The excitement for the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who episode ‘Day Of The Doctor’ began with the release of a fantastic trailer. All 11 Doctors were shown, frozen in time at a moment of crisis.
When the episode itself aired it turned out that this trailer didn’t have anything to do with the story itself. Presumably it was more symbolic but there are so many intriguing images that it can serve as a basis for your own multi-Doctor adventure.
The 1st Doctor
We are first introduced to the 1st Doctor entering Foreman’s Junkyard, surprised to see a Dalek exterminating a UNIT soldier. This is vague enough that it could occur at any time period pre or post ‘An Unearthly Child’ for the Doctor. The presence of the UNIT soldier indicates that it is during or after ‘The Invasion’.
Only the Doctor is shown here, so we don’t know if he is travelling alone or whether his companions are in the TARDIS (or elsewhere). This gives you a lot of room to include the PCs that you want to include.
The junkyard is filled with artefacts from the Doctor’s travels including a Time Lord psychic cube, a sonic screwdriver, a Dalek computer, the Cloven Hoof pub sign (from ‘The Daemons’) and many more.
Did the Doctor place them here and if so how and why? Does he know the significance of them to his future?
The presence of the UNIT soldier indicates that this might be a UNIT facility. If the organisation knew of its link to the Doctor they might have purchased it and used it as a storage facility before establishing the Black Archive.
The presence of pieces of the TARDIS and the collection of objects from different time periods could indicate some form of temporal collapse. It could be that there is a hole in time, causing all of these objects to fall here, possibly due to the fact the TARDIS was here in ‘An Unearthly Child’.
Amongst the collection of items there is also the Key to Time. We see this artefact in several different timeframes. It could be that this powerful item could be responsible for the chaos depicted.
Did the Dalek come here to obtain something or was it itself an artefact? Whoever placed it there could have thought it was dead, only to find out that it was hibernating. Its close proximity to a Dalek computer could indicate that it is this which reawakened it.
We see the TARDIS in the yard but this doesn’t mean that it is the 1st Doctors. A TARDIS console is nearby so this could simply be a place that all time machines are being stored. The Doctor might have detected its presence and come to investigate.
Clearly the Doctor is in peril here. Has the Dalek come to kill him or will it attempt to capture him. If it succeeds in either of these goals it would have huge consequences for the later Doctors. Saving the 1st Doctor could be an important goal for the any other Doctor featured in the adventure.
The Doctor could find a way to defend himself or escape. There are numerous items that could be useful to him in the junkyard. In particular it would be interesting to see the 1st Doctor make use of the sonic screwdriver.
When all else fails it is possible he might be able to escape into the nearby TARDIS. If he is able to get away he can begin to try and work out what is happening and how best to deal with the situation.
The death of the UNIT solider also brings in that organisation. How do they respond to the threat? Will they be able to defeat the Dalek? Will they alert the Doctor?
If this is set during the Doctor’s exile then he might be asked to investigate. This could bring the 3rd Doctor in contact with his 1st incarnation. We know from later in the trailer that the 3rd Doctor does seem to be involved in these events.
There are plenty of options for you to choose from. Beginning your adventure where the first episode of Doctor Who began is appropriate for a celebration of the show. If you decide that this evidence of time breaking down this could be a clear way to show that continuity is being altered and players can’t depend on anything being canon.
The 2nd Doctor
In comparison the 2nd Doctor sequence is positively peaceful. He is playing his recorder, with the Himalayas in the background. Just behind him is a collection of wreckage, that looks very similar to that seen in ‘Night of the Doctor’.
The Doctor of course went to the Himalayas in ‘The Abominable Snowmen’. The presence of a Yeti sculpture in the junkyard could suggest that the Great Intelligence is a connecting factor. We already know that he has made one attempt to destroy the Doctor in all of his lives.
The Doctor could be in the Himalayas prior that episode, as it is established in ‘The Abominable Snowmen’ he’d been there before. Alternatively it could during or after the televised adventure.
Could it be that the wreckage belonged to a spaceship or the TARDIS itself? If it is the former it could be the reason the Doctor is investigating and if it is the latter he could find himself stranded (if it is his TARDIS).
The 2nd Doctor is framed in what appears to be a tunnel. We can assume this is an artistic flourish but what if there really is a tunnel that links the junk yard to the Himalayas? Such links through space and time could be the reason for the chaos (or another side effect).
If the 2nd Doctor is stranded it could be that his recorder playing is not just a display of whimsy but an attempt to summon rescue, just as he was able to whistle for the TARDIS in ‘The Two Doctors’.
This could be a depiction of Time Corridor technology. It could be that the 2nd Doctor is employing this technique to rescue the 1st Doctor from the junk yard. This could be a way to have the two Doctors join forces. All they have to make sure is that the Dalek doesn’t follow them.
To Be Continued…
Bigger On The Inside 