10 Longest Payoffs In Doctor Who History
If Amy was The Girl Who Waited, then Whovians are definitely The Fans Who Waited.
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00:00 Doctor Who is a show all about time travel, so the Doctor can experience events in very
00:04 complicated ways, and their timeline might not always give them the quickest way to a
00:08 resolution.
00:09 Look at River Song.
00:10 The Doctor met her at the end of her life, when she knew him very well.
00:13 They dropped in and out of each other's lives for years, and it was, to put it simply,
00:17 complicated.
00:18 There's such a rich history in Doctor Who, which allows current writers to look back
00:22 and make as many connections as they want to the past.
00:25 For example, in 1983's The Five Doctors, the Doctor steals the seal of the High Council
00:30 from the Master.
00:31 It wouldn't be until 2013's Time of the Doctor that he would actually use it, and
00:35 remind us that I knitted off the Master in the Death Zone.
00:37 With a new series on the way, and David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Bernard Cribbins, and the
00:42 rest of Donna's family all confirmed to return, it looks like we might finally be
00:46 getting a payoff to the story where Donna couldn't remember the Doctor without potentially
00:50 dying.
00:51 A story that was set up 14 years ago.
00:53 So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with Who Culture, here with 10 Longest Payoffs in Doctor
00:58 Who History.
00:59 10.
01:00 RTD Arcs
01:01 In Season 1, we keep seeing the words "Bad Wolf".
01:05 In Season 2, we had "Torchwood".
01:07 In Season 3, we spotted "Vote Saxon" posters, and in Season 4, we kept being told that planets
01:12 and bees were disappearing.
01:14 Each of these mysteries was developed over their respective seasons, with information
01:17 slowly being gradually drip-fed as we progressed through the story.
01:21 The arcs would all last for an entire season, and then hit us hard at the end.
01:25 The best of these arcs was in Season 4.
01:28 Multiple threads ran through the episodes - the disappearing planets and bees, the return
01:31 of Rose Tyler, mentions of the Doctor Donna, the Medusa Cascade, and "There's Something
01:35 on Your Back".
01:36 All of these things would return towards the end of the season to bite us on the backside
01:40 when it all came together.
01:42 Season 4 was an absolute masterclass in storytelling from Russell T Davies and his team, and these
01:47 arcs are something we're really excited to see when RTD returns.
01:50 We can only wonder what he's got up his sleeve, but we know it's going to be good.
01:55 9.
01:56 He Will Knock Four Times
01:57 When the Master appeared in Season 3, it seemed he was defeated by the End, but we knew he'd
02:02 be back after the mysterious woman retrieved his ring from the ashes.
02:05 She would, of course, go on to revive the Master for the 2009 special "The End of Time",
02:10 which aired two and a half years after the Master's last appearance.
02:14 During the course of the specials leading up to this story, the Doctor learns of the
02:17 prophecy that claims he will knock four times.
02:20 Fans instantly connected this to the Master, however, when the moment came, it was actually
02:24 Wilf who knocked four times after being trapped in a glass case that's going to fill with
02:28 radiation, leaving Ten in a moral predicament.
02:31 He thought he had cheated death, and was suddenly confronted with the fact that he had to die
02:35 to save his friend.
02:36 This twist of fate had been a long time coming.
02:38 He met Donna in 2006 and came across Wilf in 2007.
02:42 He found Donna again and travelled with her again in 2008, then dropped back into Wilf's
02:47 life in 2009.
02:49 Fate was pulling him towards this for a very long time.
02:52 Even more surprising is it looks like they're being pulled back together now, 14 years later.
02:58 8.
02:59 Rose Gets Her Doctor
03:00 Ten and Rose had a romantic connection that sadly ended before they could fully confess
03:04 their feelings.
03:05 The tragic events of Doomsday, which led to Rose being sucked into an alternate dimension
03:10 and Ten burning up a sun to say goodbye, emotionally ruined us all and left us devastated that
03:15 neither of them got their happy ending.
03:17 A couple of years later, in season four, Rose made a surprise return from her alternate
03:21 dimension as the walls between realities began to break down.
03:25 She spends the entire series reaching out to the Doctor, and when they're finally
03:28 reunited, the Doctor is exterminated by a Dalek, only to regenerate back into himself.
03:34 This unconventional regeneration scene leaves the Doctor with a Metacrisis clone.
03:38 At the end of the arc, once everything is worked out, the Doctor leaves his Metacrisis
03:42 clone with Rose.
03:43 Rose's version of the Doctor is the same as ours, but will age and live as close to
03:47 a human life as is possible.
03:49 Seeing Ten leave Rose with the him that he could never be is absolutely heartbreaking,
03:53 but it's a payoff that was unexpected, and even addressed the Doctor's final words
03:57 to Rose which were cut short.
03:58 Still, he doesn't get to say outright that he loves her.
04:01 7.
04:02 Clara Goes Too Far
04:03 Clara's arc saw her build herself up to believe she's on the same level as the Doctor,
04:08 and acts like she's invincible.
04:09 It was an interesting study of what can happen when people get too close to the Doctor if
04:13 he builds them up as he did with Clara.
04:16 Of course, she also had the Impossible Girl story to back her up too.
04:19 She had been the most important person in the Doctor's life, with fragments of her
04:23 scattered through space and time that were designed to die to keep the Doctor safe.
04:27 Clara is often criticised as a prime example of being a Mary Sue character, but under the
04:31 surface there's a lot of psychological damage to her.
04:34 This led her to make so many brave yet rash decisions, and eventually sent her to her
04:39 death.
04:40 It's really harrowing how her character develops so drastically and makes us view
04:44 the Doctor who encouraged her in an entirely different way.
04:47 Clara's death wasn't the end, though.
04:49 During the events of Hellbent, it was made clear that her Mary Sue-style storyline even
04:53 managed to help her escape death and fly off in her own TARDIS.
04:56 Maybe it is a fitting full circle ending for the companion who became too much like the
05:01 Doctor.
05:02 6.
05:03 Yaz's Love for Thirteen
05:04 Some say that Yaz's love for the Thirteenth Doctor has come from nowhere and has been
05:08 shoehorned in too little too late.
05:10 However, lots of fans spotted it way back in the early days of her run in Season 11.
05:15 It began with Yaz's reaction when her mum asked if her and the Doctor were together.
05:19 Throughout their adventures, the way Yaz looked at the Doctor said everything.
05:23 It becomes very obvious when you add in moments like in Can You Hear Me, where Yaz ran away
05:27 from home after suffering from a mental health breakdown, and her ability to call out the
05:31 Doctor when she needs to.
05:33 Her behaviour when the Doctor returns in Revolution of the Daleks, where she gets mad and pushes
05:37 her, always felt extreme for just a friend.
05:39 And the way she keeps replaying and reacting to the hologram in Flux is rooted in a deeper
05:43 love.
05:44 These are just a handful of examples, but guaranteed on a rewatch it'll be very obvious
05:48 that Yaz was always in love.
05:50 It's a shame it took until Eve of the Daleks, almost four years after her debut, for her
05:54 to admit it, but it's nice to see some LGBTQ+ representation being handled sensitively and
06:00 sweetly.
06:01 It was even more exciting, but equally heartbreaking, to see the Doctor handle the situation the
06:05 way that she did.
06:07 5.
06:08 Silence Will Fall
06:09 Eleven's era began in 2010, and was haunted by the sinister phrase "silence will fall".
06:15 The arc incorporated the cracks in space and time, the terrifying silence monsters, and
06:19 the fields of Trenzalore, where the Doctor's tomb resides.
06:22 In the season seven finale, The Name of the Doctor, the Doctor must speak his name to
06:26 enter his tomb, but refuses to speak.
06:28 Instead, River Song, who is a ghost, says his name and opens the tomb without us hearing
06:32 it.
06:33 In 2013's Christmas special, The Time of the Doctor, it was revealed that the Time
06:37 Lords were on the other side of the crack, and they wanted the Doctor to confirm his
06:41 name and help them to return.
06:42 Still, the Doctor refused to answer because the Time Lords' return would trigger another
06:46 time war.
06:47 At this time, we see the Kavarian sect split from the church, a moment that triggered the
06:52 Silence Will Fall arc that we've already lived through.
06:54 It's a confusing arc, but one that lasted an entire Doctor's era.
06:58 All of this chaos is dedicated to prevent the Doctor from revealing his name and continue
07:02 the mystery of Doctor Who.
07:04 4.
07:05 River Song at the Singing Towers
07:08 When the Doctor first meets River in the library in 2008's Silence in the Library, she sacrifices
07:13 herself to save the day.
07:15 River is heartbroken that this Doctor doesn't know her, and promises that she knows him
07:19 very well, even hinting that they are married.
07:22 In her dying moments, she name drops certain adventures and talks about their last meeting,
07:26 when the Doctor turned up with a haircut, a new suit, and took her away for a romantic
07:31 getaway at the Singing Towers of Derillium.
07:33 River returned multiple times over the next few years, appearing in the adventures that
07:37 she had mentioned in her final moments, like the crash of the Byzantium.
07:41 Her time with Eleven saw their relationship blossom through their adventures and lead
07:45 up to their marriage.
07:46 After the Eleventh Doctor regenerated, the Twelfth Doctor wasn't lucky enough to meet
07:50 River until after Clara's death.
07:52 It was 2015's Christmas episode "The Husbands of River Song" that took her to Derillium.
07:58 The episode's closing scene shocked viewers by appearing from nowhere and showing the
08:01 heartbreaking scene which had been mentioned almost eight years ago.
08:05 Needless to say, the emotional scenes in this unexpected payoff ruined everyone's Christmas.
08:11 3.
08:12 The Time War Genocide
08:13 The Doctor returned in the first series of New Who, having been through hell.
08:17 We learn about the Time War, which wiped out the Time Lords and left the Doctor as the
08:21 last of their kind.
08:22 As the series progressed, we discover more when Ten talks more about the Time War and
08:26 their home planet being decimated, and we learn even more so from Eleven.
08:30 For seven seasons, we see a character shaped by the pain of the horrors they endured and
08:35 choices they made in this war, most notably in moments seen in Gridlock and the Rings
08:39 of Akhaten.
08:40 It took until the 50th anniversary episode in 2013, a whole eight years after the revival
08:46 began, to finally get to see a real glimpse of the Time War.
08:50 We even learn about a secret incarnation that we had never known about.
08:53 In the Day of the Doctor, we see Ten and Eleven meet the forgotten War Doctor and help him
08:58 come to terms with what he has to do.
09:00 They stand by his side and comfort him as he prepares to destroy all of the Time Lords
09:04 to win the Time War.
09:05 But thankfully, they realize they don't need to commit genocide, and can instead save Gallifrey
09:10 with the help of every Doctor.
09:12 It was a surprising payoff at the end of a long, tragic arc, and finally allowed the
09:16 Doctor a reason to celebrate.
09:19 2.
09:20 Twice Upon a Time
09:21 In Capaldi's last outing as the Twelfth Doctor, he met up with his first incarnation at the
09:26 end of his life.
09:27 With both Doctors refusing to regenerate, the story follows the pair as they eventually
09:31 help each other accept their impending regenerations.
09:34 While this didn't directly mirror events from the Tenth Planet, it was a beautifully
09:37 thought-out tie-in that made a strong, poignant finale to the Twelfth Doctor's reign, which
09:42 had been built on the foundation of being the Doctor who saves people.
09:46 The themes of death weren't just limited to the Doctors.
09:48 It also involved a couple of soldiers from the First World War, frozen in a moment, struggling
09:53 with being able to kill each other.
09:54 They're eventually saved when the Christmas Day miracle begins and all soldiers famously
09:59 put down their weapons and come together.
10:01 Seeing the good influenced by Twelve, the First Doctor decides he's ready to move
10:05 on and goes back to his TARDIS.
10:07 In this moment, the episode cuts back to the original footage of the regeneration, bringing
10:11 us full circle to the moment that had taken place 50 years previously.
10:15 1.
10:16 The Morbius Doctors
10:18 The Morbius Doctors appeared way back in 1976's serial The Brain of Morbius.
10:23 Their inclusion was said to hint at the potential of multiple lives before Hartnell's Doctor,
10:27 but for years it was completely overlooked or dismissed.
10:30 Some fans were convinced it meant something, though, and theories about the forgotten lives
10:34 have caused controversy for years.
10:36 After the Timeless Child twist in 2020, the Morbius Doctors were no longer possible to
10:40 ignore.
10:41 The modern twist proved that the Doctor had lived many lives before becoming what we knew
10:45 as the First Doctor, and the Timeless Child story has become a major source of division
10:49 between fans.
10:50 Whether we love it or not, the Timeless Child is a part of Doctor Who now, and it does manage
10:54 to make sense of the Morbius Doctors by giving us a payoff that goes beyond the show's
10:58 beginnings in 1963.
11:00 This takes us way back beyond the life of the First Doctor, and into a distant past
11:04 that we were completely unaware of.
11:06 The earlier mention of keeping the mystery of Doctor Who has really been emphasised with
11:10 this development, which keeps us guessing and wondering how much we'll be able to
11:13 learn about this mysterious past.
11:16 This is definitely a payoff that's still paying off, and will continue to for a very
11:19 long time.
11:20 And that concludes our list.
11:22 If you can think of anything we missed, then do let us know in the comments below, and
11:25 while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe, and tap that notification bell.
11:28 Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there @whoculture, and I can be found across various
11:33 social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:35 I've been Ellie with WhoCulture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye,