Cartmel Masterplan

The Cartmel Masterplan was an attempt to restore some of the mystery of the Doctor and the Time Lords after years of overexposure and overfamiliarity.

The Cartmel Masterplan is generally considered a fan-conceived term and came about around the same time that the concept of 'canon' was introduced in a heavy way to Doctor Who fandom. The initial ideas and plans were headed late in the series' run with Sylvester McCoy's Seventh Doctor by script editor Andrew Cartmel. One of the primary examples of the 'Cartmel Masterplan' was Lungbarrow. Originally a script propsed by Marc Platt for a later season, it was turned into a Virgin New Adventures novel.

At some point prior to 1992 Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt sat down and gathered together their ideas about Gallifrey, these concepts and ideas were passed onto (then Virgin editor) Peter Darvill-Evans who incorportated them into a Doctor Who writer's guide. This is considered one of the beginnings of what became known as the 'Cartmel Masterplan'.

The Clues - of the 'Plan' in Action

The Doctor was tied into the pasts of Rassilon and Omega, hinting in DW: Remembrance of the Daleks that he and they had problems with the prototype of the Hand of Omega before correcting himself, stating to Ace only Omega and Rassilon had difficulty. An un-aired, but filmed scene also has The Doctor reveal to a boastful Davros he is "far more than just another Time Lord". The scene was cut due to John Nathan-Turner not wishing The Doctor to be portrayed as a god in case it offended people with religious beliefs.

In DW: Silver Nemesis, Lady Peinforte drops hints that she knows the true nature of the Doctor, but her obsession with the Nemesis Statue and its power drives her to merge with it, she is killed destroying the Cybermen's approaching fleet.

In DW: Battlefield, Morgana identifies the Doctor as Merlin, the wise sage and mentor to King Arthur. It is suggested that the Doctor would become Merlin in a future story.

An un-filmed scene from DW: Survival featured The Master, suffering from apparent amnesia, challenging the Doctor's identity and true nature. The Doctor argues that we must all "evolve" in some way.

The Unmade Stories

Had a twenty-seventh season been developed, Marc Platt's Ice Time would have revealed that Ace had been trained by The Doctor to become a Time Lord, her rebellious attitude helping to reshape Gallifrey's policies and role in the safeguarding of time and space. This is mentioned by the Doctor to Ace in NA: Set Piece and Lungbarrow.

Following Ace's departure, other story lines allocated for the season would have had the Doctor gain a new companion as a favour from a former cat burglar-turned-aristocrat he would help out in a serial prior to this one. The intended finale of this twenty-seventh season was to have been "Alixon", a story which may or may not have seen The Doctor regenerate into his Eighth incarnation and saw the departure of McCoy.

Legacy

Andrew Cartmel added further aspects of his ideas when he started writing comic strips for Doctor Who Magazine, beginning with his debut story, "Fellow Travellers" where we find out at he has maintained contacts with humans on Earth for years and even has purchased a house there. The more sophisticated and mature Virgin New Adventures line took the Doctor in a more morally ambiguous, unreadable character who had extensive powers and an unknown history. Fans nicknamed the Doctor in his period as "the dark Doctor" or the "arch-manipulator". The novel Lungbarrow, the final Seventh Doctor novel, written by Marc Platt revealed the Masterplan in detail, however.

New Series Echoes

The current theme of the Tenth Doctor as "the Lonely God" seems definitely influenced by the Cartmel interpretation. He appears to have great, unknown powers, as when the god-like Doctor manifests using the Master's Archangel Network via the power of people's faith in DW: Last of the Time Lords, among other instances of his having deity-like powers.