The Division

One of the best specials, I think. It had a pretty good beginning and excellent effects+acting. One thing that really kind of bugged me though, was the resolution of the story- the bi-generation gimmick+the way a new tardis got formed out of nowhere just felt really..... lazy. Tennant was fantastic here but the writing here felt really weird. I'm excited for what comes next but frankly, it could have been done a LOT better. The plus sides were the Timeless Child being fixed up and the master returning imo. I just wish that they had maybe leaned into the idea that the Toymaker had been manipulating the Doctor's life instead of referencing the idea of it.

So I heard a lot of people hated the Timeless Child thingy. Personally, I'm not happy with it but I thought it wasn't the absolute worst thing that they could have done with the series.

But people still really hated it so I'm going suggest some ideas on how the next writers, whoever they may be, could undo this thing.

1. Jodie Whittaker was not actually the doctor. The doctor is actually somehow perceiving everything from a different timelord, and was actually not the timeless child.

2. Mistaken identity. The doctor is actually not the timeless child, but everyone thought she/he/they were, and went nuts on a wild goose chase.

3. Elaborate lie. This whole entire Timeless Child thing was a huge lie set up by the Division to keep the doctor out of their business while they move to that other universe.

4. It wAs aLl a dReAm!1!11!Self explanatory. A desperate bid, sure, but viable.

So what do you think of my ideas?

Hi guys! I’m very confused with the recent episodes of doctor who. Especially last Sunday’s episode. Could someone please explain.?

I have a theory that the ‘Scream of the Shalka’ Doctor is in fact a previous Doctor working for the Division (ie. before the Fugitive Doctor), and another about the Master in it as well, but I’ll get to that in a bit. The ‘Shalka’ Doctor says to himself as he arrives that “they” (almost definitely the Time Lords) had sent him there, and has a feel of reluctance about it; definitely doing his job, but not entirely comfortable being ordered around all the time - very much like the Doctor. There’s nothing mentioned in the story that directly contradicts this theory, which is more that can be said for a lot of established aspects of the show.

I think that the TARDIS being a Police Box in this as well kind of works in a way since the Fugitive Doctor also had a Police Box TARDIS - something which I think was very much overlooked on Chibnall’s behalf. This, however, kind of gives it a bit more credibility, in that the TARDIS was stuck as a Police Box for the Division Doctors (probably issued to them brand new), but one day got stuck as a Police Box, but when - centuries later - the First Doctor stole it, it reverted back to that as a kind of memory or continuation. This goes back to the idea that the TARDIS is sentient and knows what’s best for the Doctor, as shown in ‘The Doctor’s Wife’.

Now for the Master…

The ‘Android’ Master in ‘Scream of the Shalka’ said that he was given the choice to die or become, essentially, the Doctor’s pet. What if the Division contacted the Master just at the moment of death (as the Time Lords did Clara), and offered him this choice. Then suppose that this moment was in fact when Missy ‘dies’ on the Mondasian ship. This would mean that the ‘redeemed’ Missy was offered to help a previous version of the Doctor or face death. Knowing the Master, the non-death option would always be taken, but it seems almost perfect that Missy is given this chance to do what she was working for over millennia to do. This also explains that when we see the Master next in ‘Spyfall’, he’s back to his mad old self - the Master was ‘recruited’ and therefore learned about the Division and the Timeless Child and so on, explaining how he came across the information in the first place (I know it says he hacked the Matrix, but how or why he did that, and especially at this point in time, is beyond me). I feel like this ties in nicely with the already established Timeless Child timeline, but also gives Missy’s ‘redemption arc’ the send off it deserves. It’s also just nice to be able to fit ‘Scream of the Shalka’ into the Doctor Who timeline because it’s just great.

If you’ve made it this far, I have to say thank you and also well done. Let me know what you make of this if it hasn’t just been paragraphs of sheer nonsense.

I'm thinking it's some sort of group or club of historians that were trying to figure out the origins of the Universe and discovered something about the Timeless Child, which would explain why the Doctor is so interested in finding them, and why she doesn't want to tell Yaz.

What do you think?