DOCTOR BILL?

This will all be decided by the time you read this.  (And it was - Jodie Whittaker will be the new Doctor, and the first female one.)  Still it was fun to write it on the last day of February 2017.  Sort of my tip of the hat to Black History Month.

On Saturday, the 25th of February, 2017, Huw Fullerton wrote this in the Radio Times

Premonitions of her doom increasing, the Doctor might have his eyes opened to his own culpability in the chaos he causes – before witnessing a tragedy that could motivate both his regeneration and the backstory for a new Time Lord (in other words, the next Doctor might carry around the guilt of letting a friend die for a while).

I thought of a different interpretation.......

As I mentioned elsewhere in today's blogAthon, there has been a groundswell in the talk that the next Doctor should be a woman.  Or a black.  Recently former 'Doctor Who' guest star David Harewood, currently seen in 'Supergirl', expressed his own support of the idea (although he didn't deny his own candidacy for the role.)

And when candidates like Cush Jumbo, Lupita Nyong'o, Naomie Harris, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Angel Coulby are considered, then such a seismic recasting would cover both options.

Many people have championed the idea.  (I used to dream of Felicity Kendall as a Troughtonesque female Doctor.  Now I push the candidacy of Honeysuckle Weeks, which is covered elsewhere in today's blogAthon.) There are people of standing in the Whovian community like current show-runner Steven Moffat, current Doctor Peter Capaldi, former Doctors Peter Davison, Matt Smith, and Colin Baker, and former Companions Carole Ann Ford, Louise Jameson, Freema Agyeman, and Karen Gillan who have all declared their support for a female Doctor.  

But even so, I keep reading comments from "fans" who claim that should a woman get the role of the Doctor, they will walk away from the series, never to return.  I don't understand that attitude - the series celebrates the diversity of the Universe.  To turn their backs on the ultimate display of that diversity only proves they were never true fans in the first place.

During Moffat's tenure as the show-runner, the stage has been set for an actress to replace Capaldi.  We learned that the Time Lord known as the Corsair spent several incarnations as a woman... and had a better time as one.  We saw the Doctor force the regeneration of the General and he became a black woman.  (So now we can say that the precedence for that combination has been established.)  And as for a major character Time Lord regenerating into a woman, Moffat even covered that with the devious Master becoming the Cuckoo Bananas Missy.

But he's a smart guy and I trust in Moffat.  I'm sure that even all of that would not be enough to sell these ardent "fans" who will remain steadfast against the idea.  So what if he decided the best bet would be to introduce the audience to "The Next Doctor" without them realizing it?  Give them the chance to accept her and like her before springing the surprise that she is in fact, the Doctor... and not just the Companion, Bill Potts?

Not only have we had the precedence set in the past for a Time Lord regenerating into a black woman, we've also seen the Doctor transform into the likeness of someone whom he had met in the past.  First it was the Fifth Incarnation becoming the twin to Commander Maxil of the Gallifreyan Guard.  And then the Eleventh Incarnation looked similar to Lobus Caecilius.  As for the Doctor tagging along with his former incarnation, there is a precedence for that as well - remember the Watcher who stalked the Fourth Incarnation of the Doctor during his last adventure in that form?

And that's another thing - there used to be something different in the regeneration of each succeeding Doctor, but with the show's return with RTD at the helm, they've basically been the same, even for the Master from Jacobi to Sim.  (However, there has been some variation afterward in bringing back Sim's Master.)

If it turned out that Bill was the Doctor, it would certainly put paid to the complaint that there were no variations in the regeneration sequences anymore!

For whatever reason, the Doctor knew that the previous incarnation would need help in the time leading up to the next regeneration.  A special set of skills which only the Doctor could provide.  And even though a Time Lord should be able to detect a fellow Time Lord despited the huber of regenerations since their last meeting (precedence: Drax meeting up with "Theta"), this "Bill Incarnation" would bet against the Doctor recognizing himself after such a radical transformation.

I can even picture it - Bill remaining mum about what is about to happen, because the first rule of Time is that it can't be rewritten, not one line.  And after the Doctor is mortally wounded, Bill lets slip a clue as to what will happen... just before activating the vortex manipulator on her wrist so that she disappears back to her own Future before re-emerging as the preordained regeneration of the Doctor.

That's how I would do it.

But of course, I could also see the Doctor losing Bill in a tragic death scene before sacrificing himself in retaliation.  And his subconscious mind would supply the new DNA structure as a way for him to always remember to honor her memory in much the same way it did for his Eleventh Incarnation becoming the likeness of sculptor Caecilius.

And just like the series has used puzzles in the past to "secretly" telegraph information (like "Mister Saxon" as an anagram of "Master No. Six", or "Yana" as an acronym for "You Are Not Alone"), I'm wondering if the choice of her name "Bill" is also  clue - a reference to William Hartnell.  He was the first Doctor; she might be the first black, female Doctor on the show.

Again, this is all speculation which won't be seen until long after we'll all know the outcome of the greatest Recastaway game in the world of TV.  But I hope you found it as fun to read as I did to write it.

BCnU!