5 Years Later, Doctor Who Drops Its Biggest Hint Yet That Your Timeless Child Questions Will Be Answered

Review

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, «The Story and the Engine.»Doctor Who season 15, episode 5, «The Story and the Engine,» isn’t about Chris Chibnall’s Timeless Child storyline, but there are several moments that tease an upcoming resolution to several lingering issues with the five-year-old twist. The massive change to the Doctor’s backstory came during Jodie Whittaker’s time leading the show as the Thirteenth iteration of the Time Lord. Although Chibnall’s ambition to make a lasting impact on Doctor Who canon should be respected, altering the Doctor’s origin story so severely resulted in several questions arising that were never suitably addressed.

One of the most notable things that happened thanks to the Timeless Child storyline was that the show made a surprising new addition to the list of actors to have played the Doctor. Jo Martin made her debut as the Fugitive Doctor in Doctor Who season 12, episode 5, «Fugitive of the Judoon,» revealing herself to be a version of the Time Lord from before William Hartnell’s First Doctor. Now, Martin has returned as a member of Doctor Who season 15’s cast, which means Russell T. Davies is ready to recontextualize his predecessor’s divisive change to the show’s lore.

Jo Martin's Doctor Who Season 15 Cameo Hints Timeless Child Answers Are Coming

The Fugitive Doctor is the living embodiment of the Timeless Child arc

Jo Martin makes a brief but very impactful cameo in «The Story and the Engine» as she returns to the role of the Fugitive Doctor for the first time since 2022’s «The Power of the Doctor.» I never really agreed with Chibnall’s decision to introduce versions of the Doctor before the First, but now that he has, I don’t want the twist to be ignored. The Doctor’s increasingly complex history needs to be explained, and Martin’s return in Doctor Who season 15 strongly suggests such an explanation is on the way.

«I was busy in a different story that might be finished one day.»

— The Fugitive Doctor in «The Story and the Engine.»

Building on the Fugitive Doctor’s return, «The Story and the Engine» confusingly implies that Fifteen can now access the memories that were believed to have been wiped before the Time Lord’s regeneration into William Hartnell’s First Doctor. Although Thirteen was shown to have been given these memories near the end of her run, as far as anyone is aware, she chose not to reintegrate that era of her life with her current string of consciousnesses. It would be reckless scriptwriting to ignore this development, so I’m even more convinced the Timeless Child is set for a return to the spotlight.

The Big Timeless Child Questions Doctor Who Still Needs To Address

The Fifteenth Doctor's era can fix the biggest change during the Thirteens

The list of questions that Chris Chibnall created by introducing the Timeless Child storyline is almost too long to mention. Each new problem spawns several more that affect several corners of the Doctor’s backstory and the larger Doctor Who canon. For example, the Jodie Whittaker arc revealed that not only is the Doctor not Gallifrey, but is a being of unknown origin from another dimension entirely. That alone begs the questions of whether there are more of the Doctor’s kind, if anyone is looking for him, and exactly how old they were when they first arrived on Gallifrey.

It’s unclear if the Doctor knew their original name when they first fell through from their native reality, or if their memories had already been compromised.

Similarly, the reveal of the Doctor’s memories being expunged means it’s impossible to know how many times they regenerated before becoming the First Doctor, and exactly what Division tasked those earlier forms of the Doctor with while under their employ. Plus, it’s unclear if the Doctor knew their original name when they first fell through from their native reality, or if their memories had already been compromised.

A more recent alteration to Chibnall’s biggest twist came when Russell T. Davies returned to steady the ship in 2023. In «The Giggle,» it’s revealed that Neil Patrick Harris’ Toymaker was actually responsible for retconning the Doctor’s backstory, claiming he made a «jigsaw» out of his history. If this is true, then the Doctor was originally a native Gallifreyan, but Davies seems intent on leaving some things open to interpretation for the Doctor Who fan base.

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  Doctor Who

  TV-PG Sci-Fi Adventure

  An alien from the planet Gallifrey travels through time and space to explore, solve problems and fight injustice while also making friends with human beings. His spaceship, called TARDIS, resembles a police box, but it is much more than it appears to be.
   

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  Doctor Who

  Adventure Mystery Sci-Fi

  5/10

  The latest Doctor Who series introduces the Fifteenth Doctor, joined by new companion Ruby Sunday.