Howling:11th Doctor and traveling alone

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I'm trying to figure out how the 11th Doctor will be from traveling alone for quite some time after Angels Take Manhattan? Does he become more aggressive? JSlowes ☎ 04:40, October 28, 2012 (UTC)

from past experience, the doctor does seem to become more aggressive and less like his usual self when travelling alone for extensive periods of time. however, how do we know that the doctor's next stop after manhattan 2012 isn't christmas in victorian england? Imamadmad ☎ 07:57, October 28, 2012 (UTC)

The Doctor's been travelling alone a lot, anyway. He hasn't had regular companions since the end of The God Complex & that was about 3 centuries ago in his timestream. Two centuries of that was between The God Complex & Closing Time but he's given his age as 1200 in Series 7, so he's had about a century since The Wedding of River Song in which his contact with Amy & Rory has been infrequent. We don't know, of course, how much contact he's had with River & it's likely to be more than with her parents. He must, though, have been alone far more than he's been with any of them.

The real question, in terms of his state of mind, is how long he lets himself brood alone on what's happened to Amy & Rory. We're certainly not going to find that out until Christmas & might not find out even then, since we've to wait for him to mention his age (or give some other clue we can use). --89.241.74.132^{talk to me} 17:27, October 28, 2012 (UTC)

personally, i believe he just makes up his age because he's forgotten it (only explanation which can account for all inconsistencies easily [well, not the only one, but the best imo]), so i don't believe we can trust his age as an indicator of time between visits, but yeah, other than that, your response matches well with what's on screen. but i do think we will start seeing a worse, darker side of the doctor now he's both been a while without companions and had to watch them basically die from his point of view. i just hope he doesn't go mad like in waters of mars again. Imamadmad ☎ 06:10, October 29, 2012 (UTC)

I have to admit that I share your suspicions about the Doctor's stated age. It was a bit unreliable in the "classic" series (as Romana pointed out). Now that there are no other Time Lords around who might actually know his age, he's freer than ever to "think of a number, any number". Nevertheless, the dialog in Series 7 Part 1 did imply that he'd been travelling alone a lot. Being alone always seems to make him nuttier than he is when he has regular companions. Donna (at the end of The Runaway Bride) was right that he needs someone -- not just to tell him when to stop but also to provide an anchor to something outside his own head. That's a role River obviously thinks she can't play. (She as good as said so when she made the crack about one psychopath in the TARDIS being enough.)

From past experience, he does best when he has a companion who's both intelligent (not necessarily highly educated but intelligent) & grounded. Rose & Donna, despite obvious differences between them, both fitted that bill; Martha wasn't really grounded enough. Amy was at least as bright but was fully capable of being as nutty as the Doctor. It was Rory who was the anchor. In that respect, River takes after her mother much more than after her father.

The Doctor, Amy & Rory team had quite a lot in common with the Doctor, Zoe & Jamie team. Admittedly, Amy wasn't the genius scientist that Zoe was but she was far from dim (as demonstrated in The Girl Who Waited) & neither Amy nor Zoe could herself keep the Doctor properly anchored to reality; they needed the 3rd member of the team for that.

Sara Jane, with the 4th Doctor especially, did provide the required anchor, as well as being bright enough to keep up (most of the time). That's what made her the right one to bring back in School Reunion; she was similar enough to Rose to make the jealousy thing work.

Ace, with the 7th Doctor, served as an anchor in a unique manner: She was clearly more intelligent than any of the human companions except Zoe & she didn't keep the Doctor on the rails by being more grounded than he is; she did it by being every bit as much a nutter as he is but in a totally different way. --89.242.70.47^{talk to me} 09:18, October 29, 2012 (UTC)

Just mentioning, someone posted a good bit of speculation on the talk page. Do you think this could be the start of the Valeyard? Imamadmad ☎ 09:07, November 4, 2012 (UTC)

[Contribution copied here from talk page, for ease of reference]

Erm,a bit surprised that no one really seems to be focusing on the whole Dark Doctor side of things,which goes way back to Donna saying that the doctor needs someone to hold him back (or similar).Then waters of Mars and plenty since,like him being called a warrior,being the demon or goblin that drops out of the skies and destroys your world in the Pandorica episode.

He is the monster to some beings!And he is getting harsher,and there is a war with the Silence,which he is a bit wibbly wobbly about,time wise.So,I think we are getting near the end of his regenerations (he's used up some on his arm and on River's hand),and some of us know from a long time ago who comes along next/soon....

"Doctor Who?"A new name that describes a Dark Doctor much better....or,I am writing this all in my head,and it's complete nonsense!--92.29.249.227^{talk to me} 21:32, October 31, 2012 (UTC)

[End of copied contribution]

Imamadmad: Not if "the start of the Valeyard" is taken as meaning "the start of the Dark Side of the Doctor", since that's always been there -- sometimes more evident, sometimes less. Another step towards the Valeyard, perhaps. As I recall, the Valeyard himself, as a distinct entity, arose round about the regeneration after next, between the twelfth & final incarnations of the Doctor, so there ought to be a way to go yet.

There's also the possibility (even the likelihood) that the Valeyard came from a timeline that's now been negated. If he arose in the future of the Doctor's current timeline, there'd need to be some way for him to get back to pre-Time-War Gallifrey. There'd also need to be some reason for him to want to do so.

I'm not, though, saying that we couldn't be heading in that direction. It's just that there's too much involved in getting there to make speculation about it now at all useful. There's at least one regeneration to go before we get to the point where the Valeyard might be in the offing & we'd also need some kind of evidence that contact with pre-Time-War Gallifrey might be possible.

In summary: The idea's worth bearing in mind & it makes sense to watch out for developments that might be laying the groundwork for it but we're nothing like close enough to be able to do anything more than keep a "watching brief". --89.241.71.10^{talk to me} 16:37, November 4, 2012 (UTC)

It's definitely a different case for each incarnation of the Doctor. Ten would have accepted being alone a lot better than Eleven would. Ten even tended to wander off from his current companions from time to time. Eleven is going to handle it with a lot more of a mixed feeling now. Obviously he'll be grieving over the loss of the Ponds, but his usual way of getting things off his mind is to dazzle someone. He is always trying to impress someone, and is at his best when it's working. So it would be a pretty frustrating and anxiety-ridden feeling to feel responsible for the loss of his friends (regardless of how much he truly did or did not influence the outcome) mixed with the gnawing urge to have someone, anyone, around. Saghan ☎ 21:02, November 10, 2012 (UTC)