Doctor Who’s controversial Timeless Child storyline would never have come to be if the show hadn’t been canceled in 1989. The show started in 1963 and was canceled after its 26th season in 1989 before being revived in 2005. This cancelation meant that the plans for the 27th season never came to fruition, and ultimately led to one of the most controversial Doctor Who plotlines in recent history – The Timeless Child.
The Timeless Child was unveiled during Jodie Whittaker’s second season as the Doctor and became subject to harsh backlash after it rewrote the Doctor’s origin in Doctor Who. The twist revealed that the Doctor was not in fact a Time Lord, but instead an adopted extraterrestrial with regeneration powers that became the genetical blueprint for creating Time Lords across Gallifrey. The impact on established canon alongside implementing unlimited regenerations was a retcon that fans and critics intensely rejected. Long-time fans have called for the plot to be rewritten, but if season 27 had been created, the story could never have existed.
Doctor Who’s Plan Before Being Canceled Would’ve Made The Timeless Child Impossible
The Doctor’s Origin Story Would Have Been Very Different
The plan for the 27th season of Doctor Who, dubbed the Cartmel Masterplan by fans, was to deliver a more complex backstory for the Doctor. Designed by Andrew Cartmel, Mark Platt, and Ben Aaronovitch, the “masterplan” would see the Doctor explained to be a Time Lord reincarnation of “The Other,” an incredibly ancient and powerful being who helped perfect Gallifreyan time travel.
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The Cartmel Masterplan aimed to restore the Doctor’s standing as an enigma when the show’s later seasons had explained too much of the Doctor’s backstory in Doctor Who. Although clues surrounding this storyline are sprinkled throughout 1989’s final season, the Cartmel Masterplan never made it to the screen, instead only being continued in the Virgin New Adventures novels, most notably Lungbarrow, which delves into great detail about the backstory.
The novel’s depiction explicitly contradicts elements of the Timeless Child’s storyline, such as the Doctor still being Gallifreyan, and only having a set number of regenerations in Doctor Who. This means that, if the show hadn’t been interrupted, the Timeless Child story would have been unnecessary and impossible to establish.
Why Doctor Who’s Cut Backstory Plan Was Better Than The Timeless Child
The Cartmel Masterplan Was To Raise Questions, Not Answer Them
The Timeless Child and the Cartmel Masterplan both make drastic changes to the Doctor’s origin, but there are specific reasons that make the Masterplan better – like the mystery. The Doctor is a protagonist who thrives by being inexplicable, and the Timeless Child fails this element by trying to wrap up the Doctor’s connection to Gallifrey, trivializing such an iconic part of the character.
The Timeless Child lacks the respect for Doctor Who that the Cartmel Masterplan functioned on, and in turn seems gimmicky and nonsensical.
Cartmel himself said the Masterplan was to raise questions, not answer them, and Lungbarrow, despite being written for season 26, never made it to the screen because of its concluded origin story (via YouTube.) Furthermore, the Doctor has sacrificed himself many times with the belief that he only has a certain amount of regenerations, like Ten’s heartbreaking sacrifice for Wilfred, putting him in his last life.
| IMDB’s Highest Rated Episodes of Doctor Who (1963) | ||
| Episode Number | Title | IMDB Score |
| S12.E16 | Genesis of the Daleks: Part Six | 9.1 |
| S6.E44 | The War Games: Episode Ten | 9.1 |
| S12.E11 | Genesis of the Daleks: Part One | 9.0 |
| S12.E15 | Genesis of the Daleks: Part Five | 8.9 |
| S12.E14 | Genesis of the Daleks: Part Four | 8.9 |
| S17.E8 | City of Death: Part Four | 8.9 |
The Timeless Child lowers those stakes and undermines pivotal emotional moments that the audience and previous Doctor incarnations experienced together. The retcon sometimes completely negates existing canon, such as the Eleventh Doctor being gifted a regeneration cycle in a dramatic finale. The Timeless Child lacks the respect for Doctor Who that the Cartmel Masterplan functioned on, and in turn seems gimmicky and nonsensical.
