, there were at least eight male incarnations of the Doctor before he was "reset" as Hartnell. Even Morbius is surprised that a self-confessed "nobody" has at least twelve lives to go back through.
The Masque of Mandragora
The secondary TARDIS console room, used in unseen adventures by a Doctor who needed to shave and noted he often had difficulty using the wooden controls. As if he was being controlled by the Division at the time.
The Deadly Assassin
Again, the Doctor takes a while to recognize the Master, even when standing right in front of him, compared to how quickly Runcible recognizes the Doctor despite having "several" face-lifts. Engin is also jaw-droppingly amazed at how high the Doctor's artron energy levels are, which are higher than any other Time Lord he's met.
The Invisible Enemy
The clone-Doctor notes the real Doctor's brain was damaged when the Time Lords "kicked him out" which sounds more like the Division's retirement than exiled to Earth. Notably he immediately changes the subject, even though he was giving Leela a tour of his brain in the first place, like he was alarmed at his own knowledge.
Image of the Fendahl
The skull activates in front of the Doctor, completely out of step with its behavior the rest of the time, suggesting the Doctor's DNA gets even the thing that eats death all flustered.
The Invasion of Time
The "Wisdom of Rassilon" is set to mind-wipe the Doctor when he discovers the secrets of the Time Lords, which includes any and all he learned about the Timeless Child.
The Ribos Operation
The Doctor seems to be the only Time Lord the Guardians are remotely interested in, which seems very suspicious. He also needs to be told that Romana is a Time Lord.
The Armageddon Factor
Again, the Doctor doesn't recognize Drax as either a friend or a Time Lord. Drax recognizes the Doctor at once.
Destiny of the Daleks
The Doctor repeatedly doesn't recognize a regenerated Romana.
The Creature from the Pit
The Doctor jokes he's 130 lives into his allotted 90, but significantly Romana doesn't pedantically correct him like she normally does with his gags, or that he was "born under the sign of cross computers" (the corporate logo of the Gallifreyan Maternity Service).
The Leisure Hive
There is a distinct air of grim resignation from the Doctor when a pretty Time Lady convinces him to undergo a harmless medical experiment that, as the novelization notes, might as well have triggered his regeneration. It's almost like he's done this before.
The Keeper of Traken
Said keeper is over a thousand years old, but believes the Doctor is even older. The Doctor (who's been claiming to be 760ish for a while) doesn't contradict him. His time logs are full of contradictions and histories of adventures that apparently didn't happen. Adric is bewildered while the Doctor admires his own prose. Again, the Doctor doesn't recognize the Master as a Time Lord.
Arc of Infinity
Omega (who is again not recognized by the Doctor) also seeks out the Doctor to be converted into anti-matter for the second time. Is the Doctor really the only suitable Time Lord? The Doctor's biodata extract is easily identified by everyone, almost as if it is incredibly distinctive unlike other Time Lords.
Snakedance
Only Dojjen and the Doctor are ever shown to have the power to resist the Mara. ONLY them. The claims of Dojjen being a bizarre scientific adviser hermit who has planned a long time to be around to defeat the Mara hint that maybe he might be one of the Doctor's past selves (who he has traditional difficulty recognizing).
Mawdryn Undead
The scam with Mawdryn relies on a Time Lord with eight spare regenerations. The Fifth Doctor believes he only has eight to spare, but if he went through it would still have survived. This makes sense when we remember the Black Guardian is more interested in corrupting Turlough's soul than killing the Doctor, and making him think he was on his last life would be a great laugh.
The Five Doctors
Borusa, Lord President of the Time Lords, who has read all the dark scrolls of the ancient times with all the naughty secrets no one is supposed to know about, decides the Doctor is the one person who can get into the Tower of Rassilon and only stops at abducting four incarnations when the time scoop breaks. If it had kept working, would he have sent Ruth to the Death Zone as well? Rassilon's scrolls also talk of "endless bodily regeneration" but the man himself isn't remotely surprised that the Doctor doesn't want it...
Resurrection of the Daleks
The mind probe is again switched off before it gets pre-Hartnell, with the irony being the Daleks probably didn't have enough magnetic tape for the Doctor's full history.
The Twin Dilemma
When the Doctor thinks his regeneration is failing, his first plan is to hide in a cave on a deserted planet rather than risk returning to Gallifrey for medical help - no doubt a traumatic echo of all the times he was put on an operating table and experimented on after regenerating. He also only recognizes Azmael because the guy hasn't changed his face since they last met.
Attack of the Cybermen
In other news, when the Doctor fixes the chameleon circuit the TARDIS resumes a police box shape anyway. So it's entirely possible it has been looking that way even before the circuit broke.
Vengeance on Varos
If the Doctor really does have infinite regenerations, it makes his pity-party even more significant, if less-excusable.
Mark of the Rani
The Rani and the Master recognize each other distantly, even when both disguised. The Doctor doesn't and gets tense when a Time Lady straps him to an operating table.
The Two Doctors
After being drugged with something that "affects the memory" (ie, might restore it), the Doctor freaks out when a former friend threatens to slice him up to create a race of time travelers. Dastari also has encountered the Doctor when he was working with the Time Lords - or the Division.
Timelash
The Borad thinks a blast from his time-gun will destroy a Time Lord's ability to regenerate, but we don't see if it could work on the Doctor
Revelation of the Daleks
The Daleks don't recognize the Doctor. Again
Trial of a Time Lord
The Valeyard's desire to get the Doctor's lives makes just as much sense - if not more so - if he's aware that the Doctor is the Timeless Child and the High Council isn't.
Time and the Rani
The Doctor is given an amnesia drug and from this story onwards, after it wears off, has lots of hints that he has a dark history in Ancient Gallifrey. More importantly, the Rani's plans only fail when the Doctor is able to cause the brain to rebel, shrug off the Tetrap bite and attack the Rani herself. That means his biology did not work the way she'd planned in advance for.
Delta and the Bannermen
The Doctor gets a sad speech about love and cross-breeding species that can end up in very, very bad places
Remembrance of the Daleks
The Doctor claims to have worked on Ancient Gallifreyan technology himself. More interestingly, none of the Daleks or Davros think the Doctor could have pre-programmed the Hand of Omega because he is "just another Time Lord". The Doctor says he is not, and the Hand of Omega bitch-slaps Skaro.
Silver Nemesis
The statue - who hates and murders those who tries to use it - must do whatever the Doctor says. It also tells Peinforte that the Doctor is not a Time Lord from Gallifrey and played a dark role in ancient Gallifreyan creation myths. The Doctor gambles that the statue told lies to Peinforte, since the statue can lie to people, but the whole point is that the statue knows things the Doctor doesn't want made public, even to himself.
Battlefield
Merlin has at least worn three faces according to Ancelyn and not one of them was Sylvester McCoy. It makes sense if Merlin was the Timeless Child (stopping extra-dimensional wars sounds like a Division thing).
Ghost Light
Control makes a big deal that even if they catalogue all life in the universe, they won't find the Doctor's species.
The Curse of Fenric
The novelization makes it clear the Doctor who took down Fenric was not one we know and had a companion we didn't meet, and was very proactive in taking down an ancient evil in a way that screams Division. Even the Seventh Doctor can barely remember the event, despite his awareness Fenric is out to get him.
Survival
Infected with the Cheetah Virus, the Doctor does not return to Gallifrey when he "leaps home" so he subconsciously does not think that is where he comes from. The original ending, of course, had the Master horrified to realize that the Doctor wasn't a Time Lord but something "multi-talented".
Dimensions in Time
The Rani needs a Time Lord for her collection and despite having seven Doctors, not one of them will do. So clearly his DNA isn't what she's after.
The TV Movie
The Seventh Doctor's panic on an operating table with a nice lady insisting this is all going to be all right as he pleads for her to stop because he's "not like you" but ends up regenerating and certain people are going to keep killing him. And when the Eighth Doctor's memories are rattled by overcoming amnesia he claims he has both twelve and thirteen lives, that he can change into another species when he dies, that there are no rules he has to follow and that he's half-human on his mother's side. The Master instantly believes the idea the Doctor is not a normal Time Lord but some kind of freak.
Onto NuWho!
The End of the World
The Ninth Doctor has nine strands of DNA, even though he's on his tenth body. The computer has trouble identifying him as a Time Lord, even though it's Jabe rather than the computer who thinks they're extinct.
Dalek
Again, the Doctor freaks when Van Stattan chains him up and plans to steal the genetic secrets of him. Very painfully. In fact, it makes sense of the Doctor's flinching as a traumatic reaction since a medical scanner that hurts people is simply a stupid idea.
The Long Game
None of the stations systems, built by Daleks, register a Time Lord wandering around the station. Even though one alien aboard would be reason for alarm.
The Empty Child
As Rose notes, the nanogenes glow like regeneration energy whenever the Doctor is near them, and cut lines show the Doctor's childhood is how he mastered the art of controlling such powers
The Parting of the Ways
The Tenth Doctor says a Time Lord who absorbed the TARDIS would become a vengeful god. The Ninth Doctor manifestly does not. Is that because he's not quite a Time Lord?
The Christmas Invasion
Never before have we seen people trying to chase a Time Lord's regeneration energy, suggesting the Doctor is something special. The fifteen hour rule seems a bit stretched in the chronology of the episode as well since the Doctor is out for at least 24 hours after he regenerated and he can still regrow his hand.
School Reunion
Finch seems to think the Doctor is "new" rather than "old" like the Time Lords he knows all about, and only when he's face to face and sniffing
Doomsday
Oddly, Dalek Sec can tell over a skype call that there's a Time Lord in the room but not that it's the Doctor. No other Dalek even in the Cult of Skaro spots the Doctor, even when it's the Tenth and he is in the same room with them.
Evolution of the Daleks
The Doctor is able with about two seconds warning work out a way to pass on his DNA to all the human husks without anyone suspecting a thing. Could Tecteun use those lightning strikes on the TC for the same purpose?
Human Nature
The Family of Blood go after the Doctor, not the Master when the latter is stranded on Earth, unable to "hide his scent" and just as good a Time Lord snack as anyone else. Why go after the Doctor unless he's special? Maybe a normal Time Lord wouldn't be able to make them immortal? And just how many faces were drawn in the dream-journal?
The Sound of Drums
After making a big deal about how he'll recognize the Master, the Doctor doesn't. Even though he was the one speaking to him, it's Martha who recognizes the voice as Harold Saxon.
The Last of the Time Lords
The Doctor can undo his DNA-tampering and restore his own ability to regenerate, something the Master very definitely did not expect to be possible.
The Doctor's Daughter
Jenny should be dead or regenerated based on her Time Lord DNA. The fact she does neither shows the Doctor's genetic material is not working the way it should.
Forest of the Dead
The Doctor is sure he can survive burning out his brain, but River doesn't believe so. One of them has to be wrong.
Turn Left
There's no actual evidence that the Doctor was properly killed under the Thames, just that he hadn't regenerated yet. The plot would work precisely the same if the Eleventh Doctor just woke up trapped in a morgue and unable to stop the stars going out.
Journey's End
The Doctor can control his regeneration using a severed limb. Why has no one else tried that? You'd think the Master would happily stock his TARDIS with hacked-off hands and feet for just that sort of emergency.
The Next Doctor
Although the Doctor's had difficulty recognizing his own incarnations, it takes him a while to realize that Jackson Lake is even a (possibly-chameleon-arched) human. The Cybermen database, looted from the Daleks, seems to not specify the Doctor is a two-hearted Gallifreyan. That they have no record of the War Doctor, but records of the Ninth Doctor (who they never met) suggests the Doctor might be edited.
The End of Time
Rassilon seems very reluctant to zap the Doctor, which would make sense if he is aware the Timeless Child could survive that
Amy's Choice
It's not hard to see how an orphan used for medical experiments by her mother would end up with enough self-esteem issues to create the Dream Lord, is it?
The Doctor's Wife
Sexy has archived control rooms the Doctor doesn't remember, presumably from Ruth's era
The Almost People
The real Doctor's fury at the condition the Flesh goes through, to the point he attacks Amy, gets a new dimension if he remembers anything of being the Timeless Child.
A Good Man Goes To War
The Doctor insists to Vastra you cannot "cook" a Time Lord and says Time Lords evolved regeneration from the Untempered Schism. These are both proven to be lies.
Let's Kill Hitler
We are told that the Doctor's regenerations are disabled when he is dying from poison, but not that the two are connected. Given the Matt Smith Doctor has reached the false limit imposed to keep him like other Time Lords, the "disablement" could be entirely different. While all of River's regenerations are required to heal the Doctor, he still has a vast amount of excess regeneration afterwards, more than River believes he should have.
The God Complex
The Minotaur thinks the Doctor's immortal rather than a Time Lord on their last regeneration.
Closing Time
The Cybermen can't convert the Doctor, despite numerous other times they haven't even realized he's an alien.
Asylum of the Daleks
The Daleks think the Doctor is vulnerable to the nano-genes, but he isn't. More proof he's not what the Daleks think of as a Time Lord, and the Prime Minister notes there must be SOME reason they haven't been able to kill the Doctor rather than one of them having a lucky streak.
The Power of Three
The Doctor's DNA isn't so clearly another species that the human-coded cubes don't zap him like everyone else.
The Rings of Akhaten
The Doctor symbolically has all the energy sucked out of him but still survives because he keeps dark secrets that he cannot allow anyone to know.
Nightmare in Silver
Mr. Clever notes he has only partial access to what the Doctor wants him to know about regeneration, including the fact there have only been "ten complete rejigs" and believes the Doctor's threat he can regenerate again if needs be. So is Mr. Clever fooled by the Doctor's bluff, or aware of the truth of the Timeless Child?
The Name of the Doctor
The Great Intelligence, which as the Brigadier notes is pretty damned stupid, only attacks the Doctor's timeline from when Hartnell leaves Gallifrey to when Smith arrives at Trenzalore. He never attacks the Doctor's timeline during the Time War, for example. Given his big "I am information!" and all information on the Timeless Child being redacted, it makes perfect sense he wouldn't stumble over the truth.
The Night of the Doctor
The novelization says that the Eighth Doctor didn't need any elixirs to regenerate despite his death, it was "theatre" to trick him into choosing to regenerate into the War Doctor. That elixir was just lemonade and dry ice. Apparently.
The Day of the Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor notes he doesn't admit to ALL the lives he's lived, and isn't surprised that he has a future incarnation that looks like Tom Baker even when he's supposed to be on his last body. He also knows about the Moment in the Omega Arsenal and can break into it with an ease that suggests he knows a lot more about Ancient Gallifreyan superweapons and the Division than he should.
The Time of the Doctor
It's logical that if the Doctor was mindwiped by the Division and "witness relocated" as an average Prydonian after being rewound to a child, they'd put a limit on his regenerations. It would also mean he would regenerate into the same young-old white men without variation and have difficulty regenerating compared to others. And that it would only take some pixie dust to release that limit and allow him to break out of his "rut".
Deep Breath
The Eleventh Doctor picked his replacement's face and showed a level of control that the Twelfth Doctor was surprised by, and also very unsettled
Listen
Clara pilots the TARDIS to when the Doctor had the "hand under the bed" nightmare, not to his childhood. The fact he was a little boy in a barn when he had the nightmare leads to an understandable misconception
Kill the Moon
The Doctor thinks he might have infinite regenerations now
The Witch's Familiar
The Doctor has no ill-effects from regenerating every Dalek on Skaro, and it doesn't have any downside on his next regeneration even as he notes he shouldn't be able to achieve a normal humanoid shape.
The Woman Who Lived
The Doctor considers himself immortal enough that he dare not travel with Ashildr, even though they both don't know how long lived Me will be.
Heaven Sent
The Doctor's worst memory is an old woman dying and not regenerating, which makes sense. An immortal child finding out other people stay dead would freak them out to say the least.
Hell Bent
Rassilon notes he is unsure how many regenerations they granted the Doctor, suggesting they intended only to "loosen" whatever limit they gave him. The fear of the Doctor learning about the hybrid makes sense if Rassilon knows Time Lords are a hybrid and the Doctor is actually a pure-blood. As Ashildr notes, the prophecy of the hybrid is being brought about by the Master, and is fulfilled in The Timeless Children (where the Master creates hybrids in the ruins of Gallifrey out of a desire to mend his broken hearts).
Thin Ice
Finding out a ruthless adult is using orphan kids as raw material for sick experiments? Doctor smash!
Lie of the Land
The Doctor can do light-shows of fake regeneration for fun and profit. No one else has this ability.
Eater of Light
The Doctor is confident he'll outlive the monsters even if he's trapped with them for eternity
The Doctor Falls
The Cybermen are programmed to capture Time Lords for conversion, but they immediately try and kill the Doctor even though he's unarmed and not a threat. He is also able to abort his regeneration at least five times, which according to Journey's End means he used up five regenerations in a temper-tantrum.
Twice Upon A Time
Testimony shows the full history of the Doctor... but it only shows the Second to the Twelfth. This makes sense if the Division wiped the records of pre-Hartnell and the Thirteenth Doctor doesn't exist yet. The first Doctor is able to control his regeneration process as well the twelfth, despite it being his first time. So maybe he has "muscle memory" from being the Timeless Child, even if he doesn't consciously remember?
So yeah. Makes sense of some things when you think about it.
Needless to say, fandom freaked out bigger than the Master and insisted this meant everything canonical was rendered meaningless. Of course, this ignores the fact that the Doctor, the Master, the Time Lords et all wouldn't have known the truth and thus would have said and done the exact same things as they did. In short, if no one knew the Doctor was adopted, they wouldn't treat her differently, would they?
But with this new perspective on the Doctor, does it actually clarify some anomalies?
So, looking back at Classic Who...
The Daleks
The Doctor tells Alydon "I was a pioneer once among my own people" which, in the context of the scene (where the Thals must change their entire way of life and society) doesn't match to anything we know of his past. It does, however, fit perfectly with the idea that he was once Tecteun's daughter exploring the universe for the fledgling Gallifreyan empire.
The Edge of Destruction
The Doctor deals with an awkward aftermath of an argument with Barbara by reciting "as we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves" which sounds like the justifying rhetoric Tecteun used to apologize to her daughter for the violent medical experiments.
The Space Museum
The Doctor notes "I've always had trouble solving the fourth dimension." An odd thing to say for an experienced time traveller, but it makes sense if spoken by something... timeless.
The Chase
The Doctor infamously notes that the time-path indicator has been in the TARDIS "ever since I constructed it". It sounds like a Hartnell-garbled "ever since I built the indicator, it is standard equipment in a TARDIS" which makes sense for a Division-fleeing Timeless Child needing to make sure she wasn't being followed by other time machines - or indeed, for Division operatives in general
The Time Meddler
It's left very unclear if the Doctor and the Monk recognize each other - the Monk sees the TARDIS materializes, listens to the crew and then captures the Doctor, who is already investigating time anomalies. In short, there is no evidence the Doctor recognizes the Monk as a Gallifreyan on sight. And given Time Lords are meant to be able to recognize each other's species type at a glance, this raises the anomaly that the Doctor can't. And that only makes sense if the Doctor isn't a true Gallifreyan...
The Dalek Masterplan
While Mavic Chen isn't surprised to encounter a time traveling monk, or that there are other people in the universe with bigger-on-the-inside time-space machines, he and the Daleks seem to think the Doctor is a humanoid-shaped abomination from an unknown galaxy rather than an average Time Lord like the Monk.
The Massacre
The Doctor bursts into tears at the realization he "can't" go back to his own planet. But it's established he could return to Gallifrey and call in the Time Lords whenever he wanted. The only reason he can't go back is he doesn't know where his own planet is, just like the Timeless Child doesn't know where she's from.
The Celestial Toymaker
The Toymaker plans to keep the Doctor forever playing games. He isn't remotely worried about the Doctor dying of old age if he gets turned into a toy. And it makes sense that a Celestial Toymaker would want to play games with the Timeless Child for all eternity.
The Savages
The Elders call the Doctor "the traveler from beyond time" - ie, "timeless". Though they welcome the Doctor to their planet, it's barely a day before he's strapped to an operating table while the elite try to suck out his life energies to make themselves more powerful - exactly like Tecteun did. Yet the experiment goes wrong because the Doctor has more energy than they expect, he is not like other Time Lords.
The Power of the Daleks
The Doctor has a lot of difficulty explaining regeneration, as though he can't quite understand it himself or even why it happens to him. There is of course the infamous cut lines: "I fought it, I fight it every time but I can't resist. I was wearing this the last time I was renewed..."
The Evil of the Daleks
The Daleks state that they believe the Doctor is unique because he has "traveled through time" too much, but they are confident they can put a Dalek Factor in his brain. They fail, showing that they are mistaken in their belief they understand his biology.
The Mind Robber
The Master of the Land of Fiction chooses the Doctor as the perfect replacement because he is "ageless" and will never need to return to reality. Or, he's Timeless.
The War Games
The War Chief recognizes the Doctor before the Doctor recognizes him, and there seems to be a sneer in the way all the Time Lords in the story mock the Doctor for "changing his appearance" - like he's a freak or something. Could Goth, the War Chief, et all, know the truth?
The Silurians
After having his memory altered to the point he can no longer remember the Silurians (though he remembers their pet dinosaurs), the Doctor claims he's lived for thousands of years. Before he was mind-wiped, he said he was 450 - which suggests that the two mental blocks are interfering with each other.
Inferno
The Doctor is vehemently insistent that there cannot be a parallel Doctor even though someone must have been around to defeat the Great Intelligence at the very least. Can there be parallel Time Lords without a Timeless Child?
Terror of the Autons
Despite being warned the Master is on Earth, the Doctor doesn't recognize him over the phone. He only recognizes a Time Lord when they materialize in mid-air with a TARDIS noise, shout at him, and he's met them before.
The Mind of Evil
The parasite's MO is to pick one memory/fear and use it to kill people. It overloads on the Doctor's memory, just like the Matrix in The Timeless Children. The Doctor also claims to have been a scientist for thousands of years. Yet the Master only has one memory to be taunted with, proving he has less experiences than the Doctor.
The Claws of Axos
Axos scans the Doctor's brain and realizes he's not a human, but need the Master to confirm he is also a Time Lord. They couldn't work that out on their on and needed confirmation.
Day of the Daleks
The Daleks don't recognize the Doctor and need a mind probe to prove his identity and even that nearly kills him before his mind-probe reaches pre-Hartnell. Clearly even his DNA is not easily-identifiable as a Time Lord.
The Time Monster
Kronos knows the Doctor "of old" and respects him while considers the Master an insect. The Doctor doesn't remember meeting her.
The Three Doctors
The Doctor doesn't recognize Omega as a Time Lord until told. The Chancellor notes the "earliest" Doctor they can timescoop is Hartnell and can barely manage that due to the power drain.
Planet of the Spiders
Again, the Doctor doesn't recognize K'Anpo. Twice. K'Anpo also says the Doctor is "slow on the uptake" on learning anything about his own nature, and is convinced that the Doctor can survive Metebelis radiation when everyone else (who are better-informed) is certain he will die. It's easy to think K'Anpo knows the Doctor is the Timeless Child and is waiting for the Doctor to work it out himself. Maybe K'Anpo became a hermit as penance for once knocking a little girl off a cliff?
Planet of Evil
The Doctor again seems to have some serious clout in other dimensions despite the fact he should be unknown
The Brain of Morbius
As The Timeless Child confirms, there were at least eight male incarnations of the Doctor before he was "reset" as Hartnell. Even Morbius is surprised that a self-confessed "nobody" has at least twelve lives to go back through.
The Masque of Mandragora
The secondary TARDIS console room, used in unseen adventures by a Doctor who needed to shave and noted he often had difficulty using the wooden controls. As if he was being controlled by the Division at the time.
The Deadly Assassin
Again, the Doctor takes a while to recognize the Master, even when standing right in front of him, compared to how quickly Runcible recognizes the Doctor despite having "several" face-lifts. Engin is also jaw-droppingly amazed at how high the Doctor's artron energy levels are, which are higher than any other Time Lord he's met.
The Invisible Enemy
The clone-Doctor notes the real Doctor's brain was damaged when the Time Lords "kicked him out" which sounds more like the Division's retirement than exiled to Earth. Notably he immediately changes the subject, even though he was giving Leela a tour of his brain in the first place, like he was alarmed at his own knowledge.
Image of the Fendahl
The skull activates in front of the Doctor, completely out of step with its behavior the rest of the time, suggesting the Doctor's DNA gets even the thing that eats death all flustered.
The Invasion of Time
The "Wisdom of Rassilon" is set to mind-wipe the Doctor when he discovers the secrets of the Time Lords, which includes any and all he learned about the Timeless Child.
The Ribos Operation
The Doctor seems to be the only Time Lord the Guardians are remotely interested in, which seems very suspicious. He also needs to be told that Romana is a Time Lord.
The Armageddon Factor
Again, the Doctor doesn't recognize Drax as either a friend or a Time Lord. Drax recognizes the Doctor at once.
Destiny of the Daleks
The Doctor repeatedly doesn't recognize a regenerated Romana.
The Creature from the Pit
The Doctor jokes he's 130 lives into his allotted 90, but significantly Romana doesn't pedantically correct him like she normally does with his gags, or that he was "born under the sign of cross computers" (the corporate logo of the Gallifreyan Maternity Service).
The Leisure Hive
There is a distinct air of grim resignation from the Doctor when a pretty Time Lady convinces him to undergo a harmless medical experiment that, as the novelization notes, might as well have triggered his regeneration. It's almost like he's done this before.
The Keeper of Traken
Said keeper is over a thousand years old, but believes the Doctor is even older. The Doctor (who's been claiming to be 760ish for a while) doesn't contradict him. His time logs are full of contradictions and histories of adventures that apparently didn't happen. Adric is bewildered while the Doctor admires his own prose. Again, the Doctor doesn't recognize the Master as a Time Lord.
Arc of Infinity
Omega (who is again not recognized by the Doctor) also seeks out the Doctor to be converted into anti-matter for the second time. Is the Doctor really the only suitable Time Lord? The Doctor's biodata extract is easily identified by everyone, almost as if it is incredibly distinctive unlike other Time Lords.
Snakedance
Only Dojjen and the Doctor are ever shown to have the power to resist the Mara. ONLY them. The claims of Dojjen being a bizarre scientific adviser hermit who has planned a long time to be around to defeat the Mara hint that maybe he might be one of the Doctor's past selves (who he has traditional difficulty recognizing).
Mawdryn Undead
The scam with Mawdryn relies on a Time Lord with eight spare regenerations. The Fifth Doctor believes he only has eight to spare, but if he went through it would still have survived. This makes sense when we remember the Black Guardian is more interested in corrupting Turlough's soul than killing the Doctor, and making him think he was on his last life would be a great laugh.
The Five Doctors
Borusa, Lord President of the Time Lords, who has read all the dark scrolls of the ancient times with all the naughty secrets no one is supposed to know about, decides the Doctor is the one person who can get into the Tower of Rassilon and only stops at abducting four incarnations when the time scoop breaks. If it had kept working, would he have sent Ruth to the Death Zone as well? Rassilon's scrolls also talk of "endless bodily regeneration" but the man himself isn't remotely surprised that the Doctor doesn't want it...
Resurrection of the Daleks
The mind probe is again switched off before it gets pre-Hartnell, with the irony being the Daleks probably didn't have enough magnetic tape for the Doctor's full history.
The Twin Dilemma
When the Doctor thinks his regeneration is failing, his first plan is to hide in a cave on a deserted planet rather than risk returning to Gallifrey for medical help - no doubt a traumatic echo of all the times he was put on an operating table and experimented on after regenerating. He also only recognizes Azmael because the guy hasn't changed his face since they last met.
Attack of the Cybermen
In other news, when the Doctor fixes the chameleon circuit the TARDIS resumes a police box shape anyway. So it's entirely possible it has been looking that way even before the circuit broke.
Vengeance on Varos
If the Doctor really does have infinite regenerations, it makes his pity-party even more significant, if less-excusable.
Mark of the Rani
The Rani and the Master recognize each other distantly, even when both disguised. The Doctor doesn't and gets tense when a Time Lady straps him to an operating table.
The Two Doctors
After being drugged with something that "affects the memory" (ie, might restore it), the Doctor freaks out when a former friend threatens to slice him up to create a race of time travelers. Dastari also has encountered the Doctor when he was working with the Time Lords - or the Division.
Timelash
The Borad thinks a blast from his time-gun will destroy a Time Lord's ability to regenerate, but we don't see if it could work on the Doctor
Revelation of the Daleks
The Daleks don't recognize the Doctor. Again
Trial of a Time Lord
The Valeyard's desire to get the Doctor's lives makes just as much sense - if not more so - if he's aware that the Doctor is the Timeless Child and the High Council isn't.
Time and the Rani
The Doctor is given an amnesia drug and from this story onwards, after it wears off, has lots of hints that he has a dark history in Ancient Gallifrey. More importantly, the Rani's plans only fail when the Doctor is able to cause the brain to rebel, shrug off the Tetrap bite and attack the Rani herself. That means his biology did not work the way she'd planned in advance for.
Delta and the Bannermen
The Doctor gets a sad speech about love and cross-breeding species that can end up in very, very bad places
Remembrance of the Daleks
The Doctor claims to have worked on Ancient Gallifreyan technology himself. More interestingly, none of the Daleks or Davros think the Doctor could have pre-programmed the Hand of Omega because he is "just another Time Lord". The Doctor says he is not, and the Hand of Omega bitch-slaps Skaro.
Silver Nemesis
The statue - who hates and murders those who tries to use it - must do whatever the Doctor says. It also tells Peinforte that the Doctor is not a Time Lord from Gallifrey and played a dark role in ancient Gallifreyan creation myths. The Doctor gambles that the statue told lies to Peinforte, since the statue can lie to people, but the whole point is that the statue knows things the Doctor doesn't want made public, even to himself.
Battlefield
Merlin has at least worn three faces according to Ancelyn and not one of them was Sylvester McCoy. It makes sense if Merlin was the Timeless Child (stopping extra-dimensional wars sounds like a Division thing).
Ghost Light
Control makes a big deal that even if they catalogue all life in the universe, they won't find the Doctor's species.
The Curse of Fenric
The novelization makes it clear the Doctor who took down Fenric was not one we know and had a companion we didn't meet, and was very proactive in taking down an ancient evil in a way that screams Division. Even the Seventh Doctor can barely remember the event, despite his awareness Fenric is out to get him.
Survival
Infected with the Cheetah Virus, the Doctor does not return to Gallifrey when he "leaps home" so he subconsciously does not think that is where he comes from. The original ending, of course, had the Master horrified to realize that the Doctor wasn't a Time Lord but something "multi-talented".
Dimensions in Time
The Rani needs a Time Lord for her collection and despite having seven Doctors, not one of them will do. So clearly his DNA isn't what she's after.
The TV Movie
The Seventh Doctor's panic on an operating table with a nice lady insisting this is all going to be all right as he pleads for her to stop because he's "not like you" but ends up regenerating and certain people are going to keep killing him. And when the Eighth Doctor's memories are rattled by overcoming amnesia he claims he has both twelve and thirteen lives, that he can change into another species when he dies, that there are no rules he has to follow and that he's half-human on his mother's side. The Master instantly believes the idea the Doctor is not a normal Time Lord but some kind of freak.
Onto NuWho!
The End of the World
The Ninth Doctor has nine strands of DNA, even though he's on his tenth body. The computer has trouble identifying him as a Time Lord, even though it's Jabe rather than the computer who thinks they're extinct.
Dalek
Again, the Doctor freaks when Van Stattan chains him up and plans to steal the genetic secrets of him. Very painfully. In fact, it makes sense of the Doctor's flinching as a traumatic reaction since a medical scanner that hurts people is simply a stupid idea.
The Long Game
None of the stations systems, built by Daleks, register a Time Lord wandering around the station. Even though one alien aboard would be reason for alarm.
The Empty Child
As Rose notes, the nanogenes glow like regeneration energy whenever the Doctor is near them, and cut lines show the Doctor's childhood is how he mastered the art of controlling such powers
The Parting of the Ways
The Tenth Doctor says a Time Lord who absorbed the TARDIS would become a vengeful god. The Ninth Doctor manifestly does not. Is that because he's not quite a Time Lord?
The Christmas Invasion
Never before have we seen people trying to chase a Time Lord's regeneration energy, suggesting the Doctor is something special. The fifteen hour rule seems a bit stretched in the chronology of the episode as well since the Doctor is out for at least 24 hours after he regenerated and he can still regrow his hand.
School Reunion
Finch seems to think the Doctor is "new" rather than "old" like the Time Lords he knows all about, and only when he's face to face and sniffing
Doomsday
Oddly, Dalek Sec can tell over a skype call that there's a Time Lord in the room but not that it's the Doctor. No other Dalek even in the Cult of Skaro spots the Doctor, even when it's the Tenth and he is in the same room with them.
Evolution of the Daleks
The Doctor is able with about two seconds warning work out a way to pass on his DNA to all the human husks without anyone suspecting a thing. Could Tecteun use those lightning strikes on the TC for the same purpose?
Human Nature
The Family of Blood go after the Doctor, not the Master when the latter is stranded on Earth, unable to "hide his scent" and just as good a Time Lord snack as anyone else. Why go after the Doctor unless he's special? Maybe a normal Time Lord wouldn't be able to make them immortal? And just how many faces were drawn in the dream-journal?
The Sound of Drums
After making a big deal about how he'll recognize the Master, the Doctor doesn't. Even though he was the one speaking to him, it's Martha who recognizes the voice as Harold Saxon.
The Last of the Time Lords
The Doctor can undo his DNA-tampering and restore his own ability to regenerate, something the Master very definitely did not expect to be possible.
The Doctor's Daughter
Jenny should be dead or regenerated based on her Time Lord DNA. The fact she does neither shows the Doctor's genetic material is not working the way it should.
Forest of the Dead
The Doctor is sure he can survive burning out his brain, but River doesn't believe so. One of them has to be wrong.
Turn Left
There's no actual evidence that the Doctor was properly killed under the Thames, just that he hadn't regenerated yet. The plot would work precisely the same if the Eleventh Doctor just woke up trapped in a morgue and unable to stop the stars going out.
Journey's End
The Doctor can control his regeneration using a severed limb. Why has no one else tried that? You'd think the Master would happily stock his TARDIS with hacked-off hands and feet for just that sort of emergency.
The Next Doctor
Although the Doctor's had difficulty recognizing his own incarnations, it takes him a while to realize that Jackson Lake is even a (possibly-chameleon-arched) human. The Cybermen database, looted from the Daleks, seems to not specify the Doctor is a two-hearted Gallifreyan. That they have no record of the War Doctor, but records of the Ninth Doctor (who they never met) suggests the Doctor might be edited.
The End of Time
Rassilon seems very reluctant to zap the Doctor, which would make sense if he is aware the Timeless Child could survive that
Amy's Choice
It's not hard to see how an orphan used for medical experiments by her mother would end up with enough self-esteem issues to create the Dream Lord, is it?
The Doctor's Wife
Sexy has archived control rooms the Doctor doesn't remember, presumably from Ruth's era
The Almost People
The real Doctor's fury at the condition the Flesh goes through, to the point he attacks Amy, gets a new dimension if he remembers anything of being the Timeless Child.
A Good Man Goes To War
The Doctor insists to Vastra you cannot "cook" a Time Lord and says Time Lords evolved regeneration from the Untempered Schism. These are both proven to be lies.
Let's Kill Hitler
We are told that the Doctor's regenerations are disabled when he is dying from poison, but not that the two are connected. Given the Matt Smith Doctor has reached the false limit imposed to keep him like other Time Lords, the "disablement" could be entirely different. While all of River's regenerations are required to heal the Doctor, he still has a vast amount of excess regeneration afterwards, more than River believes he should have.
The God Complex
The Minotaur thinks the Doctor's immortal rather than a Time Lord on their last regeneration.
Closing Time
The Cybermen can't convert the Doctor, despite numerous other times they haven't even realized he's an alien.
Asylum of the Daleks
The Daleks think the Doctor is vulnerable to the nano-genes, but he isn't. More proof he's not what the Daleks think of as a Time Lord, and the Prime Minister notes there must be SOME reason they haven't been able to kill the Doctor rather than one of them having a lucky streak.
The Power of Three
The Doctor's DNA isn't so clearly another species that the human-coded cubes don't zap him like everyone else.
The Rings of Akhaten
The Doctor symbolically has all the energy sucked out of him but still survives because he keeps dark secrets that he cannot allow anyone to know.
Nightmare in Silver
Mr. Clever notes he has only partial access to what the Doctor wants him to know about regeneration, including the fact there have only been "ten complete rejigs" and believes the Doctor's threat he can regenerate again if needs be. So is Mr. Clever fooled by the Doctor's bluff, or aware of the truth of the Timeless Child?
The Name of the Doctor
The Great Intelligence, which as the Brigadier notes is pretty damned stupid, only attacks the Doctor's timeline from when Hartnell leaves Gallifrey to when Smith arrives at Trenzalore. He never attacks the Doctor's timeline during the Time War, for example. Given his big "I am information!" and all information on the Timeless Child being redacted, it makes perfect sense he wouldn't stumble over the truth.
The Night of the Doctor
The novelization says that the Eighth Doctor didn't need any elixirs to regenerate despite his death, it was "theatre" to trick him into choosing to regenerate into the War Doctor. That elixir was just lemonade and dry ice. Apparently.
The Day of the Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor notes he doesn't admit to ALL the lives he's lived, and isn't surprised that he has a future incarnation that looks like Tom Baker even when he's supposed to be on his last body. He also knows about the Moment in the Omega Arsenal and can break into it with an ease that suggests he knows a lot more about Ancient Gallifreyan superweapons and the Division than he should.
The Time of the Doctor
It's logical that if the Doctor was mindwiped by the Division and "witness relocated" as an average Prydonian after being rewound to a child, they'd put a limit on his regenerations. It would also mean he would regenerate into the same young-old white men without variation and have difficulty regenerating compared to others. And that it would only take some pixie dust to release that limit and allow him to break out of his "rut".
Deep Breath
The Eleventh Doctor picked his replacement's face and showed a level of control that the Twelfth Doctor was surprised by, and also very unsettled
Listen
Clara pilots the TARDIS to when the Doctor had the "hand under the bed" nightmare, not to his childhood. The fact he was a little boy in a barn when he had the nightmare leads to an understandable misconception
Kill the Moon
The Doctor thinks he might have infinite regenerations now
The Witch's Familiar
The Doctor has no ill-effects from regenerating every Dalek on Skaro, and it doesn't have any downside on his next regeneration even as he notes he shouldn't be able to achieve a normal humanoid shape.
The Woman Who Lived
The Doctor considers himself immortal enough that he dare not travel with Ashildr, even though they both don't know how long lived Me will be.
Heaven Sent
The Doctor's worst memory is an old woman dying and not regenerating, which makes sense. An immortal child finding out other people stay dead would freak them out to say the least.
Hell Bent
Rassilon notes he is unsure how many regenerations they granted the Doctor, suggesting they intended only to "loosen" whatever limit they gave him. The fear of the Doctor learning about the hybrid makes sense if Rassilon knows Time Lords are a hybrid and the Doctor is actually a pure-blood. As Ashildr notes, the prophecy of the hybrid is being brought about by the Master, and is fulfilled in The Timeless Children (where the Master creates hybrids in the ruins of Gallifrey out of a desire to mend his broken hearts).
Thin Ice
Finding out a ruthless adult is using orphan kids as raw material for sick experiments? Doctor smash!
Lie of the Land
The Doctor can do light-shows of fake regeneration for fun and profit. No one else has this ability.
Eater of Light
The Doctor is confident he'll outlive the monsters even if he's trapped with them for eternity
The Doctor Falls
The Cybermen are programmed to capture Time Lords for conversion, but they immediately try and kill the Doctor even though he's unarmed and not a threat. He is also able to abort his regeneration at least five times, which according to Journey's End means he used up five regenerations in a temper-tantrum.
Twice Upon A Time
Testimony shows the full history of the Doctor... but it only shows the Second to the Twelfth. This makes sense if the Division wiped the records of pre-Hartnell and the Thirteenth Doctor doesn't exist yet. The first Doctor is able to control his regeneration process as well the twelfth, despite it being his first time. So maybe he has "muscle memory" from being the Timeless Child, even if he doesn't consciously remember?
So yeah. Makes sense of some things when you think about it.
Sunday 8 March 2020
Thursday 5 March 2020
The Tuneless Children
Well, as DW and Whovians is over for another year - the later proving beyond any doubt the existence of a sane and loving god - here's another music video.The song is basically "Hey, you want to fuck in the branches of the tree where they executed criminals? You know it's least weird shit that's happened up there."
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