Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair (feature)
Eleven Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Corsair — titled The Corsair on the contents page — was a narrative prose piece published in The Brilliant Book 2012. Following the mention of the Corsair in TV: The Doctor's Wife earlier that year, it gave writer Neil Gaiman a chance to expand on the biography of his newly-created renegade Time Lord. Although adding up to a narrative of the Corsair's life (or, rather, lives), it was not told in a linear order: as the title implied, it was structured in the form of eleven "fun facts", presented out of order.
Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
Thing #1[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Corsair's TARDIS takes the form of a small, piratical sailing ship.
Thing #2[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Corsair's Ouroboros tattoo changes size and location with every regeneration. In their fifth incarnation, for example, it shows up on their upper thigh.
Thing #3[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Corsair comes across House during the Time Lords' Fourth Universal Survey Expedition.
Thing #4[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor gets drunk with the Corsair's fourth, fifth, and eighth incarnations: twice, they wake up in jail, and once in the Bank of England vaults. The Fourth and Eighth Corsairs are men, while the Fifth Corsair is a woman.
Thing #5[[edit] | [edit source]]
With "Corsair" meaning "privateer", the Corsair indeed performs acts for the Time Lords for which the Time Lords wanted to deny responsibility, such as stealing the Callisto Pulse from the Callistan Kleptocracy.
Thing #6[[edit] | [edit source]]
Although the Corsair officially never fought the Daleks, there is evidence that the female Seventh Corsair became involved in the sabotage of a Dalek scout ship on Clarkor Nine.
Thing #7[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Corsair was worshipped as a god by the ancient Assyrians for a week, but then he ran away with the sacred temple cat.
Thing #8[[edit] | [edit source]]
Every incarnation of the Corsair had an amazing smile that emanated trustworthiness.
Thing #9[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Corsair enjoys "Rescuing Good Looking People from Dangerous Situations" but never picks up a companion other than the cats or parrots sometimes aboard their TARDIS.
Thing #10[[edit] | [edit source]]
Lord President Borusa's High Council censures the Corsair for stealing the mysterious Portrait of Rassilon. Flavia, noted for "finding the Corsair's smile attractive", eventually revokes the Censure.
Thing #11[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Ninth Corsair, a "strapping big bloke", is killed by House.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Russell T Davies suggested that the parrot-carrying Shopkeeper in The Sarah Jane Adventures was an incarnation of the Corsair.[1]
- Gaiman clarified that the incarnations of the Corsair in Old Friends and One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes were the sixth and seventh, respectively.[2]
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Corsair's name, tattoo, and murder by House were first established in TV: The Doctor's Wife.
- The Corsair's sailing ship TARDIS appeared in COMIC: Old Friends and was called Esperanza.
- The Corsair and the Thirteenth Doctor drank together and were imprisoned by the Hoarder. (COMIC: Old Friends)
- One female incarnation of the Corsair travelled with a parrot. (PROSE: One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes)
- Presidents of the High Council included Borusa (TV: Arc of Infinity) and Flavia. (TV: The Five Doctors)
- One incarnation of the Corsair was a "strapping big fellow". (TV: The Doctor's Wife, PROSE: One Virtue, and a Thousand Crimes)
