Media Essays: What If The 12th Doctor Was In Series 11?

Written by The Wandering Fox

Freddy: It’s been Doctor Who nonstop with him. I’m kinda getting bored with it.

Teddy: Hopefully it’s his last, cos I’m getting tired.

Don’t worry guys this will be my last Doctor Who entry for a while. That and I’d love to use the Teachers’ Hat again for it.

Hi everybody, it’s I, the Wandering Fox again and today this will be my last Doctor Who essay because I can tell you’d be bored by now so don’t worry, but please read this because I think you will love it.

You see, this isn’t a fan wish, this is something that could’ve happened. Let’s go back to about a decade ago. Steven Moffat was adamant he was leaving after Series 10 as they couldn’t find a replacement after Series 9, the hunt was on to find a new showrunner but what was Peter Capaldi doing? He interestingly said he would stay on for Series 11, even after Chibnall had been given the job. Here’s where we go into unknown territory as Chibnall apparently didn’t want to be the showrunner, then while out with a few BBC execs who wanted him to be the showrunner, Chibnall tried to get out of it by saying he’d only do it if he’d get a female Doctor. He thought they’d say no. But they said yes. Then not long after that Capaldi tearfully revealed he was leaving. This has led to a lot of people theorising Capaldi was sacked simply because he was a guy. I don’t know, there might be some truth to it but we may never know the truth as Capaldi has moved on and would rather do his own things now, and I doubt the BBC will want another bad secret of theirs coming out as it will reflect badly on them and Chibnall and even Jodie.

But the subject is still the same: what if Capaldi did stay for that series? How would this have changed the ending to Series 10? What episodes of Series 11 would’ve stayed? And how would have Capaldi have regenerated under Chibnall? Well I’m here to look at it. Do note lots of this is hypothetical because I’m not Chibnall and I’m basing this on how I think Capaldi’s Doctor could’ve had his character worked out on. I’ll look on what episodes of series 11 would have worked with Capaldi, what wouldn’t have, what companions would have worked and finally ending his story. Firstly let’s look at World Enough and Time and The Doctor Falls.

A Dark End

I think those episodes would largely stay the same but obviously the Doctor doesn’t get shot by the Cybermen, nor is he badly electrocuted by one. Bill is still a Cyberman, the level on the ship is still facing a siege by the Cybermen, the Master is eager to ditch the Doctor and take Missy with him, both badly injure each other. Those are still the same. This time though the Doctor devises a plan: if he can build a device that will bring the TARDIS into the ship, he can get the Mondasians off the ship. It will take time though so Nardol takes the children to the next level while Bill fights the Cybermen off to give the Doctor time but the Cybermen gain more grid forcing Bill to retreat and the Doctor’s traps are used up. Seeing the Doctor is not gonna get out of this, Bill confronts him and gives him a shock that knocks him unconscious once he’s finished the device, tricking the Cybermen into thinking he’s dead. With the TARDIS materialising, Bill gets the Doctor inside and then goes up the next level to meet with Nardol. Waking up, the Doctor materialises the TARDIS onto the level where they were to meet but find the Cybermen have taken it. He keeps checking for life and finds Bill, Nardol and the last few survivors have gone back to the top where Bill was injured. Materialising, the Doctor comes out to find Bill and Nardol badly damaged after years of fighting. Bill is sorry as she feels she knocked the Doctor out too hard but the Doctor says there’s still lives to save and he will try to undo what’s happened. Bill however has been so badly damaged she will stop functioning anymore. Getting them in the TARDIS, the Doctor comforts Bill and Nardol as they die and he solemnly takes the Mondasians to a safer place and buries Bill and Nardol. Quiet, sad, alone, hurt, the Doctor ends the episode setting course for Gallifrey.

That’s how I would’ve ended series 10. I know Moffat wouldn’t have wanted Bill or Nardol to die, but I think if he killed them off in his final episode it would’ve served as a form of finality to Moffat and that his era was over and leaves it open for Chibnall of what to do with the Doctor. This would mean there’d be no Christmas special for 2017 and I’m fine with that, I’d rather have no Twice Upon a Time because I’m not having Hartnell’s Doctor made as a joke. It’d give Chibnall more time to plan things out and Capaldi would have a rest before doing his last series. With series 10 done now, let’s look at this other series 11.

Episodes

With the Chibnall era’s episodes “unique” for the Thirteenth Doctor, there’s few there that could work for the Twelfth Doctor. The only ones I believe could’ve worked is:

Rosa

Arachnids in the UK

Demons of the Punjab

It Takes You Away

You’d need to change those episodes up a bit, especially Arachnids and It Takes You Away. Arachnids for how the Doctor was a hypocrite and It Takes You Away with how the dad handled his daughter. The latter as well will tie in with Capaldi as there was something he really wanted before he left but Moffat didn’t want it. I’ll come back to it soon, but for now we have to look at the episodes and the series as a whole for Twelve. With only those episodes staying to be reworked for Capaldi, what would take the others places?

I’d replace The Woman Who Fell to Earth with The Star Beast and only allude to Ryan, Graham and Grace with Yaz as the main companion. It’s more faithful to the comic in which the Doctor is tasked with finding Beep the Meep and do work with the Wrath Warriors with Yaz serving as the companion. Yaz is trying to find out about the missing people in Sheffield and bluntly scolds her sister for staying out, showing how much she feels responsible as an adult and as an officer. The Doctor was already trying to find Beep the Meep and went to the Wrath Warriors to help them but they stick a bomb inside of him to get him to fully cooperate and if he tries to help the Meep he’d be killed. The Doctor comes to Sheffield where the Meep is hiding and he goes to get a lead sheet in a scrapyard, letting himself in to get it. This gets him in trouble with Yaz who arrests him but it’s then a colleague of hers has ran into trouble at a steel factory and is forced to go and help. While she goes in the Doctor gets the cuffs off and goes in to find Yaz has found the Meep while her colleague is unconscious with the Meep acting innocent. The Doctor though lets the Wrath Warriors know he’s found the Meep. The Wrath Warriors arrive and try to take the Meep but Yaz’s colleague wakes up and tries to fight them, forcing them to knock him unconscious. Believing the Doctor has betrayed them the Wrath Warriors try killing him with the bomb but it doesn’t work, giving the Doctor, Yaz and the Meep the chance to flee, getting on a bus. Yaz calls in for armed officers to help. The Wrath Warriors start tearing their way inside the bus, forcing the Doctor to get off and he argues with the Meep, demanding it stops the facade. The Meep reveals it is indeed evil and says it’s going to take over by mind controlling the town into its army and finish building its ship to bring back more of its kind and wants the Doctor’s help. To make him it then has Yaz held at gunpoint and so the Doctor agrees to go but he reminds the Meep the Warriors will come but it says her slaves will handle them. Yaz gets filled in by the Doctor of what’s been going on, the Meeps were a peaceful race until a black star appeared and made them thirsty for conquest, this Meep causing enough trouble it got a bounty on it, he was sent out to try and bring the Meep back. Yaz asks if he’s really gonna help it but he won’t, then asks for Yaz’s taser. He begins helping the Meep but then the Wrath Warriors arrive and begin battling the humans it’s brainwashed. The Doctor then severs up the wires in the ship that stops the Meep from escaping, thus it goes to shoot Yaz but she elbows it and tasers it hard enough it’s knocked unconscious, the Doctor upgraded it enough to give it a strong shock that it’s control over the humans was severed. The Meep is taken in by the Wrath Warriors while the Doctor has the bomb removed. The police are stunned by the reveal of how these people went missing and Yaz goes to get the Doctor to help explain things. The Wrath Warriors have returned the TARDIS to him and he says to Yaz UNIT will get in touch and tries to leave but Yaz follows in after him, stunned at this and the TARDIS then de-materialises.

I think that would be good enough to start his last series, hinting he’s been doing work here and there while Yaz is more hands on as a character and we get a look at her family life already. That and adapting The Star Beast more faithfully would indeed be a good way to win over people. Ending it on a cliff-hanger with Yaz going in the TARDIS will excite enough folks. The Doctor here is a bit distant with him far more shut off after losing Bill and Nardol hence he and Yaz are a little cagey at first until later episodes has them cool off.

The next episode sees the Doctor trying to explain himself to Yaz and she feels confused enough and guesses maybe it’s best she don’t call him into the police. He offers to take her back and he tries but the TARDIS won’t let him, realising he’s been given another task so he can’t take her back just yet. He tells her to stay with him and not running in to help people and he will get her home. They end up going to 1950s America where the Doctor finds out somebody is trying to kill Rosa Parks before she gets on the bus. Yaz is shocked they’ve gone back in time and gets a change of clothes, going out with the Doctor to look into it. Yaz has a story similar to Donna’s in The Fires of Pompei in which she wants to try and save Rosa from being arrested as it’s not fair and with where she comes from she was taught how much it meant to treat people fairly, but the Doctor bitterly explains while he would love to help Rosa he can’t, it’s a big moment in history he can’t interfere with. Yaz helps capture the killer with her taser still on her. The guy trying to kill Rosa was using a Time Ring, intriguing the Doctor enough that after he’s defeated him he retains it as the man is take away by an unknown force. With that he can finally take Yaz home.

Arachnids in the UK is mostly the same though the Doctor materialises the TARDIS in the police station so Yaz can fill in her papers, having returned the morning after defeating the Meep. Yaz is praised by the officers for her bravery though she’s still in a daze of what she’s seen. Being quizzed by her sister does annoy her a bit that she returns to the TARDIS to find the Doctor studying the Time Ring, telling him her sister won’t stop buzzing her about the Meep and says she was thinking of bringing her to the TARDIS to shut her up. The Doctor says there’s no need for her to come back since she’s home now, trying to usher her out which confuses Yaz. This has her go back out where she finds her mum and dad annoyed as the latter explains he’s been given the sack as head of security for asking too many questions, he worked at a local lab which has only increased armed guards and shipped in several spiders. Yaz offers to look into it though her dad tells her it’s not worth it he’s gonna ask Graham for help while her mum says she’s done enough having to handle aliens. Though she is glad Graham is helping, Yaz is still annoyed and does feel some worry for the increased armed guards and thinks it’s best to question them. She tells the Doctor, guessing he’d get interested. He goes with her and calls himself Detective John Smith requesting what’s going on with Yaz explaining that they need a license to have these guns. The head of the research lets them in and Yaz meets an old colleague of her father’s, he’s a bit nervous of what’s going on and he says he will show her. The Doctor takes an interest in the spiders that have been coming in, seeing they’re venomous and finds the lab has been creating chemicals that will increase the size of those who consume it. Yaz is led to a room where there’s giant spiders before she and her colleague are caught and dragged away though the door is left open. With Yaz and the guard caught, the head of the lab offers to buy them off, but the Doctor wants to know why he’s trying to make giant spiders. The guy reveals he’s working for a private arms group who want to turn the spiders into giants to be adapted into service and take control of smaller communities. The spiders get loose and start killing those in the lab. The Doctor though lures the spiders into another room and urges Yaz to keep an eye on them while he goes to the TARDIS. Yaz grapples with the lab scientist who tries to have the spiders killed but the guard helps her knock him out. The Doctor returns with the TARDIS and lures the spiders in there, taking them to a planet where they can live more at peace. Returning he finds Yaz has had the police come and arrest those involved, impressing the Doctor. Yaz offers to buy him a coffee as he deserves a reward for all the work he’s done with him smiling and goes with her.

Demons of the Punjab is mostly the same just Yaz feels that desire to go with the Doctor and see her ancestors. The Doctor makes a comment on how families though far through history are still close and he yearns for his own, intriguing Yaz who finds out he’s been looking for his granddaughter for a while and he’s been taking jobs here and there to find her, he has gone through a bit and wants some solace with his granddaughter.

The next episode is a Dalek two parter which finally reveals the Doctor has been working for the Time Lords with a Time Lady appearing in the TARDIS telling the Doctor he is needed to help infiltrate a supply ship that’s on its way to Dalek territorial space. He and Yaz go in and find the supply ship is full of weapons destined for a planet just beyond Dalek space but the Daleks board the ship and start killing everybody, believing the supplies are to be used in battle against them, but the discovery a crew member has a Time Ring has the Daleks rethink and with the Doctor on board they take him and Yaz, trying to force the Doctor in working on the Time Ring. The crew member is studied and find he’s an ordinary human which confuses the Doctor, but because he’s been captured they find a little implant inside him has set a distress signal. The ships are then shot at by passing space jets which then send in soldiers to try and fight the Daleks. It becomes a bloody battle which forces the Doctor and Yaz to flee to the TARDIS as the ships start to explode. The Doctor confronts the Time Lady with the Time Ring, asking her how these lot are getting them. She won’t tell him as she feels he will only cause trouble, reminding him if he doesn’t help then he will never find Susan. The Doctor explains to Yaz Time Rings are Time Lord technology and these lot getting it is strange. He’s trying to work on the Time Ring from the killer to find out where it came from.

It Takes You Away sees the Doctor and Yaz sent to Norway as there’s a tear in reality. Unlike that episode where the dad willingly left his blind daughter, here he’s been enchanted by the entity and once it’s shattered he remembers his daughter. The Entity takes the form of Susan and asks the Doctor why he’d want to see her again. It’s because he wants to know if she’s alright and to see if he made the right choice in letting her go. The entity asks him to stay but he won’t, not while Susan is out there.

The finale has the Doctor and Yaz find out that Rassilon has founded his own world after being exiled, influencing a race of people into thinking he’s their god and they are the Heirs to Gallifrey. Susan is with them, with little choice given to her, but was trying to stall their attempts at invading Gallifrey. Rassilon had been trying to interfere with human history to distract the Doctor and Gallifrey so he can take back control. With Rassilon returning the Doctor gets Susan away back to Gallifrey and lets the Time Lords know. With Gallifreyans getting ready to battle, the Doctor talks with Susan, explaining he’s made a lot of mistakes and doesn’t want to lose her again, not after the Time War, not after he lost Bill and Nardol. Susan assures him he’s still a good person and she never lost faith in him. The Heirs of Gallifrey come and battle, with the Doctor confronting Rassilon. The Doctor opens a doorway to a black hole to banish Rassilon into and Yaz helps taser him though as Rassilon is about to be sucked in he badly injuries the Doctor with his gauntlet. On the floor, the Doctor is joined by Yaz, Susan, and many Galifreyeans. He hallucinates Clara, River, Bill and Nardol before he smiles as he looks to Yaz and Susan.

“Thank you. For believing in me. Don’t be sad. Life begins anew as always my dear. Doctor….I let you go”.

Then he regenerates more peacefully and in his place Jodie Whittaker appears.

That’s his last series. It’s about him finding hope again and finding peace in seeing if he was a good guy or not and it resolves the ending of Series 9 and letting the Twelfth Doctor be with Susan as it’s strongly said Capaldi wanted to meet her. It lets him as well come out of his shell to Yaz and we get to grasp her character more clearly without Graham or Ryan there, exploring him as a mentor to a more mature woman.

Would Chibnall have done any of this? No. He wouldn’t. But could it have worked? Maybe.

This would have at least forced Chibnall to do more with Gallifrey other than binning it and Jodie could’ve maybe lasted as the Doctor to the 60th. He could’ve at least had Thirteen struggling with the restraints she’s working under for the Time Lords but is pleased Susan has come home and can teach their people all she’s experienced on Earth. I think what would have been nicer is if Susan did travel with the Doctor after this, dealing with the remains of the Heirs of Gallifrey, going to Sheffield to try and get adjusted to the new Doctor and Yaz, seeing what else there is out there that she realises needs to be stopped to protect Gallifrey. Episodes of the Thirteenth Doctor’s I’d retain would be the following.

Kerblam

Ghost Monument

Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror

Can You Hear Me?

Haunting of the Vila Doadatti

War of the Sontarans

Village of the Angels

I’d go with those but readjusted to be better and it isn’t to have any connections to Flux. The Timeless Children could work so long as it was just a story the Master or another baddie made up to corrupt the Matrix, thus by the end of Jodie’s go as the Doctor for the sixtieth you could’ve done the Cybermen, Sontarans and Weeping Angel stories far loosely from Gallifrey, and then for the 60th they could’ve done a series of specials based on The Power of the Doctor.

I’d have Jodie’s Doctor undergo a costume change, starting from her first episode up to Kerblam where she’d wear her striped jumper and longer coat but from Ghost Monument she starts wearing these. It gives her a mature look while staying true to her figure of wearing a coat of light colour and staying to the colour scheme of her other clothes, the cross tie looking truer to her being feminine while staying Doctor like. Oh and of course her sonic screwdriver will look better than what she got in the series yes.

I want to explain as well that having the Doctor return to Gallifrey would be a rather fitting way as he feels he’s stayed away from home long enough now and caused too much trouble. It’s time for him to go back and help restore Gallifrey. The Time Lords took him back on the condition he not only help in getting it back into business but to do a few jobs for them with them having a control of sorts over the TARDIS, to make sure he’s not gonna do anything they don’t like. However long this went on for will be up to the viewer aside from the Doctor having saying he’s been doing this for a while. His goal as well to bring Susan home is a true character of the Twelfth Doctor as he can rest easy knowing she’s alright.

I think Rassilon needed the last page of his story written given he’s still out there as a big plot hole in the series and knowing him he’d want revenge. The idea of him making a whole other race worshipping him and he says Gallifrey is theirs would serve as a good ending to his character and how he’s the opposite of the Doctor.

With Susan I’d make sure that she has a good scene with the Doctor as they think back to their adventures, leave a hint of McGann in there, show that she’s matured over the years and gives her grandfather a good word of wisdom that shows he raised her well. I’d keep her around as a mainstay after this with her as an advisor to the Time Lords and would join the Doctor and Yaz on a few adventures, all he while getting use to her grandfather have changed again and dealing with a much younger female body then.

It’s a nice what if really as I think Capaldi deserved better as the Doctor and he did not need to have his last episode shared with another Doctor.

That’s it for my Doctor Who essays everybody, I’ll be sure to talk of something else. What did you think though? You think this could have worked as a final to Capaldi’s tenure as the Doctor? Tell me below.

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