Saturday 21 January 2012

The Trenzalore Conundrum

It isn't very often that I post about "Real-life" Doctor Who here but having had time to amply digest series 6 in 2011 I have come up with a few theories as to what Steven Moffat might throw our way in 2012, especially with regards to the whole "Fields of Trenzelor/fall of the eleventh" prophecy.

It has been long discussed/muted/hoped by fans that Omega will return at some point in the future. Indeed, the uniforms of the church soldiers in series 5 Weeping Angels two parter, coupled with other prop based hints, seem to suggest just such a return.

Coupled with this is the now doom-laden talk of the fall of the eleventh, which is apparently when "the  question" will be asked. A question that we all know to be simply, Doctor Who? My theory is that Omega and the question actually go hand in hand. To substantiate my theory I refer you to something known as the Cartmel Masterplan, which I will lift straight from this Wikipedia article.

During the tenure of the Seventh Doctor, part of script editor Andrew Cartmel's intention, now known to fans as the "Cartmel Masterplan", was to restore some mystery to the character of the Doctor.[1] Cartmel felt that years of explanations about the Doctor's origins and the Time Lords had removed much of the mystery and strength of the character of the Doctor, and decided to make the Doctor "once again more than a mere chump of a Time Lord".[1] Elements of this effort were liberally scattered through Seasons 25 and 26 of the series, and occasionally included hints about the Doctor's past; for example, in Silver Nemesis, when Ace and the Doctor discuss the creation of validium, the Doctor mentions that it was created by Omega and Rassilon. Ace asks, "And...?" and the Doctor is silent. Cartmel has written that this was meant to indicate that the Doctor was "more than a Time Lord":
...Omega and Rassilon were the founding fathers of Gallifrey. They towered above the Time Lords who followed. They were demigods. And Ace's nifty dialogue "And..." coupled with the Doctor's neatly evasive response, are a subtle attempt to say that there was a third presence there in the shadowy days of Gallifrey's creation. In other words, the Doctor was also there. So he's more than a Time Lord. He's one of these half-glimpsed demigods.[1]
As this story was never followed through to volition it meant that this plan never really came off, but was also never really killed off either. I forsee that Moffat will look to use elements of this plan to bring about the "fall of the Eleventh".

My prediciton is that the Silence and all that they represent are minions of Omega, trying to stop the question from ever being answered. Omega does not want the question of the Doctor's identity answered because it would reveal him to be a fraud and also considerably change the history of the timelords.

This leads to the gaping plot hole of Omega being allowed back into the series. Knowing Moffats penchant for not worrying about this kind of thing, I think the real reason behind the Pandorica and the whole "Big Bang 2" will finally be outed. There's a specific question asked in the last episode of series 5 and again in the first episode of series 6 (with slightly different wording) - "How could I forget? - How could I have forgotten?". That raises the possibility that the question and answer relate to something that everyone - even the Doctor - has forgotten as a result of Big Bang 2 - either a person/event that is now missing from this reality or something like him forgetting to reapply the Time Lock on Gallifrey, for example.

Now if we take "the fall of the Eleventh" at face value then it my theory would of course bring about the possibility of the timelords returning again for the regeneration of the Doctor. But, with the 50th Anniversary special following in 2013 I wonder if they could be back to stay. 

All in all it sounds exciting. I have never been a massive fan of either Moffat or Smith's work on Doctor Who I just hope whatever route Moffat takes it will lead to some long awaited answers to a lot of questions, especially the one hiding in plain sight...Doctor Who?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As the Time-Lock was part of the old universe, and according to the Council the Doctor still possesses the Moment, then he would
A) not need to reapply the Time-Lock, and
B) could easily do so IF he needed to.
And as Omega was trapped inside the Lock, then for all intents and purposes he is dead.
However, the Fields of Trenzalore could be the Valeyard's birthplace.