{"id":7938,"date":"2021-11-28T20:20:12","date_gmt":"2021-11-28T19:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1521042"},"modified":"2021-11-28T20:52:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-28T19:52:23","slug":"doctor-whos-survivors-of-the-flux-poses-more-questions-about-the-doctors-origins","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-whos-survivors-of-the-flux-poses-more-questions-about-the-doctors-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who\u2019s Survivors of the Flux poses more questions about the Doctor\u2019s origins"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Morgan Jeffery\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 28 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Last year, Doctor Who<\/a> did something rather daring, throwing out the established origins of its lead character in favour of restoring a little mystery to proceedings \u2013 bringing the \u201cWho?\u201d back to Doctor Who, if you like.<\/p>\n

In what was unquestionably a divisive move \u2013 hailed by some, hated by others \u2013 series 12 finale The Timeless Children<\/a> revealed that the Doctor was not in fact born on the Time Lords\u2019 home planet, but was discovered on another world entirely by Tecteun, one of the founders of Time Lord society, and was brought back to Gallifrey in order to harvest her natural ability to regenerate.<\/p>\n

Going against everything we thought we knew, the consequences of this twist were that, for the first time in 50 years, fans had no clue where the Doctor was from, or what race they were. Prior to the premiere of Doctor Who: Flux, executive producer Matt Strevens hinted that the six-part serial would pick up \u201con a lot of the things the Doctor learned about herself and her history<\/a>\u201d at the end of the previous series \u2013 and we finally got said pay-off in the latest episode, Survivors of the Flux<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What we, and the Doctor, discovered might have answered some questions, but it posed far more \u2013 presenting three distinct possibilities as to where the character might have come from. Here\u2019s what was disclosed \u2013 and the options that fandom can now debate back and forth, at least until next week\u2026<\/p>\n

The Doctor is from a second universe<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Doctor\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Reunited with Tecteun (now played in her latest incarnation by Barbara Flynn) at Division headquarters, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) has it confirmed that the Master wasn\u2019t lying \u2013 she was indeed the \u201clost child\u201d found alone on that unnamed planet, stood waiting by a wormhole to another universe.<\/p>\n

Tecteun believes the Doctor was \u201cdeposited\u201d on this \u201cdeserted planet\u201d by the wormhole, which is also what was implied in The Timeless Children. \u201cThe next universe holds the other end of the wormhole where I found you,\u201d says Tecteun. \u201cThat universe may be where you\u2019re from \u2013 where you began.\u201d<\/p>

Survivors of the Flux confirms the existence of a multiverse in Doctor Who, with the all-powerful Division able to cross the boundaries between universes and even hide themselves in the cracks in-between. (Yes, we\u2019ve seen parallel worlds on the show before \u2013 in 1970\u2019s Inferno<\/a> and 2006\u2019s Rise of the Cybermen\/The Age of Steel<\/a> but this appears to be something different \u2013 whole new universes as opposed to mirror images of our own.)<\/p>\n

If Tecteun is right, the Doctor originated from the universe that exists directly beyond the wormhole \u2013 let\u2019s call it Universe Two \u2013 and somehow found herself transported into our universe, alone, as a child.<\/p>\n

But the episode also presents another possibility\u2026<\/p>\n

The Doctor is from our universe<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Doctor\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Understandably, the Doctor isn\u2019t happy that Tecteun simply assumed she was totally alone and so bundled her into a ship back to Gallifrey \u2013 our hero suggests that, rather than having travelled through the wormhole to our universe, she might have been about<\/em> to travel through it, into Universe Two.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou assumed I came there from that wormhole, but you don\u2019t know,\u201d the Doctor argues. \u201cWhat if I was waiting to be collected? What if I was supposed to be taken through it?\u201d<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re assuming that the planet on which Tecteun found the Doctor is indeed in our<\/em> universe \u2013 which isn\u2019t actually 100 per cent clarified \u2013 then possibly that planet was the Doctor\u2019s home all along. Perhaps the rest of its civilisation \u2013 including the Doctor\u2019s family \u2013 had already left through the wormhole?<\/p>\n

This theory would mean that while Doctor isn\u2019t from Gallifrey, she is at least from our universe \u2013 and from a planet a space shuttle\u2019s ride away from the Time Lords\u2019 home.<\/p>\n

There is, however, one more option\u2026<\/p>\n

The Doctor is from somewhere else<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\""Doctor\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
BBC<\/i> <\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Let\u2019s say Tecteun is right and the Doctor did travel through the wormhole to where she found her \u2013 there\u2019s still nothing to say that Universe Two is where the Doctor was born.<\/p>\n

What if this wasn\u2019t her first trip? If a multiverse exists, and wormholes exist which enable travel from one universe to the other, then theoretically the Timeless Child could have begun life anywhere in this massive ocean of universes, hopping from place to place before finally ending up where Tecteun found her, beneath that monument.<\/p>\n

The Doctor could be from Universe Three, or Universe Eight, or Universe 5792.<\/p>\n

Survivors of the Flux, then, might rule out a few possibilities \u2013 the Master wasn\u2019t lying, the Doctor is<\/em> the Timeless Child and the circumstances of her discovery by Tecteun did play out as we were led to believe \u2013 but with its introduction of a multiverse, this latest episode of Doctor Who opens up far more doors than it closes.<\/p>\n

Read more about Doctor Who:<\/strong><\/p>\n