It has been a long time coming. But what is time to a Time Lord? The BBC released the final trailer for “The Power of the Doctor.” If you didn’t know, this will be the last episode for the 13th Doctor, Jodie Whittaker.
The trailer is filled with a lot of action. It shows the Doctor facing off with some of her biggest foes, the Daleks, the Master and the Cybermen. It also features companions Yaz (Mandip Gill), Dan (John Bishop) along with friends like Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and Vinder (Jacob Anderson). Of course, old fans of Doctor Who are excited to see the return of two classic companions: Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred).
Check it out below:
Doctor Who has a long celebrated history on British television, and the BBC in particular. So it is only natural that the show should play a part of the broadcaster’s centenial celebrations this year. This trailer has been a long time coming as fans have been waiting since Easter, when the series previous special Legend of the Sea Devils aired. Then we got a brief look at the regenation special, which announced the return of the two classic companions.
Old Friends
Tegan (Fielding) joined the TARDIS crew in the 4th Doctor’s (Tom Baker) swan song “Logopolis” in 1981. It was the final story of the the show’s 18th season. She went on to travel with 5th Doctor, Peter Davision, for almost his entire three seasons. Tegan left in “Ressurection of the Daleks” midway through the show’s 21st season in 1984.
Ace (Aldred), as she was know for her run on the series, began traveling with the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) after the events of “Dragonfire,” the final story of the 24th season. She would remain with the Doctor through the end of the 26th season in 1989. Of course, that was when the show went on its final hiatus on the BBC. When Doctor Who briefly returned in 1996, the 7th Doctor regenerated into Paul McGann in the made for US TV movie. Ace was no where to be seen. She does appear in a variety of books, comics, and audio adventures (where she continues to appear, played still by Aldred). There, we discovered her full name of Dorothy McShane.
Change, And Not A Moment Too Soon… Think Some
The 13th Doctor’s era has not been without controversey. Just the fact that the Doctor regenerated into a woman upset a portion of the fanbase. Many of those fans were disappointed by showrunner Chirs Chibnall’s approach to the show as well. Some say his stories let down Whittaker’s Doctor. Then he wrote the “Timeless Child” arc, which fundamentally changed the origin of the Doctor. The Doctor suddenly had a life before the first Doctor (William Hartnell) and the Doctor was not a natural born Gallifreyian.
The backstory is now that the Doctor was found as a child by a Gallifreyian scientist. It was the Doctor’s natural ability to regenerate, which the Time Lords learned to copy. The Doctor had dozens, maybe hundreds of regenerations before who we now call the First Doctor. Many of the regenertions worked for a secret Time Lord police force, The Division, which enforced a strict order to the universe and to time. The 13th Doctor discovered this lost history when she met one of these previous regenrations, played by Jo Martin.
This paradiem shaking revelation was not well recieved by a portion of the fanbase. It is those fans that are waiting to see what returning showrunner Russell T. Davies will do with the show begining with incoming 14th Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa. But before the we see Gatwa in the role, David Tennant returns to the show for a special episode celebrating the series’ 60th anniversary in 2023.
But before all that happens, the 13th Doctor’s final battle airs on 23rd October 2022 on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the USA.
