Doctor Who

Doctor Who ’s late big reveal has exit some healthy secret plan gob in the telecasting show ’s foresightful canon . The Timeless Child mystery has been in effect since Jodie Whittaker ’s first few episodes , reemerging at the first of time of year 12 , but only now has a classical response been offered . In " The Timeless Children , " The Master break that the Time Lords originated   when The Doctor fell through a boundary from another universe into our own . The natives of Gallifrey used the inherent   healing ability of The Doctor to create the positive feedback caper they would later ramp up a civilization upon , but due to some transaction with The Divison , Doctor Who ’s Hero of Alexandria was forced to forget this history and their importance to Gallifrey ’s origination .

Such a seismic alteration toDoctor Whocanon has obviously split fan feeling , but while it might be too early to recite whether theTimeless Childis a stroke of genius or a lesson in how to destroy a franchise in 65 minute of arc , it ’s hard to argue that the idea is n’t wholly ridiculous , one way or the other . To   completely turn 50 years of story on its head   is a brave and insane project and , ironically , only time will prescribe whether this dotty idea will pay off .

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Doctor Who Season 14 Poster

As one might gestate , this rewriting ofDoctor Whohistoryhas created some plot holes where the new story does n’t quite match up with what fan already be intimate . The conform to points may yet be come up to inDoctor Who ’s futurity , and some are more of import than others , but as things stomach , they are narrative gaps that the Timeless Child secret has created . Here are all theDoctor Whoplot gob time of year 12 ’s last left behind .

The Blue Box TARDIS

Perhaps the most dazzling issue with The Doctor having go amount of past life beforeWilliam Hartnellconcerns the blue loge form of the TARDIS . After learning that she ’s far , far aged than she think she is , Jodie Whittaker ’s Doctor surmise that the Ruth Doctor encountered previously must be a harbinger date stamp beyond her ( supposedly ) first incarnation . Certainly , this would explain why Ruth says she ’s working for someone ( The Division ) and why she does n’t acknowledge the Sonic Screwdriver or the Thirteenth Doctor . But Ruth ’s TARDIS is shaped like a constabulary box seat , and this should n’t be the case if she amount before Hartnell .

InDoctor Who ’s 2nd - ever installment , the First Doctor travels from sixties England to the prehistorical epoch , and upon exiting the TARDIS , is surprised to see that his chamaeleon circuit has n’t changed the ship ’s exterior from a police box to something more period - appropriate . This is the moment the TARDIS accept ( and keeps ) its police box range , so Ruth ’s TARDIS should still be camouflaging as mean .

Two Hearts

In " The Timeless Children , " it ’s let out that the people of Gallifrey used The Doctor , a child from another worldly concern , to obtain powers of positive feedback , unnaturally stealing the youngster ’s natural abilities . However , this does n’t automatically excuse why the rest of The Doctor ’s biology is the same as every otherTime Lord , especially when it number to having two hearts . So are The Doctor’srealrace and the Time Lords both coincidentally bear with dual tickers , or did the Gallifreyans originally have one heart , but Tecteun ’s experiments resulted in the Time Lords developing a second over clock time , mimic the Doctor ’s physiology ? Certainly , there ’s no reference of   ancient Time Lords only possessing a exclusive heart .

On another biological eminence , Paul McGann ’s Eighth Doctor claim to be half - human . While this was arguablyalreadya plot hole , the fortune of The Doctor take human deoxyribonucleic acid are now even more unlikely , since she does n’t even come from this universe .

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Jodie Whittaker as Thirteenth Doctor, Tom Baker as Fourth Doctor, Jenna Coleman as Clara and TARDIS in Doctor Who

The “Doctor” Name

Similar to the TARDIS plot golf hole mentioned above , the name " The MD " is something that should be unique tothisincarnation of the character . In " The Sound of Drums,“The Master sound out he remembers The Doctorchoosing his own title because he wanted to " make mass better . " Logically , then , all of the pre - Hartnell MD should call themselves something totally unlike , but Ruth once again confute this by also referring to herself as " The Doctor of the Church . " An ineluctable katzenjammer from a late living , perhaps ?

Although not a secret plan yap in itself , it ’s also interesting that   The Doctor’srealname now holds either far less or far more significance . The Matt Smith era teased , but never break , the birth name of The Doctor , which is known only to the Time Lords andRiver Song . If The Doctor ’s name comes from the character ’s true dwelling house satellite , this could be a lively cue as to their descent . However , if The Doctor ’s mysterious real name was just one given by Tecteun , it means virtually nothing now .

Why Does The Doctor Have Only 12 Regenerations?

" The Timeless Children " explains that the Time Lords harvested The physician ’s positive feedback ability for their own role , but strictly specify its usage to 12 time , so as to avoid create immortals . But if the regeneration limit is ego - levy , it should n’t implement to The Doctor at all . As the Timeless Child , it ’s   impossible to say how often The Doctor can renew , but until specified otherwise , it ’s natural to assume she could do so indefinitely , which meansMatt Smith ’s Doctordidn’t necessitate a new re-formation cycle in parliamentary law to switch into Peter Capaldi . Did the Time Lordspretendto give The Doctor a young set of lives just to maintain their illusion , or did Tecteun come up a manner to visit the Time Lords ' own demarcation on The Doctor herself ?

Regenerating Into A Child

The Doctor remembers growing up as a child , and these memory board are support by The Master , who claims that her entire least sandpiper with The Division happenedbeforethe duo develop up together on Gallifrey . WhileDoctor Whoseason 12shows viewers how The Division efface The Doctor ’s memories of her earlier lives , it ’s not clear how she went back   to being a child . Traditionally , Time Lords age from young   to maturity , but the re-formation process does n’t touch this , instead just renewing the adult physical structure . This is demonstrated in " The Timeless Children " itself , when the Timeless Child falls from a cliff and regenerates into another fry . A collage then shows the various incarnation of the type getting old and older , and even a novel re-formation cycle does n’t readjust the aging process . Consequently , The Doctor should n’t remember being a child at all .

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River Song

River Song ’s origins were already convoluted , but   are even more baffling now with the Timeless Child in play . The account goes that the Eleventh Doctor ’s companion , Amy and Rory , had sexual urge on the TARDIS while move around through the Time Vortex and their shaver , while still human , was invest with regeneration abilities . When it was think that the Time Lords had master re-formation on their own accord , this was just about plausible , but does n’t quite work neatly alongside the season 12 conclusion ’s reveals . If regeneration is something the Time Lords genetically engineered from The Doctor ’s unsung subspecies , Rory being unable to keep his transonic screwdriver in check should n’t have meant his kid was indue the same power .

The Doctor Entered The Matrix Before

The Master claims to have accidentally uncovered the secret of the Timeless Child while stab around in the Matrix , but this might be consider strange , as both he and The Doctor have nose around in there before . Tom Baker ’s Doctor and the disfigured Master entered the Matrix in " The Deadly Assassin , " with the Fourth Doctor going back for more in " The Invasion of Time , " wearing a crown that provide unrestricted access to the jumbo Gallifreyan hard effort . SinceThe Masteralmost seemed to stumble across The Doctor ’s root story , why did neither fiber point out it before ? The potential account here is that the Matrix is so vast , The Doctor and Master were both fool by the Brendan sensing filter while search the   amassed datum   previously .

The Valeyard

The Valeyard was introduced during the Sixth doc ’s reign as an merger of The Doctor ’s darker instincts converge into one being , aver to egress at some point after the twelfth positive feedback . When Peter Capaldi ’s sovereignty lead off , Doctor Whofans swiftly began to speculate whether The Valeyard would now make their long - expect show , but only a abbreviated reference was offered bySteven Moffatduring this re-formation . Now fans know that The Doctoractuallypassed 12 regenerations long , long ago , The Valeyard ’s absence looks even stranger .

Where Do The Division Go?

There remain much closed book skirt The Division . The shadowed crowd look to be a undercover offshoot of Time Lords that actively meddle with meter , in contradiction of Gallifrey ’s common computer code , and The Doctor conducted missions for them before pass out in a stolen TARDIS .   However , the existence of The Division   produce a plot maw when considering the occasion Time Lordshaveelected to fiddle with history and recruited The Doctor to do so . Ever since the time of the Third Doctor , the Time Lords have sporadically portion The Doctor commission , such as wiping out theDaleksin the classic " generation of the Daleks . " This was most likely at the behest of the Celestial Intervention Agency ( another shadowy Time Lord outfit ) but if The Division existed , would n’t this be their area of expertness ? This unexampled group appear to just be doing precisely what the Time Lords have been for years already .

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Clara Entering The Doctor’s Time Stream

In Matt Smith ’s " The Name of the Doctor " time of year 7 conclusion , The Great Intelligence enter The Doctor ’s prison term stream to loosen all the goodDoctor Who ’s hero had ever achieve in the past , with Clara bravely jumping in to contain him . This clip current harbour the intact past , present and future of The Doctor and Clara get all of it , even reveal the previously - unobserved War Doctor as a result of   bump everything Doctor - related lay out in front of her . Surely , she would ’ve seen the pre - Hartnell Doctors during this experience ? Clara knew enough of The Doctor ’s origin to lead him towards the right TARDIS , so there ’s no reason for her not to go further back beyond that . Is this something The Division could have even meddle with ?

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David Tennant as Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who

Matt Smith as Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who and Gallifrey

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First Doctor

An image of River Song standing in front of a TARDIS in Doctor Who

Tom Baker as The Doctor

Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Michael Jayston as Valeyard in Doctor Who

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