Some of the best episodes in the Doctor Who series are those that take place in a historical setting. We loved the idea of 18th century France being on a spaceship, and how the Doctor is the reason Pompei was destroyed, but we’ve always thought that the Doctor could do with a little more history tinkering.
5. Pangea
We all know the history of Pangea, but in case you skipped prehistoric history in high school, we’ve provided a quick lesson: Around 300 million years ago all of the continents as we know it were actually just one gigantic continent called Pangea. As time passed Pangea was broken up into the continents we now know as Europe, North America, South America, etc..
Imagine the Doctor taking his newest companion to see the deformation of Pangea only to realize that, for some reason, history wasn’t taking it’s natural course. Of course the Doctor would want to investigate, and he’ll realize that there’s an alien lifeform somewhere beneath the earth’s crust that arrived 300 million years ago that plans to destroy the Earth before humans even have the chance to inhabit it!
They fight, Doctor wins, and the death of this alien lifeform causes a gigantic earthquake that then separates the continents as we now know them. The Doctor being the reason Pangea no longer exists? Sounds like Doctor Who to us!
4. Walt Disney
They say that Walt got the idea for Mickey Mouse whilst on a train, but what if he got the idea from the Doctor instead? Imagine this: It’s 1927 and Walt just lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Down on his luck, he’s strolling through Hollywood trying to think up a new idea to get his business back on track. He walks past a playground and realizes all the children are gone; there’s a chill in the air. He’s then attacked by a small, rat-like alien before the Doctor saves him from certain death.
As soon as he and the Doctor learn that these alien forms are using children as slave labor to help fix their crashed spaceship since no adult can fit, Walt insists on helping the Doctor save them. He rallies on a huge speech about his love for children, and how he simply can’t stand by and watch or forget this ever happened.
They then realize that these aliens are on the verge of extinction and the children serve as their only tool to get back home. They befriend the spaceship’s captain, Mortimer, fix the spaceship, and Walt is credited for saving their entire race. This then becomes his inspiration for Mortimer Mouse, which his wife helps rename to Mickey.
3. 1927 Solvay Conference
In 1927 the world’s most notable scientists gathered in Brussels for the fifth annual Solvay Conference: A meeting of the greatest minds to discuss physics and chemistry. That specific year was an important one as the list of invite-only attendees included Madam Curie, Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrodinger, and more.
Think of how epic an episode it would be if the Cybermen tried to infiltrate this conference to convert the world’s smartest men and women into their very own Cyber geniuses. Chaos would ensue, and the Doctor would have the help of the greatest minds in history to defeat them. We’re also imagining Albert Einstein freaking out at the impossible physics of the Tardis. How do you go about telling Dr. Einstein that it’s bigger on the inside?
2. Pocahontas
Most of us take what we know of Pocahontas from the Disney movie, but those that are up on their history know that most of that story is all a lie. Pocahontas is a true historical figure, and she was married to a John Rolfe who ended up taking her to London where she later passed away. It’s quite the interesting story, but we wanted to spice it up a bit more.
What if the Doctor lands in Jamestown Virginia during the earlier settler days, and realizes that by calling himself “The Doctor” he’s attracting too much attention. He uses a common monicker “John Smith”, and when he meets Pocahontas it all becomes clear exactly what’s about to happen. The story for this episode would go something like this: Something more sinister than just invading pilgrims is causing Native American numbers to go down, and the Europeans enlist the Doctor to help them find out what it is.
They realize it’s yet another dangerous alien (maybe even the same werewolf type that we saw in Tooth and Claw?), and the Doctor helps to save both the colonies and the tribes. During all of this, there’s a little scuffle with the Native American friends, Pocahontas falls in love with the Doctor, and an epic climax where she saves his life wraps up the episode. History is rewritten to be more like a fairy tale and history gets the Doctor’s name down as John Smith.
1. J.K. Rowling
We’ve seen the Doctor reference Harry Potter in The Shakespeare Code, but what if there was more to it than that?
The Elephant House, Edinburgh. Joanne Rowling is sitting in a cafe contemplating how she’s going to get through raising her daughter with no reliable income, and the Doctor comes in for a quick cup of tea. He sees her sitting alone, and when he realizes that she has tears dripping down her face, he asks if she knows when the next train to Manchester is. When she replies that it was delayed, he exclaims that she has time to see something.
Let’s skip ahead and go to the Doctor taking Joanne to a planet called WISS. The Warthogs Institute for Sonic Saviors, an entire planet dedicated to the teaching of galactic handymen, essentially. Named after Alex Hogens & Jessica Wartsen, the universe’s best fixer-uppers, they combined their surnames to create the name of the school and the institute has been teaching students for over three thousand years. They become attached to a particular handyman in training named “Hairy” (he’s an actual warthog) and hear all about his journey to the school and how he’s very happy to be away from his near-abusive step-parents the Worseleys. We find out that one of the teachers has been sabotaging all the sonic tools to be able to pull off a massacre of universal proportions, and it’s up to the Doctor and Jo to save the universe. At one point, the Doctor is forced to choose between Hairy and Rowling, and at great personal risk, he manages to save them both.
When the adventure ends, Jo says that she needs to go back and see her daughter, but that she doesn’t know how she’s going to pay for her flat since she’s financially bankrupt. In a tear-jerking climax, the Doctor tells her that everything will be all right, Jo doesn’t believe him and he insists that she return back to the cafe and wait for him every day. Before he leaves, he tells her to be sure to bring a pad and a pen and paper in case she thinks of anything particularly interesting. As he’s fading away he brings up Hairy. She says “what about him?” The Doctor replies, “He lived.” In the end, we find that she keeps returning to the Elephant House and other cafes in hopes of seeing the Doctor one more time.