Destiny of the Doctor: Babblesphere Review

I'm doing a series of reviews on the AudioGO/Big Finish series Destiny of the Doctors. This month, it's Babblesphere, written by Jonathan Morris, read by Lalla Ward, and starring the fourth Doctor and Romana.

Twitter. On overdrive. As soon as I heard that first guy, that's pretty much what I thought. He's mumbling in Tweets. They're not actually Tweets, but they've got a pretty similar format. It's obviously meant to be modeled after that.

I guess this story serves as a warning about social media. What would happen if everyone was on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc all the time, without ever stopping. It's actually rather interesting what would happen if everyone was just sharing an endless stream of information with everyone else, around the clock.

There's actually a nice little reference to The Power of Three as well as what could be a reference to Cold War or perhaps The Silent Stars Go By or maybe just a general statement about the Ice Warriors. It all depends on where the in time stream [spoilers] is.

That brings up another point: the whole thing about the story arc. I'm having a hard time figuring out what a civilization of pure energy, a telepathic rock, and an artificial intelligence who wants an interesting conversation all have in common. I'm sure all will be revealed in time, but guessing's half the fun and I'm having a hard time doing that right now.

The Most Heartbreaking Part of the Time War

Okay, here's the thing about the Time War: the Doctor never acts alone. He always has a companion. Surely the Time War must have been no different. He must have had an accomplice in his conspiracy against the High Council. He must have had someone who was planning on helping him who would have gotten out alive with him.

Obviously, no such person survived the Time War with the Doctor. Even if he didn't have an accomplice helping him against the High Council, there must surely have been that one person who he was planning on saving. Be it his wife, his daughter, his brother or sister, Susan, Romana, whoever it was, he obviously couldn't save them. Something went wrong. Either they were attacked by the Daleks or captured by agents of the High Council. Whatever happened to them, the Doctor tried to save them, but couldn't. He had to continue his plan alone. He couldn't even save someone else instead. There wasn't enough time. He had to activate the moment and leave Gallifrey alone. I think that's the real reason the Doctor was so sad after the war, because he couldn't save anyone.

What if Jenna-Louise is going to play Amy's next regeneration?

So, what if Amy is actually the Doctor's and Romana's daughter? Maybe the Doctor got Romana pregnant, and she ran off to Earth before the Time Lock engaged. Romana then used the chameleon arch in her TARDIS to turn herself into a human. The chameleon arch had no effect on the unborn baby, allowing Amy to have regenerative capabilities. This could explain Amy's memory abilities and River Song's Time Lady traits. Also, the reason no one ever noticed this is because Amy has always had perfect health, so she was never taken in to a doctor's office.

Theory for New Companion

Moffat is not telling us the name of the new companion, which probably means she's a returning character. If she's being played by a new actor, then she must be a Time Lady who's regenerated. The only Time Ladies we've met are Susan, Romana, and Jenny (who doesn't have proper regenerative capabilities). If it's Romana or Susan, they might have been hiding in the TARDIS' cryogenic chamber (Moffat did say she'd be in the last place the Doctor would ever suspect, which could be his own TARDIS). After being in there for two centuries, her brain might have been addled and she'd be unable to remember how she got there. If the new companion was Jenny, she could have undergone a proper regeneration later on. She then could have been captured by the Daleks and held for interrogation on Skaro (the Doctor wouldn't expect to find a friend there, would he?). The Doctor would then have to come rescue her. Her interrogation by the Daleks could have damaged her brain, leading her to forget how she first came to be captured. The only problem with the Jenny theory (other than suddenly being able to regenerate properly) is that it doesn't seem very Christmas-y. Then again, all the Christmas specials whose plots haven't been copied from a book haven't been very Christmas-y.