Speculating on Series 9’s Big Cliffhanger (Part 2)

Guest contributor Sam Glover looks at some less likely theories.

In the first part of this article considering cliffhanger possibilities for Series 9 I looked at the possible return of Gallifrey and/or a companion and/or a villain and the possible demise/revelation about Miss(y) Clara Oswald. (A whole article summed up in one sentence – now that’s some serious word budgeting!) Anyway, time to wander a bit further off-piste I think…

Past/Future Doctor Appearance

It’s the tenth anniversary of the return of Doctor Who this year. Might there be some celebration on the cards? I’d be surprised if it wasn’t touched on in some way. Hand on hearts, how many of us are still hoping for a Ninth Doctor return? I know I am. Sadly it looks very unlikely as Eccleston appears to have severed ties with the show completely, passing up the opportunity of appearing in any guise in “The Day of the Doctor”. But how about Paul McGann? There’s more chance there as McGann has repeatedly demonstrated a desire to return, but indications from Moffat are that he’d like to give Capaldi his own run for a bit. That said, the Moff lies repeatedly, and a certain other Doctor showed up at the end of Capaldi’s very first episode. Matt Smith is another who has voice a desire to return at some point in the future, but again I don’t think a return a little over a year after “Deep Breath” is likely. 60th Anniversary anyone? I certainly can’t see Tennant back before then, if at all.

A future Doctor is also possible. After the Zoe Ball-fest that was Peter Capaldi’s introduction as the Doctor, how good would it be if the next one – or one further down the line – were to make a guest appearance? Unless there is a massive turn around, Capaldi is here for a few more years (hooray!). So, to avoid being disrespectful to the Twelfth Doctor this scenario would almost certainly involved the Valeyard. I mentioned him in the first part of the article and will say again: his return would be massive. It’s a chilling moment in “The Trial of a Time Lord” when Michael Jayston is revealed by Anthony Ainley’s Master as, at its simplest level, the evil in the Doctor personified. You only have to look at the prominence of the Valeyard theory when John Hurt was revealed to know that the fan base care massively about the character. So what if he was to return?

Historical/Religious Interferences

Series 8 did not shy away from its religious themes. The “afterlife” was introduced from episode one, the final episode had “heaven” in the title, and the entire Masterplan revolved around converting dead people into Cybermen having uploaded their consciousness into the Nethersphere. Danny even rose from the dead a short while after dying before sacrificing himself for humankind. Well, for Clara at least. Has this run its course? Probably, so where else could a religious theme go?

History. Regardless of your own personal beliefs – or lack thereof – there can be no denying that Earth has a rich culture currently untapped by Doctor Who within the stories of Jesus Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, Allah, Yahweh, Moses… the list is enormous. And it’s not as if Doctor Who has been afraid of tampering with either history OR figures whose status as real, not-real or somewhere in between is unconfirmed. On the historical side Doctor Who has seen Vincent Van Gogh take on an invisible monster, Hitler see his office collide with a police box (faults on both sides), Shakespeare defeat “witches” with the words of JK Rowling and also Robin Hood enter the world of the real – and that’s 21st Century Doctor Who alone.

We are also perhaps due a historical episode; save for “Robots of Sherwood” (based on a semi-mythological character) and “Deep Breath” (where the setting was only necessary for the inclusion of the Paternoster Gang) the past was not ventured into in Series 8 like the series’ before. A religious episode would be a very dangerous one for the BBC that would, without a doubt, lead to some objections; but then again they ran with “don’t cremate me”, so what do I know? A story where the Doctor does something to form the basis of a religion (see my wild speculation regarding Gallifrey as well as “The Fires of Pompeii”) is possible. Maybe a re-appearance of Series two’s Beast would be in order…

Unfinished Business

Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Harold Saxon, Fob watches, bees going missing, the Pandorica, not liking hugs… littering clues to future moments and themes (“am I a good man?”) is not new to Doctor Who. But what if we’ve missed one? There are hundreds of lines thrown away as jokes, or asides, or just part of the dialogue. What if one of them becomes more important? There have been more than a few murmurs about the Doctor’s emphatic assertions during “Last Christmas” that we can NEVER know if we’re asleep. Is there anything there? You could even tie it all the way back to the Dream Lord in series 5, but the likelihood of negating much of the canon since would surely be far too complex. I mentioned this in the first part of the article.

What else could possibly become important? We never did find out one way or another about the “monster” in “Listen”, and a poll on this very website showed a roughly 60/40 split between yes/no. We never really discovered who Gus was either, come to think of it, or if there were any motivations for the Boneless in “Flatline”. We likewise didn’t really see what became of the Skovox Blitzer or “moon” hatchling – maybe it grew up to be a star whale… A link between any of them, if done well, would be a marvellous reveal. (Think Series 8’s villains as the Justice League to “The Pandorica Opens” Avengers.) Rusty the Dalek, Journey Blue, Perkins, Shona and many others have story line potential too.

A Hollywood Arrival

I hate the word “celebrity” in this context, but feel it is the best way to get across what I mean. For all its fantastic moments, there has been the occasional bit of stunt casting in Doctor Who. Very often this has come off well (Kylie Minogue, Nick Frost). But what if we’re due for a bona-fide Hollywood A-Lister? It’s not an “in universe” thing so I don’t think this is at all likely to be the cliffhanger Moffat is alluding to, but I would lose my mind if the Doctor entered the TARDIS to find someone like Kiefer Sutherland or Peter Dinklage sitting there.

Capaldi’s Regeneration

Very unlikely. Capaldi’s “staying for years” according to Moffat and we’ve already had a penultimate episode cliffhanger with a “regeneration”. After Eccleston (who left due to some sort of conflict with the powers that be) the two other 21st Century Doctors had three full seasons each and, barring a sudden Eccleston-esque entanglement (say that five times when you’re drunk), Capaldi should be due for a similar run. Given the positive feedback regarding his Doctor and the evident enjoyment he is feeling at the moment I’d be amazed if we said goodbye to the Twelfth Doctor during 2015.

I know, I know, this article has asked far more questions than it has answered (have a field day with that, Moffat critics!), but that’s what some of the best cliffhangers are about. Hopefully I’ve not come near the truth and all will be turned on its head once more when Brian Pond/Williams turns up holding a fob watch. Looking forward to it.