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Doctor Who's just a great big wibbly-wobbly web, isn't it?
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00:00At the risk of stating the obvious here, Doctor Who is a very timey-wimey show.
00:04It's like a big ball of string at this point, with so many threads from across the decades overlapping and criss-crossing.
00:11But what about the episodes with subtler links between them?
00:14Small background details, throwaway lines that mean way more than you think?
00:18Well, we're glad you asked, and with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture,
00:22here with 10 Doctor Who episodes you didn't know were connected.
00:2610. Silver Nemesis and the Big Bang
00:31The 11th Doctor's unorthodox dress sense inspired a generation of teenagers to think that they were cool because they owned a tweed jacket.
00:38Not only did bow-tie sales shoot up when Matt Smith started wearing one,
00:42but his version of the Time Lord also inspired a fascination with a certain red hat.
00:4711 first appeared in affairs in the Series 5 finale, The Big Bang.
00:51The headpiece would turn up throughout the rest of his time on the show,
00:54becoming a trademark of Smith's quirky portrayal of the character.
00:58But this was not the first time the Doctor had been seen in one.
01:01In Doctor Who's 25th anniversary special, Silver Nemesis,
01:05the 7th Doctor and his companion Ace turn up at Windsor Castle and have a rummage around.
01:10And at one point, the Doctor pops up holding a mop and wearing, you guessed it, a fez.
01:15Considering that 11 was also holding a mop when he was first seen with a fez,
01:19we can deduce that this moment is where he got the inspiration to wear one on the regular.
01:24Not a massive detail, but definitely a fun one.
01:27Number 9. 42 and the power of the Doctor
01:30For a moment, put Russell to one side.
01:34Sorry, Russell.
01:34And imagine that you are in charge of Doctor Who.
01:38It'd be pretty hard to resist the temptation to constantly reference your own episodes, wouldn't it?
01:42Surprisingly, it's a temptation that Doctor Who's showrunners generally resist.
01:46Either that, or their script editors are ruthless.
01:49But inevitably, some of these self-referential nods do appear from time to time.
01:54Just take a look at Chris Chibnall's final episode, The Power of the Doctor,
01:57which includes an extremely subtle connection to the first Doctor Who episode he wrote,
02:02Series 3's 42.
02:04The space train that's under attack at the beginning of the episode is,
02:07as mentioned in the very first line, part of the Taraji transport network.
02:11The Taraji star system is where 42 took place,
02:14with the 10th Doctor and Martha attempting to fend off the vindictive,
02:18annoyingly sentient son, Taraji.
02:20It's a nice little full-circle moment for Chibnall's time in the Hooniverse,
02:24even if it does remind us that 42 exists.
02:27Number 8. Army of Ghosts and End of Days
02:30Series 2 finale, Army of Ghosts, saw the long-teased introduction of the Torchwood Institute,
02:36with head honcho Yvonne Hartman showing off her organisation's cool sci-fi tech to the 10th Doctor.
02:42One piece of tech in particular catches the Doctor's eye, a Jathar Sun Glider,
02:47which Yvonne tells him was shot down over the Shetland Islands a decade prior.
02:51Torchwood means business, and the Doctor is rightfully concerned.
02:55That mention of a Jathar Sun Glider might just seem like random technobabble invented purely for
03:00this moment, and it probably was, but this wasn't the last time they appeared in the Hooniverse.
03:06Early on in the Torchwood episode End of Days, a trio of Sun Gliders are seen hovering over the
03:11Taj Mahal in the wake of the Cardiff Rift opening and unleashing space-time chaos.
03:16Clearly, this was just a case of Torchwood reusing readily available assets,
03:20but it can also be viewed as a neat bit of world-building that connects the two shows together.
03:25Number 7. A Good Man Goes to War and Thin Ice
03:28One of the more intriguing relationships in Modern Who is the one between the Doctor and
03:34his wife-slash-friend's kid-slash-would-be-assassin, River Song. The pair are star-crossed in the
03:39most literal sense, constantly bumping into each other at different points. They go on many
03:44adventures together, one of which is mentioned right at the start of the epic mid-series finale,
03:50A Good Man Goes to War. River tells Rory, who's dressed as a Roman because, well, reasons,
03:55that she's just come back from a birthday trip with her Time Lord squeeze. She says the Doctor
03:59took her ice skating at the last Great London Frost Fair, which sounds like a lovely day out.
04:05Clearly, the Doctor thought so, because he took Bill Potts to the exact same spot in Series 10's
04:10Thin Ice. He even admits that he's been there before. In fact, there is a deleted scene from
04:14that episode where he talks about bringing his wife to that very moment. It's a nice little
04:19connection between these two different eras of the show, although taking two dates to the exact
04:24same place. Rookie mistake, Doctor.
04:27Number 6. The Five Doctors and the Time of the Doctor
04:30Is this the longest payoff in Doctor Who history? Well, it might just be. In 1983's 20th anniversary
04:37special The Five Doctors, the Master presents the Third Doctor with the seal of the High Council
04:42of Gallifrey, only for the Doctor naturally to assume that his longtime foe has forged it.
04:48Turns out it's the real deal, though, and so the Doctor vows to return the artifact at the
04:52first opportunity. But he never does. In fact, he's still in possession of the seal in 2013's
04:59Christmas special The Time of the Doctor, where he uses it, with an assist from Handel's, to decode
05:05the message the Time Lords are sending through the crack in time. Now, the Doctor does pick up all
05:09sorts of junk on their travels, so we can only assume that the seal is now languishing at the
05:14bottom of a TARDIS cupboard somewhere. Or maybe the Doctor will actually return it one day.
05:18The Long Way Round. Number 5. The Mysterious Planet and the Name of the Doctor
05:23Despite only appearing in a single season from 1986, Whovians still lose their collective minds
05:30any time the Valiard comes up in conversation. Said to be a mysterious future incarnation of the Doctor,
05:35the Valiard serves as the prosecution during the Sixth Doctor's trial on Gallifrey. He almost gets
05:41him sentenced to death before the Doctor seemingly puts him down. Or does he? Because at the end of the
05:47episode, the Valiard is shown to have survived. But just because we haven't seen Old Valley since
05:51the 80s, that doesn't mean we've seen the last of him. Richard E. Grant basically confirmed as much.
05:57In the episode, the name of the Doctor grants the Great Intelligence runs down a list of other
06:02monikers the Doctor will be known by in the future, and one of those is the Valiard. It's a quick mention
06:08that's easy to miss, but it implies that the Doctor's alter ego will return in the future,
06:12and will do something to gain himself notoriety.
06:16Number 4. The Magician's Apprentice and the Timeless Children
06:19Former showrunner Chris Chibnall definitely left his mark on Doctor Who, for better or for worse.
06:25His decision to reveal that the Doctor is the mythical Timeless Child that formed the
06:29base genetic code for all future Time Lords was extremely controversial. It was the Master who
06:34revealed this secret to his long-standing rival. But it turns out that he knew this story long before
06:40he let on. Well, probably not, but he certainly knew more about the Doctor's past than we did.
06:44In the episode The Magician's Apprentice, Missy tells Clara that she's known the Doctor since he
06:49was a little girl. Coincidentally, this is the form that the Timeless Child takes when we first meet
06:54them. A brilliant piece of foreshadowing? Well, at the time, obviously not, but in hindsight,
06:59you can certainly look at it that way. And it's interesting going back to watch this moment with
07:03the knowledge of the Timeless Child in hand.
07:05Number 3. Image of the Fendal and Army of Ghosts
07:10Who'd have thought that a throwaway line in a 1977 serial would suddenly become relevant almost 30
07:16years later? In the first episode of the fourth Doctor story, Image of the Fendal, Dr. Fendelman
07:22instructs his colleague to tell Hartman, I want a security team here within two hours, after a corpse
07:27is discovered in the woods. Again, totally throwaway. We never actually meet Hartman, and he's never
07:32mentioned again. So why is this significant? Well, jumping once again to Army of Ghosts,
07:37and this is the episode that introduces us to Torchwood boss Yvonne Hartman. Might she be a
07:43relative? Perhaps the daughter of the faceless Hartman mentioned in Image of the Fendal? While
07:47the connection here is tenuous, Hartman is a fairly common surname after all, many fans believe that
07:53these two are indeed related, with Yvonne's father being identified as John Hartman in the big Finnish
07:58audio drama The Rockery. Number 2. The Web of Fear and The Snowmen
08:03Back to the Great Intelligence now, and his second ever appearance in the show in 1968's The Web of
08:09Fear. The Intelligence had already encountered the second Doctor when it lured him and his companions
08:15into the London Underground, where it planned to steal the Time Lord's knowledge. Fast forward to the
08:192012 Christmas special The Snowmen, and the Doctor runs into the Intelligence once again, only this time
08:25before the villain has met him. In order to preserve the timeline, the Doctor decides to influence future
08:31events, or past events from his point of view, in a way only he could, by using a biscuit tin. He presents
08:37his foe with a tin bearing the London Underground map on it. The Great Intelligence remarks that it's
08:42never seen these symbols before, at which point the Doctor sows the seed for The Web of Fear by saying
08:48that it's a key strategic weakness in metropolitan living. With the timeline now assured, the Doctor runs off
08:55this skit. Number 1. Daleks in Manhattan and the End of Time
09:00Daleks in Manhattan features the Daleks in Manhattan. A period piece set during the Great Depression in
09:071930's New York City, the episode does a fantastic job of recreating that time period. It doesn't feel
09:13like a cheap set, it feels like a living, breathing place. A bouncy musical number partway through the
09:19episode helps with that immersion, as singing, dancing, all-star Tallulah attempts to get over the
09:24fact that her boyfriend has been turned into a pig by doing what she does best, putting on a show.
09:29You would assume that the song here, My Angel Put the Devil in Me, which composer Murraygold
09:33undoubtedly had immense fun putting together, would only be used in this episode. But it actually
09:38pops up later in the Tenant run, and in the most unexpected of places too. Flash forward to the
09:45closing moments of The End of Time Part 2, and the song can be heard again playing at the bar where the
09:50Doctor bids farewell to Captain Jack Harkness. Mind you, this version is a cover, not the original
09:56Tallulah version, but if only she knew how far into the future her music would last.
10:02And that concludes our list. If you think we missed something, then do let us know in the
10:06comments below, and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe, and tap that
10:10notification bell so you never miss a Who Culture video again. Also head over to Twitter and follow
10:15us there, and Instagram as well, and I can be found across various social medias just by searching
10:20Ellie Littlechild. Don't forget to also look out for Sean Berwick and Dan the Meeks too.
10:24I've been Ellie with Who Culture, and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye sweeties.
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