Help

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Help was also known as aid (TV: "The Bride of Sacrifice" ^[+]Part of The Aztecs, Loading...{"namedep":"The Bride of Sacrifice (3)","1":"The Aztecs (TV story)"}) or assistance. (TV: Gridlock ^[+]Loading...["Gridlock (TV story)"])

People often screamed for help when in immediate danger. (TV: The Robots of Death (part three) ^[+]Loading...{"part":"three","1":"The Robots of Death (TV story)"}, The Time of Angels ^[+]Loading...["The Time of Angels (TV story)"], The Magician's Apprentice ^[+]Loading...["The Magician's Apprentice (TV story)"], et al.)

Distress calls could also be described as cries for help. (TV: Night Terrors ^[+]Loading...["Night Terrors (TV story)"], The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos ^[+]Loading...["The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (TV story)"])

Dangerous situations were not the only ones where help could be needed. Sometimes people politely asked for help with less urgent tasks, such as when Kitig asked Narunil to lift a basket onto his back, (PROSE: Genocide ^[+]Loading...{"chaptnum":"11","1":"Genocide (novel)"}) or politely offered their help to someone, such as the Fourteenth Doctor offering to help Donna Noble carry a stack of boxes. (TV: The Star Beast ^[+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"])

In particular, people would offer help to someone they perceived as physically (PROSE: Dominion ^[+]Loading...{"chaptname":"The Thing in the Barn","chaptnum":"3","1":"Dominion (novel)"}) or mentally unwell, such as when Laurence Scarman tried to get through to his brother, Marcus, who was possessed by Sutekh, (TV: Pyramids of Mars (part three) ^[+]Loading...{"part":"three","1":"Pyramids of Mars (TV story)"}) or when the Tenth Doctor spoke to the the Master about the drumming in the latter's head. (TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]) People would also privately think that someone who was mentally unwell needed help. Alex and Claire Thompson believed their kid, George, needed help from a doctor due to his "nervous ticks" and him being scared "of everything". (TV: Night Terrors ^[+]Loading...["Night Terrors (TV story)"]) During the Eighth Doctor's imprisonment in the Oliver Bainbridge Functional Stabilisation Centre, Dr David Akalu was distressed over not knowing how to help the prisoner get rid of his "obsessive fantasy of escape". (PROSE: Seeing I ^[+]Loading...{"chaptnum":"7","1":"Seeing I (novel)"})

Partially related was the fact that the idea of help was associated with doctors and medicine. According to Sister Jatt, the Sisters of Plenitude took "a lifelong vow to help, and to mend". (TV: New Earth ^[+]Loading...["New Earth (TV story)"]) Vincent van Gogh claimed that his brother was constantly sending him doctors, but that none of the doctors would be able to help him. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["Vincent and the Doctor (TV story)"])

People could refuse help for various reasons. Epzo initially believed he did not need other people and was better off relying on himself, which led him to refuse to let Angstrom help with his injury. (TV: The Ghost Monument ^[+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"]) The Master believed the sound of drums in his head was real, and refused the Tenth Doctor's help because the latter thought the sound was due only to the former's insanity. (TV: The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]) Lindy Pepper-Bean and the rest of the inhabitants of Finetime refused the Fifteenth Doctor's offer to help them get to a safer planet in the TARDIS due to their racism. (TV: Dot and Bubble ^[+]Loading...["Dot and Bubble (TV story)"])

People also did not always respond to pleas for help. For example, Rose Tyler asked vainly for Magpie to help her as the Wire absorbed her face and essence. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern ^[+]Loading...["The Idiot's Lantern (TV story)"]) The Fifteenth Doctor stood by as Susan Triad was transformed by Sutekh's possession, even though Bailey Sinclair questioned why the Doctor did not try to help. (TV: The Legend of Ruby Sunday ^[+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"]) According to the Fourth Doctor, though, robots were programmed to help people, not hurt them. (TV: The Robots of Death (part one) ^[+]Loading...{"part":"one","1":"The Robots of Death (TV story)"})

In the Unbound Universe, the Master sarcastically noted that he was on hand to help the United Nations when the creatures that would power the Keller Machines were let loose by Mao Zedong's rash actions. (AUDIO: Sympathy for the Devil ^[+]Loading...["Sympathy for the Devil (audio story)"])

The Doctor

And if there is one thing I'm certain of, when people need help, I never refuse.The Thirteenth Doctor

The concept of help was important to the Doctor, as they often described their decisions and reasons in terms of it.

The Thirteenth Doctor once said to Grace and Graham O'Brien that she "never refuse[d]" help when people needed it. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"]) Indeed, when Rose Tyler asked the unconscious, newly-regenerated Tenth Doctor to "help [her]" when she, her mum and Mickey Smith were attacked by a Christmas tree, he immediately burst into action and destroyed the tree, while Rose's prior attempts to wake him up in other ways proved unsuccessful. (TV: The Christmas Invasion ^[+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"])

After the Nestene Consciousness learnt of the anti-plastic the Ninth Doctor had taken to their meeting, the Doctor futilely tried to convince it he was "here to help" and not its enemy. (TV: Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (TV story)"]) He also initially introduced himself to the "Metaltron" as "here to help", before learning it was a Dalek. (TV: Dalek ^[+]Loading...["Dalek (TV story)"])

When the Eleventh Doctor briefly worked at a Sanderson & Grainger store, his badge described his position using the phrase "here to help". (TV: Closing Time ^[+]Loading...["Closing Time (TV story)"])

As Clara Oswald summarised to the Eleventh Doctor, what made him the Doctor was that he always stayed and helped when he could easily walk away and save himself. (TV: The History of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The History of the Doctor (TV story)"]) Accordingly, when Trenzalore was being surrounded by various forces from across the universe trying to restart the Last Great Time War, the Eleventh Doctor explained to Tasha Lem that he would stay on the planet and try to protect it because the Time Lords - calling out via a time field - were "asking for [his] help". (TV: The Time of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"])

According to the Twelfth Doctor, "the universe show[ed] its true face when it ask[ed] for help", and people showed theirs by how they responded. (TV: Oxygen ^[+]Loading...["Oxygen (TV story)"]) Bill Potts later described the Doctor as someone who "always help[ed]". (TV: The Eaters of Light ^[+]Loading...["The Eaters of Light (TV story)"])

Despite the Doctor often being described as "an enemy of the Daleks", (TV: Day of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Day of the Daleks (TV story)"], Dalek ^[+]Loading...["Dalek (TV story)"], et al.) Daleks have asked for the Doctor's help in at least three separate cases. During the Kotturuh crisis, the Dalek Restoration Empire sought out the Tenth Doctor to help them against the Hond. Following his escape from them, the Daleks sought out the Eighth Doctor (COMIC: Defender of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Defender of the Daleks (comic story)"]) needing the engine of his TARDIS to travel to the Dark Times. (AUDIO: The Enemy of My Enemy ^[+]Loading...["The Enemy of My Enemy (audio story)"]) At the onset of the Good Dalek Incident, Rusty asked the Twelfth Doctor for help in destroying the Daleks. (TV: Into the Dalek ^[+]Loading...["Into the Dalek (TV story)"]) During the Hybrid Incident, Davros and the Supreme Dalek both demanded the Twelfth Doctor's aid in averting the imminent collapse of the Dalek City to no avail. (TV: The Witch's Familiar ^[+]Loading...["The Witch's Familiar (TV story)"])

Initially refusing to fight in the Last Great Time War, the Eighth Doctor identified himself as someone who helped where he could. Appealing to this mindset, Ohila begged the Doctor for help in ending the conflict. Combined with Cass Fermazzi's demise, this convinced the Doctor to regenerate into the War Doctor and take up arms. (TV: The Night of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Night of the Doctor (TV story)"])

Calling the Time Lords

At multiple points in their life, the Doctor attempted to call the Time Lords for help when they felt the situation was beyond them, each time feeling ambivalent about the decision.

When he stopped the schemes of the War Lords, the Second Doctor reluctantly called upon the Time Lords, unable to return the abducted humans to their time zones on his own. After he'd sent a hypercube, he attempted to flee the Time Lords. (TV: The War Games (episode nine) ^[+]Loading...{"ep":"nine","1":"The War Games (TV story)"}) When Zoe Heriot noted that he had helped people across his travels, the Doctor was quick to note that would not matter in light of his violation of the non-interference policy. (TV: The War Games (episode ten) ^[+]Loading...{"ep":"ten","1":"The War Games (TV story)"})

Later, during the First Omega Crisis, the Third Doctor again contacted the Time Lords, viewing the crisis as an emergency he could not deal with on his own. However, he learned that they were just as incapacitated by it as he was. (TV: The Three Doctors (episode one) ^[+]Loading...{"ep":"one","1":"The Three Doctors (TV story)"})

The Eighth Doctor tried to contact the Time Lords in 2002 San Francisco for help dealing with the effects of the space-time scar (PROSE: Unnatural History ^[+]Loading...{"chaptname":"Bird of Paradox","chaptnum":"4","1":"Unnatural History (novel)"}) he had created there in 1999, (TV: Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) but the hypercube he was using to do so did not return at the expected moment. (PROSE: Unnatural History ^[+]Loading...{"chaptname":"Licentious Moments","chaptnum":"5","1":"Unnatural History (novel)"})

On Trenzalore, near the end of the Eleventh Doctor's life, Clara Oswald asked the Time Lords for help on his behalf. She pleaded with them to save his life, which they did by granting him a new regeneration cycle. (TV: The Time of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"])