The Forgotten (comic story)

For the graphic novel, see The Forgotten (graphic novel)

Summary

The Tenth Doctor discovers a museum dedicated to his lives and has to remember events from his previous incarnations in order to restore his fading memories.

Plot

Issue 1: Amputation

The Doctor wakes up in a strange room without the TARDIS or the sonic screwdriver. He finds Martha Jones and together they explore the building. They soon learn that it is a museum dedicated to the Doctor.

The different displays consist of things such as a Dalek gun, the Seal of Rassilon, and a Voord helmet. They then enter a large room where the Doctor's clothes from his previous nine incarnations are along with some thing he used during that incarnation (jelly babies, a staff, a recorder, psychic paper, etc.). The Doctor mentions how he'd be lost without his previous incarnations.

A strange man in a darkly lit room decides to test that theory. The Doctor suddenly becomes very weak and realizes that he can't remember anything from before his encounter with the Sycorax on Christmas Day a couple of years ago.

Martha brings him his staff from his first incarnation and he tells her a story about (when Susan, Barbara, and Ian were traveling with him) how he saved a pharaoh's life with that staff. He then tells how and when he dropped Ian, Barbara, and Susan off. Martha asks if he thinks that Susan is dead and he replies in the affirmative, and mentions that, as far as he know, he is the last; Although the Doctor mentions he left Susan on a future earth with a freedom fighter she fell in love with. The strange man chuckles and says, "If only that were true". He then reveals (whilst talking to himself) how he will force the Doctor to regenerate so that he can steal the Doctor's remaining incarnations. The Doctor collapses and tells Martha that one of his hearts has stopped; he then collapses into unconsciousness.

Issue 2: Renewal

The Doctor has fallen into a coma, Martha performs CPR on him, making him wake up. The Doctor and Martha explore more of the museum and find his flute, the one he played in his Second Incarnation. He then tells Martha about his Second Incarnation. The Second Doctor is on a space ship with Jamie and Zoe, they find it has been attacked by snake like creatures. They help the crew of the spaceship defeat them due to the doctor playing on the flute. Back in the museum the man watching the Doctor and Martha releases an Auton, ready to kill the Doctor and Martha.

The Doctor then remembers his Third Incarnation as Martha hands him the keys to Bessie the old car he used to drive while he worked for UNIT. He, The Brigadier and Jo Grant are in a car being chased, by giant spider like robots, with humanoid dogs as drivers. Jo uses her make-up mirror to aim the laser beams at the ships, and the doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to destroy the dog like aliens, with the help of Captain Yates.

Back at the Museum the Auton approaches the Doctor and Martha, the Doctor fires a can of Nitro 9 at the Auton killing it. The Doctor then checks the readings of the TARDIS' key, and horrified by the absolute lack of response, tells Martha that it means the TARDIS has been destroyed.

Issue 3: Misdirection

Martha questions whether the TARDIS is actully gone. She and the Doctor go back into the costume room and find a bag of Jelly Babies. This reminds him of his Fourth Incarnation.

He remembers the time he took Romana to Paris the second time in the year 2000. Romana notices a mime posing, she thinks he is trapped in time, but as a time hole appears near him, he, the Doctor and Romana fall through the hole and land in a late 17th century sewer. The Doctor and Romana follow him through. They are soon questioned by guards; the Doctor makes up an alias so he can have an excuse to boss them around. Following the trail they manage to reach the exit door, which is guarded by Taureau the Minotaur, who agrees to let them pass if they answer his riddle. When Romana fails miserably to answer correctly, the Doctor opens a wall causing an explosion killing Taureau and the mime. The Doctor and Romana escape through it.

Back at the museum, the Doctor says to himself that Romana did pretty well for herself - until the Time War. He notices Martha has gone, he finds a cricket ball in his pocket. He then thinks about the his Fifth Incarnation.

The Fifth Doctor is playing Cricket near Allen Road, Tegan and Turlough are watching. All of a sudden a Judoon ship flies over, the doctor asks Turlough to fetch his 500 year old diary, while he and Tegan go and meet the Judoon. It turns out the Judoon have landed on Earth in search of the Eye of Akasha. Turlough returns and the Doctor fetches the Eye from the TARDIS before doing a switch with his cricket ball, giving the Judoon the ball.

In the museum the Doctor finds Martha, she is holding Ace's baseball bat ready to defend herself. The strange onlooker releases a swarm of giant spiders from Metabilis 3, surrounding Martha...

Issue 4: Survival

The Doctor arrives and manages to distract the Metebelis 3 spiders with the crystal from his sonic screwdriver, which is similar to the type they search for. He and Martha escape and the Doctor vaguely recalls the phrase "There's something on your back." Then he collapses and begins to fade again. Martha hands him the cat brooch and goes off to hunt for the "Time Bracelet thing" and another screwdriver in the Fourth Doctor's costume, while the Doctor recalls his sixth incarnation.

He remembers the time when he and Peri were in the court of a group of animal people, with Peri under the accusation of the first-degree murder of Professor Mis'kin Karac. On day one of the trial Peri tells the court of how while in the market, a boy pushed a gun into her hands, which fired, killing the professor as he left the building. Peri says she never meant to kill anyone, and the Doctor calls off questioning.

As day two pulls around, Professor Karac's assistant places evidence against Peri, and the judge calls a recess until the next day. The Doctor gets the assistant's permission to check out the lab, where he and the professor had been looking on quantum flux technology. The Doctor finds the murder weapon in the lab and comes up with a plan.

The next day in court the Doctor pulls out the gun and aims at Peri, explaining that it is tagged with a genetic signature which the bullet uses to find the target when fired. He also explains that this was why the professor's assitant was behind Peri: so that he could fire through her at the professor and make it look like she, being the one with the gun, had done it. He then tells the assitant how he is currently wearing a cat brooch doused in chronal energy and with a drop of his blood on it, meaning that if he fires, the bullet will kill him, not Peri. Under huge pressure, the assistant confesses and is taken away, while Peri and the Doctor leave, the Doctor explaining that the gun wouldn't have work, and that he was bluffing, a bluff which the assistant luckily took.

Back in the museum, the Doctor speaks through a camera to the mysterious onlooker, who says he and the Doctor have much in common, except from the obvious, and that he should have left him in the Crucible. Meanwhile the Doctor challenges him to come out, holding up an umbrella and remembering his seventh incarnation.

He recalls the time he and Ace ended up in the war of Angrivan Seven, which was declared a non-intervention site by the Time Lords. Someone had given the Strykes a Gallifreyan virus to use over the Marats, and the Doctor must stop it. They were captured by the Strykes, but managed to escape due to an air strike. They met a Marat, who took them to the sick Marats infected by the Strykes' new bioweapon. The Doctor met with Doctor Treykan, and gave her the antidote to the plague, hidden in his umbrella. Then he seemed to talk to the current Doctor, telling him to fight to survive.

Back in the museum, the Doctor finds the same restorative inside the umbrella, and then begins to hear the Cloister Bell. He states the impossibility of this, as it can only be heard in the TARDIS, the Time Lord Matrix, or on Gallifrey, none of which they are at--or are they?

Martha then demonstrates knowledge of the Cloister Bell she shouldn't yet know and the Doctor remembers her saying he isn't the only doctor in the TARDIS, though she's only a medical student. The Doctor wonders again what's really going on, while the mystery onlooker says they can't have the Doctor remembering his future just yet, and sends out a Clockwork Droid and a Voc Robot. The section ends in the TARDIS with the Cloister Bell tolling, the inside red, and an alien life form attaching itself to the unconscious Doctor...

Issue 5: Revelation

After the Cloister Bell rings the Doctor begins the question who or what Martha really is, they are then attacked by a Clockwork Droid and a Voc Robot. The Doctor and Martha manage to escape and Martha hands the Doctor a cravat belonging to the his Eighth Incarnation, and the Doctor then begins to tell Martha about that specific life.

The Doctor was alone in a prison cell on an unnamed planet, wondering whether the Last Great Time War was still being waged, when the cell door opened and the guards threw a new prisoner into the cell. 16 days later the Doctor and his new cellmate Chantir saw a spaceship land through the cell window and the Doctor said it was time to escape. The Doctor slowed his heartbeats to a level where they have almost stopped and Chantir calls in the guards, allowing the Doctor and Chantir to overpower the guards and steal their laser weapons when leaving the cell. The Doctor then opened all the other cells to allow the other prisoners to escape and traveled to the end of the hall and blasted open the door. Inside the Great Key stood on a pillar in the centre of the room and the Doctor picked it up, telling Chantir that he planned to use it to recreate the De-Mat Gun, and possibly even modify the original to increase its lethality to the point it could remove millions from time and space at once. The Doctor and Chantir then escaped from the prison by sliding down a power cable located on the outside wall of the prison, Chantir then left the Doctor to find his crewmates and the Doctor walked a few miles to recover his TARDIS.

The Doctor then explains to Martha how he ended the Last Great Time War using the Great Key and that his eighth incarnation died alone. Martha then gives the psychic paper to the Doctor and he remembers his Ninth Incarnation.

The Doctor and Rose arrived in a World War I trench on Christmas Day and the Doctor showed the British occupants of the trench documents identifying him as Brigadier Bambera using the psychic paper. A football then landed in the trench and the Germans ask the British to hand them back their football. The Doctor then challenges the Germans to a football match for their ball. As the British play football with them, the Doctor referees the match for them. After the match is over the Doctor and Rose leave in the TARDIS.

Martha then hands the Doctor the chameleon arch and the Doctor regains the last of his memories, that very moment, the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor arrives with the Clockwork Droid and the Voc Robot and threatens to steal the Doctor's regenerations so that he can regenerate himself.

Issue 6: Reunion

Just as soon as the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor finished his threat, the real Doctor laughed it away, as he knew it was a poor fabrication of the creature who was truly responsible for the entire mess, using bits and pieces of the Master, the Valeyard and the Meta-Crisis Doctor to fabricate a poor amalgam with which he expected to bedevil the Doctor.

Infuriate with how his plans had been so easily exposed, the being identified itself as Escartr'ss of the Tactire, a parasitic race known as the Cranial Parasites. It also told of how his planet was one of the many the Daleks had sequestered away to power up the Reality Bomb, and he managed to infiltrate the Crucible until its destruction, when it entered the Doctor's TARDIS and attached itself to him in the effort that began the story.

The Doctor used the distraction to flee, and "Martha" gave him the last clues to realize what it truly was - the TARDIS' own mind, desperately trying to help its pilot shake off the parasite. The entire place was actually the TARDIS matrix, and once the Doctor realized it, he began to realize other things-namely, the TARDIS could assume the form of anyone who had ever traveled with him.

Prompted by the Doctor, the TARDIS assumed a variety of disguises from many past companions geared for combat, such as Steven Taylor, Leela, and Harry Sullivan, while the Doctor examined the baseball bat, realizing it was, in fact, a chameleon circuit covering the Great Key of Rassilon, the final key designed to open the last door of the Matrix, the one the robots had been so desperate to keep them away from.

The TARDIS began assuming other shapes, were more suited to specific tasks, like Kamelion, who shrugged off attacks by the Voc Robot and the Clockwork Droid to open the door with the Great Key, Sarah Jane Smith, and Adric, whose intellect allowed him to design a way to break the parasite's hold on the Matrix by blowing himself, the infected Matrix components, and the droids, with one of Ace's old Nitro 9 cans.

Confronted by the Last of the Tactire, the Doctor implemented his plan-reminding the Matrix there was only one Time Lord in existence-himself. As he spoke, the power of the items he had gathered coalesced, and summoned all of his other forms at once-ten Doctors against a Tactire. He offers his enemy a final redemption chance, and Escart'rss rejected it. Sighing, the Doctor asked the Matrix to eliminate all non-Time Lords from itself, purging the system of Escartr'ss.

The Doctors briefly converse, with the Tenth a bit surprised, as he didn't know it could be done, and some squabbling and annoying on each side. Leaving his memories, the Doctor and "Martha" walk through the museum until the exit, modelled after the TARDIS, appears. Having lost his key, the Doctor wonders how to open the doors, until Martha reminds him River Song already taught him how. Smiling, the Doctor thanks him and snaps his fingers, opening the doors and flooding the museum with light. But before leaving, he asks the TARDIS to assume a final form, and she acquiesces.

Susan Foreman appears before her grandfather, who begs for her forgiveness and asks if she's had a good life. She hugs him back, and soothes him, saying she understood his thoughts and that she always knew he was doing the right thing. She then beckons him to walk into the light, and the dream ends.

The Doctor awakens inside the real TARDIS, and kicks away the now-mindless Tactire out of the way. Reflecting on how he's never truly alone with his oldest companion, he thanks her and decides to go on a little adventure-to Barcelona.

Characters

Doctors

References

It is revealed that it is the TARDIS Matrix that is taking the form of Martha throughout the story; subsequently the Matrix proceeds to take on the forms of Harry Sullivan, Leela, Mel, Steven Taylor, Sarah Jane Smith, Adric, Nyssa, Kamelion, and, finally, Susan Foreman. Although he isn't impersonated, Sabalom Glitz is also mentioned (muddying the waters a bit as to whether Glitz is considered a companion or not).

Last Great Time War

During the Eighth Doctor flashback, the Doctor is held prisoner on an unknown planet (possibly Gallifrey) at some point during the Last Great Time War, he manages to escape and steal The Great Key. The Doctor intends to use this key to create a De-mat Gun that will seal the Medusa Cascade and somehow end the war. The device the Doctor is creating seems to be The Moment.
The Tenth Doctor implies to Romana's involvement in the war, and that it didn't turn out good for her.
The Tenth Doctor states that he succeeded in ending the Last Great Time War using The Great Key.

Races and species

The First Doctor mentions that the Egyptian gods Sutekh and Horus were aliens.
A Sea Devil is seen as a prisoner during the Eighth Doctor flashback.
The Controller of the museum unleashes a number of 'relics' to attack the Doctor and Martha, these include: Clockwork Robots, Metebelis III Spiders, an Auton, and a Voc Robot.
Inside relic cases are a number of familiar creatures and devices which include: a Cybermat, a Cybus Cyberman, the Sister of the Family of Blood, a Weeping Angel, the head of a Mondasian Cyberman, what appears to be a Time Lord breastplate, an Ice Warrior helmet, a Quark head, and a Vespiform.
The fifth Doctor deals with a team of Judoon.
The fourth Doctor faces a Minotaur.

The Doctor

During the Eighth Doctor flashback, the Doctor claims he created the fiction of being half-human using a chameleon arch in order to deceive an enemy.
The Doctor indicates that "no one alive" knows about all nine of his past incarnations. The implication in this statement is that Martha Jones is either the first companion to become aware of the first 10 incarnations (if one takes into account Amy Pond, Rory Williams and Jackson Lake viewing the Doctor's past incarnations through holograms in DW: The Eleventh Hour and DW: The Next Doctor), or that the Doctor believes that anyone else (companion or Time Lord) who is aware of it is now dead. Sarah Jane is the closest to knowing all of them, having met the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th and 11th incarnations, and may have met the 7th and 8th if the novels are canont, so, other than meeting the Doctor's 9th incarnation, and having maybe not met the 7th and 8th incarnation, Sarah Jane has definitely met 7 of the Doctor's 11 incarnations.
The Second Doctor says he "always hated" the song Jamie started to sing in order to distract the snake aliens, the song being "I am the Doctor" by Jon Pertwee.

The Doctor's items

Among the artefacts of the Doctor's past visible: the Seal of Rassilon; a Voord helmet; and items association with each incarnation: a walking stick (First); recorder (Second); Bessie's car keys (Third); a bag of jelly babies (Fourth); a cricket ball (Fifth); a cat brooch (Sixth); an umbrella (Seventh); a cravat (Eighth); and the psychic paper (Ninth).
The First Doctor was given his walking stick by Kublai Khan. However the Tenth Doctor at first claims he obtained it in an unchronicled adventure involving Oscar Wilde and "midget assassins," though he later admits it was a ruse to trick "Martha."

Story notes

The Forgotten was a comic book mini-series produced by the American company IDW Publishing in the fall of 2008, following on from its initial Doctor Who title (Agent Provocateur).
This was the first officially sanctioned spin-off to feature all ten (at the time) of the Doctor's incarnations.
Collected and reprinted as the graphic novel The Forgotten in April 2009.
Due to an unknown error, the dialogue on Page 1 of Issue 6 didn't print. The absence of the dialogue has caused confusion over whether the villain was meant to be the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor or The Valeyard, since most references to it were on this page (although the Doctor refers to the villain as the Valeyard on a later page). The dialogue was later fixed in the trade paperback release. [1]
The fact the villain takes the form of the Meta-Crisis Doctor, and refers to himself as the Valeyard, has added credence to the rumour that the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor could be destined to become the Valeyard. The Doctor himself however laughs at this idea in the story. Until such a time as a connection is actually made, the fact the villain chooses "The Valeyard" as his alias means that's the villain being impersonated here, no matter what he actually looks like.
The plot of this story is very similar to the novel The Eight Doctors because:
- The Tenth Doctor loses his memory. like The Eight Doctor
- There are multiple references to his old adventures.
- The Doctor has an encounter with his previous incarnations.

Cover gallery

Part 1: Amputation
Part 1 (Cover RI)
Part 2: Renewal
Part 2 (Cover RI)
Part 3: Misdirection
Part 3 (Cover RI)
Part 4: Survival
Part 4 (Cover RI)
Part 5: Revelation
Part 5 (Cover RI)
Part 6: Reunion
Part 6 (Cover RI)
trade paperback

Continuity

During the First Doctor's vignette (which is presented in monochrome as a reference to the original series being aired as such), reference is made to the Doctor hoping they don't end up in an Aztec temple, placing the Egyptian adventure before DW: The Aztecs.
The Doctor indicates that "no one alive" knows about all nine of his past incarnations. The Brigadier has met the first eight Doctors and the Tenth tenth;
- DW: The Three Doctors (First, Second and Third Doctors)
- Robot (Fourth Doctor)
- Mawdryn Undead (Fifth Doctor)
- BFA: The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (Sixth Doctor)
- DW: Battlefield (Seventh Doctor)
- BFA: Minuet in Hell (Eighth Doctor)
- DWM: The Warkeeper's Crown (Tenth Doctor).

The Brigadier has yet to meet the Ninth Doctor.

The Doctor encountered Kublai Khan in DW: Marco Polo.
The Tenth Doctor recalls Susan's departure in DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth and the return of Ian and Barbara to more-or-less their original time in DW: The Chase. The Doctor says he doesn't reckon that Susan is still alive, but adds that, though he "can't prove it", he believes all the Time Lords are gone. This follows on from his earlier discussion of the Time War with Martha in DW: Gridlock and the return and death of the Master in DW: Utopia and Last of the Time Lords.
The mysterious man at the controls in Issue 1 sports a beard similar to that sported by the Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley versions of the Master. The Doctor himself comments on the similarity when he tries to use one of the Master's devices on him. Later, the character's identity is revealed to be an insectoid creature impersonating the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor.
The Tenth Doctor has experienced heart stoppage on prior occasions, beginning in DW: The Christmas Invasion.
During the Eighth Doctor's flashback it is suggested that his statement of being "half-human" in DW: Doctor Who (1996) was a ruse.
The final issue establishes that the events of The Forgotten occur immediately following the final scene of DW: Journey's End (and does not take into account the deleted cliffhanger from that story).
In the Ninth Doctor tale, Captain Jack Harkness is mentioned. There is reference to him being shot in the head and surviving with "not a scratch to be seen", suggesting this is the version of Jack who is already immortal.
Also during the Ninth Doctor tale, the Doctor uses the name of "Bambera" to pass in World War I.
The Third Doctor tale is set in 1972 during the Doctor's exile on Earth.