Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyboy
My first thought that the woman was the Watcher, who has a propensity to turn up when the Doctor re-generates, or even the White Guardian, but observing the Doctor's re-action when she uncovered her face, he appeared to have a familial concern about her, or at least someone to whom he felt close to. I thought that she might be his mother and the make figure (yet to be revealed) was his father. I like the idea that she might be an older Donna, taking the role of an "honorary" Timelord, due to the meta-crisis, but that would not work with the concept of the time lock. The Doctor would have been aware of her presence at the time of the war.
I most of all like the idea that it might have been Romana, from I can remember, she secured a seat in the high council and subsequently was elected President (or was that a YouTube ep?). If I am wrong, she is still in "N" space and therefore not involved at all.
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Mark Lawson, reviewing this episode in the Grauniad, points to a number of parallels between it and Hamlet, which both David Tennant and Claire Bloom (who played the woman) have appeared in recently. Tennant of course played Hamlet. Claire Bloom played Hamlet's mother.
It's quite fascinating and worth a read:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-rad...who-regenerate
Actually, the comments beneath the article are even more of an eye-opener, there are some real nutcases touring the interwebs right now, variously whingeing about RTD 'ruining' Doctor Who (and conveniently forgetting that about 10 million people disagree), or getting very precious when non-fans like Mark Lawson dare to make definitive statements about the mystery woman's identity, when those statements contradict their own pet theories - theories that are invariably nothing more than highly convoluted FW.
I think Russell T Davies has steered a very careful and clever path through the show's backstory, using elements that suit his own storylines without being forced, droping throwaway references in for the fans to enjoy, and always keeping well clear of the arcane. For example, he likes to re-use concepts like Artron energy soaking the body of a time traveller, but not in a way that requires you to have seen and understood
The Deadly Assassin or
Four to Doomsday.
On the subject of Romana ... in TV canon (the only one that counts IMO) she is still in e-space, with K9 and some Tharil bloke. Acording to some original novels and audio dramas, she returned to normal space and became president of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. RTD only seemed to validate non-TV adventures as Canon if he chose deliberately to bring them into the TV realm, for example by having The Moff re-work Sally Sparrow's adventures from a Dr Who annual into
Blink, or by re-telling Human Nature, which was created as a 7th Doctor original novel. Given RTD's record in this department I think it imposibly unlikely that he intended the character to be someone who is utterly obscure to fans of the new series. He wouldn't have just thrown it in there because it would have demanded too much explanation.