Doctor (Doctor Who)

The Doctor is the only known name of the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also featured in a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series.

Discontinuities

A common contention among fans and producers of the series is that a large part of the Doctor's appeal comes from his mysterious and alien origins. While over the decades several revelations have been made about his background - that he is a Time Lord, that he is from Gallifrey, among others - the writers have often strived to retain some sense of mystery and to preserve the eternal question, "Doctor who?" This backstory was not rigidly planned from the beginning, but developed gradually (and somewhat haphazardly) over the years, the result of the work of many writers and producers.

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Understandably, this has led to continuity problems. Characters such as the Meddling Monk were retroactively classified as Time Lords, early histories of races such as the Daleks were rewritten, and so on. The creation of a detailed backstory has also led to the criticism that too much being known about the Doctor limits both creative possibilities and the sense of mystery.

Related Topics:
Continuity - Meddling Monk - Time Lord - Dalek

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Some of the stories during the Seventh Doctor's tenure, part of the so-called "Cartmel Masterplan", were intended to deal with this issue by suggesting that much of what was believed about the Doctor was wrong and that he was a far more powerful and mysterious figure than previously thought. In both an untelevised scene in Remembrance of the Daleks and the subsequent Silver Nemesis it was implied that the Doctor was more than "just another Time Lord." The suspension of the series in 1989 meant that none of these hints were ever resolved. The "Masterplan" was used as a guide for the Virgin New Adventures series of novels featuring the Seventh Doctor, and the revelations about the Doctor's origins were written into the novel Lungbarrow by Marc Platt. However, the canonicity of these novels, like all Doctor Who spin-offs, is unclear.

Related Topics:
Seventh Doctor - Cartmel Masterplan - Remembrance of the Daleks - Silver Nemesis - 1989 - Virgin New Adventures - Marc Platt - Canonicity - Doctor Who spin-offs

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The 1996 television movie created even more uncertainty about the character, revealing (among other things) that his mother was human, although this may or may not be true. Fans, however, seemed to be more upset about the fact that the Eighth Doctor was shown kissing Dr. Grace Holloway, breaking the series' long-standing taboo against the Doctor having any romantic involvement with his companions. The 2005 series likewise appeared to be moving towards a Doctor-Companion romance of sorts, with the Doctor seen kissing Rose in the last episode of that series, The Parting of the Ways (although this also served another purpose).

Related Topics:
1996 - Grace Holloway - Rose - The Parting of the Ways

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While some fans regard discontinuities as a problem, others regard it as a source of interest or humour (an attitude taken in the book The Discontinuity Guide). A common fan explanation is that a universe with time travellers is likely to have many historical inconsistencies. There has also been much fan speculation centred on exactly which aspects of the television series, books, radio dramatisations, and other sources were considered canon in the 2005 series.

Related Topics:
The Discontinuity Guide - 2005

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