Saturday 3 May 2014

Doctor Who: The Ultimate Anomaly

Doctor Who, in its astounding fifty year run of time and space, has produced several loose ends still waiting to be tied up neatly. Ace (how did she leave the Doctor?), Captain Jack Harkness (What about those two years of missing memories?), and Sally Sparrow (just what happened to her after Blink?). Not to mention the many Time Lords and Ladies with unfinished stories left to tell: Susan Foreman, the Meddling Monk, the Valeyard, that mystery woman in The End of Time, and of course, the one-episode never-spoken-of-again Jenny.


To recap, Jenny was introduced in The Doctor's Daughter, a series four episode first broadcast back in 2008. We saw her birth on the planet Messaline as the Doctor (played by David Tennant) had his DNA forcibly taken and put into a progenation machine, meaning that his cells multiplied and produced offspring with the genes of one parent. 
Jenny, played by fifth Doctor Peter Davison's daughter Georgia Moffett, was brutal and tough due to her purpose as a soldier, before learning from her Dad that she didn't have to be that way, that she had a choice. She was athletic, enthusiastic, stood up for herself, and incredibly brave: all the makings of a great companion.
So it was a shock when *SPOILERS* she died in the Doctor's arms after taking a bullet for him. Just when you thought that our favourite Time Lord was about to get some kind of family back, some roots to Gallifrey, someone to really look after, T Davies smashed all our fangirl/boy hopes. 
Then, right at the end of the episode, just as you were resigning yourself to the fact that it wasn't meant to be, Jenny jumps up and into an escape pod, soaring away from Messaline with a grin: "I've got the whole universe! Planets to save, civilisations to rescue, creatures to defeat... And an awful lot of running to do."

Jenny has never been seen, heard, or even spoken of again in the Whoniverse (as far as we know). However, that almost six-year cliffhanger has produced a vast number of FanFictions dedicated to the character which for the writers, myself included, and the readers, myself included, a little bit of closure while Moffat thinks up a way to bring her back for real... Hehe. (SHAMELESS SELF ADVERTISEMENT: if you're interested, my fic The Anomaly is basically a Who/Torchwood crossover series rewrite with Jenny included, which you can find at: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9266013/1/The-Anomaly)

Because Jenny, despite only being in one 45 minute episode, is remembered and loved so fondly by the fandom she is automatically associated with any kind of secret or mystery that pops up in the show. For example:
Take yourself back to Saturday 28th June 2008, around 7pm. You're watching The Stolen Earth. All of the Doctor's companions and friends are returning: Rose, Captain Jack, Sarah Jane, Martha... Could his daughter make an appearance? Sadly not.
11th April 2009. Right at the end of Planet of the Dead, Carmen makes her chilling prediction: "It is returning through the dark..." Could it be Jenny? New Years Day 2010, and no. It's actually Gallifrey.
2011 and series 6's story arc consists of the question who is River Song? Some suggested that the imprisoned doctor was an older regeneration of Jenny, which to be blunt is just plain wrong. 
Once we'd discovered the identity of River/Melody and her parents had departed the TARDIS in 2012, a brand new mystery woman presented herself in the form of Clara Oswald. Could this companion, twice dead already, be a version or three of Jenny? Alas, no. The Name of the Doctor told us so.

However, eleven has now passed the TARDIS key on to twelve, and with him will apparently be brought a 'back to basics' approach. From what we know already, this is looking true: a brand new regeneration cycle, Gallifrey back (trapped in a pocket universe, but still, it's around), plainer attire, and two teacher companions. This is where my theory comes into play. 
So, a new regeneration cycle brings back a similar Doctor to the first, William Hartnell. When Hartnell began the show back in '63, the companions who travelled with him were Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, his granddaughter and two teachers respectively. Capaldi, number twelve, already has his teachers on board (Clara and Danny Pink), but what about the familial relation? 



... Jenny. 

Could Jenny make her long-awaited return to travel the universe with our established TARDIS crew? It's worth noting that Steven Moffat personally requested that she did not die in The Doctor's Daughter, and he is the sole reason for her staying alive. He must have some kind of plan for her, and a brand new era of Doctor Who would be the perfect time to do it. My fingers are crossed!

No comments:

Post a Comment