All the hints so far this season regarding "hybrids" ... combined with all the nods to the past...

I pray that they are not going back to the Eighth Doctor film's claim that he is "half human."

I know its now acknowledged canon but I will hate it. Always loved the idea of an alien with two hearts flying around ...

No chance. If anything its more likely to relate to what happens to Clara.

Spoiler tags only to be extra safe but mostly just wild spec..

Good theory in the spoiler tag saladfingers81! It is something that could very well happen, yes. But we'll have to wait another three weeks to find out for sure.

I agree TP. I love that theory.

That is a horrible thought. I think most people dislike it immensely and I wouldn't like to see it acknowledged in the show now. There was a point, somewhere during Tennants time I think (though I may be wrong on that) where there was a plan to include a line that said something along the lines of the doctor saying that after a bad regeneration, he hallucinated he was half human for a short time, but the line was later cut due to run time. It's a real shame because I think a line like that would have allowed people to acknowledge the movie and that line without having to pretend it didn't happen.

With regards to what the story of the arc and finale will ultimately be, I feel like I don't know why they would make a point of prominently stating the possible existence of a half dalek/half timelord hybrid and then not use it for anthing, so I feel that will be a factor somewhere, but also I agree with other poster that saladfingers has come up with a very good theory, which if it were true, and done well, could be a very dark and intriguing finale.

Slightly worrying update:

Just seen this article from July last year
http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/the-doc...side-64189.htm

In which Moffat was quoted as saying:

"Keeping in mind that everything you know for sure is probably wrong, answer me this: in which story is it confirmed, definitively, that the Doctor is not human?”
– Steven Moffat.

Considering he said something before about coming up with this years finale while on the set of last years, it seems to suggest that the time when he was in the mindset of making the above quote, would be the same sort of time he was coming up with the idea for this years finale. So hopefully not anything to do with confirming the doctor as half human, but it seems that it's certainly possible.

That line wouldn't really have worked. The Master also acknowledge the "half humanness" of the Doctor. It wasn't just mentioned in the film, it actually formed part of the plot.

Personally, I wouldn't mind it being addressed. It would make it much easier to accept the movie. Perhaps the eighth Doctor specifically was half human, due to regenerating with human surgical equipment still inside him.

Agreed. I wouldn't mind it being addressed (it's a bigger deal to me than the "face" thing, which didn't need an explanation), but I have to say your suggested reason is pretty lame. It would be worse that the situation we have right now.

I'd still prefer a line where it was written of as a joke, or him having his mind scrambled at the time due to regeneration. I wouldn't care so much about the tv movie not making continuity sense, since it mostly doesn't anyway on more than just that one thing, and at least then people wouldn't keep saying 'the doctor is half human, the tv movie said so'

I doubt it, but... In the same way that RTD already covered Ashildr's two-part immortality angst in David Tennant's three word line, "Lived too long", I think RTD also already covered the half-human issue to an appropriate depth in Parting of the Ways, when Eccleston says the Daleks are "half human" and the Doctor Who fanbois -- Sorry, I mean the Daleks -- all start screaming "Blasphemy!!! Blasphemy!!! They've all got it Blasphemy!!!" or words to that effect.

Personally, I blame Fractious Paradiddle.

That doesn't really address his being half-human "on [his] mother's side", though.

Thanks for all the thoughts.

I'd personally love a line about a hallucination.

Its just hard because both Eight and his film have been officially made canon so ...

Eight was confirmed canon in Human Nature (a drawing of him was in the Journal of Impossible Things). It's only his Big Finish adventures that got made canon in Night of the Doctor.

Nothing about the Big Finish adventures is canon beyond the names of those companions listed in Night of the Doctor.

^Wrong. They're now canon unless contradicted.

Nah. Only the names are canon since they have been mentioned, not the stories. How could it be anything other?

Define 'they'. Only names were mentioned, not stories. There's far more that definitively puts the Doctor being half human on his mother's side into the canon. Do you consider that canon?

And what happened to those who repeatedly stated as fact that the hybrid was definitively half Timelord, half Dalek because Davros said so? Even though Davros's statement wasn't delivered as fact, just supposition on his part.

I think sums it up nicely.

Personally I'm hoping for the human half breed hybrid reveal just to watch the rage explode across the forums, but they could equally claim he ceased to be half human when Amy rebooted the universe or some such

Marshal law?

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I'd quite like if there was an interesting way that it could be explained, and have it fit into the ongoing mythos. On the other hand, I think it's a reference to past continuity that really doesn't need addressing, and is another digression into fan-only navel-gazing. We have enough references and in-jokes and guest appearances right now.

I just think the people who wrote that TV Movie should have been locked up and the keys thrown away. Honestly. Has there ever been anything any worse than the half human thing? It was years before I saw how that story ended having at the time immediately put my booted foot firmly through the TV screen as soon as the line was delivered. Much to the annoyance of the friend whose house we were watching it in.

I'd really rather people just stop mentioning it. I don't want it addressed in the show either. Let's just pretend it never happened.

In my head the TV Movie happened in an alternate universe (pre-Big Bang or something). An alternate universe where daleks hold trials and invite their arch enemies to come and take away the remains of the deceased. It plainly wasn't in "our" Whoniverse.

This is pretty much my sentiment too. There is so much in the Tv movie that doesn't make sense with the actual show past and present that I don't strictly consider it canon in it's own right. Especially since it's neither part of Classic who or New who anyway. I think the only reason so many do is because Slyvester McCoy did a regeneration scene, which to me means nothing. If I were an eccentric billionaire, I could pay Peter Capaldi a fortune to come and film a regeneration scene where he regenerates into me, and put it online for all to see. Doesn't mean it would be canon just because Capaldi was in it. Or to put it another way, are dimensions in time or the five-ish doctors Canon just because they have the actors in them. No.

I do of course consider the eighth doctor canon now, but that is only because of RTD acknowledging him as such and then Moffat continuing with that. Had RTD decided he decided he only wanted his shiny new who associated with just Classic who, and not the mess of the failed tv movie/pilot that was the tv movie, he could have just as happily showed McCoy to Eccleston as the official line up.

The bit in bold bothered me much more than the "half-human" Doctor. In fact, I think it might be interesting if that's what Moffat's "hybrid" turns out to be (handled properly, of course).

Given that we now know Daleks have a parliament and an asylum, is that business with a trial and the Master's remains really such a stretch?

You know, DW has never really explored Dalek culture, in the way that, say, Star Trek explored Klingon culture. After all these years they're still just cookie cutter villains that go round killing and shouting "Exterminate" (occasionally in German). What does it mean to be a Dalek? Do they like soufflé, or Opera for example? Where do Daleks go for their holidays?

What next, a Dalek (hybrid!?) companion in the TARDIS?

(Just a bit of fun!)

Bear in mind that the Doctor had human blood pumped into his veins shortly before his regeneration. It's possible this forced the Doctor to assimilate human DNA when he regenerated. The "on my mother's side" is the only part that would need explaining away as a joke or something.