Doctor Who

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Question: 1. How did Sarah-Jane Smith get introduced to the Doctor? 2.Does she have a 'title'? (eg. Amelia is the girl that waited) 3. How did she get written out?

Shadow5

Chosen answer: 1) She broke into a UNIT base during the story "The Time Warrior", masquerading as her aunt, a respected scientist, and met the Doctor there when she investigated the strange blue box that she found there. 2) No, she doesn't. 3) She left the series at the end of The Hand of Fear, after the Doctor was summoned home to Gallifrey and decided that it would be too dangerous to take her there with him. He dropped her off, ostensibly near her home in South London, but actually in Aberdeen, due to the navigational eccentricities of the TARDIS.

Tailkinker

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Question: I can't seem to find this episode, which I never saw the end of, so could someone please tell me the name of it so I can find it? All I remember about it is that the Doctor is played by Sylvester McCoy and his assistant at the time is Ace, and at the end of the episode, there is a cat on a horse and I think he hypnotises Ace or something because before the credits rolled, she turns around and has green eyes.

Answer: It's an episode of "Survival," Sylvester McCoy's last proper story.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: Injuries sustained by having his TARDIS yanked out of the Time Vortex by The Rani.

Captain Defenestrator

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Question: Throughout all the series, whenever the Doctor and his companion/s encounter aliens or planets, the Doctor knows who they are, where they're from etc. I mean I know he's pretty intelligent and knowledgeable, but what I'm wondering is, how does he know everything about every species in all the galaxies, even the ones in the future? Is it something he's learned/gathered throughout his travels?

Heather Benton

Chosen answer: Partially through that, I mean if you've spent hundereds of years, visiting millions of places and times, its not that wierd that you learn a lot, particually if you're one of a race of super geniuses, he's even a genius for his kind. There also the fact his race observe most events over most times, so he probably learned a lot doing that too.

Show generally

Question: Has the Doctor's real Gallifrey name ever been mentioned? And why does he call himself the Doctor?

Answer: No, his real name has never been stated, although one previous nickname from his early years ("Thete", short for "Theta Sigma") was mentioned by Drax, another Time Lord. Nor has his reason for adopting the pseudonym of The Doctor ever been fully explained. The name appears to be a personal choice rather than something given him by others - the Master tells him at one point that it was sanctimonious of him to choose a name that identifies him as "the man who makes people better". Several incarnations have claimed to have studied a number of different disciplines (including medicine) at various points in his existence, making it also possible that he could genuinely hold at least one academic doctorate, which could be a potential factor in his choice.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: No reason for this has yet been disclosed.

Tailkinker

The Mind of Evil - S8-E2

Question: Why does this serial only survive in black and white. If it was made in colour, why did the BBC have black and white copies in the first place?

Josman

Chosen answer: The reason this serial only exsists in black and white when it was recorded in colour is because in the 60's and 70's the BBC wiped and reused video tapes, some of which were Doctor Who. Luckily copies were made and sent to other countries, most of which didnt have colour TV's. These copies were later found and returned to the BBC archive.

Chosen answer: In the mockumentary "Whatever happened to Susan Foreman?" it is sugested that some Daleks may have survived the events of "The Daleks," rebuilt the race and gone back in time to take revenge on Ian and Barbra by invading 20th century Earth, but suffered a fuel shortage which left them stranded in the 22nd century. Presumably that would also leave them incapable of interstellar travel.

Josman

They wanted to remove the plants core - once removed, they can replace it with a power system that will enable them to pilot the planet anywhere in the universe. I don't know if anyone has mentioned why The Daleks would want to move the Earth anywhere else in the cosmos.

Dan23

Chosen answer: They were a diversion to keep The Doctors focused on escape rather than thinking about who had collected them from time and why.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: Because Dalek toilet technology is the only area where they are inferior to the rest of the universe. Approximately 1960's. You'd have to ask the designer of The Daleks. It is shown in the new series to be a very nasty weapon indeed, some sort of point singularity projection device, like a mini-black hole launcher.

Grumpy Scot

There are lots of documentaries and DVD special features about The Daleks and how they made. It was due to budget costs that they use the plunger the idea was that it was able to suck or stick to anything push and pull.

Dan23

Chosen answer: The Doctor left Susan because she fell in love with a human who had asked her to marry him. The Doctor probably thought that it was better for Susan to stay in one place rather than travelling all over the cosmos with him.

Agent Angel

He does explain if you listen to the speech he gives that the end of the episode as he leaves.

Dan23

Logopolis - S18-E7

Question: The Master has shown himself to be extremely intelligent, so why didn't he know that killing all those Logopolitans would set off a chain reaction, resulting in the end of the universe? Also, why did he hold the planet to ransom? What was he hoping to gain by doing this?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The Master seemed to know what would happen, and exploited this to his own ends. His goal was to gain control of the entire universe, by giving people a choice: die with the universe as it is destroyed (by natural means, no less!), or accept his as their Master, with the only way to keep the universe going.

Logopolis - S18-E7

Question: If The Master had closed the CVE it would have resulted in the total destruction of the universe. Would he have really closed the CVE if the peoples of the universe hadn't responded to him? Isn't that the complete opposite of what The Master wants, i.e. complete control of the universe? Also, if the universe had been destroyed, who and what would he have left to control?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: The Master is insane. If he can't control the universe, he'd rather see it destroyed.

Captain Defenestrator

Logopolis - S18-E7

Question: Towards the end of episode 4, The Master transmits a message to the peoples of the universe, saying that if they do not acknowledge his rule, he will send a signal to close the CVE and restart the collapse of the universe. My questions are: How does The Master expect the peoples of the universe to respond to him in time? And what happens if the peoples of the universe don't comply with The Master's demands? Would he just close the CVE anyway?

Socks1000

Chosen answer: Two possibilities. 1: They can reply on the same frequency he's transmitting from. 2: He intends to close the CVE anyway and this is simply an act of cruelty.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: Because he wouldn't be satisfied simply killing The Doctor when he's weak and infirm. The Master needs to outsmart him.

Captain Defenestrator

Logopolis - S18-E7

Question: Why exactly is the Watcher present during this story? What's his purpose? Why is he never present during any other of the Doctors' regenerations?

MovieBuff09

Chosen answer: The Watcher is The Doctor in a transitional state between regenerations. He likely shows up only this time because the entire existence of the universe is at stake.

Captain Defenestrator

Chosen answer: It's principally related to the Time Lord's strict non-intervention policy, which stated that they should only observe events, not interfere in any way. The Doctor staunchly disagreed, believing that they had a moral duty to protect the universe from evil. That, combined with his own wanderlust and desire to see and experience the wonders of the cosmos, was what ultimately drove him to steal the TARDIS and take up the life of a renegade.

Tailkinker

Yes he has mentioned before why he left.

Dan23

Chosen answer: The Master has run out of regenerations - he's keeping his failing body alive through sheer willpower, but it's a losing battle, as his appalling condition shows.

Tailkinker

Chosen answer: If you look carefully, they are white and grey.

Earthshock - S19-E6

Question: In Earthshock, season 19, at the end of episode 3, the Cyber Leader views his troops marching down the corridor. Each column is headed by a Cyber Leader. Is this a mistake, or is there more than one Cyber Leader allowed per army?

Answer: In 'The Five Doctors', three separate Cyberleaders are definitely used. So it's likely that Cyberleaders are like unit commanders, of which a fair-sized army might have several.

Daria Sigma

Planet of the Spiders - S11-E5

Plot hole: At the climax of episode 2, the Doctor is about to catch Lupton when the latter simply teleports to safety. So why didn't he do that in the first place, before engaging in a 15-minute chase?

More mistakes in Doctor Who

Terror of the Zygons - S13-E1

The Doctor: You can't rule the world in hiding. You've got to come out on the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle, if you pardon the expression.

More quotes from Doctor Who

Planet of Giants - S2-E1

Trivia: This Doctor Who story was originally scripted and produced as a four-episode story, but, just two weeks before transmission, upon viewing the story, co-creators Sydney Newman and Donald Wilson felt that the final two episodes (Episode 3, 'Crisis'; and Episode 4, 'The Urge to Live') should be combined into a single episode. The new 'condensed' episode incorporated the opening titles of 'Crisis' with the closing credits of 'The Urge to Live'.

More trivia for Doctor Who

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