I thought I'd try something new and see what people thought of it. Now, I'm sure you've all been very diligently reading my Doctor Who reviews and know that, by the time of this writing, we are well into Series 2 as far as reviews go. I'm honestly shocked I made it all the way through Series 1, considering all of the really terrible moments in it. However, one of the aspects that I absolutely loved in it was Christopher Eccelston as the Doctor. He was my first Doctor and the only thing I really dislike about him is that he didn't get enough time to really materialize it fully onscreen. If he'd had more time, I think he would have been - if you'll pardon the quip - fantastic.
So, I had a thought about what might have happened if a single important moment had not happened in the Doctor's life - meeting Rose Tyler. Now, my hatred of Rose Tyler is well documented by this point. As of my review of The Girl in the Fireplace we're up to 5,055,636,223 on my Rose Tyler is Awful Count gag. However, this isn't going to be a What If to continue my sane and rational disparaging of a fictional character. Despite my many, many issues with the character, Rose Tyler did change the Ninth Doctor for the better...and then proceeded to make the Tenth insufferable at points.
However I got to thinking...what if that change had never happened? What if, in trying to combat the Nestene Consciousness in London in the year 2005, the Doctor had never met Rose Tyler in the basement of that shop and did not eventually take her off into time and space?
Also, I would be remiss if I did not site my inspiration for trying this idea out - that being MasakoX and his wonderful What If? videos about the Dragon Ball franchise. Rather than go into something that I'm a casual fan of, but am hardly an expert, I decided I could apply the same idea to something I know a little bit more about - namely Doctor Who.
Here are a few ground rules for What If...? Scenarios -
1. Things that happen will still happen - Just because something has changed doesn't mean that that will prevent an event from happening as it did in canon unless that change makes it impossible for it to have happened. So the events of some episodes will still happen.
2. Even if those events happen, there will be differences based on previous events, changes in the timeline, and my personal preferences. So certain episodes may not happen or will happen without the Doctor's interference.
And so, having thought long and hard about the events of Series 1 - probably more than anyone, including Russell T. Davies, ever has - I bring you my first What If scenario...
What if...the Doctor had never met Rose Tyler?
The events of Rose play out pretty much the same, save for Rose being saved by the Doctor from the Autons. She dies at the hands of the aliens. The shop still explodes and the Doctor goes off to try and work out where the Nestene are based at. Unfortunately, he doesn't have Rose's help to do this. Instead of her, the Doctor crosses paths with Mickey, who is investigating the explosion at the shop. Like Rose does in the canon timeline, his path eventually leads him to the Who is Doctor Who? site run by Clive after catching the Doctor on security monitor footage from the store before the explosion.
We also get some actual visual evidence of the other Doctors to tie it in better to the Classic show. And yes, that was something I lamented in my Rose review, but I'm happy to say that when Russell wrote the novelization of the episode, he did include direct references to past (and future) Doctors among the photographs that Clive shows Rose. So I'll give him a point there.
...and yes, I almost did vomit typing that.
Unfortunately, due to them not working it out fast enough, the Nestene Consciousness begins its mass attack before they can reach it, London being hit much harder. The Doctor is captured and while Mickey doesn't have Rose's gymnastics skills that are mentioned once in Rose and then never mentioned again, he does manage to retrieve the anti-plastic by setting one of the Autons on fire.
The anti-plastic is dipped, the Consciousness dies, and the Doctor and Mickey escape in the TARDIS. As in canon, Mickey is absolutely freaked out by the TARDIS being bigger on the inside than out. In spite of their bickering, the Doctor begrudgingly offers Mickey the chance to travel with him. Like Rose does in the actual episode, he refuses at first and the Doctor departs. The Doctor soon returns and mentions that his ship can travel in time...but Mickey still refuses. The Doctor, dejected, says his goodbye and leaves.
This won't be the last time we see Mickey, though. Don't worry.
Series 1 takes a very different path from there. The events of The End of the World don't have the Doctor involved in them since he didn't take Rose there, meaning that everyone on Platform One dies as the Earth gets roasted. The Unquiet Dead does happen in essentially the same way, though with the Doctor choosing to attend Charles Dickens' recital of A Christmas Carol in 1869 instead of accidentally failing to go to Naples. The latter of the two episodes is where we'll get our first instance of the arc words "Bad Wolf".
Yes, I know I very much maligned Russell T. Davies using "Bad Wolf" repeatedly in Series 1 when it ultimately didn't actually mean anything. This time, though, it means something, and Classic Series fans will probably have already figured out what it is. Little references might be sprinkled around in the background through this timeline's Series 1, but not anything completely blatant to the point of the Doctor even pointing it out at one point.
Seriously, Russell, I know your era wasn't good for it but subtlety is a thing!
Our first big change in events, other than everyone on Platform One getting fried by Cassandra, is in Aliens of London. The Doctor arrives in London in 2006 after picking up the alien signal from the Slitheen's dummy ship. Yes, the Slitheen are still around this scenario, just not of the nonsensical farting variety. This brings him into contact with Mickey again and Shareen Costello, a character that Rose mentioned several times in the series but was never actually seen on screen (and who's last name was given to us by Russell in supplementary material).
The Doctor ends up knocking on Mickey's flat door as he's tracked a hairdryer Shareen is using as messing up his scanning device. As such, they are all three witness to the ship crashing through Big Ben and into the Thames. Because What Ifs are not limited by budget as the actual show is, I actually actually afford the inside of an alien space vessel, and so the Doctor takes the TARDIS to go investigate, bringing Mickey and Shareen along unintentionally as they follow him in. Onboard, they find the pig alien and essentially get the scene in the morgue much earlier with it running around only to be gunned down by UNIT, who break in.
The Doctor chastises them as he does in the episode, only to be talked down by Brigadier Bambera from the classic series episode Battlefield, both to solidify links to the Classic Show (since, despite what Russell thinks, people like continuity) and to make the UNIT timeline issues even more confusing as is tradition. She manages to enlist the Doctor's help, but with the Doctor knowing early on that something's rotten in the state of Denmark, UNIT is better prepared for the situation.
I lamented in my review for Aliens of London that we didn't see any of the UNIT regulars who were still alive at the time, even if for a cameo appearance. While I did want Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart here, I couldn't justify him coming out of retirement. At least, not yet. But we would doubtless get references to individuals like the Brig, Liz Shaw, Jo Grant, and so on. And Bambera helps establish continuity between the old and new series that was honestly very sorely needed in Series 1.
The Slitheen-headed government brings in all the alien experts it can in order to kill the off. The Doctor recognizes this as a trap before the big reveal and the shocking of the experts by their ID cards, able to disable them with the sonic screwdriver. The Prime Minister is an alien, and UNIT locks down 10 Downing Street, which turns into a blood bath. The Slitheen and UNIT square off with the Doctor, Mickey, and Shareen caught in the middle.
The Doctor fast talks his way into getting the details about the Slitheen as he does in the episode. Unlike in the episode, the family does not gather. In fact, the leader of the family sends out a message for the rest of the family to stay away as those in Downing Street are killing off or being killed off by UNIT.
And yes, Harriet Jones is around somewhere doing pretty much as she does in the episode. Just with Penelope Wilton allowed a few more takes in certain scenes.
Bambera, haggard and beaten down, inquires if the Doctor has a plan and he claims to be working on it. In reality, however, he's already worked out what he's going to do: namely use the missiles as in the episode. He claims it only to be used as a bluff, but we'll soon see that that isn't the case. Since we don't have the unnecessary drama that only comes up when Russell feels like it, we get to the finale a bit sooner. The Doctor, the remaining UNIT soldiers, and his companions are all in the cabinet room with the Doctor's finger over the big red button. Getting a little nod to the events of the Time War as the Slitheen take umbrage at the situation and the Doctor declares that he's done this once and won't hesitate to do so again.
There is a stare down between the Doctor and the Slitheen leader, the Doctor's finger on the button and it's a game of who will blink first.
Unlike in the broadcast episode, 10 Downing Street does not get blown to smithereens. Instead, the Slitheen stand down and are arrested by UNIT. In the aftermath, Bambera thanks the Doctor for his help, mentions to Harriet that she should consider running for Prime Minister, and the Doctor tells Bambera to blow the dust off of the Brigadier's old time-space telegraph if she needs him. He's been away for a while, but now he's back. And by the look on the faces of his companions, one might not know if that's a good thing or not given what they just saw in facing the Slitheen.
Left with only Mickey and Shareen, the Doctor is asked if he really would have pressed the button and he doesn't answer. When asked about what he meant while speaking to the Slitheen, he tells them a little about the Time War and mentions his home planet of Gallifrey by name. They invite him to stick around for a cup of tea, but he pulls his "I don't do domestic" routine and flips the script on them. He offers them a trip in the TARDIS as a way of saying thank you. This time, both Mickey and Shareen accept. The TARDIS leaves the Earth, and 2006, behind.
And that's where we're leaving off for right now. Roughly halfway through Series 1. What do you think so far? Not seeing so many changes to the Doctor with the absence of Rose yet? Let me know what you think in the comments, on Reddit, or on Twitter.
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