What If...the Doctor never met Rose Tyler? (Series 4, Part 1)

Wow, it's been almost a year since we were here last! Last time we left off the Doctor had taken the newly-regenerated Master and placed mental blocks upon her. Yes, the Master had indeed regenerated into Missy...or, rather, "Estra" as she was now christened. With Jack and Adeola rebuilding Torchwood on Earth, the Doctor could head off into time and space knowing that things were in safe hands...at least for a little while.

So, let's pick up with them and see where the new version of events will take them!

We pick up with the 2007 Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, where we see the Doctor and Estra in the TARDIS after it has been hit (but not penetrated) by the bow of the spacefaring Titanic. The episode goes on as it had in the original timeline, only less stupid thanks to the butterfly effect. No, by the way, I have no idea how Rose Tyler dying to the Autons makes Voyage of the Damned not be a stupid and awful episode. However, I justify it this way: JJ Abrams didn't have to explain why Kirk not being born in Iowa led to Spock and Uhura banging in the 2009 Star Trek film, so there.

On to Partners in Crime, where we get reintroduced to Donna. The episode goes pretty much the same, with Donna having considered things since meeting the Doctor and wanting to take him up on his offer. Rather than mentioning Martha, the Doctor mentions "Martha" and tells Donna that things are "way too complicated". Also, given that she's add to the mix, Estra doesn't like Donna, but can't put her finger on why she doesn't...

The Fires of Pompeii is next and, again, things can pretty much play out as they did in the transmitted episode. In this case, Estra - being the upstanding Time Lord that the Doctor says she is - would want to leave Pompeii to its fate while Donna would want to save the people there. While the Doctor and Donna get the warning that they do in the episode from the seers, Estra will also get one.

"His lies will break you..."

Planet of the Ood can, again, pretty much go on as it did in the main universe, pointless as it ultimately was for the Doctor and Donna to be there. We get the same foreshadowing, too, about the upcoming regeneration of the Doctor - "I think your song must end soon." There is also something that the Ood call Estra and Donna - the EstraDonna.

Next up is The Sontaran Stratagem, and again - as is part and parcel for Series 4 - you can pretty much keep it the same with minor detail changes. Adeola brings the Doctor, Estra, and Donna back to Earth and shenanigans ensue as they do in the main timeline. Maybe in this timeline, Adeola has been contracted by UNIT as Martha was in the main timeline and the Doctor has to give a brief explanation about Martha, her alternate universe double Anna, and now Adeola - her twin sister in this version rather than her cousin, if you remember.

Again, The Poison Sky goes the same way...although with one big difference, Estra and Donna are stuck on the TARDIS together thanks to the Sontarans. As they get through the business of aiding the Doctor in his plan, Estra starts to hear...voices. This comes to a head when she kills a Sontaran in a fit of pique and nearly attacks Donna, only just stopping herself from doing so as she recovers her faculties. Donna intends to bring this up to the Doctor, but shenanigans ensue that basically lead into the end of the episode. Adeola waves goodbye and leaves, with the Doctor, Donna, and Estra returning to adventures in time and space.

The Doctor's Daughter...doesn't happen. Sorry. I've mentioned that I like the character of Jenny and wish they'd done more with her on the show, but this universe's version of The Christmas Invasion saw Nine fare far, far better with his sword fight against the Sycorax than Ten's did in the original timeline. No hand in a jar, no Jenny. Sorry!

And yes, normally, I would have ended Part 2 on the cliffhanger of The Poison Sky...but that doesn't happen in this timeline for the same reasons that The Doctor's Daughter doesn't. Just the Doctor, Donna, and Estra in the TARDIS. What adventures will they get up to next? Will Estra have another episode? Find out as we get into Part 2, where we take the journey from The Unicorn and the Wasp all the way to The End of Time and see where time and space will take our motley crew next!

Be there!