An idea for Doctor Who

I don’t remember when I first heard about Doctor Who.  But I think it was sometime in the 90’s when I found out the PBS station aired Doctor Who at, like 1AM on Sundays.  With that I was able to watch, I believe, all of the Seventh Doctor.  And sometime I watched the Eighth Doctor’s movie, but I can’t remember if it was before or after the revival with the Ninth.

My favorite Doctor is Ten, and my favorite companion is Martha, with Donna as a close second.  So those two seasons are, in my opinion, peak Doctor Who.  Not to besmirch Eleven, Amy, Rory, Clara, etc., but while they had good episodes, it seemed like the great episodes were becoming fewer and fewer.  And this has just continued since then.  Some years ago, I did a rewatch of New Who, but just of the “good” episodes.  So the Martha and Donna seasons I watched almost in their entirety, but I think I only watched like three episodes from all of Twelve’s run.  I’m not saying everything was bad, it’s just, again in my opinion, most episodes were just okay.  By the time we get to Thirteen, I barely remember any of their run.  The writing wasn’t as good, and I ran out of steam.

Then we get to Fourteen, which I found a bit … desperate.  It was an interesting idea, but I didn’t think the writing was up to it.  Then comes Fifteen.  Their arrival was interesting, but again I didn’t think the writing was up to the task.  It almost seemed like they were given the choice, “Do we write really compelling stories, or do we write so-so stories, but with a stunt?” and they picked the stunt.

Then came Sixteen.  No offense to Billie Piper, but really?  As I said, bringing back David Tennant for Fourteen was a bit … desperate, and bringing back a familiar face again so soon seemed to just scream desperation.  I believe I groaned when she appeared because, to me, it indicated the future wouldn’t be compelling stories, just stunts.

And now the future is … who knows.  Several months ago, I read some speculation that Piper might only do one or two specials before regenerating into a brand new Seventeen.  Now I’ve read speculation that she might not even come back, and if Doctor Who does continue, there might be a time jump, like from Eight to Nine.  But I had been thinking of a way for Piper to have a short-lived role as the Doctor without completely wiping it all away.  I started typing this up before all the latest news, and I figured I might as well finish this now before it becomes even less relevant. 

My Christmas/Easter/Arbor Day/Whatever Special would start with PiperDoctor saying something like, “This is interesting.” She’d then start picking out an outfit.  But before she settles on something, the TARDIS jerks and rushes off. 

We then see a group of women late at night in some university dorm.  They’re probably having some makeshift party, and it’s possible one of them has some alien artifact they’re hiding from the others.  Then the TARDIS lands which is very surprising. 

PiperDoctor – in parts from like six outfits – steps out and starts with the frantic, weird stuff is going on Doctor speak, that’s also to calm them from seeing a blue box appear out of thin air.  The women introduce themselves, and one is introduced either with a nickname, or something like Mary, or something odd happens just before they get to say their name.  The reason is I’d like this woman’s real name to be hidden for as long as possible, it being Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.  The reason her name might be given as Mary or whatever, is because either she was sent to school under a false name for her safety, or this was her first mission to track down reports of alien objects at the university.

Whether Kate introduces herself or not, there’s still something odd that happens.  And that is the Doctor … changes.  It’s not a regeneration, but either because of all the odd regeneration stuff lately, or there’s some weird field being emitted from some alien artifact, or more likely both, the Doctor’s cells aren’t settling into a final form.  Which means PiperDoctor is gone after five minutes, replaced by XDoctor.  But the thing is still happening, so after another five minutes or so, we get YDoctor, and so on.  Probably, the time between changes speeds up, so we could have twenty or thirty actors play the Sixteenth Doctor.  In the end, they might only appear as the Doctor for a few seconds, which would be a great time to throw in some easter eggs. 

The idea I had for who could be XDoctor, is Idris Elba.  I think a decade or so ago there was talk of him playing the Doctor, and this might be a fun way for it to happen.  Also, my idea is this takes place in a woman’s dorm, and – I don’t know how English universities handle these things – but there’s probably some, upperclassman, or matron, or someone who makes sure nothing gets out of hand.  And this one has a rule of “No men after dark.” And with the TARDIS appearing and everything, these women are getting a little loud so the matron or whatever comes to investigate, and now there’s a man in their rooms.  So they shove ElbaDoctor into the loo, but the matron knows that trick and demands them to come out, with ElbaDoctor giving a falsetto, “Give me a minute.” But fortunately, it’s been about five minutes so ElbaDoctor changes into YDoctor, played by some young actress, so the matron leaves in a huff.

With so many actors playing the Doctor, but only for a few minutes, I thought we could have some fun.  Like I’m sure there’s some child actor that’s big in England, who would be thrilled to be the Doctor for three minutes.  Another possibility would be an actor who’s an amputee.  I imagine the Doctor looking at their arm stump for a second or two, then shrugging and continuing on.

The way out of this, is probably the one woman turning over the alien artifact, and the Doctor needing various bits of things to rebuild it into something that would fix their form.  As they’re finally getting all the pieces together, the Doctor is changing every few seconds, so it’s up to Kate to make the last connection and hit the big red button.

We are then left with Sixteen’s final form, which I’d say maybe played by an English actress with Japanese ancestry.  There are hugs and maybe this is when Kate either gives her full name instead of the nickname, or reveals what her real name is.  And Sixteen is like, “I should have known,” or whatever.  Sixteen then gets in the TARDIS and flies off to the present-day Kate.  When Sixteen steps out, Kate is like, “I have waited so long to see you,” and they share a laugh.  You could even have the Doctor take a scarf or something from young Kate and include it in Sixteen’s outfit. 

Would this have stunts and fan service?  Yes.  But I think – if handled correctly – it could also be fun.  And what more could we want from Doctor Who?