OK, so four series and a bunch of specials in, the show has settled into a rough format, and one of the recurring gimmicks is at least one episode per season with the Doctor & companion teaming up with a real-life historical figure. So far, we’ve had -
series one - “the Unquiet Dead” - Charles Dickens
series two - “Tooth & Claw” - Queen Victoria
series three - “the Shakespeare Code” - William Shakespeare
series four - “the Unicorn & the Wasp” - Agatha Christie
and so far rumored to appear in series five (or new ‘series one’ or whatever) is…
Vincent Van Gogh - who gets his ear chewed off by a yellow monster.
So, I got to musing over who I’d like to see team up with the good Doc. Two scenarios I thought might have potential are…
ONE: Charles Darwin is on the shores of the Galapagos Islands, cataloging the various species and making notes about the similarities between species and remarking to himself about the curious orderliness about God’s creatures…when suddenly a war party of Sea Devils emerge from the waves, attacking whoever they see, and abruptly throwing all of Darwin’s theories into chaos.
TWO: Sigmund Freud begins treating a patient for schizophrenia, who is bothered by nightmares of a strange being who is intent on possessing him. Freud spins some theories about the man repressing his id, and hypnotizes him. Too late does Freud realize that sometimes a strange subconciousness demon is in fact, a strange subconscious demon…or in this case, the Mara.
I also would love to see a scenario with the Doctor visiting swinging London and teaming up with perhaps the Beatles, or even Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithful. But I’m not sure what the situation would be.
I’ve always wanted Henry VIII to make an appearance. I did write a fanfic about the fourth Doctor meeting up with good ol’ head choppin’ Hank. Lotsa fun, and only slightly Mary Sue-ish.
Why’s the Doctor hanging out with all these frickin’ writers?
Sir Richard F. Burton. I was a fan of his long before I read Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld books. He’s a major character in the first, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. But I’d already read his Pilgrimage, Perfumed Garden, parts of the Arabian Nights, and other works of his. Part of his history is in the movie The Mountains of the Moon, but he deserves more.
At end of the Shakespeare Code we learned that The Doctor was the “sworn enemy” of Elizabeth I, though The Doctor claimed not to know why. I’ve been waiting/hoping for an episode where we learn what her beef was.
Here’s my idea: We all know that Abraham Lincoln wrote about strange dreams he had that foretold his own impending death…how about an American Civil War/Haunted White House episode.
I say Joseph Bazalgette. Installing London’s first sewage system has such potential for alien infestation. And there’s the opportunity to discus and/or show the filth that the sewers were built to deal with. Also cholera and the ideas that people had about how people got cholera and what could prevent it.
Oh, how I’d love to oblige you, and I thank you for your interest. Unfortunately, I wrote the story out long hand, and then typed it out on a typewriter. I still have it, but it appears nowhere on the internet. Ah, the old days…
Don’t forget that we’ve also already seen Madame de Pompadour in the excellent The Girl in the Fireplace.
Who else? I don’t know. Fighting alongside Lord Byron for Greek independence… against living Greek statues (I picture some sort of a Auton/Weeping Angel cross for those)?
Jules Verne may be an all too obvious choice, perhaps, but might work – you could work in a wealth of allusions as ‘inspirations’ for Verne’s stories. Giant octopus optional.
Or have him inadvertently give HP Lovecraft the scare of his life…
It’s strange, I do seem to only be able to come up with writers… Perhaps because you need a colourful figure to not seem bland next to the doctor, and writers are often perceived as such – eccentric, erratic, imaginative.
Of course, half the time, I really want to see the Doctor pairing up with or standing against the writer’s creations – the Doctor visiting a dreary little port town called Innsmouth, or signing on aboard the Nautilus. Heck, combine those – the Doctor and Nemo stumble upon sleeping R’lyeh…
And, if it wasn’t so clichéd and corny – the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes.
