Board Thread:The Reference Desk/@comment-5545417-20131116122722/@comment-188432-20131119204205

Shambala108 wrote: I think the Five Doctors thing is trying to explain away Five's apparent non-memory of experiencing these events three times already (and for that matter, Three has gone through them twice already and Two has gone through them one before). Oh, yeah, I totally accept that argument. Problem is that it's not Dicks who makes it. It's just fans saying that, for instance, Two couldn't logically remember the events of Five Doctors otherwise One would have no cause to act surprised when he: a) meet Susan; b) encounters the TARDIS in the wild, etc.

The word "memory" isn't even in the script, save for the explanation Two gives about what happened to Jamie and Zoe. People who believe that the memories of all he Doctors are wiped are hanging their hat on one word in one sentence:


 * Fifth Doctor: All we ask is that we be returned to our proper place in time and space.

What is proper? Does that turn the clock back to a point before these events happened? Or does it mean they go to the point in time and space from which they were plucked, but retain their memories? Other than the fact that Five certainly retains his memories of the event, we just don't know for sure. But I think it's actually implied that they do retain the memories, because of the initial scenes on the Eye of Orion. There, we see the Doctor's memories being physically ripped from him as various lives are snatched from time. So to solve the main point of the plot, the proper place for all these guys would be to have all the memories re-integrated into Five's brain box.

But all we literally get in Five Doctors is this: Borusa plucks them from their time streams and Rassilon plops them all back home — with absolutely zero comment upon characters' respective memories.

I mean obviously the huge hole in Five Doctors is if One knows who Tegan is, why on Earth wouldn't the Fourth Doctor have just put her off the ship instantly? Lord knows, I would have, if I'd gotten a sneak preview like that.

But it more broadly calls into question the Doctor's free will in choosing those particular companions, since Sarah, Tegan, Turlough and the Brig are all in the future relative to the First Doctor. You kinda have to read Five Doctors as essentially forcing future Doctors to pick these people so that he avoids changing his future — not because he actually likes them.