- 4 minutes ago
This is a look at the intricate web of Doctor Who, highlighting 10 episodes that share hidden links. Explore how classic stories foreshadow modern moments and how different showrunners leave their mark on the lore.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
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
00:10criss-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.
00:2810. 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
00:37a 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
01:31For 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, Series 3's 42.
02:04The space train that's under attack at the beginning of the episode is, as mentioned in the very first line,
02:08part 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, annoyingly 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
02:31Series 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 this moment,
03:01and it probably was, but this wasn't the last time they appeared in the Hooniverse.
03:05Early on in the Torchwood episode End of Days, a trio of Sun Gliders are seen hovering over the Taj
03:11Mahal
03:12in 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,
03:19but 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 his wife-slash-friend's
03:35kid-slash-would-be-assassin,
03:37River Song.
03:38The pair are star-crossed in the most literal sense, constantly bumping into each other at different points.
03:44They go on many adventures together, one of which is mentioned right at the start of the epic mid-series
03:49finale,
03:50A Good Man Goes to War.
03:51River 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.
03:59She says the Doctor took her ice skating at the last Great London Frost Fair,
04:03which 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 Thin Ice.
04:11He even admits that he's been there before.
04:13In fact, there is a deleted scene from that episode where he talks about bringing his wife to that very
04:18moment.
04:18It's a nice little connection between these two different eras of the show,
04:22although taking two dates to the exact same place?
04:25Rookie mistake, Doctor.
04:27Number 6.
04:28The Five Doctors and the Time of the Doctor
04:30Is this the longest payoff in Doctor Who history?
04:33Well, it might just be.
04:35In 1983's 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors,
04:39the Master presents the Third Doctor with the seal of the High Council of Gallifrey,
04:43only for the Doctor naturally to assume that his longtime foe has forged it.
04:47Turns out it's the real deal, though,
04:50and so the Doctor vows to return the artifact at the first opportunity.
04:54But he never does.
04:55In fact, he's still in possession of the seal in 2013's Christmas special The Time of the Doctor,
05:02where he uses it, with an assist from Handles,
05:04to decode the message the Time Lords are sending through the crack in time.
05:08Now, the Doctor does pick up all sorts of junk on their travels,
05:11so we can only assume that the seal is now languishing at the bottom of a TARDIS cupboard somewhere.
05:15Or maybe the Doctor will actually return it one day.
05:18The long way round.
05:20Number 5.
05:20The Mysterious Planet and the Name of the Doctor
05:23Despite only appearing in a single season from 1986,
05:27Whovians still lose their collective minds any time the Valiard comes up in conversation.
05:33Said to be a mysterious future incarnation of the Doctor,
05:35the Valiard serves as the prosecution during the Sixth Doctor's trial on Gallifrey.
05:40He almost gets him sentenced to death before the Doctor seemingly puts him down.
05:44Or does he?
05:45Because at the end of the episode, the Valiard is shown to have survived.
05:49But just because we haven't seen old Vali since the 80s,
05:52that doesn't mean we've seen the last of him.
05:54Richard E. Grant basically confirmed as much.
05:57In the episode, The Name of the Doctor grants the Great Intelligence
06:00runs down a list of other monikers the Doctor will be known by in the future,
06:04and one of those is the Valiard.
06:07It's a quick mention that's easy to miss,
06:08but 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
06:20Former showrunner Chris Chibnall definitely left his mark on Doctor Who,
06:23for better or for worse.
06:24His decision to reveal that the Doctor is the mythical Timeless Child
06:28that formed the base genetic code for all future Time Lords was extremely controversial.
06:33It was the Master who revealed this secret to his long-standing rival.
06:37But it turns out that he knew this story long before he let on.
06:40Well, probably not, but he certainly knew more about the Doctor's past than we did.
06:44In the episode, The Magician's Apprentice,
06:46Missy tells Clara that she's known the Doctor since he was a little girl.
06:50Coincidentally, this is the form that the Timeless Child takes when we first meet them.
06:54A brilliant piece of foreshadowing?
06:56Well, at the time, obviously not,
06:58but in hindsight, you can certainly look at it that way.
07:01And it's interesting going back to watch this moment
07:03with the knowledge of the Timeless Child in hand.
07:06Number 3. Image of the Fendal and Army of Ghosts
07:10Who'd have thought that a throwaway line in a 1977 serial
07:14would suddenly become relevant almost 30 years later?
07:17In the first episode of the fourth Doctor story, Image of the Fendal,
07:21Dr. Fendelman instructs his colleague to tell Hartman
07:24I want a security team here within two hours,
07:27after a corpse is discovered in the woods.
07:28Again, totally throwaway.
07:30We never actually meet Hartman, and he's never mentioned again.
07:33So why is this significant?
07:35Well, jumping once again to Army of Ghosts,
07:37and this is the episode that introduces us to Torchwood boss Yvonne Hartman.
07:42Might she be a relative?
07:43Perhaps the daughter of the faceless Hartman mentioned in Image of the Fendal?
07:47While the connection here is tenuous,
07:49Hartman is a fairly common surname, after all,
07:51many fans believe that these two are indeed related,
07:55with Yvonne's father being identified as John Hartman
07:57in the big Finnish audio drama The Rockery.
08:00Number two, The Web of Fear and The Snowmen.
08:03Back to the great intelligence now,
08:05and his second ever appearance in the show in 1968's The Web of Fear.
08:10The intelligence had already encountered the second Doctor
08:13when it lured him and his companions into the London Underground,
08:16where it planned to steal the Time Lord's knowledge.
08:18Fast forward to the 2012 Christmas special The Snowmen,
08:22and the Doctor runs into the intelligence once again,
08:24only this time before the villain has met him.
08:27In order to preserve the timeline,
08:29the Doctor decides to influence future events,
08:31or past events from his point of view,
08:33in a way only he could,
08:35by using a biscuit tin.
08:37He presents his foe with a tin bearing the London Underground map on it.
08:41The great intelligence remarks that it's never seen these symbols before,
08:44at which point, the Doctor sows the seed for The Web of Fear
08:47by saying that it's a key strategic weakness in metropolitan living.
08:51With the timeline now assured,
08:53the Doctor runs off to celebrate,
08:54presumably with a biscuit.
08:56Number one, Daleks in Manhattan and the End of Time.
09:01Daleks in Manhattan features the Daleks in Manhattan.
09:04A period piece set during the Great Depression in 1930's New York City,
09:08the episode does a fantastic job of recreating that time period.
09:12It doesn't feel like a cheap set,
09:14it feels like a living, breathing place.
09:17A bouncy musical number partway through the episode helps with that immersion,
09:20as singing, dancing, all-star Tallulah
09:23attempts to get over the fact that her boyfriend has been turned into a pig
09:26by doing what she does best, putting on a show.
09:29You would assume that the song here,
09:30My Angel Put the Devil in Me,
09:32which composer Murraygold undoubtedly had immense fun putting together,
09:35would only be used in this episode,
09:37but it actually pops up later in the Tenant run,
09:41and in the most unexpected of places too.
09:44Flash forward to the closing moments of The End of Time Part 2,
09:47and the song can be heard again,
09:49playing at the bar where the Doctor bids farewell to Captain Jack Harkness.
09:53Mind you, this version is a cover,
09:55not the original Tallulah version,
09:57but if only she knew how far into the future her music would last.
10:01And that concludes our list.
10:03If you think we missed something,
10:04then do let us know in the comments below,
10:06and while you're there,
10:07don't forget to like and subscribe,
10:09and tap that notification bell,
10:11so you never miss a Who Culture video again.
10:13Also head over to Twitter and follow us there,
10:15and Instagram as well,
10:17and I can be found across various social medias,
10:19just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
10:21Don't forget to also look out for Sean Berwick,
10:23and Dan the Meeks too.
10:24I've been Ellie with Who Culture,
10:26and in the words of Riversong herself,
10:28goodbye, sweeties.