Sunday, August 11, 2013

Matrix Databank (Part 7): The 7th Doctor



The 7th Doctor: Trickster, Manipulator, Merlin, Spoon player, the umbrella man and Time's Champion.  His birth came at a more crucial time as the sixth regeneration commenced on Lakertya courtesy of the Rani's tractor beam. His first adventure saw him taken to the Rani's TARDIS, while still in his previous incarnation's outfit, injecting him with an amnesia serum as she posed as Melanie Bush. As he took her back to his TARDIS, he changed his clothes from the colorful jester to a off white (later chocolate brown) safari jacket, with a question mark pullover, Panama hat, and a paisly tie. Upon escaping with the real Mel after the amnesia wore off, the Doctor found a room containing the many geniuses known to history who were held captive to be to be components for the Rani's "time brain". The Doctor destroyed it as it couldn't handle his new persona and save the captives; taking them back to their respective time zones defeating the Rani in the process. Shortly after, the Doctor and Mel went to London 2007 to look into institute where the Celestial Intervention Agency experimented on humans, trying to graft TARDIS minds into their bodies; in the process the Doctor was electrocuted and went insane. After getting a pre-recorded message from him as the TARDIS was pre-programed to send her to the institute, Mel restored the Doctor's mind and sanity and the two confronted the medics of the Institute.


Sometime later, the Doctor dropped off Mel and traveled alone briefly and picked up Frobisher. After the incursion with the Ice Warriors, Frobisher parted from the Doctor's company (particularly in the wake of what he learned about what became of Peri). Among his solo travels, the Doctor encountered the renown Dalek killer Abslom Daak during his hunt for Daleks. Afterwards, the Doctor picked up Mel and the duo resumed their travels. Among their adventures was a trip to Paradise Towers where they encountered Kangs, Rezzies, and the Great Architect. Following on was the Intergalactic Song Contest where a murder attempt was to take place. Another trip, the planet Puxatornee where it had an unusual time loop, Shangri-la 1959 dealing with the Bannermen and Pompei. During this time, the Doctor's behavior was slowly changing from the spoon playing goofball to a more sinister planner. The Doctor and Mel went to Iceworld where they re-encounter Sabalom Glitz. Along with him was his 15 year old companion called Ace (real name Dorothy McShane) who was brought to Iceworld via a time storm. There were in a quest for the "Dragon" unknown to them was a robot controlled by the demented exile Kane. After Kane's suicide, the four friends were about to part ways until Mel elected to stay with Glitz and Ace to take her place by the Doctor's side.





Immediately, Ace and her "Professor" got on splendidly. The new duo went to Shoreditch, 1963 (a few days after his first incarnation, Susan, Ian, and Barbara departed from Totters Lane) to complete where he left off several lives ago regarding the Hand of Omega. However, the quest was interrupted by two Dalek factions as the Doctor, Ace and the Counter Measures group (led by Group Capt. Ian "Chunky" Gilmore and Rachel Jensen) fought to stop the conflict. In the process, Davros was revealed to have been working behind the scenes under the guise of the Dalek Emperor. In the end, the Doctor tricked Davros into using the Hand of Omega to create a sun supernova that immediately destroyed Skaro and the Black Dalek was forced into suicide. Sometime later, the TARDIS duo went to Terra Alpha where they help remove the tyrannical Helen A and the Kandyman. Following on was the hunt for the Nemesis statue; also along for the hunt was Lady Peinforte, Hans de Flores, and the Cybermen and a trip to the Psychic Circus. As time went on, the Doctor personality grew darker and more manipulative. Several adventure later, the Doctor and Ace help UNIT (now with Brigadier Winifred Bambera) and the long since retired Lethbridge-Stewart. Several trips later, the TARDIS landed inside Gabriel Chase in 1883; a century before Ace burnt it down. While there, the Doctor battled the deranged entity Light who sought to stop evolution. The Doctor and Ace later went to 1943 where, unknown to her, interacted with her grandmother and her infant mother. During this, it was revealed that he knew both Ace's arrival and how Lady Peinforte was able time travel was arranged by Fenric, an evil entity he encountered before and trapped in another dimension. In the process, the Doctor tricked the Ancient One into killing Fenric's host form. Further, Ace's faith in the Doctor was shattered while defeating the Ancient One. Sometime after, the Doctor and Ace arrived in Perivale, 1989 where Kitlings sightings and people disappearing was ongoing. Much to his dismay, the Doctor discovered the Master had been trapped and infected on Cheetah World and was trying to escape by bringing people to change partially and escape to Earth. Once the civillians escape back to Earth, the Doctor beat the Master by playing with his sense of dignity and escaped the Cheetah planet. The Doctor and Ace went back to the TARDIS as he said "they've got work to do..."



As the TARDIS arrived in Moscow 1967, the Doctor got in touch with the Time Lords about enrolling Ace at the Academy. He manipulated Ace to the benefit of the Time  andLords to observe her full potential. Their assessment was in the form of dealing with the Ice Warriors as well as meeting Marcus Creevy and his Russian companion Raina Kerenskaya (who was then fifteen weeks pregnant with their only daughter). Upon Ace's bemusement of finding about the assessment, she refused the Time Lord Academy opportunity and decided to resume her travels with the Doctor. The Doctor popped up from time to time to check up on Creevy and his daughter leading up to meeting her face to face in 1989; by then Raine's now in her early 20s and is a skilled thief. He recruited the young woman to steal a sword for him while he sent Ace to Russia on a secret mission. The Doctor sought to use the sword to ward off an alien incursion known as the Metatraxi. After the incursion was defeated, Raine joined the Doctor and Ace in their adventures. The new TARDIS trio went to Margrave University 2001 assisting UNIT in investigating the alien creatures imprisoned in the science labs and a second encounter with the Metatraxi. The Doctor, Ace and Raine would encounter them once more while going undercover on the Space Vessel Vancouver. Several adventures and short trips later Raine departs the TARDIS leaving the Doctor and Ace to resume their travels. The duo's later adventures saw them dealing with Daleks on Kar-Charrat, batting the Krill twice; the first time on the water world of Coralee and the second on Duchamp 331 in the 26th Century where they they encounter the Master again (under the alias Mr. Seta). The duo later arrived at Colditz Castle in 1945 where they were held captive by Nazis. While interrogated, the Doctor met Elizabeth Klein who demanded the TARDIS key from him. He learned Klein was from a alternate timeline where the Nazis won the war; she accessed the TARDIS flight logs to travel here to and planned to learn about the TARDIS before the Doctor died. The Doctor was forced to co-operated once Klein bargained with Ace's life. Much to Klein's dismay, the TARDIS she arrived in de-materialized and had to make do of the Doctor's. Upon the return to Colditz Castle, the Doctor tricked Nazi Officer Feldweber Kurtz into exposing Klein; preventing her timeline from ever coming to pass making her an anomaly. After this event and the gruesome death of Kurtz, Ace wanted a break from the dangers. With that, the Doctor took her to Ibiza, 1997. There the duo ended up battling a strange DJ who sought to raise an army to fight a war in another dimension and Ace encountering her long lost brother, Liam.


The duo traveled to London 2021 to investigate alien technology that was being used at St. Gart's Brookside Hospital. There, the Doctor and Ace met the hospital's male nurse Thomas Hector "Hex" Schofield; the son of Cassie (whom the Doctor tried to cure in his sixth incarnation). With Hex's help, the duo defeated the Cybermen and the scouse nurse joined them in their travels. Throughout this period, the Doctor, Ace, and Hex dealt with the Galyari, overthrow a fascist government on a colony planet, Egypt, Monte Carlo, Switzerland, Bliss and an encounter with the demented Word Lord, Nobody No-One. The adventures eventually grew dark when the TARDIS crew had a few run ins with The Forge. The earliest was in 1917 at the height of World War I; the second after WWII where Ace encounter her mother as a toddler. The trio found themselves in the year 1854 where Hex met Florence Nightingale and Ace, Leon Trotsky. The exterior of the TARDIS turned white after the HADS were activated by cannon fire as a result. Among the chaos, Hex was gun down by a spy leading to the Doctor and Ace to take him to St Gart's in 2025. After Hex recovered, he met the devious Nimrod and the Forge where he was told (by Nimrod's account) of what happened to his mother. With that revelation followed by Nimrod being destroyed by mutated version of Cassie that triggered Hex to leave the TARDIS. However, the departure was very short lived as he, Ace, and the Doctor encounter Nobody No-One once again. With the aid of Evelyn Rossiter (nee Smythe), the maniacal Word Lord was defeated and Evelyn passed away in the process. Shortly after this and a trip to 1930s Alaska, the Doctor grew a black TARDIS to travel alone in it going toe to toe against Sandminor Robots, rescuing a clone version of Nostradamus and battling the Elder God Mi'en Kalarash with the aid of a new companion Sally Morgan. Shortly after, the two were joined by Lysandra Aristedes. While the Doctor programmed the Black TARDIS to materialize in Denmark 5th Century and to 1989 in an alternate timeline, the White TARDIS sent Ace and Hex to that particular timeline giving both parties a mission to investigate the Elder Gods who created the timeline and defeat them. Upon entering the Black TARDIS, Ace and Hex discovered Sally and Lysandra and came to the conclusion that the Doctor traveled in both TARDISes simultaneously. The four companions traveled to the 5th Century Denmark where they encountered Beowolf and battled a a campy homicidal alien named Garundel. It was discovered that the Doctor was kidnapped by Fenric. The TARDIS crew reunited with the Doctor as they found out Fenric was playing against another Elder God named Weyland for his shield which could grant omnipotence to an Elder God and that all five travellers were pawns as was the Forge. Further, Hex was destined to become the quintessential pawn in Weyland's plan, as he was the one who prevented his death after being shot in Scutari. Weyland posessed Hex's body just as the young man attempted to stop the game. In the end, Hex sacrificed himself to the his friends. Hex's demise strained the Doctor and Ace's relationship in the process.




Sometime later, the duo found themselves going up against the Time Lord demon known as the Timewyrm in various points of history: Mesopotamia, alternate 1950s, Kirith, the Moon, and Cheldon Boniface. Several adventures later, the Doctor took Ace to Perivale for the funeral of her friend Julian Milton. Shortly after the funeral, the Doctor and Ace travelled to the planet Heaven in the 26th Century. It was,  their that the duo met Professor Bernice Summerfield and the travellers. Ace fell in love with one of them by the name of Jan. It was around this time the Hoothi ran amuck with the aid of the Vaccum Church. Knowing Jan was infected by the fibres, the Doctor ordered him to leave Ace behind while he went to the sphere himself only to end up sacrificed in the process. Ace followed nonetheless and realised the Doctor's plans which upset her dearly. Upon defeated the Vaccum Church and the Hoothi, Ace had enough and elected to leave the Doctor's company and Prof. Summerfield joined the Doctor in his travels. The Doctor and Benny encountered Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart, Chelonians, and the Yssgaroth. Later, they were rejoined by a now older Ace who became a full fledge Dalek Killer and slightly battle hardened. Although their relationship were strained from what happened to Hex and Jan, the Doctor and Ace managed to resolve their differences after battling the Monk. Shortly after, the Doctor, Ace, and Benny resumed their adventures.

They battled the Master; newly regenerated, crossed paths with Sherlock Holmes and Watson, The Scourge, the cult of the Dark Flame, and  stripping some Eternals of thier immortality. Several adventures later, Ace left the TARDIS for good; adopting her new role as Time's Vigilante. For a time, the Doctor and Benny traveled alone until they arrived in the 30th Century where they had a run in with a kept alive Tobias Vaughn who scavenged Cyber parts from certain Cybermen encounters. With the aid of Adjudicators Rosalyn Forrester and Christopher Cwej, Vaughn was defeated (The Doctor later removed Vaughn's brain crystal and installed it in a food machine) and the two joined the TARDIS crew. Throughout this period, the Doctor traded his safari jacket and question mark pullover for a creme' white linen suit; embracing his role as Time's Champion. The foursome's adventures included the Charron in the Sloath Pocket Universe, another run-in with Chelonians, the Land of Fiction where the Doctor reunited with Melanie Bush, the People, Sontarans and Yemaya 4. One adventure in the Magellan Cluster saw Benny meeting and later became engaged to Jason Kane. The two married in Cheldon Boniface in June 2010. During the wedding, Sir Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart regenerated back to his younger self circa his UNIT days courtesy of a Fortean Flicker. As a wedding gift, the Doctor gave Benny and Jason Time Rings. As the happy couple enjoyed their lives together, the Doctor, Roz and Chris continued their travels. The trio traveled to Mars on the eve of the Dalek Invasion of Earth, encountering the Carnival Queen, and even reunited with Benny and Jason when she discovered the whereabouts of her father, Admiral Issac Summerfield. Roz's time with the Doctor would come to a tragic end as her death in mid-2982 was a fixed point in time that couldn't be undone as it was apart of history. At her funeral, the Doctor suffered a one sided heart attack and a vision of death appeared to him; tormenting him about his fate. Roz's death caused great strain between the Doctor and Chris; he abandoned the linen suit for a tweed jacket and a red waistcoat. Among their later adventures was in Japan, 1560. While Chris waited for the Doctor to pick him up, the Doctor donned the linen suit once more paying one Elizabeth Klein a visit in 1955 Kenya. She ended up in his company where she found out the person who helped her obtained the TARDIS was the Doctor's eighth incarnation. During an encounter with the Vrill, Klein got hold of the TARDIS  key to restore her timeline once and for all leaving the Doctor stranded. In this new timeline she created, Klein captured this new timeline's Doctor and imprisoned him on the Moon. She helped the Galactic Reich conquer the Daleks and Sontarans and any other potential threats by travelling in time and informing the past. At the same time, the Reich's moonbase was boarded by Selachians. The Time Lords intervened and erase Klein's timeline and she was given a new memory now working for UNIT. Shortly after picking up Chris, the Doctor returned to Gallifrey when he came face to face with his past existance and the House of Lungbarrow. Upon reuniting with Ace and was given instructions to collect the Master's ashes on Skaro by Lord President Romana, Chris elected to stay behind. Despite Romana's instructions, the Doctor delayed the trip and took several solo trips.



Among his solo travels was the planet Valhalla, the Ice Warriors on Earth, and teaming up with his fifth and sixth incarnations in battling the Sirens of Time. After being burned back into existance in the wake of the Word Lord's defeat, the Doctor found himself on Perfuguim where he encounter the Master who lived under the alias of John Smith with no memory of who he really is courtesy of a deal between him and Death. Later adventures included the Dar Traders and Cybermen before reuniting with Rain Creevy. During flight, the TARDIS was pulled into another dimension where the duo met a future incarnation of the Doctor who was helping UNIT in a few alien incursions. Amidst this and reuniting with Klein, the supposed incarnation of the Doctor was actually a newly regenerated Master. The Master captured the Doctor and had him hooked to the Node Stone, but the Doctor, with the help of footage his companions had that showed the Master planting the first Node Stone helped convince the Tolians to betray the Master and restore the dimensions. The Doctor escaped as did the Master who managed to survive the confusion. Just before he left with Raine, the Doctor presented Klein with a space-time telegraph to contact him, should she need his help again. Shortly after Raine parted company, the Doctor went to sort out his error on the Drashani Empire. The Doctor later recruited Klein in travelling to the finally days of Hitler's Germany where they came across a scientist whose strange experiments regarded the power of Persuasion. Along for the ride was Klein assistant Will Arrowsmith. The three later encountered Garundel, the Sontarans and the Daleks before parting company. 



After a long delay, the Doctor finally honored the request and retrieve the Master's ashes from Skaro. In snake form, the Master escaped from his urn causing much damage to the TARDIS console leading to the Doctor to land the ship on Earth, December 30, 1999. Just as he stepped out, the Doctor was gun down by gang members. He tried to explain to the young man named Chiang Lee but to no avail as the little man was rushed to the hospital. Unknown to the Doctor, the medial team assumed that he was fibrillating and that the X-rays showing his two hearts was a double exposure. To "fix it', Cardioalogist Dr. Grace Holloway performed the procedure. The Doctor tried to explain to Grace about his physiognomy but was immediately put under anesthetic. And with that, the procedure inadvertently killed the Doctor.  Despite the attempts to revive him, he was pronounced dead. However, several hours later at the morgue, the regeneration commenced. The little man transformed into a dashing young man but with no memory of who he is as a result of the anesthetic.







Sunday, August 4, 2013

OFFICIAL: Peter Capaldi is the 12th Doctor


As announced live at 2:28pm ET/7:28pm GMT (London), Peter Capaldi was announced as the new Doctor.

The Academy Award and BAFTA winneing Glaswegian actor is now the latest in the long line of Doctor and the first actor in his mid 50s since William Hartnell fifty years before to inherit the role. As acknowledged on the live special, Capaldi's a long time fan of the program and had appeared opposite his predecessor in 2008's Fires of Pompeii w/ then incumbent 10th Doctor David Tennant and most known to Torchwood fans as Home Office Secretary John Frobisher. In recent weeks prior to today, Capaldi was among the top condenders in several bookie agencies along with others bets like Daniel Rigby, Idris Elba and Billie Piper (?!)

It's been noted for years Steven Moffat wanted to cast an older actor as the Doctor and came close to finding one in 2008 before Matt Smith blew him and then incoming co-executive producer Beth Willis away with his audition landing Smith the role of the 11th. Now, the Moffat apotheosis is in full circle.

See you at Christmas #12!