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Shocking Doctor Who Cameo Defies 5 Years of Lore, Leaves Fans Baffled!

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The second installment has been packed with unexpected turns and shocks, brimming with plot twists that kept viewers guessing. Showrunner Russell T Davies delivered numerous fan-favorite tales, among them the eagerly awaited continuation of “Midnight,” titled “The Well.” “The Story & The Engine” is a fresh addition to the series, penned by newcomer Inua Ellams. This marks his debut with Doctor Who, and it’s a captivating watch. The narrative revolves around the Doctor paying a visit to an old acquaintance, Omo Esosa, at his barbershop, which has been taken over by new management. Upon arriving at the shop, the Doctor uncovers that the enigmatic Barber has imprisoned its patrons within, using their stories as fuel for his story engine in a scheme to eliminate the deities of storytelling.

The Tale of Time and Machinery” acknowledges longtime fans of “Doctor Who,” who have been following since its comeback in 2005. Not only does it resurrect Poppy from “Space Infants,” but it reintroduces a popular Doctor, with Jodie Whittaker’s Fifteenth Doctor reminiscing about their first encounter with Abena. However, her brief appearance seems contradictory to the existing “Doctor Who” narrative and doesn’t align with how Jo Martin’s version of the character was initially presented, in the Chris Chibnall-era episode “The Runaway Judoon.

The Fifteenth Doctor Should Not Remember Being The Fugitive Incarnation

The character known as “The Fugitive Doctor” is not new to causing confusion, and her latest appearance follows this pattern. When the Doctor tries to comfort Abena about not being saved from Anansi’s bet by the Fugitive Doctor, he transforms into Jo Martin’s version of the Doctor. However, the current Doctor (the Fifteenth Doctor) should not recall being the Fugitive Doctor, as it was erased from his memory due to the actions of the Division, as seen in “The Timeless Children.” This revelation has been troubling the Thirteenth Doctor throughout her time, since she now questions who she is and where she comes from. This change for the Fifteenth Doctor, remembering a previous incarnation, eliminates some of the emotional turmoil the character has faced during the Chibnall era, as well as one of the intriguing aspects of Jo Martin’s portrayal of the Doctor.

In the series “Survivors of the Flux,” The Thirteenth Doctor comes across a pocket watch that holds memories from her life prior to William Hartnell. However, she chooses not to open it, as she feels it doesn’t affect who she is as a person. This decision showcases the Doctor’s character, as someone who is always moving forward and not dwelling on the past. It also maintains the intrigue surrounding the Doctor’s history, keeping both the Doctor and viewers in the dark about this unknown period in Time Lord history. The sudden awareness of this mysterious past by the Fifteenth Doctor takes away from the emotional weight that the Timeless Child arc placed on the Doctor, which is unfortunate because the revelation of the secret incarnations is one of the most compelling aspects of the Doctor’s character development since the Time War mythology during the tenures of Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat.

Within the fanbase of “Doctor Who,” there has been debate about how the Fifteenth Doctor knows about the Fugitive Doctor’s past. Some fans propose that the Doctor might have activated the fobwatch off-screen to discover the missing years erased by the Division from his memory. Others suggest that the barber shop, where stories are collected, could have triggered the Doctor’s recall of these forgotten journeys. However, this isn’t clarified in the episode itself. Inua Ellams’ screenplay seems to add more mystery to the topic. Earlier in the episode, the Fifteenth Doctor states that his current form is the first time he has been in a black body. He doesn’t mention being a black woman until later. This sudden reflection on being the Fugitive Doctor feels abrupt. Although it’s enjoyable to see two black Doctors together, Anansi’s history with the Time Lord would have made more sense if she had met the First Doctor or a later regeneration.

Most Actual Gods Did Not Enter The Whoniverse Until After Wild Blue Yonder

One puzzling element about the appearance of the Fugitive Doctor is that it’s suggested she interacted with a deity, specifically the African trickster god Anansi. As the Fifteenth Doctor recounts, the Fugitive Doctor once won a wager against Anansi and was rewarded by marrying his daughter Abena, who wished to use this opportunity for escape from her father’s arranged marriage. However, the Doctor ended up leaving Abena behind, causing Anansi to feel betrayed. This interaction between the Fugitive Doctor and Anansi seems to contradict the established continuity of ‘Doctor Who’, as although the Doctor has previously encountered deities like the Gods of Ragnarok and the Trickster, most such beings reside in another universe and couldn’t interact with the main ‘Doctor Who’ reality until the Fourteenth Doctor scattered salt at the edge of the universe during “Wild Blue Yonder.” This makes it rather improbable for the Fugitive Doctor, or any incarnations prior to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors, to have genuine encounters with authentic deities.

In most instances within ‘Doctor Who’, divine beings are found to have logical explanations rooted in their origin, and are often perceived as mere impostors by the Doctor. For example, Daemons are portrayed as gods but are actually an extraterrestrial race from the planet Daemos. Similarly, the Chronovores were revered as deities by ancient Greeks, yet they are merely time-sensitive entities dwelling within the time vortex. An episode like “The Girl Who Died” illustrates a Viking village encountering a figure believed to be Odin, who is actually the ruthless chief of an aggressive alien species, the Mire. Given that the Doctor has encountered such ‘gods’ for quite some time, his disbelief in deities seems peculiar, especially considering he’s had encounters with them long before the events of ‘Wild Blue Yonder’.

Based on the background of Doctor Who, it seems more plausible that the Fugitive Doctor encountered an alien disguised as Anansi, not the deity from African mythology. This hypothesis could account for the stories appearing on the barber shop window when the Barber feeds them into his story engine, and also explain how he constructed both the Nexus and the story engine. The Barber might have obtained alien technology from Abena and used it to create these devices as a way to disseminate tales about gods, with the stories inside his barbershop being a part of this. This theory aligns well with Doctor Who’s established canonicity, suggesting that the Fugitive Doctor fought against the African God of Storytelling while remaining wary of beings claiming to be deities in later regenerations. Additionally, having Anansi as an extraterrestrial being would follow the pattern set by other Doctor Who gods, such as the Minotaurs, who pose as gods upon their arrival from other worlds.

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2025-05-15 04:36

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