Melron- Doctor Who 12x5 - Poll!

It would be easy to say The Earth but I think there's more to it than that. More like changes to everything we thought we knew, destruction and dead planets seem to be hit on, even if only in a small way in every episode!

LUCIA

Do you think Jack been attack by those nanogenes is the cause of him losin his body and become a giant face?

My theory is that the "thing" Jack talks about which got sent back in time caused a rewrite in history from the time it was sent back to. Which meant from that point on our original timeline no longer existed so by all meanings of the word this would be the main universe and timeline, no branches or parallels, and thus the doctors regenerations went a completely different path because of this change so Ruth is The Doctor in the main timeline now because of this change so our doctor wouldnt remember this, a gallifrey still exists but its not hers, the one in the bubble is still destroyed because it was outside the universe when time was changed and the doctor and companions only still exist because they were in the time vortex whilst the change happened. Thats my theory anyway. --__o__--

I am going to say that we have been in an alternate universe since the end of season 10. The Doctor regenerates and causes a few explosions in the Tardis then jumps to this universe. Would explain a few things including the Master being alive again.

Sandro Sliske

I said alternative time as yes thee doctor has dealt with other dimensions before, they were closed by tennant. Also the dimensional stuff mentioned in the premiere ended up being different points in time and not multiple earths.

Angus Whitehead

I think its a doctor we haven't seen before, between Troughton and Pertwee. I believe we never saw the regeneration, just the doctor arriving on earth.

Shaun Kett

t all these people would get into our universe without realizing it, plus I think it would be more fun if she's somehow from the same universe.

Jimmy Balch

If I had to guess, I'd say she's from way in the doctor's past. The doctor often offhandedly says things about being a little girl, or not knowing what gender they were they were young, so maybe it has something to do with that. It has to be at least pre-New Who because Gallifrey is still around for her, and it doesn't show back up in New Who until the 50th-anniversary special. I do think I'd be a bit disappointed if they're somehow from another universe and ended up in this one without realizing it because I doub

Jimmy Balch

i think she will be a regeneration in between two and three or maybe an alternative timeline wouldn't surpise me too much

Never trust what a showrunner says.

Darth Kal-El (Cory Weston)

My initial instinct was that she was pre-New Who, because she wasn’t aware of what the sonic screwdriver was, much like the First Doctor, and I felt like she had an almost “retro” look (the glasses and the old-style TARDIS) once she’d got her memories back. Chibnall seems to be going quite “classic” in this new season, what with the Master’s return and the use of the “contact” ability which I think is Classic Who, but admittedly I don’t know enough about Classic Who to work out where the writers could fit Ruth in retroactively. I liked her, though!

charlie

Ruth is the timeless child

I hope she’s not a past Doctor. The show did that trick once with the War Doctor, and doing it again would be unnecessary. I also hope she’s not a future Doctor. A future incarnation of the Doctor was introduced in the classic series, so again this would be going over old ground. All I want is to be surprised by the answer, and for it to be an original, new idea.

Spiderfrommars

Chibnall has confirmed that Ruth is not from a parallel universe, but Thirteens comments about time might make sense if persons and objects are being extrapolated and reordered, maybe even coming from alternate timelines. It explains why unit was shut down or why invasions have been forgotten.

IndieMan

You see what’s apparently the 2nd Doctor beginning to regenerate but in the next episode you only see the 3rd Doctor after he has already changed. And later in ‘The Two Doctors’ we meet the 2nd Doctor again with an older Jamie working for the Time Lords. Also in ‘The Five Doctors’ he remembers what happened to Jamie and Zoe which was just before his apparent regeneration. So he must have lived beyond that.

Paul McElvaney

Since we're getting this so early in the season my thought is she is an alternate timeline Doctor, along with the master, Jack, and possibly any other characters we might see that seem out of place. I'm thinking the timeless child that we keep hearing about has something to do with how the Time Lords control time, and now that the Doctor is looking into it something has gone wrong or it is trying to throw her off and the doctor is coming into contact with other possible timelines that she could have had if choices were made differently at some point. It would explain why neither of them recognized the other and would also explain how the master is back.

It's got to be an alternate timeline or another dimension. Nothing else makes sense. We know all of the Doctor's regenerations and there's no gap in between where Ruth could be and still have the TARDIS in its classic shape.

Jeanette C

When the Second Doctor regenerated we didn't see it. The Time Lords forced a Regeneration. The Time lords also can give the Doctor more regenerations. Because Ruth is a bit more of a fighter, I think she is working with the Time Lords. The Time Lords gave the Second Doctor a Regeneration that would work for them, a chosen regeneration just like the 8th into the War doctor.

I'm torn between Dimensional and Pre. Pre makes the most sense, EXCEPT the Tardis wouldn't be a Police Box yet, and "reversing the polarity" (like Ruth did to Commander Gat's, uh, gat) wouldn't have been a thing yet either. Parallel or Alternate Dimension makes most sense to me, as it seems Ruth/Tardis is a mix of a whole bunch of different eras.

Firefly24601

That's not true, the Doctor killed an Ogron with a gun in Day of the Daleks, he killed Sontarans in The Invasion of Time, in Earthshock he shoots the cyberleader and countless examples of the doctor threatening living beings with guns which is all Ruth did, she never fired the gun, she sabotaged it and let Gat kill herself which a very doctory thing to do.

Phillip Grischa

I voted Pre, Chibnall's response to fans being a bit concerned about the radical changes has thus far been to double down. I've no doubt that Jo Martin will be pre-Hartnell, and I think it's kinda telling that to me at least, I felt more of a connection with her than with Jodie. Can't say I'm excited for the rest of this season, more concerned. Let's Go Jack tho!

The Doctor

Also was it just me or was this episode just exponentially better than all the last 2 seasons. It's like they saved up all the good stuff for this episode. Loved it

The Air Nation

Loved this episode. Jack being back made me fall off of my chair. I did however wonder who the Alliance were that Jack mentioned. Saying they sent someone back in time to defeat the cyberman. Is the Alliance a group of heroes like the Justice League but full of Doctor who companions etc?

It HAS to be a fake. The one rule the Doctor has always employed, he never fires a gun at a living being.

Scott Hadden Jnr

I'll say alternate timeline, because it's the only one that would fit without needing a metric fuckton of infodump for the casual viewers.

Kevin Gil

I think it is pretty hartnell. What if in ancient times the planet Gallifrey was a very conniving warlike race but were dying. So they conquered a race of time mystic type aliens and stole the Timeless Child who is the Doctor. They abused her then stole her powers of time manipulation and regeneration,then destroyed her home planet and wiped her memory. She then thought she was a Gallifreyan had thirteen female incarnations then in her last regeneration found out the truth. So the timelords erased her memory gave her 13 more regeneration then she regenerated into doc 1 who we saw as a little boy.

chad welsh

I think she's likely post-Hartnell due to the police box TARDIS but beyond that I'm not sure if she's an alternate timeline version or a case of memory loss/alteration. Either way I think it's connected to the Time Lords and their lies The Master was talking about, which, if she is part of our Doctor's timeline, would explain the extra regeneration over the limit (we know the Time Lords can grant extra ones). I don't think she's from a parallel dimension/universe since that feels a little too simple/straightforward and I somewhat doubt she's post-13 due to the deliberate retro styling of her TARDIS.

Katherine Jennings

Ruth has to be pre Hartnell, they're pulling the trigger on the cartmel master plan. Her Tardis was a police box first and when Hartnell's became one he subconsciously remembered the look and broke the chameleon circuit on purpose or the Tardis picked up on it (there's a telepathic connection after all) and decided to remain a police box on her own.

Phillip Grischa

It’s gotta be post Jodie. Chibs came out and said she definitely is the main Doctor and isn’t from another universe. But it’d be really interesting if she was pre-1st Doctor and maybe he had his mind wiped? In the brain of morbius we see Eight incarnations of the Doctor from before the First Doctor and this was a fourth doctor story in early 70’s. So maybe iit’s something to do with that!

Richard Phillips

Knowing what I know about some of the Cartmel Master Plan it is possible this is an early version of the Doctor who dies and is uploaded to the Matrix and is then reborn which ends up being Hartnell, which is basically what we've seen with the Master in where he died in the '96 film but was brought back by the Timelords to fight in the Time War.

Ryan Witalison

even despite chibnall's comments, I'm still partially banking on ruth being an alternate universe doctor - but the more time I'm given to think about it the more I'm liking the idea that she might be an incarnation of the doctor from the "season 6b" time in the doctor's life. considering that gallifrey is just filled with psychic assholes, I don't doubt that they might have pulled a memory wipe on her after she was done doing work for the Celestial Intervention Agency

Zane

And their a rumor, their was a regeneration cycle b4 William hartnell and Ruth is one of these regenerations and if that is then alot of ppl would be pissed off cause of it tho, its rewriting the past of classic who grr :(

Stephanie Reacts

U did see the second doctor regenerate,

Stephanie Reacts

Sorry in advance for the long comment! My theory is she is the 'Season 6b' Doctor, an incarnation between Troughton's Second and Pertwee's Third Doctor. We never actually see the transformation from the 2nd to 3rd Doctors, and there is strong evidence that the 2nd Doctor actually survived his regeneration story and was instead forced to work for the Celestial Intervention Agency (literally the Time Lord CIA!). It's possible then that there could be an incarnation during this time. To get around the issue with the 12 regeneration limit, the CIA could have granted the Doctor an extra free regeneration, then eventually wiped her memory and turned her into the 3rd Doctor. This would mean that the Doctor wouldn't suspect anything later when he realises he's missing a regeneration! The only issue is Ruth not recognising the sonic screwdriver, since the 2nd Doctor had one. But even here, it's possible she just didn't recognise it in the form that Jodie has (like the War Doctor commenting on how the future Doctors don't use their sonics like he does). The 2nd Doctors sonic looked like a pen light and was basically just used to actually unscrew nails!

Paul McElvaney

Between 2 and 3.

William Tanner

Showrunners have been known, like the Doctor, to lie.

I think Ruth will likely be from a different reality. The Doctor and Time Lords still exist but they don't run parallel. Therefore, it opens up the possibility of different looking Doctors. Ruth is the Doctor but not from this reality. Therefore, the numbering doesn't change and William Hartnell is still the first Doctor. Different realities are not impossible for the show. The tenth Doctor once said in 'Rise of the Cybermen': "When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could pop between realities, home in time for tea."

That's the most logical explanation for the Tardis being the same police box.

Sougent

It's already been mentioned here but I hope Ruth is the Valeyard. A quick run through in case you're not familiar, the Valeyard is meant to be an incarnation of all of the worst traits of the Doctor and appeared first appeared in a 6th Doctor story. If Chibnall could pull that off, I might just forgive him for series 11 😂

ElBilbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzmnPs64K74

Sufyaan Kazi

She has to be after because the current Doctor was wearing Capaldi’s clothes, unless it’s another War doctor situation and she was right before the current Doctor; in which case it goes against my vote for post.

LKG

If it’s pre I’ll be very disappointed. You can make interesting concepts without completely rewriting the history of the show.

lewis is your patron

If she isn't somehow related to the Valeyard, I'm rioting. It's wayyyy overdue

I chose other because I truly belive she is somehow related to the Valyevard. She is ruthless, and more violent than the doctor. Also she cant be pre hartnell because the tardis is already stuck in the police box. Something that happened in the very first episode of the series when they left the yunkyard

Doctor between 2 and 3 - recruited by the Celestial Intervention Agency and then wiped from the memory of Three (maybe?) - cept why does she not know about the sonic .....

Sufyaan Kazi

I chose "other" for the most literal meaning it could have. Let me somehow sum up, what the other is to evaluate on that theory. The other was one of the founding members of Gallifray alongside Rassilon and Omega. At one point the other died and his genetic material was collected in a gallifreyan Birthing Pod called loom. A few thousand years later, that loom used the genetic material to rebuild the other. That way the character we know as the First Doctor (Hartnell) is born. So it would be a clone / reincarnation, rather than a regeneration. Although technically pre Hartnell it's still different enough for me to choose the other option. The Tardis could be the same one, too. The first Doctor stole his Tardis from a museum. If the Timelords could have repaired the Tardis Chameleon curcuit and put it in the museum. When the Doctor comes to the museum the Tardis recognizes her old friend (since same genetic material) and lets herself get stolen. Then she chose the 60s to take the form she likes the most (Police Box) and deliberately breaks the curcuit again.

Red Claw

I think reality bifurcated at some point in time splitting off two Doctors and two TARDISes. Maybe even two Gallifreys. Maybe it happened when Twelve regenerated into Thirteen? It was neverexplained why the TARDIS control room burst into flames when Thirteen was expelled. All she did was push a button on the console. No, wait, hang on, that doesn't make sense since Ruth didn't recognize the sonic screwdriver. Okay, maybe Ruth is to Thirteen what Sarge was to Coulson? There were lighthouses and dimensional cracks in both shows.

Tumbili

There is a little bit of Time Lord Lore that states that when a Time Lord actually dies for real they return to another dimesion or something and are reancarnated. So Ruth could be post or pre since a total rebirth would erase all memories. Its old lore but they may be using it.

Alan Collings

They won't be all women as a male voice was coming out of the Break The Glass thing saying "Release Me!" which means that this Doctor has had a previous male regeneration

Ed Alvey

I think either she’s from an alternate timeline or a previous incarnation that the Time Lords erased from the Doctor’s memories. She’s probably related to the Timeless Child mystery. Do you guys think the lone cyberman will play into the timeless child arc or are they separate?

Bejo

Rumor from before the season started that there was going to be a regeneration cycle that pre-dates Hartnell, all of them women. I had hoped it was just a rumor, now I'm not so sure. There is precedence for the idea from an old Who episode called The Brain of Morbius which hinted at regenerations before the 1st Doctor. I hope it's not going to be the case because it'd be very hard to do in such a way as to not alienate every fan of the old Who and I don't see Chibnall being able to pull it off. We shall see.

Sougent

I think it’s got to be dimensional or timeline. If it ends up being pre I think it is a bit of a kick in the teeth to Hartnell’s legacy. And there’s so much more potential in going in a new and exciting direction if it’s an alternate timeline/dimension. I also like the idea that the Doctor’s actually been in an alternate dimension for a while and not noticed it. Maybe since Jodie’s first episode?

I don't think we need a whole change to the lore, making it more confusing than it already is. Having this Doctor being from another dimension is an easier, more unique and interesting way to go

Ethan Prendergast

I think RuthDoctor could be a Pre-Whitaker Doctor. Obviously, she has been Hartnell (as he was the Doctor that stole the TARDIS and got it stuck as a police box), but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t be any point between 2-13. It’s possible Ruth is in fact part of a different cycle that the First Doctor could have followed in a different timeline.

AdDifferent

i have three theories ruth is either the valeyard, the other or the most out there theory she's susan

alexander hall

I think it is the doctor from the past. I think they will say that there are 13 regenerations of any time lord, but then when the cycle ends and a timelord ties there regenerations start over again and they forget.

The Air Nation

Going with Other cycle until otherwise stated

Dominic D

Chibnall already said she’s not an alternative universe Doctor

Lynn Walker

I hope it’s just another dimension just so I don’t have an aneurysm trying to figure this shit out!

Gavin Hardiman

She's the 2nd doctor of a erased timeline. The timelords used the timeless child to rewrite the universe's history into the show timeline. The timelords buried memories are their lives from before being rewritten. Think Stein rewriting history and getting a daughter. So previous timeline, post Hartnell.

Doby Greg

I sincerely hope she's dimensional because if she's somehow before the FIRST doctor, I'll be just a little bit upset.

Michael