The Zeroth Doctor

[pmcray]

Who is Hurt!Doctor? The generally accepted theory is that he is the regeneration between the 8th and the 9th Doctors who was responsible for the destruction of Gallifrey in the Time War. There are three problems with that theory: (a) Nine and Ten spent a great deal of time mopping around and being all angsty about the terrible things the Doctor did in the Time War; (b) would the average casual viewer actually remember/care anything about the Time War from several seasons ago now (and in Davies's tenure)? (c) it would be very boring. There are a few other possibilities: a future Doctor, but that's been done (the Valyard), a 2.5 Doctor, but that's incredibly obscure, some kind of alternative Doctor, but again that's been done (the Dream Lord amongst others).

My preferred theory, and naturally I am not the first to come up with the idea, is Hurt!Doctor is the Zeroth Doctor. The title of the episode "The Day of the Doctor" suggests that the story will be about how the Doctor got his name. This is the 50th anniversary special. One would expect it to be about the beginnings of Doctor Who in some way. The Doctor's pre-"An Unearthly Child" is essentially totally unexplored (and there are those such as Dr Sandifer who would wish it to stay that way) and thus is replete with unused potential unlike the Time War (how would a 8.5 Doctor fit in with the continuity of the novels and audios?). A Zeroth Doctor would ft better with what we see of Clara helping One steal the TARDIS. Finally giving the Doctor an origin story would set the programme up for the next fifty years. As an added bonus, if there were a Zeorth Doctor, Eleven has thus used up all his regenerations and Twelve can start again with a whole new set after various travails that can drive the Christmas special. (I remember talking to my brother about the regeneration limit after "The Deadly Assassin" back in 1976 and him reassuring me that they would come up with something when the time arrived.)

Yes, you're right, Hurt!Doctor will probably turn out to be 8.5 Doctor. If that happens, colour me disappointed. A Zeroth Doctor seems much more interesting and much more Moffat to me. Of course, with a bit of timey-wimey, Hurt!Doctor might turn out to be Zeroth, 2.5, 8.5, future and alternative Doctor. We'll know in two weeks. 

   

Comments

[jackfirecat.livejournal.com]

You did my answer for me, so I'm not sure you'll welcome the obvious comment to same effect: I think it has been pretty well spelt out that the Hurt-non-Doctor lost his right to be called The Doctor etc., (which assumes a previous history of being The Doctor that one didn't live up to, so can't be first) and is the one that pushed the button. Which, I assume, Ten and Eleven (of previously acknowledged Doctors) will try to alter/redeem him of in The Day.

But, I add, the 'always been running from, all my lives' doesn't sit well with that. Unless it's as Cavalorn speculates.

[pmcray.livejournal.com]

I'm not so sure. Yes, Hurt!Doctor did something terrible that caused him to lose the title of the Doctor, but why do we think this was in the Time War as opposed to something that happened on ancient Gallifrey. The Doctor is quite open about having killed all the Time Lords so it doesn't really make any sense to say that the actual incarnation that did it should be stripped of the title. There's also the issue of how the Doctor can have been running from whatever it is that he has been running from for over nine hundred years if it is the Time War.

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

It would make much more sense if he were Doctors[0], I am hoping it is not the bloody Time War again.