Discussion: Knock knock, who’s there?
“It is returning. It is returning through the dark… And then, Doctor… Oh, but then… He will knock four times.”
We’re sure you were all left screaming at your TV screens following Carmen’s warning at the end of Planet of the Dead, and while the nation waits in agony for the Tenth Doctor’s final moments, and to discover the truth behind the chilling prophecy, we’d like to hear some of YOUR theories about who - or what - is about to make an untimely return from out of the darkness…
This is Doctor Who we’re talking about, and while all the signs are pointing at the obvious (tap-tap-tap-tap!), no doubt Russell T Davies will have thrown a spanner in the works and is sitting on his throne in Cardiff enjoying a latte (whilst stroking his beard in a menacing sort of way) as Whovians across the land speculate and plot and scheme the remaining nights away.
Feel free to share your thoughts below, but please be aware that this discussion is a spoiler zone so don’t read any of the posts if you don’t want to be spoiled!
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I sense a sinister partnership coming up that leads to the doctor’s demise. I do believe the knocking refers to The Master; he just has to come back! But I also sense that a final combination could be on the cards.
“It is returning through the dark”- Last time the darkness came into it was about the return of the daleks. I sense that the master will team up with the daleks or the cybermen for the ultimate invasion. That would be interesting but, like always, its just a theory
“It is returning through the dark” - Probably either Gallifrey or Skaro (doesn’t necessarily mean the Daleks have to be back).
“He will knock four times” - I’m not sure about this one, but I don’t believe it’s the Master, mainly because it’s far too obvious.
I mean, David and Julie have said that whatever we think it is is wrong and that it’s sad.
Logic dictates that it’s The Master, but nothing in Doctor Who ever follows logic.
“He’s waited so long…In the dark…In the cold…In the Diamonds…Until you came…Bodies so hot…With blood…And pain…” ~Sky Sylvestry from “Midnight”
The Master is too easy of a choice. And this is the only other creature/villain that knocks four times from the new series. Technically, we still don’t know who or what that thing was.
However, in the interview it said “Death comes, but, how many times will he knock.” or something like that. It could be something from one of the other DW related series.
Its easy to speculate that it’ll be the Master, and with all the rumours floating round it’s very possible he is indeed back.
Does the knocking refer to him? I would like to think no, but RTD’s work has a way of having us all speculate beyond the wildest imaginings and eventually being the most rational explaination.
So yes, in my opionion “HE” is the master.
The “IT” however… that is the question. My theory would be Gallifrey. If the Darkness has referred to the Daleks before now, “returning through the darkness” could be Gallifrey returning from defeat of the Last Great Time War. It would indeed be a nice way to round off the story of the RTD era.
“The Gate” which was foretold as part of the Finale months ago could (again, just theory), be a form of Chameleon Arch for the entire planet. Not so much as turning each Time Lord human, but maybe just phasing the planet out of sync with the Universe, as the Daleks did in The Stolen Earth.
I highly doubt it to be Skaro, as that was destroyed in 1963 by Davros, having been tricked into using the Hand of Omega by the 7th Doctor in “Rememberance of the Daleks”.
What else could the “IT” refer to? Well, if “IT” is RETURNING, it will either be something massively well known but never seen in “New-Who” (such as Gallifrey), or something previously featured within the last 4 series. The darkness could refer to a defeat or despair at the hands of the Doctor, possibly creatures like the Toclafane, or the Racnoss. Alternatively it could be something from the deepest depths of space, such as the Great Vampires (mentioned in The Runaway Bride and The Infinite Quest).
The truth is it is unlikely we will know this side of Christmas, or the broadcast of The Waters of Mars… and i for one cannot wait to find out…
Mass
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Interesting poste-script, Stephen Moffatt has hinted that the 11th Doctor will be darker than we have seen (possibly darker than the 9th Doctor)… if Gallifrey were to return, then surely the Doctor would be happy… wouldn’t he?
Could the four knocks belong to the future Doctor?
As has been presumably said before, John Simm will be back but his character name is unconfirmed.
I don’t think it’s the Master because, as has been mentioned, DT and JG said we were wrong. However, I’m all for the theory of Gallifrey coming back, because it seems to me that RTD is undoing everything he’s done- the Time Lords were gone so bring back the Master, the Daleks were gone so bring them back, the Time War was unchangeable so have Dalek Caan get through the ‘Time Lock’ to bring back Davros. He seems to be resetting for the Moff to take over.
Not necessarily. He escaped from Gallifrey. He’s a lawbreaker there. He ended the Time War by ending Gallifrey. This is pure speculation, but it could be that it is the Time Lords, resurrected with Gallifrey, who cause him to regenerate. Or, it could be a direct result of my imagination going wild and causing a massive explosion in the TARDIS…
Well, there is supposed to be a massive explosion in the TARDIS so… I have a strong belief that your speculation is correct because it makes sense. Also, to add to that, the Doctor stole from the Time Lords. He’s hardly their number one idol.
Just had another thought (not as exciting as the gallifrey theory. sorry) but the whole “he will knock four times”, that could be The Watcher. He knocks just as the doctor is about to die.
It wouldn’t be the first time they have forced a Regeneration on him.
Doctor #2 (Pat Troughton), was “arrested” by the Time Lords (albeit without the pomp of the arrests to come in The Deadly Assasin, and Trial of a Time Lord), his companions stripped of him and their momories of their time with him erased (dont get me started on the season 6b theories), and he was forcibly regenerated (into #3, Jon Pertwee) and exiled to Earth.
Now whether this is what will happen, it would be interesting to speculate on WHY he could be forcibly regenerated. Could it be for commiting mass genocide on the Time Lord and Dalek races? Or could it be for massively meddling with Time is as much as bringing back a race that should be gone for all eternity?
Now i wouldnt imagine #11 being exiled to Earth without a functioning TARDIS, yes it would save on budget, but it’d essentially be Torchwood if the Doctor didnt go planet hopping.
He could do as #5 did in the Five Doctors (referenced by #10 in The Stolen Earth), and just pop back inside the TARDIS to get something before escaping freshly regenerated.
I doubt the use of the Watcher as he was only ever in the Logopolis story to warn #4 of his impending doom and nudge the regeneration along. Although there is speculation that #10 could know in advance of his “song ending”, so a Watcher theory is possible, but unlikely.
Personally, the regeneration that will be most exciting for me will be when #12 becomes #13 in about 7 years or so, as that is when The Valeyard is formed in a splinter from the regeneration, and he could be very fun to have around!
Now this is the second time i’ve rambled on about this subject, but it’s just so interesting to speculate on.
What happens after #13? The Time Lords were only supposed to have thirteen bodies, or was that thirteen regenerations, in which case what happens after #14? Do we claim that it was a Time Lord rule which set the number, and the Doctor will somehow escape that (possibly because there are no Time Lords, despite our theorising)? Or do we go back to the Doctor being controversially half human and cite the innate human desire to survive? Or what? We’re running out of time…
There’s a good rumour going about that the Time Lords removed the rule during the Time War, so they could continue fighting the Daleks (guess they didn’t visualise the threat the Daleks would be).
We dont talk about that lol
Not so much of a rule, more something that is in their DNA (part of the Rassilon Impirature), although, technically I suppose you could use a chameleon arch in order to rewrite your DNA and become a “pure” Time Lord, with unlimted regenerations…
It has been stated that a Time Lord has 13 lives (or 12 regenerations). The Master in his first appearance (as the late, great Roger Delgado) was on his 13th life. Not too sure what happened, but after Delgado died in real life the Master continued in the show as a rotting, malformed creature, something of a walking corpse, desperately clinging onto existance. He then somehow transferred his essence into a Trakenite called Tremas, and had a living body again. The Tremas Master (played brilliantly by the late Anthony Ainley) continued with the show until its cancellation.
The Master reappeared in the 1996 TV Movie (presumably in the Tremas form) and put on trial by the Daleks on Skaro (placing it before the events of Rememberance of the Daleks, yet after Survival for the 7th Doctor). The Master was exterminated and his essence was to be returned to Gallifrey. The Master’s essence escaped its containment, brought the TARDIS to Earth on December 30th 1999 and then inhabited the body of an EMT named Bruce…
So while a Time Lord is limited to 13 lives, they are not limited to that lifespan, although this being the Master, i’d wager it’s not acceptable in Time Lord society!
We could theorise that the regeneration limit has been lifted somehow, but where would the suspense be when #13 is coming to an end? Wouldnt you want to see how he continues on instead of thinking it’ll all be fine?
As Russell T Davies has said “He’ll probably find a Crystal Ball of Zog”. So there will always be a way around it, it’s discovering that way that is exciting.
You’re right. But I also want to torment myself wondering how on earth it will happen!