She was a mystery in the era of the Thirteenth Doctor and the controversial Timeless Child arc and we were led to believe that her tenure was prior to the First Doctor. However, there's a portion of the Whovian interwebs (including me) that believes she’s a forgotten incarnation after “The War Games” and before “Spearhead from Space” so I’m going to talk about her here, before continuing onto Third Doctor blog posts. She really only appeared in 3-4 episodes (depending on how you count her hologram appearance in "The Power of the Doctor").
Honestly couldn't have asked for a better reveal to an unknown Doctor incarnation. We got callbacks to Judoon, Time Lords, chameleon arch, and (of course) Captain Jack Harkness. I know the whole Fugitive Doctor idea is controversial, as it's implied to be part of the Timeless Child story. However, Ruth's story, while representative of all the time the Doctor has lost (maybe including the Child), is great storytelling. And since her TARDIS already looks like a police box, there could be more to this story than meets the eye. That being said, she doesn't recognize the Sonic Screwdriver. Maybe we'll learn more in the RTD 2.0 era.
Flop Story: Once, Upon Time
The concept of this story is actually really nice, with the Thirteenth Doctor falling through her time stream (not too unlike when Clara jumped into Eleven's time stream) and landing in the Fugitive Doctor's memories. However, because the episode is split between four storylines, we don't get a fully cohesive Fugitive Doctor story. I know it was kind of the point of this story to make it confusing, but all the same one of the Fugitive Doctor's stories had to be the "flop".
It's debatable if this story even counts as a Fugitive Doctor story. She appears as a vision to the Thirteenth Doctor inside the Matrix, but that's not really any different than the Fifth or Seventh Doctors appearing as a hologram to Tegan and Ace. However, whether the Fugitive Doctor really is or isn't part of the Timeless Child story, this episode is representative of all the time lost because of the Division's interference.
COMPANIONS:
Lee Clayton UNKNOWN - The Fugitive of the Judoon
Karvanista UNKNOWN - Once, Upon Time - UNKNOWN
Reminiscent of when Martha Jones tried to keep the Tenth Doctor safe, Lee showed unfailing loyalty to the Doctor. It's unclear how much he knew of her past and her lost memories, but he loved her. He died trying to protect her. It's hard to gauge a favorite companion from only an episode, but I would love to have seen more of Lee. Maybe from when the chameleon circuit was activated?
When you wound a puppy, it'll fight back. Karvanista is no exception. He loved the Doctor, as only his/her companions would, but he felt abandoned. So to find her again as the Thirteenth Doctor would be incredibly complicated. I can't say Karvanista is a bad companion. Just wish I had more time of him as a companion to judge him by.
Alright. Now with the Fugitive Doctor out of the way, it's time to move onto the Third Doctor's era. And as soon as TJ and I can find more recording time, we'll be back with more Doctor Who podcast episodes.
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| Until proven otherwise, my theory/head-canon is that the Fugitive Doctor belongs between the Second and Third Doctors. Only issue is how she doesn't recognize the Sonic Screwdriver. |
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