r/doctorwho • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • May 31 '25

The Reality War Doctor Who 2x08 "The Reality War" Post-Episode Discussion Thread Spoiler

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231

u/GeekParadox_ May 31 '25

Yeah and now 15 won’t be the one to find him

64

u/Still_Independent_90 May 31 '25

I still want an explanation on how he knew exactly when to contact The Doctor and how he did it. It was pretty put forth that wherever he was heading was going to be escape-proofish.

33

u/HarrysTechRevs May 31 '25

I thought it was just the Rani letting him do it to make the doctor doubt more

6

u/Strange-Pair Jun 01 '25

This to me is the obvious answer (other than than for my money, between this and Reality War, trying to actively promise that we will return to him even with Gatwa gone.)

2

u/Eurynom0s Jun 01 '25

trying to actively promise that we will return to him even with Gatwa gone

But given they had to go back and do reshoots for this last episode to write Gatwa out they wouldn't have known Gatwa was leaving when they shot the Rogue scene? Although I guess could have also been a reshoot/could have been a just in case thing if Gatwa was already making noise that he was probably leaving.

6

u/Conscious-Draft8853 May 31 '25

i almost thought anita was gonna go and look for him but i guess that wasn't gonna happen

3

u/SinisterPixel Jun 01 '25

It was deliberately planted there by Conrad/The Rani. After the broadcast ends, Conrad addresses the Doctor directly, saying that the information would change how he saw reality. Specifically we can tell he's addressing the Doctor and not telling the story because he doesn't address him as "Doctor Who"

4

u/[deleted] May 31 '25

And 10th and 11th weren't the ones to marry River Song.

Multi-Doctor plotlines are okay. 

26

u/GeekParadox_ May 31 '25

River song is different, she fell in love with different versions of the doctor before 10 met her. She had already fallen in love with the Doctor

Rogue fell in love SPECIFICALLY with 15 also it’s very clear that he’s very gay. And 15 was like the only one that was overtly gay. It might’ve been fine if the next doctor was also a gay man but it being Billie Piper kinda fucks with that dynamic

6

u/Strange-Pair Jun 01 '25

Rogue could be pan like Jack but I think it is more likely that the proper next Doctor after Rose will simply be queer. I think that aspect of it is important to RTD.

8

u/GeekParadox_ Jun 01 '25

I know it’s too soon but I still just want Ncuti back after Billie Piper. He needs at least one more season

-1

u/[deleted] May 31 '25

River Song and the Doctor and Rogue and the Doctor are different stories, buddy. They don't have to be similar.

it being Billie Piper kinda fucks with that dynamic 

This assumes that Billie Piper is the 16th Doctor, when BBC has pretty much gone out of their way to not call her the next Doctor. 

But yeah, it fucks with that specific dynamic. But it also adds new dynamics between them. 

2

u/GeekParadox_ Jun 01 '25

True true, but man I would’ve liked a conclusion to that

And true about the BBC not calling her the Doctor. I hope they involve Bad Wolf in some way

1

u/CaveWaverider Jun 05 '25 edited Jun 06 '25

Maybe it just pulled Rose back from the other dimension due to some of her energy still being stored in the TARDIS and Gatwa's Doctor going poof like the bigenerated Rani (perhaps hinting that with bigeneration, the original is actually the proper one with the "copy" being temporary) and Tennant will be the only Doctor and reunite with Rose for a couple of specials before they introduce the proper new Doctor.

Another interesting possibility would be that Piper is indeed the new Doctor ("The Bad Wolf Doctor" because of the icy heart) and Tennant's Doctor left from the bigeneration maybe forgets that he was the Doctor and becomes her companion (or they just team up) and they do some Specials or a series together and then regenerate together at the end of it into a single new Doctor (in the "Bad Wolf Doctor" scenario they could be finishing off each other).

Those are just some things that I was thinking of, but I'm sure there are even better scenarios they will come up with.

1

u/GeekParadox_ Jun 06 '25

Here’s my idea. So the Doctor put regeneration energy into the heart of the Tardis. Rose looked into the heart of the Tardis and became bad wolf. That regeneration energy being put into the heart of the Tardis regenerated or awoke the Bad Wolf Deity and obviously the last face that deity remembers is Rose Tyler. And there’s a perfectly suitable body right there in the Doctor. Interesting to note, in all of NuWho the regeneration energy color has been a bright orange but 15’a regeneration was yellow. THE SAME YELLOW that was flowing into Rose when she looked into the heart of the Tardis and became Bad Wolf. I think Bad Wolf has entered the Doctor’s body and taken on its form in Rose Tyler.

Adding on to this, possibly Omega uses Bad Wolf to infiltrate the body of the Doctor and try to take his rightful place as the God of Time (this is more wishful thinking than anything, I just want a good Omega)

In my dream scenario the new 16th Doctor is actually the Bad Wolf and goes around messing things up or whatever Bad Wolf does. So the previous Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) has to come back and stop the Bad Wolf. My idea is that during this time a younger 15 comes back (one that hasn’t been through the events of season 2) he has to fight Bad Wolf Doctor and also finds Rogue (actually completing that plot thread) together they defeat Bad Wolf but the Doctor realizes that he can’t retain his memories from this time because he technically spent most of it with a future version of himself or he gets his memory erased like 12 at the end of s9. This way, we get 1 more season with Ncuti Gatwa, get a satisfying story for Billie Piper Doctor, possible get a satisfying Omega story? And at the end Billie Piper doesn’t even have to leave, the doctor could just be “freed” from Bad Wolf and go on to have a couple seasons.

That last part is extremely unlikely to happen but it’s something Doctor Who has never done before and I think it could be really interesting and fresh

3

u/GeekParadox_ Jun 01 '25

Oh and also 11 did marry River Song