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the “show within a show” theory continues!
y’all remember how in space babies, the ship created the bogeyman because there’s supposed to be a monster?
rogue fits an archetype just a little too well. he’s smart and witty and full of bravado and clicks with the doctor instantly.
a lot of us had the theory that rogue was secretly jack harkness. and the thing is, he still basically is. he’s the archetype laid out by jack. doing some sketchy work, flirty and angsty, changes his heart and sacrifices himself at the end. and how many american accents do we hear on doctor who anyway?
so maybe space babies was designed mimic to the end of the world. and rogue was designed to mimic the empty child/the doctor dances (also! the doctor danced!)
maybe ruby is supposed to be the prototypical companion, be quite a bit like rose and clara. maybe rogue is supposed to be like jack.
maybe this new “season one” is supposed to be like 2005 season one.
it’s not little references meant to make you think of the past, this is an act. this is cosplay.
Theory: Something serious is up with the TARDIS
I had been wondering about this all series, but after Rogue today, it's finally been confirmed that something's going on with the TARDIS (on top of all the other arc threads going on!).
The moment I picked it up was in The Devil's Chord, where the TARDIS makes a strange groan and creaks after landing back in 1963. Ruby thinks it's from Maestro, but the Doctor says it's "something else". As of today it's happened again, twice! Once in the episode itself, once in the next time trailer. The exact same sound effect!
Someone on reddit pointed out a few weeks ago that this sound appeared even earlier too, in Wild Blue Yonder (notably also when we first saw Susan Twist, had gravity changed to mavity, and welcomed the Pantheon into the universe). Each time, it's also had attention drawn to it. Here's a video of each scene, followed by a direct comparison of each sound:
(I did have a quick glance to see if it appeared elsewhere, maybe even during Flux. As far as I can tell however, Wild Blue Yonder seems to be the only non-S14 appearance.)
What's more, going back to that Reddit thread, someone pointed out what the Wild Blue Yonder script says about this moment:
And then the TARDIS seems to moan. The Doctor fascinated. DONNA: Is it working? THE DOCTOR: I think so. Strange. He reaches out, touches the TARDIS, wondering. And that 'strange' will come back to haunt him, one day. But now...
(Suddenly the TARDIS freaking out over Donna's spill might make a bit more sense...)
So what the hell's going on?
Well, between a trailer scene and some news that just came out a few hours ago as of writing this, I think I may have an idea. Given it's based on trailer footage uploaded and then removed from YouTube, I'll put it below beneath a read more:
In a removed Disney+ teaser trailer we get two frames of the Doctor screaming out into space (with Mel behind him). Except it's not from "his" TARDIS:
It's the f*cking memory TARDIS!
And here's the thing. Not only was this trailer scrubbed from the Disney+ and BBC channels, but in the other trailers, this clip is entirely different! Not only is Mel gone, but the TARDIS interior is now Fifteen's own, and the TARDIS is in a different, generic region of space.
Just before this, we also see a similar nebulous region of space matching the unmanipulated clip.
But why on Earth is this such a big deal, that the BBC/Disney would go full MCU and give us a deliberately altered clip? The only previous time I remember Doctor Who doing this was for Series 10, hiding the plot point of the Doctor's blindness. It's not because of Mel, who literally appears in the released trailer. It's also seemingly not because of the background, despite it also being altered (unless the two moons are a clue with the planet being Gallifrey or something - the thought had occurred to me - but that's such a tiny detail, and we also only see one sun). Instead, it must be the Memory TARDIS. But why?
In-universe, I have no idea. On one hand I'd be delighted to get some answers as to its nature. Assuming it's connected to the groans we've been hearing, then it could be the TARDIS undergoes some sort of metamorphosis into this state? But we've seen the TARDIS change all the time, whether for safety, to recover or whatever. I also can't imagine general audiences are falling over themselves to find out the in-universe explanation for a Classic Who re-release framing device. Not to mention, apparently the sound will go on to "haunt" the Doctor...
...maybe the TARDIS straight up is taken out of commission in some way? And the Memory TARDIS isn't the same ship, but the Doctor's way of saving the day without her? Maybe even remembered into existence Fitz/Amy style?
Out of universe however, it's just been announced yesterday that we're getting more Tales of the TARDIS.
And not just more omnibus stories with past characters returning for in-universe commentary... but with Fifteen and Ruby! What's more, it's apparently a one-off, right before the finale (but, note, after the first part next week).
Which means it's important. Possibly extremely so, given the edited trailer scene. It might even serve as an interquel, given Fifteen and Ruby are somehow in it.
I've seen two common theories. Either a) it will be Pyramids of Mars, and we're getting Sutekh in the finale (presumably with Fifteen and Ruby partially because of bringing back Elizabeth Sladen obviously not being an available option - and even if you thought up another character, eg. Luke, I doubt Tom would be interested, at that point anyway), or b) it will be something tying into Susan returning.
Honestly between the remaining trailer clips (eg. sandstorms and dusty planets), a tease RTD supposedly gave in DWM, and an old interview with him where he supposedly floated the idea of bringing back a Classic Who for a finale and airing the original serial on BBC3 beforehand, I'm kinda leaning towards the prior, even though it wasn't at all on my radar.
However, this still doesn't actually answer what's up with the TARDIS.
It could quite literally be anything. However, here's a few ideas, some reasonable some weird, that I have come up with:
Old age / stress. This is a weird one, but oddly enough something I had thought of once in the past, and I just saw someone else come to the same idea on Reddit. The idea is that while the Doctor has a new regeneration cycle and now a good few years, if not decades or more, of rest and recovery, the TARDIS may struggling in it's own right (especially if it is somehow old enough to have once been the Fugitive Doctor's). However, while this could be something interesting to explore, and I think isn't entirely mutually exclusive with other options, I can't imagine going anywhere near a storyline of the TARDIS itself 'wearing thin'. Besides, if we did, I like to imagine it would have been foreshadowed with size leakage, as per Name of the Doctor.
Relating to the above, could it be something linked to the TARDIS splitting in The Giggle? However, the sound starts before then (not that that means much to the TARDIS, but still).
Laws of rationality breaking down. This one makes the most sense in a lot of ways, between the expanded universe (particularly Christmas on a Rational Planet) and Flux, we've seen the TARDIS cannot survive in an irrational universe. While time has stabilised for now, we're still seeing magic and other Old Time forces encroaching in on the Web of Time. I'm a bit torn with this one however, as while it works from a lore and writing perspective, plus matches with this starting in Wild Blue Yonder (right after the Mavity incident... interestingly), it seems odd it's not more connected with what happened in Flux? Why are the sounds and effects on the TARDIS completely different?
Something to do with the Doctor's fobwatch. In Rogue, the Doctor blames the sound on indigestion. We know we're getting more Timeless Child related stuff - could this somehow be linked to Thirteen dropping the Division biodata module deep into the TARDIS? Would be a weird time to pick this up though, and I'm not sure exactly how that would have had such an effect.
The most actually likely, but least possible to theorise about: it's something time-wimey to do with Ruby, the villain(s) of the story, and/or Susan Twist, especially given this started after her first appearance.
Regardless, I'm just excited to see what's up with the Memory / "Remembered" TARDIS, because it's seems we're about to learn something...
Alright, sooooo....... [If you're a Whovian who absolutely hates with a fiery passion the whole Timeless Child route that they're going with, I respect your opinion, and you may completely ignore this post because I happen to bring it up]
To any and all Whovians that have seen 15's first season over on Disney+. Just out of curiosities sake, who do you think might be Ruby's mom? I know we'll get more and more clues to how it happens to be if it does happen to be someone we know, but my top 3 theory is:
Susan. If she's alive, that is. He did make a point that they're gone (since the Master Cybermaned them), but I don't remember all of them being Cybermaned.
A pre-Hartnell regeneration of the Doctor possibly prior to Fugitive Doctor. Considering what happened between 13 and Fugitive, that would be a real nasty mess. More so adding a child to mix.
A member of the Sisterhood of Karn. I know we haven't seen them since 12, but I also don't remember hearing whether or not they're gone. This one may or may not be my favorite one I've thought of since I really like the Sisterhood, but that's besides the point.
[As I was writing this, I just realized I had a fourth idea: she could very likely be the child of The One Who Waits!! That's what The One Who Waits has been waiting for!! Wait..... No!!!!!!!!!!!!! The One Who Waits is actually the Doctor's bio parent and Ruby was a random child from the Doctor's original world that The One Who Waits used as a ploy just to meet the child they were separated from!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]