Clearing up the confusion surrounding Doctor Who's biggest misconceptions.
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00:00 Doctor Who is like a great big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey
00:03 stuff. It's been running for so long that tons of myths,
00:06 misconceptions, and urban legends have sprung around it,
00:10 like a massive game of Chinese Whispers that has been running
00:13 for almost 60 years at this point.
00:15 With that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture here with 10 Things
00:19 Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Doctor Who.
00:22 Number 10 - Jenny regenerated in The Doctor's Daughter
00:27 The Doctor's Daughter was designed to challenge the Doctor
00:30 in a unique way. It paired him with a character who, for all
00:34 intents and purposes, was his daughter, but gave her a military
00:37 mindset that was very much at odds with the Doctor's values.
00:40 Despite this, the two characters came to understand one another
00:43 over the course of the episode. So it was a particularly cruel
00:47 twist of fate when Jenny was killed via gunshot by the rather
00:50 insensitive General Cobb. Believing her to be gone for good,
00:54 the Doctor took his TARDIS and left, only for Jenny to spring
00:57 back to life in a final pre-credits tag with a stream of golden
01:00 energy emitting from her mouth. Because Jenny was created from
01:04 the Doctor's DNA, some people believe that this was her
01:07 regenerating, just like any Time Lord would after succumbing
01:10 to a bullet wound. That golden energy, which looks similar to
01:13 regeneration energy, would seem to back up this train of thought.
01:16 But that's not actually what's going on here. Rather, it's
01:19 energy from the Source, the terraforming device that the humans
01:22 and the Hath are fighting over, that brings Jenny back to life.
01:26 The Source's green-tinted energy is the same stuff that emits
01:29 from Jenny's mouth, and considering that it has the power to
01:32 rejuvenate an entire planet's ecosystem, bringing someone back
01:35 from the dead would be child's play for it.
01:37 Number 9 - All Gallifreyans are Time Lords
01:41 The descriptors Time Lord and Gallifreyan are thrown around
01:45 interchangeably by fans and non-fans alike. To be completely
01:48 fair, though, Doctor Who hasn't done the best job of making
01:51 the differences between the two clear. While all Time Lords
01:55 are Gallifreyan, not all Gallifreyans are Time Lords.
01:58 The Time Lords are a super-duper special group that wears
02:01 funny hats and does all the talking. They're basically
02:03 Gallifrey's government officials. According to the Tenth
02:06 Doctor in The Sound of Drums, they're ordinary Gallifreyan
02:09 children who were taken from their families at a young age
02:12 and entered into the Time Lord Academy. Here, they gazed
02:15 into the untempered schism which showed them the power of
02:18 the Time Vortex. According to the version of events depicted
02:22 in The Timeless Children, Gallifrey's indigenous people
02:24 are the Shebogans, a group of whom renamed themselves
02:28 Time Lords after the Timeless Child's DNA granted them
02:30 the ability to regenerate. In a nutshell, people on Gallifrey
02:34 aren't automatically Time Lords from birth. There are ordinary
02:37 Gallifreyans in one camp, and then those who go on to become
02:40 Time Lords in another. We've even seen some of these ordinary
02:43 Gallifreyans in the show, such as the young boy in Heaven
02:46 Sent or the Outsiders in The Invasion of Time.
02:48 Number 8. The Daleks Couldn't Levitate Until 2005
02:53 That iconic scene in Series 1's Dalek, where the main villain
02:57 levitates up a flight of stairs, has on occasion been called
03:00 the first time the Daleks flew. Understandably, their ability
03:04 to conquer the universe was questionable if they needed
03:07 an elevator to reach the second floor, but this moment put
03:10 that doubt to rest. Except, it had already been put to rest
03:13 in 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, with a Dalek defeating
03:16 some stairs with apparent ease. And 23 years before that,
03:20 a Dalek levitated out of some sand in the first Doctor
03:23 Serial, The Chase, in a scene that served as the cliffhanger
03:26 of Episode 1. We also see a Dalek hovering in 1985's Revelation
03:30 of the Daleks. This is something that's been reinforced
03:33 throughout New Who, where it's been shown that Daleks can
03:36 actually properly fly. See that epic Daleks vs. Cybermen
03:40 street battle in Doomsday, or the reconnaissance scout
03:42 swooping down to fight the Human Army in Resolution.
03:45 So, we won't hear any more slander about the Daleks not being
03:48 able to climb stairs, okay?
03:50 Number 7 - Chris Chibnall had a five-year plan
03:54 The Timeless Child twist cemented the Chris Chibnall era
03:58 as the most divisive time in modern Who. But interestingly,
04:02 the decision to shake up the Doctor's backstory was something
04:04 that the BBC supported him on from the very beginning.
04:07 "I knew from the start," Chibnall told Radio Times in 2020,
04:11 adding that the Timeless Child concept was included in his
04:14 initial pitches to BBC execs. It's quotes like this that
04:17 fuel a myth that began right at the beginning of Chibnall's
04:20 tenure, with fans often bringing up his supposed five-year
04:23 plan for the show, even though there's zero evidence that
04:26 Chibnall said such a thing in the first place. And that's
04:29 because he didn't, with the five-year myth actually stemming
04:32 from a 2017 quote by James Strong, who directed several
04:35 Doctor Who episodes under Russell T Davies, and also
04:38 collaborated with Chibnall on Torchwood and Broadchurch.
04:41 Strong, who was clearly just speaking in broad strokes,
04:44 said that Chibnall's Doctor Who undertaking was a five-year
04:47 project, which was then spun by various outlets and fans
04:50 as "Chris Chibnall has a five-year plan." And thus, the myth was
04:53 born. Number 6. Time and relative dimensions in space
04:58 There are several iconic pop culture quotes that many people
05:02 get wrong. Darth Vader actually says "No, I am your father"
05:06 rather than "Luke, I am your father." And no, it isn't
05:09 "Mirror, mirror on the wall," it's actually "Magic mirror on
05:12 the wall." Rookie mistake. Doctor Who also has one of these,
05:16 and it involves the way that many fans wrongly remember
05:19 the TARDIS's full name. Towards the end of Doctor Who's
05:22 very first episode, Susan Forman, the Doctor's granddaughter,
05:25 claims that she was the one who came up with the TARDIS
05:28 acronym, by taking the initials from the phrase "time" and
05:31 "relative dimension" in space. Despite that singular
05:34 dimension being used not just by Susan, but by the 5th Doctor
05:37 in Frontiers, the 8th Doctor in the TV movie, and the 10th
05:41 Doctor in Smith and Jones, among many other examples, fans
05:44 usually remember it as the plural "dimensions" instead.
05:47 Probably because it rolls off the tongue a little bit easier.
05:50 To be fair, "dimensions" has also been used in the show.
05:53 Adrick in Fort Doomsday, the 7th Doctor in Delta, and the
05:57 Bannerman. But with the singular version of the word being
05:59 not just the original, but the more prolific, it's "time"
06:02 and "relative dimension" in space. That's the correct
06:05 version of the two.
06:07 Number 5. Prisoner Zero runs past the window in Amy's house.
06:12 Just past the 15 minute mark in Matt Smith's debut episode,
06:16 the 11th Doctor accidentally leaves young Amelia Pond behind
06:19 for a whopping 12 years, despite promising her he'd only be
06:23 5 minutes. Not cool. With Amelia sat waiting in her garden,
06:27 the camera pulls back inside her dark, eerie house, and a
06:30 mysterious figure darts past the window. This figure is never
06:34 identified or explained, but considering that we just learned
06:37 about the threat of Prisoner Zero, and with Amelia's landing
06:40 door having opened of its own accord mere seconds before,
06:43 it's understandable why a lot of viewers thought that it was
06:45 Prisoner Zero who was lurking at the window.
06:47 However, as confirmed by writer Stephen Moffat on the episode's
06:51 commentary track, the original plan was to reveal that this
06:54 figure was a future version of the 11th Doctor, the same 11th
06:57 Doctor who travels back along his own time stream in the series
07:00 finale, The Big Bang. In fact, the very same shot of 11 darting
07:04 past the window was intended to be used again in The Big Bang,
07:07 but was removed because Moffat felt that it didn't edit in very well.
07:10 Number 4. Doctor Who aired on the same night as the Kennedy assassination.
07:16 It can't be overstated how insane it is that Doctor Who has
07:20 been on the air for 59 years. Most TV shows are lucky to get
07:24 four or five, and yet here we are, about to celebrate the Doctor's
07:27 60th anniversary. And let's hope there's another 60 to come.
07:31 Because 59 years is such a long time, those early days of the
07:35 show are almost mythic by this point, and certain factoids
07:38 about them have become twisted. There's the one about Ridley
07:41 Scott being the designer of the Daleks. He wasn't. And it's often
07:44 forgotten that Ron Greiner wasn't the sole creator of that
07:47 iconic theme tune. Delia Derbyshire also shares in that credit,
07:51 having provided the unforgettable sounds that formed its basis.
07:54 Another prominent misconception involves the date on which
07:58 the first ever Doctor Who episode was beamed into British homes.
08:01 With An Unearthly Child famously airing on the exact same weekend
08:04 as the Kennedy assassination in November 1963, you'll often
08:08 find people saying that both of these events also happened on
08:11 the exact same day. In reality, though, the assassination
08:15 happened on the 22nd of November, while the world was introduced
08:18 to William Hartnell's first Doctor on the following day.
08:21 Of course, this unfortunate timing meant that Doctor Who was
08:24 greatly overshadowed. The death of a US president dominated
08:27 the public consciousness more so than the debut of a quaint
08:29 British sci-fi show. But there was, nonetheless, an entire day
08:33 separating these events.
08:34 Number 3. Tasha Lem was supposed to be River Song
08:39 Tasha Lem's debut in 2013's Christmas special, The Time of the
08:43 Doctor, brought with it immediate, understandable comparisons
08:46 to River Song. With both characters having a history with the
08:49 Doctor, both having the same fun, flirty relationship with him,
08:52 and both being capable of flying the TARDIS, there was enough
08:55 evidence to suggest that Tasha might have been an incarnation
08:58 of River, or, as some fans believe, was originally meant to be
09:02 River, only for the character to be changed as the episode
09:05 entered production. Despite the belief that Tasha is River,
09:08 or was supposed to be River, being raised on various forums
09:11 over the years, it simply isn't true. Stephen Moffat has said
09:15 that he was aiming for a different kind of relationship with
09:17 Tasha and the Doctor, though he did also admit that he perhaps
09:20 went a bit too River Song. He said, "What I was looking for was,
09:23 it was like the Doctor meeting his first girlfriend. So they
09:26 have a certain knowledge of each other, but it's from a long
09:28 time ago, and they're at ease. I think it went a bit too River
09:31 Song, because everyone loved River, so they sort of made her
09:34 into another River."
09:35 All of the evidence in the episode can be easily explained
09:39 away, and though it's a cool theory, Moffat's comment strongly
09:42 indicates that Tasha, though admittedly similar to River in
09:45 some ways, was always intended to be her own character.
09:48 Number 2. Michael Grade cancelled Doctor Who
09:52 There are some who believe that the Daleks or the Cybermen
09:56 are the Doctor's greatest villain. To others, it's the Master,
09:59 or even the Weeping Angels, but to fans who were watching
10:01 the show in the mid-to-late 80s, it's probably Michael
10:05 Grade. Grade was the controller of BBC One around that time,
10:08 and was responsible for putting Doctor Who on hiatus in
10:11 1985, as well as firing sick Doctor Colin Baker the year
10:15 after. He infamously hated the show, even going so far as
10:19 to call it garbage. Clearly, he wasn't the type of fella to
10:21 have a TARDIS mug in his cupboard. Because of Grade's well-
10:25 documented hatred of the show, a lot of fans also associate
10:28 him with its cancellation in 1989, which is an understandable
10:32 connection to make. But in reality, Grade wasn't even at the
10:35 BBC when that decision was made. He was succeeded as BBC
10:38 One's controller by Jonathan Powell in 1987, and it was
10:42 he who was responsible for Doctor Who disappearing from our
10:45 screens. Sharing in that responsibility was head of series
10:48 Peter Krugin, who even called himself the person who
10:51 cancelled Doctor Who in the 2007 documentary Doctor Who
10:55 Endgame. Grade's lack of faith in the show can't have
10:58 helped matters, though, so he does shoulder some of the
11:00 blame.
11:00 Number 1. The Twelfth Doctor Ran Around Naked in Heaven's
11:05 Scent. Series 9's Heaven's Scent is an incredibly complex
11:09 episode that leaves just as many questions as it answers.
11:13 How does the Doctor unlock a wooden door with the power of
11:15 his thoughts? If the castle resets after each cycle, then
11:18 why doesn't the diamond wall do the same? And who the hell
11:21 left those spare clothes by the fireplace? Early on, the
11:24 Doctor escapes the sinister veil by diving out of a window,
11:27 falling straight into the water below. Shortly after, he
11:30 finds a dry, spare outfit that he quickly swaps for his wet
11:34 one, but the episode never reveals who those clothes
11:36 originally belonged to. To some, however, the truth was
11:39 hilariously obvious, with the Doctor dying and respawning
11:42 over and over again in a seemingly endless loop, the clothes
11:45 must have belonged to him. On his very first run through
11:48 the castle, he'd simply left them there to dry, opting to
11:51 run around naked for a bit before the veil eventually
11:54 caught him. Though the thought of Twelve navigating the
11:56 castle in his birthday suit is a funny one, Stephen Moffat
11:59 has confirmed that's not what happened. He said, "No, of
12:03 course there wasn't a naked Doctor. I sort of wrote that
12:05 moment to force you to think that the first time round the
12:08 castle, the first of many times, wasn't the same as the
12:11 version we saw." In other words, the first cycle didn't
12:14 require the Doctor to strip off. Still, good luck getting
12:16 that image out of your head.
12:17 And that concludes our list. If you think we missed any,
12:22 then do let us know in the comments below, and while
12:24 you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe, and
12:26 tap that notification bell so you never miss a WhoCulture
12:29 video. I've been Ellie with WhoCulture, and in the words
12:32 of River Song herself, goodbye, sweeties.
12:35 (upbeat music)
12:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]