Over Thinking Doctor Who

Anyone who has been watching Doctor Who for the past four years knows that Russell T Davies has a knack for maintaining plot thread consistency. He also has a Whedonesque knack for planting a seed a season or two in advance, and then plucking the fruit and feeding it to you exactly when it is ripe.

Well, I believe I spotted several seeds sown into the last two episodes. Let me run you through my logic, and you can tell me if I have found the makings of a great tree or crabgrass.

  1. The Time Lords are trapped in a Time Lock, and nothing can get out that was not already there:
    1. The ‘drumbeat’ heard by The Master is used as a link because he was receiving it before the Time Lords were trapped in the Time Lock.
    2. Wilfred Mott is visited repeatedly by an elderly woman who later turns out to be a Time Lord. She is able to communicate with him, establishing that they have some sort of link, or bond, that pre-dates the Time War.
  2. Uncorrupted Time Lords avoid interference:
    1. As far back as the second Doctor, the Time Lords considered it a crime to interfere with lesser races in any way.
    2. Wilfred Mott is an ‘old soldier’ who didn’t really fight in the war. He had no impact on the outcome.
  3. Uncorrupted Time Lords avoid violence:
    1. The Doctor has almost always avoided violence. (Jon Pertwee had an extended sword fight with The Master, which should count as violence)
    2. Wilfred Mott had a gun in his possession, but did not use it against The Master when he had the opportunity.
  4. The Doctor manipulates others into committing violent acts.
    1. This was the central theme of the 2008 series finale. The Doctor shapes other people into weapons so that he does not directly interfere.
    2. Wilfred Mott tries to get the Doctor to take the gun in order to fight the Master.
  5. Who are the two Time Lords who voted against The Final Sanction?
    1. We discover that the woman who has been visiting Wilfred Mott is one of the two women who voted against destroying the universe. She makes eye contact with The Doctor and he suddenly is filled with inspiration about what he needs to do. The Doctor never identifies her, even when asked, and seems pained by the thought. I am going to speculate that she was The Doctor’s mother, and that he regrets that he was forced to trap her in the Time Lock with the rest of the Time Lords in order to save the Universe.
    2. Who is the second woman? This is pure speculation, unsupported by the chain of facts I am trying to build. But, I need something to flesh out this two-point entry. I think the second woman is The Master’s mother. She would not vote to end the Universe, thereby killing her only son; but she also couldn’t raise her head and make eye contact with her evil spawn.
  6. Strange connection:
    1. Wilfred Mott keeps showing up at critical points in the Doctor’s life.
    2. It took Captain Jack Harkness hundreds of years to find The Doctor, and it took Wilfred Mott two hours.
  7. Mutual Respect:
    1. Wilfred Mott says he would be proud to have The Doctor as his son.
    2. The Doctor says he would be proud to have Wilfred Mott as his father.
  8. Time Lords can hide out as human beings.
    1. The Doctor hid out as a human in the past.
    2. The Master hid out as a human in the furthest possible future.
    3. … Wait for it… Wilfred Mott did it too

That’s right. I am suggesting that Wilfred Mott is in fact The Doctor’s Father! I am suggesting that at some point in the past he morphed himself into a human and chose to live out his life on planet Earth. This is why The Doctor’s mother comes to him telling him what he must do to save The Doctor. Maybe this is even why The Doctor has such a fondness for humans.

What do you think?

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