# Doctor Who: The Parting of the Ways \[open spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169 "2006-06-10T05:17:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/21 "2006-06-10T23:15:45Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] In the UK, they’re up to doctor #10. Ecclestone was #9: William Hartnell Patrick Troughton Jon Pertwee Tom Baker Peter Davison Colin Baker Sylvester McCoy Paul McGann Christopher Eccleston David Tennant Doctor #10 seems to be on the air in the UK right now. [/QUOTE] Peter Cushing also played the Doctor in a couple of movies in the 60’s, but I’m not sure where these fit into canon: although as far as I’m concerned, they’re at least as canonical as Paul McGann’s effort. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/22 "2006-06-11T00:03:39Z")
[QUOTE=NoClueBoy] And don’t forget Peri She of the large knockers, long legs, bikinis, shorts, and halter tops! Sure, she was mostly in Colin’s reign, but she started with Peter. [/QUOTE] Mmm! Something I can definitely cite, having browsed the various Wikipedia entries concerning the show, is that Peter Davison was instructed to never put even a fatherly arm around his female companions. > **[The Doctor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_%28Doctor_Who%29)** > > The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who,\[a\] is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, often with companions. Since the show's inception in 1963, the character has been portrayed by fourteen lead actors. The transition to each succeeding actor is explained within the show's narrative through the plot device of regeneration, a biological ... ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/23 "2006-06-11T00:38:41Z")
[QUOTE=Case Sensitive] Peter Cushing also played the Doctor in a couple of movies in the 60’s, but I’m not sure where these fit into canon: although as far as I’m concerned, they’re at least as canonical as Paul McGann’s effort. [/QUOTE] They are totally non-canon. They are remakes of the first two Dalek stories and happen in a totally different universe. For a start, the Doctor is quite definitely a 20th Century Human scientist. And “Who” is his surname. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/24 "2006-06-11T00:42:57Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] They are totally non-canon. They are remakes of the first two Dalek stories and happen in a totally different universe. For a start, the Doctor is quite definitely a 20th Century Human scientist. And “Who” is his surname. [/QUOTE] Whereas the McGann Doctor is definitely within canon, seeing as how Sylvester McCoy appeared in the film for the transition. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/25 "2006-06-11T02:20:27Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] William Hartnell Patrick Troughton Jon Pertwee Tom Baker Peter Davison Colin Baker Sylvester McCoy **Paul McGann** Christopher Eccleston David Tennant [/QUOTE] Holy crap!! It’s “I”! From “Withnail & I”!! I didn’t know he was ever the Doctor!! I wanna see… I used to have such a crush on him… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/26 "2006-06-11T03:19:09Z")
[QUOTE=Case Sensitive] Peter Cushing also played the Doctor in a couple of movies in the 60’s, but I’m not sure where these fit into canon: although as far as I’m concerned, they’re at least as canonical as Paul McGann’s effort. [/QUOTE] as **Peter Morris** mentioned, they are not. They were remakes of the TV show and were changed quite a bit from the original: The Doctor was actually named “Doctor Who,” and he was a human scientist, so it doesn’t match continuity at all (there are other, minor changes with the companions, too). McGann was specifically shown to be the regeneration of Sylvester McCoy (though he did mention he was half-human, a revelation that was a bit controversial and has not been referred to again as of yet). The only other actor who could be considered canon as the Doctor is Richard Hurndale, who also played the First Doctor: when they did the 20th anniversary show, **The Five Doctors** , Hartnell had died, so Hurndale played the part (Tom Baker refused to appear, so they had him represented by unused footage from **Shada** , which never was completed due to a strike). [quote=Opalcat] Holy crap!! It’s “I”! From “Withnail & I”!! I didn’t know he was ever the Doctor!! I wanna see… I used to have such a crush on him…Hi, Opal. McGann only appeared in one televised adventure – the 1996 one-shot movie. The BBC and Fox were looking to revive the show and managed to get this running and directly tied it in with the previous Doctor. However, it didn’t not get ratings enough for Fox to continue, and nothing more came of it. McGann did several radio versions of the doctor, including **Shada**. [Here’s a picture of him](http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/gallery/tvmovie/dw1.shtml) as the Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/27 "2006-06-11T03:39:45Z")
Heeee’s so dreeeeeamy! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/28 "2006-06-11T04:05:21Z")
I’m so disappointed that Eccleston is gone. My husband, who has never watched before, is completely baffled. I said, “My god, he’s regenerating!” and he’s still firmly convinced that it’s all a bad joke. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/29 "2006-06-11T12:01:40Z")
Was this the first US airing of this episode? I originally thought no one could replace Eccleston – he _was_ the modern-day Doctor, for me. It took 3-4 episodes for Tennant to click for me, but I’m really enjoying his Doctor – I hope he sticks around for a while. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/30 "2006-06-11T12:33:35Z")
[QUOTE=Jaledin] Was this the first US airing of this episode? [/QUOTE] Yes. The Sci-Fi Channel, a cable TV service over here, is one year behind the BBC with New Doctor Who eps. Kind of like what some of the major US city’s PBS stations were in the 70s and 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/31 "2006-06-11T19:41:33Z")
[QUOTE=cerberus] The current fellow is the tenth “official Doctor,” including the McGann 1996 post-McCoy Doctor. Under the official 12-regeneration rule, there can be two more actors, unless of course, the writeres figure something else out. Even so, the typical tenure for an actor in this role is usually something like four years. Eccleston, McGann and the like did the job for a brief period, and Tom Baker did the job longest, at seven seasons. So, assuming that the current guy and his successors each stay for at lease three years, we’ve got another decade or so to go before there’s a necesssary regeneration crisis. [/QUOTE] Is is twelve _regenerations_ (=13 lives altogether) or twelve lives? And although it might not be canon, given the differing personality quirks of the various Doctors (the 2nd and 3rd could barely stand each other in _The Three Doctors_), I had always envisioned regeneration as a semi-temporal phenomenon: The Doctor becoming a sort of parallel-timeline version of himself. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/32 "2006-06-12T03:26:31Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] The only other actor who could be considered canon as the Doctor is Richard Hurndale, who also played the First Doctor. [/QUOTE] Hurndall, with two Ls. > [@Lumpy](#): > > Is is twelve regenerations (=13 lives altogether) or twelve lives? It’s twelve regenerations. ---
**Author:** ![Lips\_Obsession](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbce88/32.png) [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/33 "2006-06-12T14:14:47Z")
[QUOTE=Snooooopy] I think they loosened up after a while. Nyssa, I definitely remember she was more than adequately clothed. [/QUOTE] You must be joking. Don’t you remember in Terminus (Nyssa’s last story) where she practically ripped off all her clothing and spent about half the episode running around in her underware??? There was quite a bit of a stir in the press at the time actually about JNT (John Nathan-Turner, the then Producer of Doctor Who) spicing up the female companions wardrobes to try and attract older male viewers… ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/34 "2006-06-12T16:38:13Z")
[QUOTE=Lips\_Obsession] You must be joking. Don’t you remember in Terminus (Nyssa’s last story) where she practically ripped off all her clothing and spent about half the episode running around in her underware??? There was quite a bit of a stir in the press at the time actually about JNT (John Nathan-Turner, the then Producer of Doctor Who) spicing up the female companions wardrobes to try and attract older male viewers… [/QUOTE] Like I said, after a while. [Here](http://www.mentalis.force9.co.uk/DWID/Miscellaneous/Television/35.htm) he talks about how his female companions were initially covered “head to foot” before moving on to more revealing wardrobes. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/35 "2006-06-12T18:11:10Z")
Question about the ‘Supreme Dalek’: Was this the same one that the Doctor (Christopher Ecclestone) and Rose encountered in the Utah facility? It’s mentioned in “Parting of Ways” that he has been hanging around near-Earth space in ‘darkness’ (i.e. unseen) for several millenia, that he survived the unseen war with the Time Lords by a fluke space-warp (just like the previously seen Dalek in “Dalek”), and that he’s created a whole new race of Daleks out of abducted human beings. But although he has an intense hatred of the Doctor (which is apparently hardwired into every Dalek), he doesn’t acknowledge knowing Rose, or his years in captivity by humans. If he is the same Dalek from the earlier (new series) episode, then the inference is that he was the one & only Dalek to survive the Time Wars (much like the Doctor was the only Time Lord) and single-handedly rejuvenated the Dalek race, which was then obliterated by Rose the Bad Wolf. Thus, the Daleks are gone for good - exterminated. On the other hand, if this Supreme Dalek was a different creature than the one from Utah, then perhaps _more_ Daleks are out there somewhere, secretly planning to rebuild their race. So, are the Daleks still out there, or is the new series done with them? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/36 "2006-06-12T18:44:05Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] If he is the same Dalek from the earlier (new series) episode, then the inference is that he was the one & only Dalek to survive the Time Wars (much like the Doctor was the only Time Lord) and single-handedly rejuvenated the Dalek race, which was then obliterated by Rose the Bad Wolf. Thus, the Daleks are gone for good - exterminated. On the other hand, if this Supreme Dalek was a different creature than the one from Utah, then perhaps _more_ Daleks are out there somewhere, secretly planning to rebuild their race. So, are the Daleks still out there, or is the new series done with them? [/QUOTE] Unknwon. The Dalek in Utah presumably stayed dead. This was supposedly the only other Dalek to have survived the Time Wars due to (IIRC) being in that huge ship but there could be more out there… If there a couple (or more) Daleks survived, more Time Lords could be out there too! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/37 "2006-06-12T18:56:57Z")
I like **TNAIS** ’s idea. It works, what with that Dalek being so delusional and all. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/38 "2006-06-12T19:08:09Z")
> [@TNAIS](#): > > or is the new series done with them? No way the Doctor is ever going to be quit of Daleks. They’re too popular (though not with me: I’m more a Cybermen kind of guy). > [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > If there a couple (or more) Daleks survived, more Time Lords could be out there too! I’m betting you’re right, and that they’re tied in with Bad Wolf somehow. Of course, by now that could be shown to be totally wrong, since I’ve only seen the Eccleston Doctors. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/39 "2006-06-12T19:15:00Z")
[QUOTE=kelly5078] No way the Doctor is ever going to be quit of Daleks. They’re too popular (though not with me: I’m more a Cybermen kind of guy). I’m betting you’re right, and that they’re tied in with Bad Wolf somehow. Of course, by now that could be shown to be totally wrong, since I’ve only seen the Eccleston Doctors. [/QUOTE] Bad Wolf was entirely Rose’s idea… when she had the ‘Tardis Power’, she sent the words “thru time and space” so that she would end up on the station with the Dr. So, we should be done with the “bad wolf” bits. I do like **TNAIS’s** idea as well… it also fits with the Dr. Questioning the Daleks new found religion/etc… the human DNA corrupting them… we know taht the UTAH Dalek was certainly corrupted by it… if it somehow survived it’s own extermination in UT, all the more reason to think of itself as god. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169/40 "2006-06-12T20:11:36Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] If there a couple (or more) Daleks survived, more Time Lords could be out there too! [/QUOTE] I can’t imagine a universe without The Master turning up sometime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-parting-of-the-ways-open-spoilers/360169.md?page=3)