What If... the Doctor's moral compass had never formed? (Part 2)

Last time, we had seen a Doctor who had not taken on Ian and Barbara as companions. As a result he alienated his granddaughter Susan, who voluntarily chose to leave the TARDIS and her grandfather behind. He regenerated not long after, finding himself with new companions in the form of Vicki Pallister, Steven Taylor, and Sara Kingdom. Also, when we last left them, the last of their number had filled the Meddling Monk with so many holes that he whistled on the way to the ground, Sara knowing something that the Monk has yet to do and trying to prevent it... which might have worked, if the Monk were not a Time Lord and thus a regeneration had begun...

Having already been chased through time by the Daleks, leading this version of the Doctor into what he believed to be the origin of his now hated foes, the Doctor and his companions were aware that something else was at play that they were missing. A Master Plan that the Daleks were putting into play. The Doctor, between their journeys, confronts Sara about what she knows and Sara rebuffs him due to needing to preserve the proper flow of time. However, Sara privately confides to Vicki that she knows her death is coming soon... and there's nothing she can do to stop it.

To recap the entire twelve episode epic that is The Daleks' Masterplan in this story would be absolutely nuts...needless to say, I'll be hitting the highlights.

Our old friend the Meddling Monk returns, albeit in a new incarnation (played by Richard Attenborough, seen to the left) and full of a desire for vengeance not only on the Doctor, but Sara Kingdom as well for the death of his previous incarnation.

Like the episode in the original timeline, the Masterplan is an absolute bloodbath that spans from 4000 A.D. to Ancient Egypt to the furthest reaches of the universe. A lot of death, a lot of Daleks, and... well, yeah, that's pretty much it. To focus on the important details, however, we see Sara attempting to avoid her eventual fate. In the midst of things, she breaks down and admits to the Doctor that she has known she was going to die from the moment she met the Doctor again.

As for the Monk, his involvement in events is a bit more extensive. However, ends roughly the same with the Monk ending up on that unnamed ice world with a TARDIS that once more no longer works. Irate, he is approached by a figure we do not see, offering him an escape... for a price.

The Daleks put the Time-Destructor to use, aging Sara to dust... as her younger self and her brother Bret Vyon become involved in events. Bret is later killed off as he is in the prime timeline. When the events have ended, the Doctor holds Sara responsible for her lies and deceit... of her future self. Vicki and Steven both attempt to appeal to the Doctor, but the Time Lord has none of it and kicks Sara off of the TARDIS back in the year 4000... setting Sara on the course to meet the TARDIS crew once more. Vicki and Steven take the path of umbrage on this, but the Doctor is not phased, claiming that he's only preserving the proper flow of the timeline but is ultimately upset at her withholding information from him.

Still, they continue to travel with the Doctor. They deal with some Dravhins, the last of humanity 10 million years in the future, and even a gunfight in the legendary OK Coral with Steven and Vicki becoming more and more worried by the Doctor's methods and justifications for his actions. This comes to a head during a massacre on St. Bartholomew's Eve where Steven, in particular, has had enough. However, just as it seems that he and Vicki are to leave in a huff, Dodo Chaplet comes into their lives. With her, brought along entirely by accident, they journey off into Space and Time once more. This, eventually, brings them to the realm of the Celestial Toymaker and the Doctor's first battle. As you might expect from the ending of this universe's version of the Daleks' Masterplan, the mysterious figure who saved the Monk from the unnamed ice planet he'd been exiled from was indeed the Toymaker.

As in the episode, the Doctor's logic is put to the test in the tri-logic game while Steven, Vicki, and Dodo all

contend with the strange creations of the Toymaker's games. The addition, here, is the Monk who is effectively reduced to serving as a henchman for the Toymaker. During one of the games, the Monk actually kills Steven while attempting to kill Vicki in order to win one of the games. The Toymaker, being a god-like being with nonetheless a sense of fair play, resurrects Steven and enacts a penalty on the Monk, sealing him away inside of a jack in the box.

The TARDIS crew escapes as in the original episode, the Doctor utilizing the Toymaker's voice to win the tri-logic game and destroy his realm. The event has done a little to restore the civility between the Doctor and his companions, as the Toymaker was indeed a threat that deserved the Doctor's level of response. All seems well as they return to their universe, the TARDIS dematerializing and leaving a certain box with a crank floating about in the time vortex, waiting for the day that it's discovered again.

Next up comes The Savages, in which Steven leaves to help the Elders and the Savages co-exist peacefully. With Vicki and Dodo, the Doctor eventually gets back to London in 1966 and comes up against WOTAN, where the Doctor's morality is put to the test against the artificial intelligence. The introduction of Ben and Polly adds a few more to the cast of characters and makes up for the body count that is about to pile up.

By the end of this story, Dodo has died rather than unceremoniously being dumped off-screen. The mind control that WOTAN puts her under breaks, and she sacrifices herself to save the Doctor. This, in the end, drives a wedge between the Doctor and Vicki. Rather than Dodo, as in the broadcast episode, Vicki chooses to remain in London of the 20th century. Her parting from the Doctor was not as vicious or intense as his with Susan, but the echoes are there and it clearly still haunts the Time Lord very deeply.

Notably, in this version of events, Ben and Polly do not go traveling with the Doctor as a replacement but instead elect to remain in 1966 London. The Doctor is, for the first time since leaving Gallifrey, well and truly alone.

Some time later, he arrives at the South Pole in 1986 to have his first encounter with the Cybermen. As in the episode, the Doctor and the red shirts do manage to end the Cyberman threat. Also, as in the episode, the Doctor manages to get back to his TARDIS just in time to regenerate. This time, a third man will hold the name of the Doctor...

...and that's where we're going to leave it off! Yep, not even a reveal of the new actor for you! Seethe! Seethe!

Soon: the Third Doctor of the Negligent Teachers Timeline, a new companion or two, and perhaps a bit more development to see if the Doctor can find a full sense of morality.

...or, y'know, it could get even darker.

Be there!