Recurring themes in Doctor Who

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Since the 2005 revival of the long-running British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, there are several recurring themes and motifs.

Contents 1 Bad Wolf 1.1 Sightings 1.1.1 Television episodes 1.1.2 Other allusions 1.1.3 Tie-in websites 1.1.4 New Series Adventures 1.1.5 Comic strips 1.2 Revelations 2 23-6-801 3 Torchwood 4 The Lonely God 5 "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Bad Wolf

The first of these phrases, Bad Wolf, began to crop up in subtle ways starting from the second episode, The End of the World, and then grew in prominence, leading to much fan speculation over the course of the series as to what the phrase referred to and what its ultimate significance would be. In this respect, the phrase was also a form of viral marketing.

Speculation by fans ranged from old enemies of the Doctor's such as Fenric, Davros or the Master making a return, to theories that the Bad Wolf might be various characters encountered during the season, something hidden in the TARDIS (or the TARDIS itself), or even the Ninth Doctor. The origin of the words and their significance were finally revealed in the last episode of the season, The Parting of the Ways.

[edit] Sightings

[edit] Television episodes

The phrase turned up in every 2005 series story beginning with the second one, with one mention in each of the two-parters, and occasionally cropped up in the 2006 series. Although some argue that the Nestene Consciousness (in the first episode of the season, Rose) mouths the phrase when it sees the TARDIS, when the BBC website team published their "Bad Wolf" website, Rose was significantly absent from the list of episodes which had a Bad Wolf mention.

The confirmed sightings of "Bad Wolf" are as follows:

• The End of the World: The Moxx of Balhoon mentions in a half-heard conversation to the Face of Boe the "Bad Wolf scenario."

• The Unquiet Dead: When the clairvoyant Gwyneth reads Rose's mind, she says, "The things you've seen... the darkness.. the Big Bad Wolf!"

• Aliens of London/World War Three: A young boy spray-paints the graffiti BAD WOLF on the side of the TARDIS.

• Dalek: The call sign for Henry van Statten's private helicopter is "Bad Wolf One"

• The Long Game: One of the several thousand television channels being broadcast from Satellite Five is BAD WOLFTV.

• Father's Day: A poster advertising a rave in 1987 has the words "BAD WOLF" defacing it.

• The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: The bomb that Captain Jack rides at the end of the story is labelled "SCHLECHTER WOLF", which (awkwardly) translates as "Bad Wolf" in German.

• Boom Town: A nuclear power plant is dubbed the Blaidd Drwg project, which is Welsh for "Bad Wolf". The Doctor also noticed for the first time that the phrase had been following them around.

• Bad Wolf: The corporation that runs the Game Station (formerly Satellite Five) is called the Badwolf Corporation.

• The Parting of the Ways: In scattered graffiti around Rose's council estate, including on a poster tacked to the wall behind Rose's head in the café scene and in giant letters on a paved recreation ground. The latter is faded, but still visible, in New Earth.

• Love & Monsters: The Torchwood files on Rose have been corrupted by the "Bad Wolf virus".

• Doomsday: The Doctor projects an image to say goodbye to Rose on a beach in the Norway of the parallel Earth. The area is called "Dårlig ulv stranden", which she translates as "Bad Wolf Bay" (although "Bad Wolf Beach" would be closer). The beach is located about fifty miles outside Bergen.

[edit] Other allusions

Some fans argue that there are other, more subtle allusions to the Bad Wolf. For example, in Aliens of London, the presence of a pig augmented by alien technology could be an allusion to the Three Little Pigs, as might be the three rather portly human forms inhabited by the Slitheen in that same story.

In The Empty Child, Nancy makes a remark about the size of the Doctor's ears and nose, a possible allusion to Little Red Riding Hood's observation to the Big Bad Wolf about how large its various features were. (The Doctor also comments about the appearance of his ears in Rose.) In the same story, some fans claim that the shape of Jack Harkness's time ship on its control screens resembles a wolf's head.^[1] Rose also wore a red hoodie for several episodes of Series 1.

In a Doctor Who Magazine column discussing how the Bad Wolf references were made, series producer Russell T. Davies refers only to the direct occurrences of the phrase, and adds that some writers were not informed of the idea, necessitating the addition of references that were not in the scripts (for example, the stenciling on the bomb in The Doctor Dances). This suggests that many of the indirect references may have been coincidental and unintended.

The characters of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme in The End of the World may also have been a metafictional reference to the repetition of the phrase and how it would spread.

In the 2006 series episode Tooth and Claw, the Host mentions that Rose has "seen [the wolf] too", and that there is "something of the wolf about [her]".

[edit] Tie-in websites

The tie-in websites set up by the BBC to accompany the series also featured appearances of the phrase. The "Who is Doctor Who?" site featured a clip from World War Three with an American newsreader. This clip differed from the one shown in the broadcast version in only one respect: the newsreader was identified as "Mal Loup" (French for "bad wolf" — although "Méchant Loup" would be more accurate). At one point, the Doctor is described as being off "making another decision for us, all 'I'm the big bad wolf and it's way past your bedtime.'"

The UNIT website also used "badwolf" as a password to enter the "secure" areas of the website. The Geocomtex website's support page had BADWOLF transcribed in Morse Code, and its products page made mention of Lupus and Nocens variants for their "node stabilisers" (lupus nocens is Latin for "bad wolf"). They also offered "Argentum Ordnance", argent being Latin for "silver" — silver bullets being traditionally used for killing werewolves.

In the background image of the BBC Doctor Who website's TARDISODE page, the words "BAD WOLF" can be seen scrawled behind Mickey Smith.^[2] The graffiti can also be seen in the background of Rose Tyler's character page.^[3]

In one of the areas in the ghostwatch game, "BAD WOLF" is written as graffiti on a wall.

[edit] New Series Adventures

The phrase occurs in some of the New Series Adventures, the BBC Books range of spin-off novels based on the new series.

• The Clockwise Man, by Justin Richards features a character who notes that the two time travellers keep turning up, "like a bad wolf."

• In Winner Takes All by Jacqueline Rayner, there is a game called "Bad Wolf" amongst Mickey's other computer games.

• In The Monsters Inside by Stephen Cole, a character tells Rose "The big bad wolf's ready to blow our house down."

• In The Deviant Strain, also by Richards, a psychic character tells Rose that he fears "The bad wolf... The man with the wolf on his arm." Later, this character is indirectly killed by another character who has a tattoo of a wolf on his arm.

• In The Stealers of Dreams by Steve Lyons, a character explaining why fiction is dangerous says, "We've good reason to be afraid of the big bad wolf."

[edit] Comic strips

There were two "Bad Wolf" references in the Doctor Who Magazine Ninth Doctor comic strips. In Part Two of The Love Invasion (DWM #356, May 2005), there is a poster on the wall of a pub reading "Bad Wolf". In Part One of A Groatsworth of Wit (DWM #363, December 2005), a tavern sign in Elizabethan London features a picture of a wolf's head and the initials "B.W."

[edit] Revelations

The explanation as to why the phrase Bad Wolf kept cropping up through the travels of the Doctor and his companions was revealed in the season finale, The Parting of the Ways. Rose had been sent back to the 21st century in the TARDIS for her safety, while in the 2002nd century the Doctor was on the Game Station facing off a Dalek invasion. Having tried unsuccessfully to pilot the TARDIS back to the distant future, Rose was almost resigned to remaining in her present when she noticed the words "Bad Wolf" written in six-foot high letters on a paved public area of the estate as well as in graffiti scrawled on nearby walls.^[4] (In addition, but apparently unnoticed by Rose, the words "Bad Wolf" are also across a flyer that is taped to a window behind her head during the scene in which she, Jackie, and Mickey go to a cafe after her return to Earth.)

Rose deduced that the words were not a warning as they had assumed, but a reminder that she and the Doctor continued to be connected. She then managed to open the TARDIS console and absorb the power of the time vortex, giving herself almost unimaginable power over space and time, and being able to perceive all of it. Returning to the Game Station to rescue the Doctor, she took the name of the Badwolf Corporation, scattering the words "Bad Wolf" throughout history as a reminder to herself. This is an example of a predestination paradox.

In Doctor Who: The Shooting Scripts (2005), producer and chief writer Russell T. Davies notes that the origin of "Bad Wolf" started with a wish to see "the TARDIS being graffiti'd", with the words simply being made up. Once he had done so, however, he decided to tie it into the plan to make Rose into the "Time Goddess" at the end of the series, and started to insert references retroactively into the scripts. The design department noticed this, and without knowing what it meant, began to insert the phrase on various props as well.

Despite Rose's connection to Bad Wolf, not all Bad Wolf references occur within sight or earshot of her, such as the identification of van Statten's helicopter in Dalek (even though in Bad Wolf when Rose has flashbacks of earlier sightings of "Bad Wolf", this was included). Similarly, as noted above, there is one appearance of "Bad Wolf" that apparently goes unnoticed by Rose in "Parting of the Ways" (the poster in the cafe).

[edit] 23-6-801

The numbers 23, 6 and 801, noticed in the "Whospy" behind-the-scenes galleries on the BBC Doctor Who website, fueled the speculations concerning the occurrences of Bad Wolf. Various theories also surrounded this, ranging from a clue to the Bad Wolf 801 seconds into Part Six of Season 23 (no such clue existed) to a date and time to be referenced (23 June at 8.01 pm, although no such reference was ultimately made). As finally revealed on the BBC website, it was a mistake on the Psalm board — there is no 801st Psalm — that the production team decided to turn into a small running joke to misdirect fans.^[5] However, after the start of the 2006 series, the numbers continued to appear in Doctor Who tie-in websites, thus renewing speculation about the significance of the numbers. In some of the later references, there has been a "0" before the "6".

The numbers have appeared:

• on the sign at a bus stop.^[6]

• on a Psalm board in a church (Father's Day).^[7]

• in Dr. Constantine's diary (The Empty Child).^[8]

• in the Geocomtex website, as their phone number.

• in the "Clues" page^[9] on the Bad Wolf website, as the HTML alt attribute for the image referring to The Parting of the Ways.

• in the Millingdale Organic Ice Cream website, as it claims that an ice cream shop was opened on June 23, 1981 (23/6/81 in the British calendar).

• in the Deffry Vale website, as it gives the buses travelling through the area as 333, 23, 06, 801 (the image of the bus stop is used in this site), as well as having the numbers scrawled across the playground in another image.

• in the fictional web host created by the BBC, Cheapserve, as it contains a hidden file at http://www.cheapserve.co.uk/members/236801.

• in the International Electromatics website, as the product code required for the game is IE2306801.

• in one of the questions for the "Defending the Earth - Take the Test!" tie-in game, as the options given are SQUIDBABY23, SPACEPIG06 and ZOMBIEGRAN801.

• in the Ghostwatch game, as one of the 'texts' is "23 6 801 joe robjam".

• in the columns of a note (The Runaway Bride).^[10]

[edit] Torchwood

Fans speculated about what the "arc word" for Series 2 would be. Producer Russell T. Davies stated in an interview in Doctor Who Magazine that the word (or phrase) has already been spoken in Series 1, and is an anagram. One of the answers during The Weakest Link game show scenes in Bad Wolf was that the Great Cobalt Pyramid was built on the ruins of the famous Old Earth Torchwood Institute. "Torchwood" is an anagram for "Doctor Who". The BBC also registered the domain names http://www.torchwood.org.uk and http://torchwood.net.

Torchwood is a 13-part spin-off series set in modern-day Britain and involving a covert organisation that investigates alien activities and crime. The series features John Barrowman as former companion Jack Harkness and premiered in October 2006. The origins of the Torchwood organisation were "seeded" in the 2006 series of Doctor Who.

The confirmed sightings of "Torchwood" are as follows:^[11]

• The word "Torchwood" first occurred in the 2005 Doctor Who episode Bad Wolf, during a deadly version of the game show, The Weakest Link. One of the answers was that the Great Cobalt Pyramid was built on the ruins of the famous Old Earth Torchwood Institute. (The fact that the covert "Torchwood Institute" was established on Earth in Tooth and Claw implies that by the time Bad Wolf occurs, the year 200,100, the existence of Torchwood has become common knowledge.) On the Doctor Who homepage for the week preceding, one of the contestants (Strood) is said to be from "Torchwood".^[12]

• In The Christmas Invasion, Prime Minister Harriet Jones asks Major Blake of UNIT to contact Torchwood for aid in defending Earth from the Sycorax. Jones claims she is not supposed to know about them and that not even the United Nations is aware of their existence, though they have ties to the British military. Jones takes responsibility for authorising Torchwood and eventually gives the final command for them to fire on and destroy the Sycorax ship; they have access to an enormously powerful energy weapon adapted from alien technology found ten years ago in a spaceship crash. The nature and normal authority of Torchwood are left vague.

• The majority of the episode Tooth and Claw takes place in a Scottish house named "Torchwood House", and at the end of the episode Queen Victoria announces the foundation of an institution known as the Torchwood Institute to research and fight threats to Britain "beyond imagination" as well as to watch for the return of the Doctor. It is mentioned on the fictitious website for Torchwood House set up by the BBC that the name "Torchwood" was derived from the wood from which the staircase was made. ^[13]

• In the episode School Reunion, when Mickey is telling Rose on the telephone how he keeps being blocked while doing research on military websites, the viewer sees the words "TORCHWOOD ACCESS DENIED" flashing across his computer screen. The episode's TARDISODE details Mickey hacking into these websites, and him being blocked by Torchwood.

• The organisation was mentioned by a senior officer in the U.S. Navy in the New Series Adventures novel The Feast of the Drowned.

• In Rise of the Cybermen, a news broadcast on Rose's mobile phone refers to a survey carried out by the Torchwood Institute, and Pete Tyler asks his friend Stevie about his work at Torchwood (implying that in this parallel and Republic Britain, Torchwood is not as much of a secret as it is in ours).

• In The Idiot's Lantern, the possibility of Torchwood getting involved is mentioned by police officers while discussing the people affected by The Wire.

• In The Satan Pit, it becomes clear that the crew are "representing" 'The Torchwood Archive'.

• In Love & Monsters, Victor Kennedy has access to and mentions the Torchwood files. However, evidence of Rose has been corrupted by a "Bad Wolf virus".

• In Fear Her, part of the plot centres on the Olympic Torch. Commentator Huw Edwards can just be heard mentioning Torchwood after the Olympic crowd disappears (just before Chloe tears down her posters).

• The episodes Army of Ghosts and Doomsday include Torchwood as an integral part of the plot. The TARDISODE for Army of Ghosts features a journalist investigating Torchwood.

[edit] The Lonely God

The Lonely God is a recurring theme of mythic resonance surrounding the Doctor through the 2006 season.

In New Earth, it is implied that the Doctor is part of the prophecy of the Face of Boe and referred to as "The Lonely God". Russell T. Davies has written that the Face's message is four words long. This may be connected to a passage from a prose piece written by Davies in the Doctor Who Annual 2006. The article describes a monument to the Time War on a distant planet, upon which, under an image of a lone survivor walking away, the message "You are not alone" has been scratched, perhaps indicating that the Doctor was not the sole Time Lord survivor of the conflict. Also in New Earth, the Doctor, remonstrating with the Sisters of Plenitude over their practice of holding captive humans as plague carriers, declares that there is no 'higher authority' than himself.

During a confrontation in School Reunion, the Krillitane leader, Finch, tries to strike a bargain with the Doctor offering him the power of the God-Maker to keep his companions alive with him forever, commenting how lonely he must be.

In The Girl in the Fireplace, the Doctor tries to read Reinette's mind, and while doing so, inadvertently gives her access to his own. She senses great loneliness in him. She later refers to him as her "lonely angel", including in a deathbed parting letter the Doctor receives posthumously.

The Lonely God is thought to be the main recurring theme of the 2007 season. In an interview in DWM #374 Davies confirmed that the Face would say his message in season three, while in an interview on "Newsround" Davies further stated that the message will be revealed before the season finale.

[edit] "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

This phrase was repeated by many characters during the 2006 season.

• In New Earth by the Doctor to a diseased 'New Human'.
• In Rise of the Cybermen by Mickey Smith to his grandmother's counterpart and again by the President to the Cybermen at the party.
• In The Age of Steel by the Doctor to the dying Cyberman, Sally Phelan.
• In The Idiot's Lantern by Mr Magpie to Rose before allowing the Wire to feed on her.
• In The Impossible Planet by the Doctor after finding Scooti's body.
• In Love & Monsters by the Doctor to Elton, regarding his inability to save his mother.
• In Army of Ghosts by the Doctor as he disrupts the signals controlling Adeola and the others.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BBC Bad Wolf site
• Bad Wolf Hunting - a blog that traced the various appearances and offered speculation.
• Tamino BadWolf Forum - continuing discussions of Bad Wolf, Torchwood and Doctor Who, spun off from Bad Wolf Hunting.