Changing 'Who'story

Moffat has a record on not keeping promises and on dubbing every single finale written by him 'a gamechanger', something which will have an impact on 'everything', including the past, the present and the future of 'Doctor Who'. That's the idea, that's his promise. But usually he does  not live up to it.

 And then came "The Name of the Doctor" and Moffat kept his promise: with that episode he did changed 'Who'story forever and by doing so, he made himself the most important showrunner of all time. You might think that's an exaggeration. But you have to admit that none of his forerunners have been brave enough to leave their permanent mark on the show's history, at least not like that. We got tiny bits like occasional references about the Time Lords, about Gallifrey, his family, about that famous 12 regeneration rule which has managed to stick around; but we do not know why he left his homeplanet, not to mention his real  name, or  the reason why he is obviously not using it.

Now, revealing certain things about the Doctor's past comes with certain problems. Not knowing has become a permanent rule, a fixed point, one of those few things everyone could rely on. Which means that everybody working on 'Who' before Moffat shaped the series accordingly. So, when Moffat has come along and introduced John Hurt as a former Doctor* the first thing coming to any sensible fan's mind is the question, 'so where do we fit that one in then?' 

On a basic level, there are two rather plausible options. First of all, there are, strictly speaking, no canonical records on why Hurt's Doctor could not have regenerated into William Hartnell's Doctor°. One big advantage of this theory is that we know that already back then the Doctor has not been using his *real* name. And by featuring the really first (maybe-not-yet) Doctor there is the chance of learning the *original* reason of why he decided to go by 'the Doctor'.

But let's not get too excited because at the same time, this is the very reason why it's not really likely that Moffat will tell us about the Doctor's actual pre-series past. It would break 'Who's 5o-years old rule. Which means that it's more likely that Hurt's Doctor is set after number 8. This is supported by the fact that we know that somewhen between McGann's Doctor regenerated into Eccelston's, the Doctor was fighting in the Great Time War#, during which he did things he is not proud of, like destroying (time-locking) Gallifrey and the Time Lords. A point in favour of this theory is that the 11th Doctor says about Hurt's Doctor that  

The name you choose is like a promise you make.
 He's the one who broke the promise.

From a linear perspective, although that's not necessarily the way 'Who' works, to be able to break a promise you need to have made one in the first place. So maybe, back in the dark old days, after doing something even more terrible than he did in the Great Time War, he decided to make time forget his real name, and started calling himself the Doctor, and by doing so he made the promise that whatever happened back then will never happen again, because he'll see it as his personal responsibility to take care of it. And then he becomes involved into the Great Time War and he fails to keep his old promise.

The second, even more important hint in favour of this theory is that the BBC asked Christopher Eccelston if he was willing to be involved into the 5oth anniversary. He obviously said no.

Solving things like this we would still get a rather awesome episode, even though it would only fill the gap of the Great Time War.

 ___

* Strictly speaking John Hurt's Doctor is  not a 'Doctor' as the Doctor does not grant him that 'title'. He simply does not deserve it. This means that luckily we do not need to change the numbering. But for the lack of a better alternative, I hope you don't mind if I'm using the word 'Doctor' for John Hut's 'Doctor' anyway.

°Well, looking at the plot as such, there is a problem after all. We know that Time Lords are supposed to have two hearts. However, this fact was not introduced for several seasons, because of which the 'first' Doctor appears to have just one heart ("The Edge of Destruction"). To resolve this plothole, some people came up with the idea that Time Lords get their second heart after their 1st regeneration, which makes Hartnell's Doctor the first. However then Hurt's Doctor cannot be placed before him; (then again, in "The Wheel in Space" featuring the 2nd Doctor, he still seems to be one-hearted.) Naturally, this rules does not actually feature in any episodes, for what it can be dismissed.

# Interestingly, the book in which Clara comes across the real name of the Doctor has the title "The History of the Time War" and not "The History of the Great Time War". Of course, this could be a simple mistake, but maybe there is more to it. After all,  it is possible that the Time Lords were involved in more than just one Time War.

The Impossibe Book

Even though "Journey" is not exactly a masterpiece, somehow it is still one of the most remarkable episodes of 'Doctor Who' because we'll always remember it to be the first time that a companion learns the Doctor's actual name. Up to now people weren't sure if he had one in the first place. Others thought that his name is  'the Doctor', as he's been telling people the past 5o years.But Clara's reaction on learning the Doctor's name shows us that there is more to it...

Now, revealing the Doctor's name is something that many fans regard as one of the big, golden Don't-s of 'Doctor Who'. And therefore, the scene in which Clara is reading "The History of the Time War" in the TARDIS library and finds out about the Doctor's name is simply wrong in some Whovians'  opinion.  Thompson tries to compensate this by making Clara forgetting the events of "Journey" as they become rewritten.

But it's not only Clara coming across the Doctor's name which seems to be out of place there. Putting some thinking into it you'll notice that "The History of the Time War" is at least as impossible a book as Clara is an impossible girl.  Because, the first, well second, emerging question after seeing that scene is the story behind that book.

So, what do we know about it? Not much. Taking into consideration that the TARDIS does not translate Gallifreyan automatically ("A Good Man Goes to War") it seems that "The History of the Time War" can't be written in the Time Lords' language, otherwise Clara wouldn't have been able to read it.

Then there is the question regarding its author. Well, it has to be someone who's familiar with the Doctor's name. And this makes the Doctor the most obvious candidate. But then he's trying hard to keep his name a secret, so I don't think he'd write it down in a book, even though it's stored away in the library of the TARDIS, which means that no-one who shouldn't read it is going to get the chance to do so. But the point is still standing. He simply wouldn't take the risk of writing his name down.

Another person about whom we know to know his name is River Song. And although she is an Archaeologist (i.e. interested into history) and an academic expert in all things regarding the Doctor, she didn't write the book either. Knowing the Doctor's secret she might have realised why he's calling himself the Doctor instead, and she's not the kind of woman who'd betray him, at least not in this way. Plus, if the Doctor or River had written that book, it's likely that they would have used Gallifreyan or even Old Gallifreyan to do so.

Then there is the Master. We know he's familiar with the Doctor's name ("Sound of Drums") and that he has reasons to keep his own name a secret. Might their reasons be related? Who knows. What makes the Master a likely candidate is the fact that it's not difficult to imagine that he'd be willing to reveal the secrets of his arch enemy, which would also solve the secret of why the book is not written in Gallifreyan. Besides, unlike River, he has been knowing the Doctor for ages, which is an important point, because the reason why the Doctor is avoiding to mention his real name has to lie far back in time, before he and Susan decided to park the TARDIS at 76 Totter's Lane. Already there he insisted on being called the Doctor.

However, the book could have been also written by some who fought against the Time Lords in one of the Time Wars, or vice versa. I'm partly curious why the Doctor got mentioned in that book, i.e. in which context. These days he seems to have a rather pacifist attitude... Well, not really. That's rather the 1oth Doctor then.

At this point it should be mentioned that it's interesting that the book's title does not say "The History of the Great Time War". Is it relevant? Or a mistake? Or does the obvious THE indicate that the book is about THE one great Time War? And why does Clara seem to recognise that name? She's not an expert on the allies involved in the Time War or Gallifrey's  history. So how does she know that the name she read is that of the Doctor? And why does it seem to be familiar to her? After all, she says "So that's who..." I really hope Moffat won't let us down this time because I guess I'm not the only one wanting some answers.