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andrasteI have been walking around grinning like an idiot all afternoon after watching the rest of Death of the Doctor, but it also got me thinking. Usually when new series canon contradicts something that preceded it (classic series, books, audios, comics, Sky Ray ice lollies ...) my reaction is to shrug and conclude that the Time War made a mess of continuity [1].
This time, though, I think there may be something other than the usual Time War shenanigans going on ...
People who are familiar with the various Doctor Who spin-offs will have long ago noticed that Sarah Jane's appearances in the books and audios are contradicted by pretty much everything we've seen on screen from School Reunion onwards. (Given her involvement in alien affairs, I am still inclined to put her weird continuity down to the Time War, as it's the sort of thing she could well have got caught up in.) Now we find that Jo Grant is still happily married with seven children instead of divorced with one, as she was in the novels.
There's actually only one companion confirmed to be alive who was firmly declared dead (before the year 2010, anyway) in the spin-offs: Elizabeth Shaw. However, there are a couple of others who were in poor health the last we saw them who seem to be fine now: Barbara and Tegan. Barbara was shown to be very ill in one of the short stories although I can't remember which one. (ETA: It's Distance in Short Trips: Companions.) Tegan has a brain tumour in the Big Finish audio The Gathering. (For the record, nothing stated here about Harry, Ben or Polly contradicts anything. The 'Dorothy Something' who could be either Dodo or Ace is harder to draw conclusions about.)
Here is a curious thing, though: Eternity Weeps is the book where Liz Shaw dies. On the moon. Where she works. For UNIT. This actually fits in suspiciously well with the latest info on her ... except that unlike in the book, she didn't die there in 2003. What's going on?
Perhaps something other than the Time War or the cracks has been messing with history. We now know that the dying Tenth Doctor visited all his companions. Given his behaviour during those scenes, it's tempting for me to conclude that he wandered around time and space curing their cancer and stopping them from contracting the space plague. As for Jo's marital status, maybe when they had that big fight after their first son was born, Cliff just happened to run into a mysterious stranger who smacked him in the side of the head and told him to go back to his wife ...
[1] Obviously many people don't consider the spin-offs canon anyway, but I prefer to stick with the version of Doctor Who that has the talking penguin in it. Also, if we start declaring things uncanonical on the ground that they're contradicted by later stories, we will soon not have any canon.
This time, though, I think there may be something other than the usual Time War shenanigans going on ...
People who are familiar with the various Doctor Who spin-offs will have long ago noticed that Sarah Jane's appearances in the books and audios are contradicted by pretty much everything we've seen on screen from School Reunion onwards. (Given her involvement in alien affairs, I am still inclined to put her weird continuity down to the Time War, as it's the sort of thing she could well have got caught up in.) Now we find that Jo Grant is still happily married with seven children instead of divorced with one, as she was in the novels.
There's actually only one companion confirmed to be alive who was firmly declared dead (before the year 2010, anyway) in the spin-offs: Elizabeth Shaw. However, there are a couple of others who were in poor health the last we saw them who seem to be fine now: Barbara and Tegan. Barbara was shown to be very ill in one of the short stories although I can't remember which one. (ETA: It's Distance in Short Trips: Companions.) Tegan has a brain tumour in the Big Finish audio The Gathering. (For the record, nothing stated here about Harry, Ben or Polly contradicts anything. The 'Dorothy Something' who could be either Dodo or Ace is harder to draw conclusions about.)
Here is a curious thing, though: Eternity Weeps is the book where Liz Shaw dies. On the moon. Where she works. For UNIT. This actually fits in suspiciously well with the latest info on her ... except that unlike in the book, she didn't die there in 2003. What's going on?
Perhaps something other than the Time War or the cracks has been messing with history. We now know that the dying Tenth Doctor visited all his companions. Given his behaviour during those scenes, it's tempting for me to conclude that he wandered around time and space curing their cancer and stopping them from contracting the space plague. As for Jo's marital status, maybe when they had that big fight after their first son was born, Cliff just happened to run into a mysterious stranger who smacked him in the side of the head and told him to go back to his wife ...
[1] Obviously many people don't consider the spin-offs canon anyway, but I prefer to stick with the version of Doctor Who that has the talking penguin in it. Also, if we start declaring things uncanonical on the ground that they're contradicted by later stories, we will soon not have any canon.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-27 07:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-27 08:15 am (UTC)The 'Dorothy Something' who could be either Dodo or Ace is harder to draw conclusions about.
Apparently someone who works for the show has stated that it was meant to be Ace. Which makes sense, considering the name of the charity she runs is "A Charitable Earth." Hint: take a look at the first letter in each of those words.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-27 09:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-27 01:53 pm (UTC)*takes bow*
Ten so would, and it makes perfect sense.
Now we just need confirmation that he saved Peri from marrying Yrcanos *g*.
(Who is played by a very fine British actor indeed, but that's always struck me as the oddest canon pairing in all Doctor Who.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-27 02:01 pm (UTC)Thank you. It seems like the sort of thing Ten would have done at the end. (Maybe he made Ian and Barbara immortal by accident! Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything they encountered in their travels that would have done that. Although I suppose they were visiting all kinds of places and exposed to heaven knows what along the way.)
Apparently someone who works for the show has stated that it was meant to be Ace. Which makes sense, considering the name of the charity she runs is "A Charitable Earth." Hint: take a look at the first letter in each of those words.
Ha! Obviously I should have watched the scene more than once or paid more attention.
It makes sense that it would be Ace, especially since she's the companion whose fate has been most speculated on. Her timeline in the spin-offs is such a mess anyway that having her running a charitable organisation on Earth in the early 21st century doesn't really make it any worse.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-27 02:05 pm (UTC)Yes, that makes sense. (This is the least of Ace's consistency problems in the spin-off material. I am happy to see that everyone is still studiously ignoring the comic where she gets killed by a giant worm.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-27 03:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-28 07:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-28 08:41 pm (UTC)My theory is that prolonged travel in the TARDIS has the effect of slowing down ageing. After all, both Jo and Sarah Jane look far younger than their years.