Talk:The Tourist (short story)

Which incarnation?
I’d like to dispute the claim that the incarnation of the Doctor featured in this story is the Fugitive Doctor played by Jo Martin.

The POV character lives in Ruth’s apartment, which still contains all her possessions, including pictures of her and Lee. He takes particular notice of her smile, and comments that it’s a smile that tells you everything will be okay.

"But the photos were different. A man. A woman. Smiling. Always smiling! Well… him trying to smile and her knowing how to better than anyone George had ever known. It was a smile that let you know everything would be OK"

A few pages later he encounters a strange woman at a pet shelter, who he finds familiar but doesn’t immediately recognise. The woman is dressed in blue, is characterised almost exactly like the Thirteenth Doctor, and when she mentions the TARDIS, the POV character suspects that it’s a club all the cool young people go to. So none of this feels particularly reminiscent of Ruth to me.

"Pulling away, George sucked at the blood newly released from the back of his hand when he noticed a woman a few feet away, leaning in to his moment with Mittens. He found himself surprisingly defensive about it. ‘Excuse me, ma’am, were you wanting to look at this cat?’ The woman frowned. ‘Nah. She’s all yours. TARDIS is no place for a kitty. She’d get all over the place. Upside down, more often than not. Imagine the litter tray issues!’"

"‘Have we met before?’ he asked. She seemed to take this question very seriously. ‘It’s perfectly possible,’ she said. ‘I tend to get about. But I left Gloucester a long time ago. Or not that long ago actually. Depends how you look at it.’"

Then, he finally seems to recognise the woman when she smiles. It’s the smile specifically that makes him realise who the woman is, and I doubt he’d forget the face that’s all over his apartment.

"The woman smiled and, right then, George knew exactly who she was and that everything would be OK."

Of course it’s still by no means cut and dry and there’s a great degree of ambiguity here, but I do feel that this is more obviously the Thirteenth Doctor than the Fugitive Doctor. SarahJaneFan ☎  00:38, 27 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I think the comment about leaving Gloucester make it obvious that this was supposed to be the Fugitive Doctor, as well as the man recognising the Doctor as the smiling Ruth Clayton that he had noticed earlier. RadMatter ☎  01:43, 27 May 2021 (UTC)


 * I disagree. That comment about leaving Gloucester refers to her visit to the city as the Fugitive Doctor "a long time ago" ("But I left Gloucester a long time ago.") and she refers to the literal time since she left ("Or not that long ago actually."). It's the classic humorous timey-wimey comment the Doctor is prone to making. I find it doubtful that the writer would set the story so much further into the Fugitive Doctor's life that she considers Fugitive of the Judoon to have been "a long time ago". Hence it makes the most sense for it to be 13, based on this piece of evidence.


 * Secondly, the smile here is used as a connection between the two characters - they're both the Doctor (they have the same smile) but are otherwise dissimilar. Perhaps that's a bit of a fanciful notion, but it seems to me to be the intention of the author.


 * But honestly, the dialogue in this piece is so obviously 13. That's the most conclusive evidence here, I find. Danochy ☎  11:42, 27 May 2021 (UTC)


 * The mention of leaving Gloucester makes it sound like they were there for a long time, along the lines of "I left Gallifrey a long time ago", but Thirteen was literally only there for a few hours if that. The beginning and end are designed to fit together - the man doesn't recognise the Fugitive Doctor until she smiles and then he remembers having the same feeling as he did from looking at the picture of Ruth. It is very clear that this is a Fugitive Doctor story. RadMatter ☎  12:12, 27 May 2021 (UTC)