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?
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