Odd that it didn't strike me at the time but the Teller and the Foretold were incredibly alike in one important way - both detected "flaws" in humans and both were able to detect emotions - the Teller sniffed out "guilt" whilst the Foretold homed-in on psychological as well as physical illness.

That got me thinking...

The cyborgs in Deep Breath were scanning humans to detect healthy organs - so they were operating like the Foretold in reverse. They were also "sick" and needing "surgery" to survive.

The "sick" Dalek had means of detecting the "human infection" and the "moonchicken" was infected with "bacteria" that could also detect the presence of humans.

The (possible) creatures in Listen were apparently able to detect the only remaining human in the universe.

The Doctor claimed not to know he Boneless and said that he thought they were variously "experimenting" and "absorbing energy" from their process of converting solid matter to two dimensions - but what we actually saw them do was specifically detect and target humans - they didn't convert a mountain, which would give them far more matter to play with. Somehow, those totally alien creatures could detect and were drawn to human life.

According to the Doctor, the Skovox Blitzer was attracted by the Tardis' energy emissions . Given how odd it would be for a planet destroying robot to be created to only target Arton energy, it's fair to say that the Doctor may not have been telling the whole truth about that Skovox - and what we saw it do was to hunt-down humans.

Robot of Sherwood appears to be the only episode that doesn't have a "thing" tracking humans and/or injured humans - though it did make a point of proving that Robin was human by having his arm injured.

Put simply - almost every story this year carries the theme of detecting "damaged" humans and the two episodes that didn't directly mention "illness" had "villains" there were only very vaguely explained by the Doctor - the Skovox and the Boneless. Robot is the wildcard but given the blurring of Robin's possible non-existence, it may not be quite as straightforward as that.

Do you think that's a theme - or just an incredible coincidence?



And possibly related...

We've had a number of other "detecting sickness" plots in DW since 2005 - including 11th Hour, Black Spot and Empty Child. Interestingly enough, "The Empty Child" (written by Moffat) not only featured the nano's that tried to repair "damaged" humans, it also introduced Captain Jack - and we just got a rare glimpse of another Time Agent.

Don't forget the scene what had to be cut that showed The Sheriff was half cyborg after the robots ship landed on him and then repaired/rebuilt him.

Didn't know about the repair - interesting.

Cut scene here
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25...ene_shortfilms

They had to cut it because of the beheading bit which is obviously sensitive subject at the moment

I thought it was more the case that they were (possibly) there because it was the only remaining place in the universe, and the fact that there was a human there too was incidental.


Specifically, they were medically dissecting and analysing human bodies, so it actually fits your theory even better.

As the doctor said to Clara when they are in that timeship and they hear noises...

"Suppose that there are creatures that live to hide - that only show themselves to the very young or the very old - or the mad or anyone who wouldn't be believed..."

"What would those creatures do when everyone was gone - when there's only one man left standing in the universe?"

Yep. On the last planet. So it's an open question as to whether they were actively seeking him out, or whether there really was nowhere else to go. Or to put it another way, if Orson wasn't there, they probably would be anyway. They just wouldn't have anyone to show themselves to.

I think you're taking the idea of there being "nothingness" a bit too literally. The theory they use in Doctor Who is that the universe eventually runs out of energy (commonly called "entropy" or "Big Freeze") - but the SPACE in it still exists.

(There's many different theories - we know that DW uses this one because they've highlighted the "wrongness" of other ends to the universe - such as the shrinking one that required Big Bang 2 - and which is what you are thinking happened here)

It's not really a matter of being literal at all. Entropy means that there is no ability to do work at all. No entity can exist in those parts of the universe that have dissipated into maximum entropy. So it's bit of a moot point whether they're there because they've sought out a human, or they're there because it's the only place with some form of energy, and therefore the only place they possibly could be.

I like this idea. It makes sense with the villains of the 2 part finale being who they are. Collecting body parts to restore their mighty armies.

Get rid of the man then PARTY....