Sometimes huge things happen in the Whoniverse and end up meaning absolutely nothing.
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00:00As the series tries to progress since its debut in 1963, Doctor Who has had its fair
00:05share of huge moments. With 15, so far, actors taking up the mantle of our titular Time Lord,
00:11each Doctor goes through their own adventures, adding to their incarnation's personal stories,
00:16as well as the larger story of the Time Lord and those around them.
00:20Everyone has their own personal favourite moments, but some events are literally entrenched within
00:26the DNA of the show. Huge moments in Who include first landing on Skaro, the Doctor's exile on
00:31Earth in the War Games, fighting the Time War, and the fall of the 11th on Trenzalore,
00:36all having lasting consequences for the Whoniverse and the characters within it.
00:40But sometimes these huge moments don't stick. We bear witness to so many revelations in one story,
00:47but by the following week it has meant very little, and any development is unwritten,
00:52forgotten about, or simply replaced by something totally different.
00:55So, with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with Who Culture, and here are 10 huge
00:59moments in Doctor Who that no one cared about.
01:0210. The Doctor, Lord President of Gallifrey
01:06This is a tricky one. Lord President of Gallifrey is the highest level of office
01:10among Time Lord society, and once or twice the Doctor has found himself raised to that position.
01:16In the five classic stories including Gallifrey, starting with The Deadly Assassin,
01:20the Doctor goes from running for President but declining at the end,
01:23to coming back the following season to take the role to defeat a foe,
01:27before returning in his next incarnation to find he is no longer President,
01:31to then being offered it again in the 20th anniversary later that year,
01:35but still runs from the responsibility.
01:37The Doctor makes one final return to Gallifrey in Season 23,
01:40where the Sixth Doctor is met by the line,
01:43Since you willfully neglected the responsibility of your great office, you were deposed,
01:47resetting this moment once again.
01:50So whilst this does pop up on and off in the classic era and is touched on in Hellbent,
01:55the Presidency of the Doctor is never actually explored, besides in the odd expanded media story.
02:00Hello Big Finish.
02:01It's a thread which comes and goes when the Doctor revisits Gallifrey,
02:05depending on the story and the writers.
02:07The Doctor as Lord President is a big deal, but never seems to carry any weight or last
02:11beyond a story. Surely President Doctor would make a great storyline if fleshed out beyond one outing.
02:17Although that may be a little tricky now.
02:20The Death of the Master, again
02:22We all know the Master is the Moriarty to the Doctor's homes.
02:26That was always his intention during his original conception in the 70s,
02:30and like the Doctor, we've had a fair share of incarnations.
02:33But unlike our titular Time Lord, we barely see these regenerations taking place on screen.
02:38Sometimes we are simply left believing the Master is dead.
02:41A common thread of the Master's story, in the 1980s especially,
02:45their appearance would often end with their death,
02:47before reappearing a few stories down the line inexplicably.
02:51Looking at you, Planet of Fire.
02:52This Season 21 story sees the aimly Master literally burning to nothing,
02:57with the Doctor just watching on.
02:59However, the following season's Mark of the Rani just has the same
03:02incarnation turn up with no real explanation.
03:05The trope returned in New Who, with the first three storylines including the Master,
03:09Saxon, End of Time, and Death in Heaven, all ending with the death of the character.
03:14However, two of these occasions, we're actually provided with reasons for the return,
03:19through both resurrections and very handy last minute teleports.
03:22It's an endearing character trait,
03:24and we don't always need the exposition of how the Master survives each encounter.
03:28But when death to the character becomes so casual,
03:30you start to wonder why the writers bother, when realistically,
03:33all major fans know they will not properly call it quits on such a bankable villain
03:38after one appearance, leading to a lack of caring towards the stakes of their life.
03:438. The Time Lord Victorious
03:462009's Waters of Mars is regarded by many as one of Tenet's finest hours,
03:51and the ending of the story has some major ramifications for the character.
03:55But guess what? It doesn't be on this story.
03:58The end of the Waters of Mars has the Doctor declare himself the Time Lord Victorious,
04:02as the last survivor of his race, and gaining a god-like complex when it comes to the laws of time.
04:08However, after changing time and saving the last few residents of Bowie Base 1,
04:12one member, Adelaide Brooke, does not believe this is right.
04:16Returning home, Brooke kills herself, setting her timeline back on course,
04:20leaving the Doctor to wonder if he's gone too far.
04:22But by the next episode, The End of Time, this seemingly huge moment is totally forgotten about.
04:28Yes, 2020 saw a massive, multi-expanded media storyline exploring the moments after this,
04:34but in the show, the moment the Tenth Doctor almost became
04:37comparable to a god is swiftly moved on from.
04:39This entry is a real shame.
04:41The fact this is glossed over, as this would have provided a fascinating new dimension to the show.
04:47The Time Lord Victorious is almost like an anti-hero arc,
04:50where Ten is doing what he believes is right,
04:53when it actually goes against everything he and the Time Lords should stand for.
04:57Non-interference.
04:587. The Flux
05:00Okay, okay, Jodie and Chibnall's tenure in control of the TARDIS is not over yet,
05:05so there is still room to rectify this, but right now,
05:08this is a hugely glossed-over plot point from Series 13.
05:12For the first time in New Who, Series 13 embarked on one interconnecting serialised arc,
05:17a refreshing change that updates Who to the style of other modern series.
05:21The series focused on the titular Flux, a huge apocalyptic event in time and space
05:26described as a hurricane ripping through the structure of the universe.
05:29Pretty cool, right?
05:30Doctor Who is going pretty bold here.
05:32Well, obviously being a show which isn't entirely bleak, the Doctor and co stop the Flux.
05:38After it wipes out the combined forces of the Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans,
05:42and finally when it is absorbed by a passenger.
05:44The passengers were an endless space intended to hold prisoners,
05:48and the vast space within was seemingly enough to extinguish the chaos.
05:52Fair enough, but what about all the destruction?
05:54Azir states that the Ravagers would restore the universe after the final Flux event,
05:58but did that happen?
05:59The end of Series 13 is a little vague slash confusing,
06:02and come the next episode, Eve of the Daleks, the events are barely mentioned.
06:06The Daleks know a considerable amount of their fleet was destroyed,
06:10not the entirety we're originally led to believe,
06:12and Dan mentions how the Doctor saved the universe, but is that it?
06:16We just gloss over the cataclysm that just occurred?
06:18For now, yes.
06:20Number 6, The Doctor is Merlin
06:22Sylvester McCoy's seventh Doctor is renowned from going from a clown-like
06:26buffoon in his first season to becoming the great schemer by his final adventures,
06:31using his companion Ace as his pawn.
06:33As a part of this, 1989's Battlefield introduces the idea that the Doctor at
06:38some point in his life will be the man behind the myth of Merlin.
06:42As Merlin, the Doctor would help Arthur fight the sorceress Morgaine.
06:45As the Doctor had no memory of being Merlin,
06:47he assumes that this must be a fate for him that'll occur later in his life.
06:51We've had plots of the Doctor being woven into various histories,
06:54occasionally arriving sometime before this in his timeline,
06:58but The Legend of Merlin is quite a big position to fill.
07:00Sadly, Season 26 is Doctor Who's final classic season,
07:04with both the TV movie and new Who providing reboots,
07:07so whether this would develop further if a Season 27 happened, we may never know.
07:12Therefore, the idea goes nowhere.
07:14The concept has been followed in expanded media in various differing ways,
07:18but on screen, this is simply a loss we have to bear.
07:21Number 5, Daleks Without the Doctor
07:24Asylum of the Daleks gives us our first introduction to Jenna Coleman in Who,
07:28playing Oswin Oswald, who's seemingly connected to our future companion Clara Oswald.
07:33However, in the end, it is revealed poor Oswin has been converted into a Dalek.
07:37As a last gift to the 11th Doctor to escape,
07:39she reveals to him that she removed every trace of him from the Dalek's database,
07:44allowing him to escape the Asylum.
07:46Upon making it back to the Dalek Parliament, we are left with the final knowledge that
07:50all the Daleks have forgotten him and not just those in the Asylum,
07:53leaving them to question Doctor Who.
07:56So, with that ending, surely the next appearance of the Doctor versus the Daleks
08:00– it's Doctor Who, that's obviously going to happen – is going to be pretty interesting, right?
08:04Wrong.
08:05The next appearance of the Daleks, barring their 50th anniversary appearance in the Time War,
08:10is in the time of the Doctor, and once again, the Daleks remember their arch-nemesis.
08:14When asked by the Doctor how they knew who he was, we get the convenient explanation of
08:19they took the memories of Tasha Lem, a character we are only just introduced to in this episode,
08:24who is apparently significant enough to provide the Daleks with
08:27everything they need to know about the Doctor.
08:30In the end, it feels lazy to write the ending of Asylum to then simply do a full 180 as soon
08:35as they reappear for convenience. Why bother in the first place?
08:394. I'm Half-Human on My Mother's Side
08:42Love it or hate it, the 1996 TV movie did one thing absolutely perfect – the casting of
08:48Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor. But one major aspect of his character has not ever been
08:53taken too seriously.
08:55I'm Half-Human on My Mother's Side is a comment made various times throughout
08:59the American-produced special. Now, that is pretty huge.
09:02Not a lot is ever really discovered about the Doctor's past in the classic series.
09:06The only family member we are introduced to is granddaughter Susan in the first
09:10seasons of the show. But otherwise, it is always just assumed the Doctor is 100%
09:15Time Lord.
09:15Of course, once again, the Chibnall era has decided to add its own spin on the character's
09:20origins and currently seems a lot more concrete of an explanation than this throwaway line.
09:25But even before this retconning in 2020, the Half-Human comment is never really taken as
09:30gospel. It's a storyline that maybe could have worked properly but almost feels too
09:34cliché. With no follow-up to the TV movie, we'll maybe never truly know the intentions.
09:39Both RTD and Moffat have mentioned before they don't truly believe into it,
09:44with another widely-believed theory of whom the Doctor's mother is being the nameless
09:48woman in The End of Time. This could be a monumental moment for the show, but
09:52after the TV movie is pushed aside, many chalk this up to post-regenerative trauma.
09:57Maybe Lineage should be left alone, keeping the mystery in Doctor Who.
10:013. Morbius Doctors
10:04In 1976's The Brain of Morbius, during a mind battle with the titular villain,
10:09it is revealed the Doctor had faces before the Hartnell incarnation. Did the fandom go mental?
10:14What did this mean for the series going forward after such a shock reveal? Not a lot. Granted,
10:19this potentially means more now in 2022 with the timeless child plot, but in 1976, this meant
10:25nothing in the show or to fans, really. It is a widely-known fact that New Who is definitely a lot
10:32more plot-lore-heavy than classic, with various contradictions in the original run, some of which
10:37we will get into later. The Morbius Doctors are brought to life on screen by members of
10:41the production dressed in classical outfits, meant to boost up the scope of the Doctor and
10:46Morbius' mind battle. These incarnations were portrayed by directors Graham Harper,
10:51Douglas Canfield, and Christopher Barry, as well as writer Robert Holmes and producer Philip
10:56Hinchcliffe. Some fans believe these incarnations were Morbius' rather than the Doctor's,
11:00however this seems to have been proven wrong since. Yes, we now have the wonderful Joe Martin,
11:06who we are currently led to believe is a pre-Hartnell Doctor, and a very brilliant
11:10montage in the Timeless Children, but before this, these chaps had no acknowledgement in canon
11:15besides maybe being considered a gag. More Doctors should be huge events, as the War and Fugitive
11:21Doctors were, but it's taken 44 years for this true potential meaning to come to screen.
11:262. The Valleyard
11:28The Sixth Doctor's era receives mixed reviews from the fans, but his final story drops a bombshell
11:33to rock the character to their core. The Trial of Time Lord sees the Doctor put on trial for
11:38his exploits through time, and is being prosecuted by a Time Lord referred to as the Valleyard.
11:43As the series comes to a head, the Master returns and reveals that he knows the Valleyard as the
11:48Doctor. The Valleyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature,
11:53somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation. So surely something exciting
11:57must happen with this character next? An evil incarnation of the Doctor? Surely a big deal
12:02for our hero? Nope. Whilst he goes on to play various parts in expanded media,
12:06the Valleyard only appears in Season 23, and is briefly mentioned in Capaldi's final story.
12:12As a premise, the Valleyard is a really interesting idea, and has so much potential,
12:17especially since after David Tennant's second incarnation, the Valleyard is meant to come about.
12:22When written in 1986, obviously the intention of the Doctor is to have 13 lives,
12:27so this fits between Tennant and Smith. However, since the time of the Doctor,
12:30the Doctor's lifespan has been expanded, and so there is now a full cycle of possibilities.
12:36Hopefully this is one moment which is eventually addressed, as seeing what happens when all the
12:40darkness of the Doctor takes form would be a real treat. But for now, this is another
12:45moment no one has cared about. Number 1, Gallifrey Returns
12:50The planet of the Time Lords has been a part of the show's history since the late 60s,
12:54with later seasons fleshing out the planet's society and people. But turn to New Who,
12:58and Gallifrey is gone, wiped out by the Doctor in the Time War. That again is until the 50th
13:04anniversary, where the planet was saved. So surely now, Gallifrey is back as a staple of
13:09the Whoniverse. Think again. Series 9's finale, Hellbent, marks our first proper exploration of
13:15the Doctor on Gallifrey, with the planet being stuck at the end of the universe, but very much
13:19there. However, the next time we see Gallifrey, in Series 12's Spyfall, the Master has reduced
13:24the planet to a smouldering wreck. Yes, the shot in Spyfall is beautiful, but after the work of
13:30the 50th, the 11th Doctor's last stand on Trenzalore, and the arc of Series 9, Gallifrey
13:35and the Time Lords are once again taken from us. Some may argue that the Time Lords as a species
13:40aren't that interesting. We'll tell them to go check Big Finish's Gallifrey series.
13:44But there is so much potential, and another monumental U-turn makes you question the point
13:50of the build-up to its return if not to be explored. Of course, there is every chance
13:54Gallifrey and the Time Lords are restored once again. That could be useful for the Timeless
13:58Child arc, since it is literally its foundation. But right now, the return of Gallifrey feels like
14:04a meaningless waste of time. And that concludes our list. If you can think of any other huge
14:09moments that no one cared about, then do let us know in the comments below. And while you're there,
14:12don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell. Also, head over to Twitter
14:17and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie
14:21Littlechild. I've been Ellie with WhoCulture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye,
14:26sweet cheese.