Russell T. Davies has plans for the Timeless Child... and it's a good thing for Doctor Who! 

A playlist of videos covering the issues with the BBC and transphobic reporting: ru-vid.com/group/PLmWFOeT2jEofVIDW9X3OL7GqWuX3Dxopu

Never thought I’d live to see the day that Vera called anything to do with the timeless child a good thing. Truly, we live in the end times. Also, I agree.

Introducing the Doctor’s new companion Ruby as a foundling, like he was, is definitely the right move.

If you break a bunch of tile, you can toss it or create a mosaic. I'm glad RTD is attempting a mosaic.

While I don't hate the idea of The Doctor having lives before Hartnell, I still don't like the Timeless Child Twist Chibnail gave us. If anything, the concept would have worked much better if it had been with The Master instead of The Doctor since the revelation would explain why The Master hates both The Doctor & Time Lord society so much.

RTD always understood the emotional core of the stories he told and prioritized emotional impact over almost anything else. Even through to the end of his run with the "Doctor triumphant" themes. Moffat sometimes got it, the 50th anniversary special is as brilliant as it is because of how it centers the emotional experience of the Doctor across multiple incarnations, even going so far as rooting the Doctor's trauma in the events of the Eighth Doctor's life. Chibnall seemed to misunderstand the qualities that the audience treasures about Doctor Who almost entirely. While I do share some of the reservations about RTD returning, I do think he's shown his heart is in it and he's bringing the focus back to the emotional core. The fact that he invented bigeneration specifically to give the Doctor a kind of happy ending he couldn't have otherwise, and then using that happy ending to free the 15th Doctor from having to play yet another round of self torture tells me that RTD isn't interested in just rehashing the past. This is the most excited and interested I've been in the series since the 50th anniversary.

In that same episode where 12 says he's just an idiot passing through, he also becomes the defacto President of Earth which is sorta ironic.

My take on Mrs Flood. She is a normal person but due to the time travel shit she is now aware of who the doctor is because she met the Doctor and Ruby back in the 1960s. That's likely it.

VERA 26 MINS IN > talks about 'such and such controversial plot point led to good things' MY BRAIN > oh yeah, JUST like Barbara Gordon in the Killing Joke VERA 27 MINS IN > talks about Barbara Gordon in the Killing Joke MY BRAIN > ***INCOHERENT SCREAMS OF VALIDATION***

Anyone watching Dr Who and complaining about it being woke has really not been paying attention. It has always appealed to the marginalised, the nerds and the geeks. Even Unearthly Child talked about a child who stood out in class. And that is why I love it.

This reminds me of my issue with the war Doctor and the resolution to that end: telling me there’s a secret regeneration between previously established Doctors is contrived. I hate it. But then the story they told was amazing and John hurt was perfect. They solved the problem of Ecelston not returning and executed a bad idea so well that I stopped caring about how bad it was. RTD2 could achieve this with the Timeless Child.

Absolutely, asking what the reveal means for The Doctor, how it makes them feel & how it will change them is the perfect way to proceed. Chibnall felt like he was writing TARDIS Wiki entries rather than actually telling a story.

I love how this was already an emotional plot beat in the church on ruby road. The Doctor stating that he's an orphan and him connecting with Ruby and her family through that

My biggest problem with the timeless child is that it's specifically the doctor who is the timeless child. I think if they had chosen the master instead it would have been a much better idea.

I like the general idea of The timeless child but think it should have been Susan and they reveal that the doctor found out and that's why he takes her and runs away but some how got the memory taken away

If it'd been up to me, I'd have just filmed a "short" that showed the Master hanging around in a Victorian gentleman's club, swirling a glass of brandy and saying: "... So anyway, I told her she was 'The Timeless Child' and she believed it!" Cue laughter from those around him, fade to black. And then it can just be disregarded as vaguely non-canon. 😂

The Doctor being half human was brought up, he was talking about regeneration sickness and said “I even thought I was half human once” it was a throwaway line wish I could remember they episode

Agree with the majority of this, I’m genuinely glad it won’t just be ignored but actually built on. Been saying for a while that’s my preference. Also agreed on the LGBTQ+ inclusion and master on pause quotes, definitely positive developments. There’s one more I really liked that you didn’t mention here, which is that he said 15 will be a lot more emotionally open than past doctors as a way to normalize dealing with mental health struggles, like him openly crying in the Christmas special-and side note, that’s doubly positive to have with a black masc-presenting doctor considering the norms around black men.

RTD made a conversation between the Doctor and a Dalek more emotionally charged than it had any right to be, and reinvented the Daleks (okay, the one Dalek in "Dalek") to be the scary, unstoppable monsters we remembered them being when we were younger, if we'd watched the older series as kids/teens. If anyone was going to find a path for the Timeless Child, it was going to be him.

If it helps for future reference if you need a clip for the "half-human" thing, i believe it's as The Master gets into the TARDIS that he says a line "The Doctor is half-human" which showcases that it wasn't intended as a joke a bit better. If you can't find one of that, I'm happy to look more precisely myself at some point

This was actually one of the things that got me the most excited when I watched the 14th Doctor specials. It wasn't _super_ conspicuous in those episodes next to all the other things that we got out of them, but we did get to see some hints of how the Doctor was still trying to mentally parse not only the Timeless Child revelation, but also the events of the Flux, with half of the universe being eradicated. When the Toymaker was taunting the Doctor about the cataclysmic way the Flux ended during his puppet show, the Doctor's anguish about it was palpable. And I could see what RTD was doing in those moments, and I remember remarking to myself as I watched, that he was doing Chibnall a big favor by tying up all of the loose ends he left behind. Really, I don't think there's any way for the show to proceed that _doesn't_ do that-- it's the elephant in the room now, and it has to be dealt with. Chibnall backed the series into a corner with his contributions to the lore, and I'm optimistic that RTD seems to understand what needs to happen to get it out. On another note... yeah, *definitely* watch the other two seasons of _Broadchurch._ It absolutely confounds me that such a well-written series came from, and even _precedes,_ the same writer who was responsible for Series 11-13. It's like all of the understanding of emotional beats and character development and plot payoffs that Chibnall demonstrated in _Broadchurch_ was completely abandoned during his work on _Doctor Who,_ and I still can't wrap my head around why.

I also really appreciated him saying doctor who is open to everyone, even if you're as "straight as a nail". Online discourse would have you believe that if something is embracing LGBTQ people that it's no longer made for anyone else, almost turning it into an "us vs them" situation, when that simply doesn't need to be true. The quicker there's less segregation in society the better, and I think Russell saying LGBTQ is just a part of his life, and that he's not making it "for" anyone in particular is, I think, very reassuring.

Moffat had the best response to the half human bit, it was because he had had human blood and human tech inside of him so it messed with the regeneration. Honestly, the master being the timeless child makes WAY more sense since he seems to have ways of keeping himself alive that no other timelord has. But they've already expressed that exposure to the rift in time and space created the ability to regenerate. So maybe they were a timelord who fell into the space time continuum and gave them the ability to regenerate but the timelords didn't know who the kid was so they gave it a name. Chibnal also can't write scifi. He's very good with human drama and mystery

The series always manages to survive retcons. Hartnell's Doctor being the first was only made explicit in the Fifth Doctor's run - by which time we'd already seen three or four prior incarnations, so that was a retcon. The Master first appeared in the Third Doctor's run - in his debut episode, it was clear they'd never met (although they had heard of each other) - while the new series depicts them as childhood friends, so that's a retcon too. It'll survive the Timeless Child thing too.

I feel like RTD has watched the Chibnall era and gone ‘addressing that, addressing that, addressing that…’. So far he’s given weight to random deaths, which Chibnall rarely did, properly addressed the ramifications of Flux, touched on the Doctor’s pain from the Timeless Child discovery, and now he’s stated that he plans to delve deeper into that pain.

Not to be too pedantic but Time Lord is a title, not a species-though it's been referred to by non-Gallifreyans sometimes as the species name, that's just incorrect. The Gallifreyan people are Shobogans, and Gallifreyans can become Time Lords after attending the Academy and passing some tests. Which the Doctor did do. So while the Timeless Child revelation suggests they may not be Shobogan or native Gallifreyan, they are definitely still a Time Lord.

Imo this has always been one of RTD's greatest strengths as a writer. He has his flaws, but he's very good at finding the emotional core of an issue and sticking the landing with that payoff. He makes me care. Initially, I was also hoping he might just ignore the Timeless Child stuff, but I think if he's looking to use it as a tool to create new drama and explore the Doctor's character in a different way, that could work out really well. I think at the end of the day, while I'm not a huge fan of the Timeless Child as a concept, my BIGGER issue was that Chibnall dropped something so huge on the audience in one massive lore dump and then just didn't do anything interesting with it. Now, I actually liked the majority of Flux, but the stuff I enjoyed about it wasn't really related to the Doctor's past XD

I just found your channel, this is my 5th video watching and I’m sitting here through all of them like I'm in a church service, just “yup”ping and “preach!” I freaking love it and you're amazing! You're helping me say my frustrations and thouhts into words! THANK YOU!!! ❤❤❤❤

I don't know, I think Chris Chibnall did everything he was going to do with it. It's likely he had bigger plans for it had COVID not happened, but even then I don't imagine he was going to put all the toys back in the pram once he'd done. I suspect RTD has previously discussed certain aspects of it with Chibnall, and maybe that's why he invited him to write for his new era, although that offer was ultimately declined. Davies is a very clever man who understood the gift Chibnall left him, and it's a gift with enormous storytelling potential.

As someone who didn't like the timeless child and also didn't care for RTD's original run in the first place, this decision makes me respect him a lot as a writer. Doctor Who, as a long-running serialised story, is a collaborative work of art, and that means taking the good ideas from the past with the bad and building on them. To me, his take on this shows a profound respect for the show as a whole, which incidentally his successors did not demonstrate when it came down to it. Moffat took the biggest and most character-informing part of Russell's tenure, the Doctor's decision to end the Time War, and basically threw it and all the character development it led to out the window - and then did nothing with it aside from bringing back the Time Lords for one story where he subsequently did nothing with them. Chibnall then took that decision to bring back the Timelords and completely undid it by having the Master destroy Gallifrey off screen, and then proceeded to do basically nothing of substance with it, since the Time Lords being alive didn't really preclude any of the timeless child stuff. All it did was give us a new symphonic metal design for the Cybermen. But here is Russell, who almost certainly knows how stupid of an idea the timeless child is, but is going to do what he can with it anyway because, like it or not, it's part of the story now and it should inform the characters.

I feel like the episode Human Nature was a salvaging of the "Eighth Doctor is half human" plot device, since both stories involve the Doctor rewriting his own "history" and becoming human in order to hide from someone. I don't see RTD expanding on the Timeless Child's lore, but I could imagine him or another writer making an episode clearly inspired by the concept. I do like the idea of regeneration being something not unique to the Time Lords, or even something that was artificially created. That idea originated in the classic era with episodes like The Hand of Fear and Mawdryn Undead. So maybe RTD could take the concept of "alien from another dimension with the ability to regenerate" and make it work, so long as that alien were somebody other than the Doctor.

I don't know... What if I said one of the things that justified the idea of the Time War was that it gave the Doctor his sonic screwdriver. Surely one good objection to that is that it didn't do any such thing -- the Doctor had his sonic screwdriver before that plot point. The Timeless Child and adoption is analogous to that. We're being told the drama of being an orphan could justify the Timeless Child idea, but the Doctor was already an orphan before the Timeless Child story. It's fine for RTD to do a story exploring being and orphan and adoptive family, and I'm sure plenty of good emotional moments can come from it, but there's just no reason to credit the Timeless Child for it.

For regenerations, the best Regeneration story is still 'Caves of Androzani'. No universal stakes - Like 'Logopolis' - not even Earth threatening. The Doctor dies trying to save ONE person. Because that's who the Doctor is. He doesn't need massive threat to drive the story. He'll go in hard for one person...

Thank you for mentioning Broadchurch. I recently went back and did my first rewatch for Matt Smith through Jodie Whittaker to see if I felt differently (I didn't like the Godlike/VIP Doctor, Clara or Timeless Child). Then I got to rewatch Broadchurch on a free trial. I kept going "this man wrote one of the things I think is amazing and also one of the things that made me want to pull my hair out?! How?" I also hadn't remembered that Jodie's second series was all written by Chibnall.

The timeless child actually has some precursors. The Morbuis Doctors, The Cartmell Masterplan, the House of Lungbarrow. But the first two were vague, and never fully explained, and the third was a book, from the 90s, which I don't think is canon.

In RTD's hands, The Timeless Child becomes a timeless idea.

For me, i think it really is RTD bailing out his friend. RTD has subtly disagreed with Moffat's run, but RTD and Chips are close friends.

I wanted Russell to just completely ignore the timeless child because I despise the concept and still want to forget it ever happened. It was always going to be a thing in the show's history after it was done, but I was hoping it could be forgotten to the point of effectively decanonized over a long enough time frame, similar to what happened with the reveal that the Doctor is half human It alters so many fundamentals about the show in ways that I deeply dislike on multiple levels However, if Russell is going to *not* ignore it, the way that he's decided to handle it is probably the second best alternative. His approach to handling it is the best way to address it if you have decided that you will address it

When the fake Donna brought up The Timeless Child and The Flux to Tennant's second version of The Doctor in Wild Blue Yonder I thought, OMG is he gonna actually Do Something with this? That he is just makes me happy. While I also wasn't fond of the idea, what I Hated is that NOTHING was done with it. RTD should be able to get to the emotional impact that had on The Doctor, even if THIS Doctor has "healed" from his trauma, RTD can still find a way to show it to US. Wow, it actually has me excited to see what RTD will do with TTC. BTW, I am hopeful that the analogy to The Killing Joke and Oracle/Batgirl ends up being the end result to The Timeless Child. Thanks Vera!

Great analysis and very well put. Thanks for doing what you do.

I don't mind so much that it's the old team back, especially the music, the gorgeous Murray Gold music glue that held the show together for me. I'm looking forward to hearing about your S1 thoughts!

When the Timeless Child came out, I came up with an idea I thought would make the most of it. In my idea the Timeless Child, not being native to this dimension, had trouble managing their regenerations. Over time, the Timeless Child began to develop an identity crisis and was going mad as a result. To try and manage their many lives/regenerations, they begin to create personas. Some personas were benign, others were malevolent, etc... Among those personas, one was the Doctor, and another was the Master. Eventually the madness was so great that the Gallifreyan leaders were terrified of the Timeless Child, and out of both fear of the Timeless Child and compassion for the Timeless Child's suffering, they decided to split the Timeless Child into multiple new beings. Each persona would be born a new Gallifreyan infant (or maybe some will not even be Gallifreyan). There are now many Timeless Children who all used to be part of each other, part of the same being. This leaves the door open to the Master learning that they are also a Timeless Child, that the Doctor and him were once the same, that they share the same madness, but the Doctor used it for good, and the Master did not. It could open up many avenues for their friendships and animosity. But then Chibnall had to make the Master try to turn into the Doctor, which I feel would kind of wreck the idea that they actually are parts of the same being.

I’m a Doctor Who fan. I've seen lots of videos criticizing the show in my feed. Even though I blocked those channels, I subscribed to yours because you came up with valid points and I enjoyed your video. The blocked channels mix alt-right politics with sci-fi stuff, which doesn't really fit. Science fiction often explores modern injustices through futuristic scenarios, critiquing social, political, and ethical issues. It's like going to a trains spotting event and complaining that people are always talking about trains.

Hadn’t seen the latest RTD interview, but happy to hear his thoughts - and your reaction to them. Thanks, as always!

This is the first video i’ve seen from you and wow , you perfectly said everything that i think 😂 and i love your energy

RTD is the master of taking crazy ideas that sound awful on paper, and making strong emotional stories out of them. I think thats why he and doctor who go so well together.

Imo the problem chibnal had (and it showed) was that he didn't want to do a scifi. The studio mandated that a portion of the series be science/action and when that happened every single time he phones it in. His historical episodes, I enjoyed every single time but as soon as anything 'science' was needed he would hand wave the story away without any thought, planning, research or consequences.

My own personal headcanon is that just like the Doctor in classic who was not a great student and overall fairly unimpressive when it comes to timelords, and only appears impressive and intelligent when compared to humans, the Doctor should be rather average for whatever species they are, because it allows them to preserve the little man nature they always had. You could also tie the Doctor up with the Eternals if you wanted, I think that could be interesting, and I'm honestly surprised they haven't used them at all in NuWho yet.

A lot of things about it, just didn't make sense. Like pre-Hartnell Doctors having a TARDIS, etc. And I liked this nothing-special, orphan lad growing up to become the Doctor (see Listen). That he's a part of Galifrey, a Time Lord. Not the cause of Galifrey and the Time Lord civilisation, etc.

Personally, I did really like the way the Timeless Child unfolded, even though it complicates the lore, and even though it hasn't been paid off yet. There are very interesting things to be done here, with an individual who has been assembling their own found families for so many lifetimes... Coming to terms with being an orphan, with their sense of belonging to both the Timelords who took them in and to Gallifrey, the only home they've ever known... And coming to terms, perhaps, with a sense of betrayal, having been used by their guardian, experimented on, used and ultimately discarded. Tecteun clearly had little, if any, deep or meaningful affection for the Doctor. The Doctor has gone to war with the Timelord council multiple times at this point, for good reason. This is a very interesting place for the Doctor to be. And I absolutely think they can still be an idiot in a box at the end of the day. I do also find it interesting what it means for the relentless superiority complex of the Timelords that they stole their whole thing from someone else. I think their motives for stealing the Doctor's ability and building a society around it, as well as how the Doctor has been treated by them ever since, could be compared to how a narcissist relates to their target. That last point would take far too long to get into. But I think exploring that aspect could also help center the realism of the Doctor's character as just an idiot in a box instead of a mythical figure of utmost importance.

I don’t like the timeless child but you made some good point. Now I have hope that it could be salvaged and turned into a good story.

First David Tennant’s return and now The Timeless Child. You’re certainly changing your mind about a lot of things that you hated about Doctor Who of late.

Lovely vlog, so well explained & argued. When you have big positive hopes Vera, it makes me super happy. Haven’t always 100% agreed with your reactions, but always 100% get a better view and learn something new. This time, along with the other 90% or more of times, you are so on the frikking money 🤗 Can’t wait for new eps & reviews to come soon!!

I enjoyed the Butterfly Effect as a joke, was worried we'd be getting a whole episode of it. And yes, totally agree with you on the "The Doctor is a unique godly being" plots are terrible. And God yes, the Last of the Time Lords was huge and emotional when it came out. Also, so glad to find someone who enjoys Doctor Who and dislikes pretty all the things I dislike. (Timeless Child, 14th Doc, Bi-generation)

the later seasons of Broadchurch are good but the first is AMAZING

In my humble opinion i think RTD, while embracing the timeless child, he will not give it a real answer, i think this season will end with The Doctor coming to the conclusion that finding out who he really is isnt important because his real family is his adopted family, it wont matter because he is a timelord even if he wasnt born on Galifrey.

I've always been of the opinion that if the timeless child was going to be a thing, it makes more sense for it to be The Master. It would give some level of justification for his anger and Rage at the timelords even if he didn't remember. I, like most people, like the idea of the Doctor being a rogue who just likes to travel and runs away

This is great to see. I was worried too and now I agree 💯 with you vera. I'm also glad rtd is going to acknowledge it and I'm hoping he also ties a bow on the flux. So happy to see your excitement. It makes me feel a little better now. So bring on doctor who! Here's hoping it's a great season.

12:23 my 2 cents: I don’t have an issue with the timelords stealing the regeneration ability from an alien life form but I don’t think it had to be the doctor.

I am curious to see what RTD will do with the Timeless Child, but I still can't get excited for it. But it's great that you, Vera, and anyone else who is excited can be.

Outstanding talk. Really enjoyed that!

I like how this might turn out. I am glad they are exploring that with them, looking forward to witnessing it

Did I misunderstand something? Plenty of reacuring enemies have appeared before the master, such as the silurians or the autons.

Spot on! I really like what you have said here, and I agree. It's a chance to put the 'Who?' back into Doctor Who.

When I first learned that RTD was going to do something with the timeless child story, I was happy but nervous. I hope it gets drip fed to us over multiple series similar to how the time war was over the first 7 series culminating in the 50th Special. How you explain why your enthusiasm for the upcoming season is exactly why I love the Cyber Timelords/Cybermasters and like their amazing design because it's awesome and because the Master just can't help showing off. It hits the Doctor personally (like what the Master did to the future humans in series 3) and regenerating cybermen... love it.

I gotta say I also hated how Moffat brought back Galifrey then Chibnal burned it to the ground, again leaving the Doctor to be the last Time Lord.

Great analysis

Chibnell so clearly just wanted to have big plot twists with zero thought to their lore implication. This was particularly frustrating with the episode introducing the idea that the first doctor was not the first doctor, where the Doctor finds a TARDIS hidden beneath a fake gravestone... and it's a police box. Because the Doctor's TARDIS looks like a police box, even when it's a different TARDIS and a version of the Doctor before they traveled to the UK in the 60s and set the chameleon circuits to look like a police box.

As an X-Men fan, I was nodding my head when you were talking about not everything has to be "undone". If a plot point is made and never referenced again. That's a better way to deal with it. Retcon just brings more attention to the subject. As opposed to just ignoring.

In all fairness, Chibnall wrote Broadchurch on his own largely while Torchwood and Doctor Who have always has a variety of writers under the showrunner. As such, the detective story had a lot of his personal touch and a consistent voice throughout the storyline. There was also how it wasn't episodic and was written for adults who are often treated to more serialized storytelling even before streaming. Plus, I feel like Torchwood was his strongest show of producing for the Doctor Who franchise due to how it was largely grounded on Earth and operated like a police procedural drama but with top secret alien hunters. He seems a lot more in his element when the story is for adults and in a grounded setting. I think that's kind of why Flux was the most entertaining. It was messy due to Co-Vid but I feel like it was part of the charm, bringing in elements of Classic Who's serialized storytelling with NuWho's style of storytelling. It felt like he was cutting more loose and getting crazy. I think it was what Season 12 was missing. I mean, it was gonna split audiences anyways.

Thanks!

Totally agree with you vera I was frustrated that chibnall did nothing with this concept as well and thank you for an amazing video glad rtd will do something with it

Well this is interesting news. I do like that idea. I was surprised when I saw the video's title! Still I'm very interested to see how Russell will go with it. Also love that last comment too!

I understand your points about TC but respectfully disagree. I don't think it's worth anything RTD can do with it to keep it considering how (to me) it ruined the history of the show. Plus, i am confused when he did a line in The Giggle so fans can ignore it when the toymaker says, "I made a jigsaw of your history." RtD said its to help juggle all the different origins and make them all canon but then doubles down on TC.

If he does bring the Master back in season 2 or 3, I'd quite like the odd episode where either Missy, the most recent or Simm, show up again with no need to introduce a new incarnation for a while.

The Timeless Child is a really intriguing concept but they shouldn't have been the Doctor. It would have been cooler if they were someone the Doctor had to save, or had to fight - either way, it shouldn't have been the Doctor themself. Frankly, it would've been really interesting for the Timeless Child to begin as a nemesis, then regenerate and become a friend, then a companion. Something to scare the crap out of the Doctor.

I love the sentiment here. "It's a bad idea, but it was done well."

Tbh I actually like wokeness in dr who and want to see more of it… Aslong as it’s written right, because the end of the star beast was written badly, when rose and Donna basically said they can let it go cuz they r woman and the couldn’t let go cuz he a was guy even tho he was a woman like a year ago

It was your hand at the end of The Giggle, wasn't it?

What I’d do with the Timeless Child in the long run personally is that I’d make it the perfect way to, if the show ever had to finally end, use it as the ending. The Doctor regenerates into the Timeless Child and passes through the space time portal to become their original self once more. The Doctor has no beginning or end, and exists as a stable cycle.

The Church on Ruby Road also touched on The Doctor's trauma at being exploited because of the vulnerability of not having safe family, when he is devastated by alternate version Carla Sunday saying she only took in foster kids for the financial benefit.

Half human was brought up during the Capaldi era. Also loved that idea. To each their own.

Spot on, Vera! You're spot on! A poorly idea that's well executed is way better than a good idea poorly executed. That said, I do think Chibnall did some great character buildings for the minor characters of some episodes of Doctor Who, but forgot them for the main cast. Praxeus comes to mind, the first Holiday special is another one. Even in the Witch finder, as long as the noble dame still is a human being, and in Kerblam, where the female boss actually shows big concern when she realize something's wrong. Professor Jericho is another character better explained than most of the main cast during Chibnall's run. His plot points were quite un explained, though. They were more confusing than good. Thanks for a great youtube channel 🫶

I'm actually in the camp that didn't hate/actually quite liked the Timeless Child as a concept, but even I will fully agree that Chibnall dropped the ball *hard* on doing anything remotely worthwhile with it. Regardless of how things go forward from here it's always going to be jarring just how much time we spent with the Doctor after such a big revelation about their past, where they just... didn't mention or confront it in any meaningful way. Still though, I'm genuinely excited to see how RTD goes about exploring this.

It's been obvious lately that russel is gonna do something with the timeless child stuff, given WBY and Church on ruby road. Even using it as a way of connecting the doctor with ruby. I may still hate the idea but Russel seems to be the king of having terrible on paper ideas and making them work exceptionally well. So I'm excited to see where it goes.

I'm so glad to see you being excited about it again, I'm not sure why but this really makes me happy. I do agree Doctor Who works best when The Doctor is an outsider, sometimes when he's a legendary figure and is like oh wait what how did that happen it's cool but it has been done to death.

I love the way you think- I don’t always agree ( I am a different human so that makes sense) but you tell it like it is and how you feel about it. So thanks. ❤️😎

The irony about the Timeless Child is that it's almost self-aware and actually voices your own complaint; moments after the Master reveals the Doctor's pre-Hartnell history, she basically replies, "So what? You think this changes anything?" I get the feeling the line is in there because Chibnall realised at this point in writing that the storyline wasn't really working, but he was too heavily committed to it by then. The Timeless Child wasn't a new idea in fact, it was adapted from non-canon Doctor Who novels written in the early-1990s, and while it just about fitted in okay back then, re-creating it after fifteen years or so of new stories on TV was just too much for it to work. As for RTD, yes, he's big on emotional pay-offs, but a lot of the time the "emotion" is very forced and artificial, with characters bursting into tears much too easily. I also wish he could write a coherent "therefore/but-structured" plot with no lazy "deus ex machina" resolutions.

My biggest problem was destroying Gallifrey like Chibnall did. Showwriters seem to forget that Gallifrey is a planet teeming with life and alien ecosystems...not just the High Council of Gallifrey. There could have been multiple opportunities to see, save, and interact with Gallifreyan creatures. And the Doctor had friends and mentors (usually also rogues) beyond just the Master that would tie them to Gallifrey. ------ ...in that light, I think something like a "Time Lord Seed Vault" placed on planets like Earth could be a way to open room to let the Doctor explore and remember the positive parts of Gallifrey.

Great take as usual

Honestly I agree. I hope RTD succeeds in putting things in a new light and using the tools he was handed. I'm looking forwards to the next season and seeing where it goes. Chibnall has done some great story lines, I liked what he did with Class, but some of the best writing I've seen him do is when he's been fired or about to be fired. And I think Jodi did pretty good with what she was given to work with. I'm excited to see where Ncuti goes and what he does. I like to try to go in with an open mind. Because sometimes things can surprise you.

The Timeless Child removed the doctor’s regeneration cap. Not a really a plot point, but it makes indefinite continuation of the show easier. At first I had a head-cannon theory to tie together the whole Timeless Child and Half Human origins together. It’s a little gonzo, but basically the theory revolved around the mysterious destination that the rift the last humans were escaping from the Cybermen through. I considered that perhaps they were effectively stepping unprotected into the time vortex like walking into a singularity. Perhaps somehow this took all the people and smushed them into a single being or something, perhaps birthing the timeless child and spitting it out into the distant past, or creating the civilization the doctor came from. I mean hell, river song was born with the ability to regenerate just from being conceived in the T.A.R.D.I.S. right? I thought perhaps that might explain the doctor having human blood in the 8’s movie as well. But no. There was no further reveal, and then C.C. left without touching it again. Looking forwards to seeing the new series.

Vera, my go-to Dr Who News and analysis😄

(Edit: Just saying “he” for the master and doctor for my own ease, nothing meant by it) I will forever think that they should go with it for a few episodes and then have it come out that THE MASTER is the timeless child. They could say he found out and so distraught, he decided to put it on the doctor (who he has always tortured) instead. Like he wanted the doctor to share in his misery by making him believe the same thing about himself. They could even have an emotional redemption “I knew you’d be able to handle it better than me” and make like he somehow made his own mind even believe the doctor was the timeless child. Like he chose to change his own memories kind of thing. I just think it should’ve been the master. It fits the overall story arc from new who so much better. It could be used to explain a lot of the treatment the master got from the elders there, and why he went so crazy (from experimentation etc) and If the doctor actually is a pure Galifrayan (sp?) it could explain the resentment- even if it started before he knew his origin, maybe he could just sense. The doctor had things that he didn’t, and the doctor had reasons to not feel like an outcast while he did. They should have it be this, and then have the master be gone once, and for all after. Like I don’t know exactly what the storyline would be lol but obviously the doctor would find this out… Maybe they could make it like he wasn’t dying when he saw the toy maker but that he was s*icidal, still not satisfied even after passing the misery to the doctor… that would also make sense… Because not only is the toy maker powerful enough to kill him, but it would explain why the toy maker, then suddenly went to visit the doctor after not seeing him for hundreds of years… but the toy maker didn’t want him gone, because the toy maker loves people who are mischievous and evil so maybe the toy maker trick him so that he would end up being put in a tooth when he lost instead of being ended. And then they could team up again, but like for real to take down the toy maker, and then the master could die lol. But like for real this time. That’s what I think lol and excuse me if I’m a little off on any of the law… I watched the timeless child episode once and I haven’t been able to stomach watching it a second time lol . Love your videos❤

I trust Russell T Davies on it

In regards to RTD saying that he wants to give the Master a break, I seem to remember Moffat saying something similar years ago about giving the daleks a break and I think they were back like the next season so I'm taking that comment with a little bit of salt. The Master is an easy go to for a single villain to focus on instead of an army of Cybermen or Daleks but they've been over used and I don't mind The Master being trapped in the tooth for a little while longer.

RTD has always been good at digging into the emotion of a good character/story nugget.

I'm still not convinced this makes the timeless child in any way a "good" thing. Mostly because it had already been hinted at that the Doctor could have been an orphan during 11's run when we saw the Doctor as a child. Maybe not their whole life, maybe not without other relatives to take over for lost parents, but still someone coming from some kind of at least partially broken home at a young age. I'm fine with the Doctor being an orphan, or more to the point, with the Doctor being adopted, but none of that requires them to be a special unique one of a kind alien from an entirely different reality and the origin of Time Lord regeneration. EDIT: and to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure I can agree that what RTD is currently doing with the concept is all that original either. The Docto not knowing where they come from seems like a retread of the same kind of melodrama as the Doctor being the last Time Lord... both amounting to a similar notion of the Doctor being alone in the universe with no place they can call home.

The timeless child is an opportunity to tell a story around what an individual owes to their society. If it saves a whole people, is it ok to torture a child? Is it possible for a child to consent to the responsibility of becoming the savior of a people. Especially if the consent isn't exactly informed consent. What if the child wasn't the only way to save the people, just the easiest. Were the people actually in danger, or was this just a way to make life easier for the rest of the people at the expense of the child. Can innocence be reclaimed by loss of memory of a traumatic event? What happens to the personality created through these events? Is this why the Doctor has a savior complex; because he saved his people as a child, but doesn't remember it? Perhaps that has something to do with the feeling that he had the right to destroy Gallifrey later as the people became destructive. Perhaps that is why he is always running away from responsibility, only to find it later on another planet with another people. Is his inability to watch as others are hurt a learned response from saving people all his life? And is that a personality trait formed by being repeatedly required to save people as a child, or is it a trait inherent in him that allowed the Gallifreyans to exploit him? Then after posing all of these questions, they can go into whether it was because of the Doctors unique capabilities, or if anyone who could regenerate could have been used to construct Gallifreyan society around. Was the Master another child put in that position, and is that why the Master and the Doctor have such a love hate relationship. Was the master met with the same demands, and refuse? Would the moral quandaries be simplified if it had been an adult who was put into this position? Was it just that this one person had this capability and no one else would do? How hard did they look for an alternative? There is a mountain of story possibilities that can be expanded with this bit of the Doctor's history. It's a shame that none of this was explored.

Fundamentally agree, I have a lot of complaints with the specials but one thing undeniably strong is the Timeless Child have SOME kind of emotional consequence and wait. Its great to have basic drama back.