Uninformed Speculation - (Mild Spoilers)

[Rob McCow]

This is a thread for non-spoilery guesswork about what might happen. Won't be too strict about it, but no major spoilers either.

So for example for Season 3 -
OK:
Derek Jacobi is going to be playing a character called Professor Yana.
Not OK:
He's got a time watch that contains the essence of the Master and that he regenerates into John Simm in the TARDIS after locking the Doctor, Jack and Martha out etc etc...

Basically, if it's been announced on the BBC Website or Radio Times it's fine.

So what the hell is going on with this Doctor's Daughter thing? They say it's not going to be a cop-out, but how can that be? Is she just going to be a clone or something? And will we find out who is the mummy?

And where does this leave Susan?!?!?

[Andrew Curnow]

I've no idea, but based on the trailer and the DWM preview she clearly is going to be his daughter. It might conceivably (poor choice of words...) be like Arthur Dent's daughter in the last HHGTTG book, where Trillian has used donated sperm (I think) from the one human male left alive (ie, Arthur) but he doesn't know anything at all about any of it until the daughter turns up one day.

However, based on the trailer it seems more likely that it's just going to be the lovechild from some brief encounter sometime in the past. I don't think we're to assume her to be Susan's Mum, and I don't think the Doctor knows anything about her until she turns up. Either that or he did know about her, but believed her to be long dead.

As I've said elsewhere, I remain to be convinced that it's a good idea - it's all very well to do an episode to prove that you can change the Doctor (DWM makes it sound like the episode was dreamed up just to win a bet, but I have to assume there's much more thought behind it than that) but you have to then do that; and I'm just not sure that the remainder of the series will actually see a 'changed' Doctor.

We'll have to wait and see I suppose!

[Andrew Curnow]

Then again, maybe she's from the Doctor's future, and the rest of the series is a big mystery as to whether the mother is Rose, Donna, Martha, or SJS? It worked for EastEnders...

Maybe that's why episode 12's title is still a mystery - it's probably called "Mother's Day" or even "Who Did Who".

Mm, yes, very probably Andrew...

[Andrew Curnow]

Or Romana, or Madame de Pompadour, or Jackie Tyler.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

This is a thread for non-spoilery guesswork about what might happen. Won't be too strict about it, but no major spoilers either.

So for example for Season 3 -
OK:
Derek Jacobi is going to be playing a character called Professor Yana.
Not OK:
He's got a time watch that contains the essence of the Master and that he regenerates into John Simm in the TARDIS after locking the Doctor, Jack and Martha out etc etc...

That would have been one hell of a guess

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I have to say I still don't get the problem here. He used to travel around with his grandaughter, and there was never any hint she was a clone, or that she wasn't really his grandaughter or anything like that. So why is having a daughter going to change the character so much? And why does she have to be a clone or born from stolen sperm?

[WhiteCrow]

Well as the Doctor is half-human, he probably did the nasty in the past-y with a human, so she's only part Time Lord, making her technically not a Time Lord either.

Hence he'll still be the last one.

It'll be interesting to see where they go from here.

[Andrew Curnow]

I have to say I still don't get the problem here. He used to travel around with his grandaughter, and there was never any hint she was a clone, or that she wasn't really his grandaughter or anything like that. So why is having a daughter going to change the character so much? And why does she have to be a clone or born from stolen sperm?

I only used the stolen sperm in reference to Arthur Dent, I don't think it'll be anything like that.

He did look surprised to see her, and also to discover he has a daughter, which is what makes me think this isn't Susan's mother, or anything like that. After going to all the trouble last year to point out that the Master was 'hidden', which was why the Doctor could not detect any other Timelords out there, it would be a bit of a gaffe to then have a Timelord daughter happily alive.

Plus, Susan left 44 years ago, and even her return in T5D was 25 years ago, so I don't personally think they're going to start getting into tangled continuity references going back that far. BUT I could be very wrong.

And... I'm not saying that having a daughter will change the character just because I think so, but rather in reference to various DWM items in the past two or three issues in regard to this episode, which basically say it came about in response to a comment that you can't change the Doctor's character.

[Andrew Curnow]

Or Michelle Fowler, or Christine Kochanski, or The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

And... I'm not saying that having a daughter will change the character just because I think so, but rather in reference to various DWM items in the past two or three issues in regard to this episode, which basically say it came about in response to a comment that you can't change the Doctor's character.

I wonder who made that comment and why. Seeing as the Doctor's character has changed quite notably several times, not least of all being that his current persona isn't really like that of old.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Hang on... Eastenders had a plotline about a lovechild from the future? Things have changed since I stopped watching.

[JohnMan]

Well, we know one thing... if the Doc really loved his daughter, he'd be going to see her at Christmas instead of coming to earth and fighting off some new alien threat.

[Rob McCow]

No Christmas Presents for Daughter Who.

He's a baaaaaaaaad dad!

I suppose the upsetting thing is the idea of the Doctor as a sexually active person. If it were true, it could undermine the whole of every relationship he's had with a female companion in the past. He's always been a father figure / protector to his companions, rather than a sexual partner.

The TARDIS might be one glorified lurve shack!

It's more annoying because if they leave it unsaid, then everyone can have their own ideas about the Doctor's private life and background. If it's explicitly stated on TV that she's the lovechild of Doctor Who and Romana Two (or whatever), then it means we can't make up our own mind and there's a little less mystery about the character.

It'd be a weird life though. "Daddy - I preferred you when you were Peter Davison!"

[JohnMan]

Ah who knows... It might turn out that shes not really his daughter and that shes been cloned from his DNA or something. If it really was his daughter, I'd say Davies (and/or whoever) would have saved such an epic announcement for the seasons final storyline.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I suppose the upsetting thing is the idea of the Doctor as a sexually active person. If it were true, it could undermine the whole of every relationship he's had with a female companion in the past. He's always been a father figure / protector to his companions, rather than a sexual partner.

Haha. Aside from it being a bit of a barmy notion that any male who's ever had sex couldn't possibly have female friends, there's got to be something wrong if the Doctor's daughter turning up actually spoils his image as a father figure*. Surely it's the very definition of father figure?

Also, might I point out the existence of Susan again? I hate to keep going on about it but it does seem rather relevant as far as allegations of previous sexual activity go.






*rather than, for example, snogging all the girls he's had near him lately.

[Dirk Gently]

It might turn out that the Susan wasn't actually related to the Doctor & the titles they gave each other were just affectionate names in terms of the relationship they have between them & not related to their physical biology.

[Andrew Curnow]

Agreed, Susan clearly indicates that the Doctor has had sex once at the very least. However, if episode 6 clearly establishes that he is, to whatever degree, interested in all that then it does I think raise questions about how he's choosing his companions - it's always been sort of a joke that they always tend to be attractive young women, and to suggest that he was never interested in any of them would be absurd once it's established that hs IS interested in romance, sex, whatever.

Regardless though, my money is on her definitely being his daughter, and produced by the usual method!! I think it would be a real cop-out for her to be a clone, or extracted from his DNA without his knowing, etc.

[Paul Clement]

There's a big assumption going on that the only way she could be the Doctor's daughter is through either sex or some form of decpetion. The Doctor's an alien, perhaps they produce children in a different way a la the loom from Lungbarrow. or perhaps the Time Lords had to provide DNA as part of their life on Gallifrey to reproduce offspring and the Doctor, at the time, had to comply.

[Andrew Curnow]

I still think the answer is sex.

Mind you, to be fair, I often say that, even when it's patently not. Well, you never know...

[Pip Madeley]

I still think the answer is sex.

I can imagine Gisela saying "Honestly Andrew, that's your answer to EVERYTHING."

[Andrew Curnow]

I can hear Gisela saying "Honestly Andrew, that's your answer to EVERYTHING."

[Andrew Curnow]

I've been out walking the dog, and the mind does tend to wander (either that or they're using some kind of mind-altering stuff as fertiliser). Anyway, I had a speculative thought which I thought I'd share with you (and by 'share with you' I mean 'force upon you'):

At some point, maybe the Doctor & his daughter will need to swap genetic material - either to save her life, or his, with the only hope lying in an exact DNA match or something like that. Maybe even something as drastic as actually needing to merge into just one body, such is the damage.

Anyway, once that's done, the Doctor regenerates to clear his body of the final traces of whatever illness they've been suffering from, but because of the merge/exchange he regenerates into a woman!!

Just a thought - I can't for one minute see how a 'normal' regeneration could convincingly swap gender, but I can certainly see that they could contrive a scenario where it was possible. Who would play a female Doctor I don't know, but maybe Joanna Lumley is available?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Swapping genetic material with your daughter is generally frowned upon in most cultures.

[Larry]

Well as the Doctor is half-human, he probably did the nasty in the past-y with a human, so she's only part Time Lord, making her technically not a Time Lord either.

Hence he'll still be the last one.

It'll be interesting to see where they go from here.

oh please don't even start on that one..

[Larry]

wasn't there a throw away comment at the end of The Doctor Dances, where he said he had a daughter..