What If...the Doctor had remained Time Lord Victorious? (Part 1)

Yes, I borrowed the image. Shhhh...

Oh, don't worry...we'll be getting back to Jenny's continuing adventures on board the TARDIS another day. After all, I haven't reviewed any Matt Smith episodes (yet), not that that's kept him and elements from his era from appearing in the What If series, but oh well...let's look at something else.

I do want to say that, despite the title, this has nothing to do with the Time Lord Victorious storyline/multimedia hullabaloo going on through much of the Doctor Who expanded universe. So if something occurs in this that happens in there, it is a coincidence I promise. I'm actually avoiding reading any of the material on it (and intend to keep from doing so until I've finished) simply because I want to avoid any accusations of plagiarism. So, in short...this is either going to be a wholly original thing or is going to be a bunch of coincidences.

In this scenario, we shall endeavor to answer a single question (as we do in all What Ifs?), namely: What if...the Doctor had remained Time Lord Victorious?

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin...

We begin in the TARDIS. The Doctor is broken and despondent after seeing the projection of Ood Sigma in the snow outside the home of one Captain Adelaide Brooke. With a defiant proclamation of "No!", he sets the TARDIS off to travel into space and time...

We then cut to...the Doctor, broken and despondent on the TARDIS. Rather than manic rage and panic, we see...sorrow. He's also in a far more somber suit than either his brown or blue one, one that looks as though he's just been at a funeral of some kind...deciding to move on, he sets the TARDIS to its next destination but, before he can activate the engines, his eye catches something, namely a brigade of Judoon, rifles all pointed at his head. The Doctor, thinking he has (or will have) offended the Shadow Proclamation in some way attempts to talk his way out of it, but finds that the temporal grace circuits of the TARDIS have been deactivated and he gets stunned into unconsciousness.

When he awakens, he has been stripped of his coat and everything in his pockets (including his trusty sonic screwdriver) and is in a holding cell blocked off by an energy door. To his surprise, it isn't a Judoon that greets him at his cell, but a Sontaran. The Doctor throws off some insults, but notices that none of them hit their mark...the Sontaran has some sort of device attached to his head and seems to be operating under some form of mind control due to it. 

The Sontaran tells him that his master will see him now. The Doctor, of course, thinks that this is the Master and prepares himself accordingly as he is escorted from his cell at gunpoint. He is led out through a complex that appears to be somewhere in outer space - in particular, he sees stars that he doesn't recognize. We also get cameos from all sorts of monsters from Doctor Who history, those with a militaristic bent such as the Sontarans or the Judoon while others that didn't have it now have it now in both uniform and weaponry. The Doctor suspects that the Master has somehow survived the Time War or has otherwise returned from it, and massed an army against him. Needless to say, the Doctor is more than a little surprised when he enters a massive throne room...and gazes upon his own face, clad in Gallifreyan robes.

This Doctor is the one we know as the Time Lord Victorious. However, his subordinates know him and call him by a very different name - The Chronarch, King of Time. The Doctor believes this to be his own incarnation in the future, demanding to know what the meaning of this. However, when he attempts psychic contact, the Chronarch rebuffs him. Their mental energies are not in sync, they aren't the same person...at least, not the same person on their personal timelines. The Chronarch even mockingly asking the Doctor why he thought he'd be allowed to link minds with him.

The Doctor that we've been following, the one that was captured onboard his TARDIS by the Judoon is one from another timeline entirely, one who has not experienced the world of Doctor Who beyond the end of Series 2 and a very different world from the main timeline. The Chronarch explains this to his double and explains his mission: he won the Time War, therefore he is claiming his prize. That prize, of course, being the whole of Time itself. However, with Gallifrey gone in his timeline, he needed more power to solidify that. Hence, he did the unthinkable and cracked the barriers between universes. Thus, the Doctor of this universe is but the latest victim of him coming to parallel universes with three objectives: to force the various alien races of the universe into an army under his total control, to steal the TARDISes of each of his doubles that he finds, and to steal the remaining incarnations of any of the Doctors that he finds.

The Doctor who never went to Pete's World has two remaining, since the events of The Stolen Earth and Journey's End haven't happened for him yet. The Chronarch, so far as we know, only has the one remaining. Needless to say, the Doctor wants nothing to do with this and chastises his double before making a valiant escape attempt. He attempts to locate his TARDIS and gives the minions of the Chronarch a merry chase before he discovers a secret that sickens him to his very core.

. . .and then is shot by the Chronarch, who uses a device to drain the regeneration energy of the Doctor into him before the Doctor can begin the regeneration process. The Doctor weakens considerably, his body shriveling and decaying before finally turning into dust maybe with a last, desperate muttering of "I don't wanna go!" before he's gone. The Chronarch is displeased, being that this Doctor only had two lives remaining, but says that it will suffice. He leaves, us being able to hear not one but several cloister bells going off in chorus. 

Regardless, the Chronarch orders his minions to prepare for the move into the next universe, they've found what he wanted here. He resumes his throne, looking very much like Schwarzenegger at the end of Conan the Barbarian as he gazes upon the display of damned horror he has made...and all that he has yet to do.

. . .and that's where we're leaving off for Part 1. The Doctor has gone fully off the deep end and become the Chronarch, even going so far as to killing his other selves from parallel universes. Who can stand against him? Can anyone stand against him? Will there be other intrusive additions from other What Ifs that we've had before?

Only one way to find out! . . .namely, keeping an eye out for Part 2!