Howling:The Name of the Doctor and The 7th Doctor Matrix Novel

When I was rewatching the Name of the Doctor I started to think about the 7th Doctor novel Matrix and some similarities with them

Both stories features a corruption of the Doctors history in the novel the Valeyard calling himself the Ripper has changed each of the Doctors lives and made them evil there are 12 shadow figures (wraiths) which are reveled to be the Doctors waiting for the 7th to join them. The 1st, 4th and 5th are seen The 5th Doctor was turned on Androzani, which was also mentioned as one of the places which the Doctor died.

Each features a graveyard and the TARDIS being used as something else in the novel a vessel for the Dark Matrix it is referenced to as a crypt and a doorway which has all of the 13 Doctors faces on it as well as the word "The Doctor". Before he enters he hears mocking words like The Whisper Men mock the Doctor and Clara.

In the novel the Doctor had lost his memories on getting them back he is said to hear "Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension?" but that is just a great line to use.A-Smk ☎  21:06, June 11, 2013 (UTC)

It wouldn't be the first time Moffat has taken an idea from a novel. In Shadowmind (a 7th Doctor & Ace novel, as is Matrix), there's an artificial copy of a companion's body, animated by the companion's mind while her real body is kept dormant. That situation might seem familiar to viewers of Series 6. In the 1993 novel, however, Ace was fully aware of the situation & the point of creating a doppelganger of her was to help the Doctor. In Series 6, Amy was not aware of the situation & the point of creating a doppelganger of her was to harm the Doctor.

It's entirely possible that Moffat has taken ideas from Matrix. If so, it's well-nigh certain he'll have used them differently & changed important details. In The Name of the Doctor, there was a crypt -- or at least an underground passage -- as well as the graveyard, the whispering & the TARDIS being used as something else, so further similarities are definitely worth watching out for. But it's also worth bearing in mind that what's actually going on is likely to be quite different.

Mind you, if the 50th Anniversary Special has Clara turning into a large bipedal feline, I'll begin to suspect Moffat's going too far! :) --89.241.64.207talk to me 22:36, June 11, 2013 (UTC)


 * This is a bit tangential but, @89, what do you know about The Watcher character? In May, I was reading over different incarnations of The Doctor and was struck by this figure. Of course, physically, he didn't resemble the John Hurt character in The Name of the Doctor, but I mean the role that character played in the storyline as a certain embodied essence who merges with The Doctor. Because The Valeyard as I understand is actually a future incarnation of The Doctor. I think Hurt is more likely to be some element of The Doctor that is intrinsically a part of him (and of every incarnation), just not another, numbered incarnation.


 * I haven't read at Doctor Who novels but it sounds like Matrix might be worth picking up. Badwolff ☎  20:01, June 12, 2013 (UTC)


 * Badwolff: To understand the Watcher (from Logopolis) properly, you also need to know about the Hermit (a Time Lord), who appeared in Planet of the Spiders as both K'anpo Rimpoche (the abbot of a Buddhist meditation centre in England) and Cho Je (the abbot's assistant). When the Hermit regenerated in Planet of the Spiders, from his K'anpo Rimpoche incarnation into his Cho Je incarnation, the separate manifestation of Cho Je faded out. The Hermit -- I don't think that name was used on TV but it is in novels -- had been one of the Doctor's teachers on Gallifrey & was far, far more skilled at such things than the Doctor. The "anticipatory manifestation" of the Hermit's future incarnation looked more like that incarnation & could function much better than the Watcher could. Neither was a separate incarnation. Each was (in some way) an "echo" of the incarnation that was about to take over.


 * If all this seems obscure, I'm not surprised. Trying to explain in text is difficult. Trying to understand an explanation in text is probably much more so. Your best course would be to watch Planet of the Spiders & then Logopolis -- & only read the articles &c after you've seen the stories, so you'll then have some idea what the articles are talking about.


 * Matrix is worth reading. However, it's another one where background knowledge, if not essential, is distinctly helpful. There's too much in it that depends on knowing about the Seventh Doctor & Ace. At minimum, you ought to watch Survival before reading it, because otherwise you won't know why Ace's eyes change colour & develop slit-shaped (rather than round) pupils, nor why that bothers her in the specific way it does. Ace knows what it means & the reader is expected to know, too. (I was 89 earlier.) --2.101.53.202talk to me 22:13, June 12, 2013 (UTC)


 * Wow, I guess I have some DVDs to buy. I didn't realize it was so complicated, when I read the character bio for The Watcher, it just sounded like he appeared in one serial. And I don't know anything about the Seventh Doctor or Ace! I'm a relative newbie.


 * By the way, do you know of any DW site that ranks or rates the novels or audio programs? There are so damn many of them, it's really hard to know where to start. And then, I guess, there are comic books, too. I guess watching the new Series is just one small slice of Doctor Who. Badwolff ☎  22:25, June 12, 2013 (UTC)