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Am I the only one who is totally cool with the Doctor being (possibly) half human?


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Old 22-03-2016, 19:33
Thamwet
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It's a funny thing, really. I was always against the idea of gender switching regenerations. But then Moffat made the Master female. Now I'd be fine with a female Doctor, providing she was cast for the right reasons. The same thing happened with the half-human idea. Before series 9, I dismissed that idea as utter rubbish. But then Moffat brought it up. Now in my own "head canon" if you will, I do think of the Doctor as being half human.

I think it makes a good deal of sense. Firstly, I would argue that it isn't "Half Time Lord, half Human" as Lady Me implied. As Listen reveals, the title of Time Lord is earned. So to that extent, the Doctor is half human, half Gallifreyan, but 100% Time Lord. He went to the Academy and earned that title just the same as all the other Time Lords.

Secondly, it explains why the Doctor spends so much time on Earth. Of course, the "I like it here" reason stacks up fine, but so does this one; He spends so much time on Earth because he has human heritage, and he has an interest in the history of humanity for this reason.

Also... what happens if the Doctor's mother comes from the future, but history being in flux, Earth is destroyed in the 21st century? He would never have been born. Suddenly, the stakes seem much higher for the Doctor himself as well as for Earth when you watch episodes with this thought in mind. Though of course, I'm not suggesting that he saves people purely for this reason, it's obvious that he does it because he cares about people and doesn't like cruelty.

I don't have a problem with the idea of the Doctor having human heritage at all. Going on the idea that Time Lord status is earned, he is as much a Time Lord as all the other ones. He simply isn't pure Gallifreyan. But that kind of racial nonsense doesn't matter. Plus, at the end of the day, it IS in the show's canon. It wasn't just something mentioned in the movie, it formed part of the plot.

Any thoughts? Does anyone else really not mind the idea? Personally, I think it fits in with the show's canon and actually explains a few things quite well.
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Old 22-03-2016, 20:07
Lord Smexy
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Not a big fan of the idea, to be honest. I've always viewed the Doctor as such an otherwordly figure, a real alien entity whose origins are far more mysterious than coming from Earth, and I like to think his fascination with Earth, despite his ability to go anywhere in the universe, really is just pure fascination. The whole half-human idea just seems too romanticised a direction for the character and the implication of its possibility is one of the few things I disliked about Series 9.
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Old 23-03-2016, 01:05
Xmas_Trenzalore
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I don't really care one way or the other. I don't think it significantly subtracts from the Doctor's other-worldliness, nor do I think his fascination with Earth needs justification beyond: he just likes it.
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Old 23-03-2016, 06:08
Brandon_Smith
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I'm just gonna come out and say it The Doctor being female or half human is a sh!t idea.
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Old 23-03-2016, 09:07
GDK
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[snip]
Any thoughts? Does anyone else really not mind the idea? Personally, I think it fits in with the show's canon and actually explains a few things quite well.
I actually don't mind. I've long thought the half human thing would explain his preoccupation with Earth and humans in particular (in'verse). In the real world of course there are mundane practicalities preventing episodes set on remote worlds around the universe with exotic alien species.

I've also pondered whether it's possible Gallifreyans are descended/have evolved from homo sapiens.
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Old 23-03-2016, 09:16
Mulett
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The only issue I have with the Doctor being half-human is that it is part of Doctor Who continuity but has not been addressed since the 1996 movie.

There is all that stuff about Ace becoming a trainee Time Lord at some point after the show finished (isn't there?) and so it does seem as though the idea of humans living on Gallifrey and procreating with the locals isn't that big a jump.

I think the issue I would have with it now is that Steven Moffat has (in my opinion) completely overplayed the shock/twists/revelations with regards to the Doctor and his past, and I don't think a further revelation confirming him to be half-human would actually have any impact now. It would just seem a bit tiresome.
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Old 23-03-2016, 12:37
DiscoP
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The only issue I have with the Doctor being half-human is that it is part of Doctor Who continuity but has not been addressed since the 1996 movie.

There is all that stuff about Ace becoming a trainee Time Lord at some point after the show finished (isn't there?) and so it does seem as though the idea of humans living on Gallifrey and procreating with the locals isn't that big a jump.

I think the issue I would have with it now is that Steven Moffat has (in my opinion) completely overplayed the shock/twists/revelations with regards to the Doctor and his past, and I don't think a further revelation confirming him to be half-human would actually have any impact now. It would just seem a bit tiresome.
While not being specifically addressed I thought that it was referenced in the previous series finale when the Doctor was chatting to Me. I can't remember the exact dialogue but he was talking about hybrids and said something along the lines of am I a Timelord or am I a hybrid or am I something else, does it really matter? I thought there was a cheeky nod to him possibly being half human somewhere in there but I can't remember exactly or might have read too much into what he was saying
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Old 23-03-2016, 13:33
GDK
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While not being specifically addressed I thought that it was referenced in the previous series finale when the Doctor was chatting to Me. I can't remember the exact dialogue but he was talking about hybrids and said something along the lines of am I a Timelord or am I a hybrid or am I something else, does it really matter? I thought there was a cheeky nod to him possibly being half human somewhere in there but I can't remember exactly or might have read too much into what he was saying
I thought it was possible to take those references to the Doctor being the/a hybrid as metaphorical. The Doctor and Clara combined.
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Old 23-03-2016, 13:47
POTD
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While not being specifically addressed I thought that it was referenced in the previous series finale when the Doctor was chatting to Me. I can't remember the exact dialogue but he was talking about hybrids and said something along the lines of am I a Timelord or am I a hybrid or am I something else, does it really matter? I thought there was a cheeky nod to him possibly being half human somewhere in there but I can't remember exactly or might have read too much into what he was saying
The dialogue left it open, and then Ashildr said it didn't matter as she had a better theory about the Hybrid, which was the Doctor and Clara.

I don't think Moff wants the Doctor to be half human, but at the same time the TV Movie is canon, so he (correctly) never answered the question
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Old 23-03-2016, 16:16
Mulett
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I don't think Moff wants the Doctor to be half human, but at the same time the TV Movie is canon, so he (correctly) never answered the question
Yes, I think the answer lies halfway between this and DiscoP's "cheeky nod".
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Old 23-03-2016, 17:21
johnnysaucepn
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I think the problem with it is partly that it makes the Doctor less 'special' - it rewrites something that was a core part of his identity (at least after the Patrick Troughton years), and replaces it. With something less exotic and mysterious, to boot.

Furthermore, it's such a cliche. Like the idea of the Masters being the Doctor's brother - it's such a lazy way of doing a 'shocking plot twist'.
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Old 23-03-2016, 19:58
GDK
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Half human / half alien is such a cliché that everyone seems to forget that such a hybridisation between unrelated species is impossible in the real world. If the species are related, however...
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Old 24-03-2016, 14:22
Simon_Foston
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It's too much information in my opinion. Still better than that re-incarnated Gallifreyan demi-god nonsense though.
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