Will Gallifrey Return in Series 9?
Guest contributor Graeme Atkinson ponders the potential return of Gallifrey.
With the few taps of a laptop keyboard, Russell T Davies annihilated an entire planet. On Doctor Who’s return in 2005 Gallifrey was ‘time-locked’ and gone from the Who universe. Since then we would only see the Doctor’s homelands in short tantalising glimpses.
However, as we learned in the Series 8 episode ‘Listen’ it has once again become possible to visit Gallifrey, with Clara appearing to someone we assume to be the Doctor as a child. How was she able to get there and why she has not disclosed the fact since is unclear, but there is now a precedent set. ‘The Day of the Doctor’ established it was not blown to kingdom come and ‘Listen’ showed us the TARDIS could return there leaving most to wonder will it make a reappearance in Series 9 even for just a brief time?
Taking Gallifrey away from the series in the first place was key to establishing a different, brooding tone and the 9th Doctor, although often in childlike awe of the universe was still a rather more battle-weary character than previous incarnations. Modern audiences are now used to watching their heroes have darker more complex characterisations (thanks Chris Nolan) and you do wonder whether being the ‘last of his kind’ theme has now become too important within the overall mythos of the show and character to bring back Gallifrey on a permanent basis.
From a narrative perspective Gallifrey was also too powerful. Although the Time Lords refused to intervene in events it was difficult to believe that at times when the entire universe was under threat they would sit back with pipe and slippers. Therefore to increase dramatic tension it benefits the show to not have Gallifrey as a permanent fixture.
The Master’s return in Series 8 demonstrates how Time Lords/Time Ladies can still make appearances in the show without needing to have Gallifrey around. The Master has been in Doctor Who obviously since 2005 but the recent appearance was the first time since we learned the Doctor did not destroy his home world. Given the cunningness of the character it also leaves us wondering whether Missy does indeed know the location of the missing planet as she asserts or is she just manipulating the Doctor’s emotions as part of a longer game plan? One thing seems certain though, the onscreen chemistry between Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez (the best since Pertwee and Delgado) means the Master will return and therefore the location of Gallifrey will surely become a talking point once again.
A problem for any writer tackling the return of Gallifrey though is the need to address just what happened to characters close to the Doctor who would have likely been around, during the Last Great Time War, with him. Would the Doctor, on his return home not want to visit Romana, Susan, school friends or any other family members, for example? We know he is a grandfather so the possibility for him to have a large extended family does exist. Would he not want to call on friends and family as soon as he landed home? Of course these characters would not need to appear on screen but their current whereabouts would need to be addressed not just to satisfy fans of the show but also to simply reflect the fact that the Doctor would care. This would of course de mystify the character of the Doctor and is likely to mean Moffatt will put off a permanent return of Gallifrey any time soon.
However with all of this in mind let’s look at how Gallifrey could return again in Series 9 without it becoming a permanent fixture of the show. ‘Listen’ was the best episode of the last run and seeing the Doctor as a child, at a time before all of the events we know will unfold for him, is a very dramatically interesting idea. Not least because it is something we have not seen before. In fifty years of the show we have never witnessed the Doctor before he was ‘the Doctor’. Therefore what if the Doctor finds Gallifrey, even if it was quickly to be lost again, but with the help of his younger self?
Even a Doctor-lite episode could have the Doctor as the main star in this scenario. The Doctor, staying onboard the Tardis, could allow for Clara to take the younger Doctor on his first voyage to Earth before ultimately making a quick drop off, returning his younger self home. The means to do this would just require a few clicks of Moffat’s keyboard. The Doctor need not disclose the fact that it is his younger self to Clara (it would need to be a younger version than the one shown in Listen obviously) until the end of the episode leaving us with just small insights into the character peppered throughout the 45-mins. Moffatt would need to explain why the planet could not be visited regularly again but it should not prove too much of a challenge for him.
We have seen the Doctor interact with his younger selves before but they have still shown him as an adult. The novel ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’ for example shows us what interesting ideas and themes can emerge when an adult meets their younger self especially when that adult has such a rich character history as the Doctor.
So could the Master/Missy take the Doctor back to Gallifrey instead? You would have to question just what the motives were if she did and you would also have to assume she can come and go at will. Personally I doubt this is the case although if we do get to see them together on Gallifrey would it not be fantastic for the Doctor/Master to return to the recent past and then witness the set of new regenerations being sent through the crack in time by an earlier Master rather than the Time Lord High Council? Just think of the implications of this and the potential for further stories.
The chance for other Time Lords or Gallifreyans to help the Doctor find the way home is also possible. If the Doctor and the Master can escape it could be plausible, especially now we know Gallifrey still exists, for others to appear, characters we have never seen before. Surely during what some thought to be the last days of Gallifrey members of the High Council would have fled their home world with their children and hid? What if collectively they were to try and rediscover Gallifrey following the Doctor disclosing the fact that it was not destroyed after all? Many hands make light work after all!
A writer may wish to clarify a plot point that was left over from the The Time of the Doctor before doing any of the above however. If Gallifrey is stuck in a moment in time, how did the Master escape and how did the new set of regenerations come through the crack in time? It suggests that Gallifrey is no longer frozen. If it is not then why, given the accumulative power and knowledge of all the Time Lords can they not re-appear from a bubble universe? A problem for another time perhaps.
The ‘will the Doctor find Gallifrey’ story arc could, in theory, take another fifty years to resolve although I personally doubt this will be the case. I suspect that the Doctor’s home world will more likely make shorter, sporadic appearances in the next few seasons. A movie or perhaps anniversary episode could be the next time we see it in more detail but one thing is certain, despite it being lost it will always be found when the story demands it.
