FEATURE: The Arc of Fenric

DOCTOR: Do you think I didn't know? The chess set in Lady Peinforte's study? I knew. 
FENRIC: Earlier than that, Time Lord. Before Cybermen, ever since Ice World, where you first met the girl.

Or perhaps... even earlier?

When we say goodbye to the happy-go-lucky Mel at the end of Dragonfire, we're also saying goodbye to the happy-go-lucky 7th Doctor, who played the spoons, hugged Stratocasters and went on treasure hunts without knowing what the treasure was.

Remember him?

Remember his days like crazy paving, and how they ended overnight, or at least how number seven went from silly to sinister between seasons?

Well forget him, because he's not real.

The 7th Doctor of season 24 is as much the real 7th Doctor as John Smith is the 10th (or 7th come to that). He's a man denying his true nature, running away from who he knows, deep down, that he really has to be. He knows he can't run forever; he knows that somewhere there's danger, somewhere there’s injustice, and somewhere there are monsters, and a big bad wolf, to be fought...

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."

"Beyond Good and Evil", Aphorism 146 (1886) Friedrich Nietzsche.

Having just stared into his own personal abyss at the conclusion of his second trial, the Doctor is a man determined not to walk the dark path, to find a different future.  Forced to regenerate and dragged down to Lakertya by the Rani, he sees an opportunity to make a clean break, a fresh start. Befuddled by the Rani's drugs, his new persona not yet settled, the 7th Doctor appears at first to be a whimsical little clown, mirroring the last incarnation put on trial by the Time-Lords, the 2nd.

But like the 2nd Doctor, the fooling is mere dissembling and a darker, more purposeful character lies beneath that iceberg's tip, the character of a man who sets himself against the evil in the universe and is not content to merely observe it as the Time-Lords have done.

He knows that there are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things, which act against everything that we believe in, and must be fought.  He knows that courage isn't just a matter of not being frightened, it's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway. But he is afraid, afraid of his own shadow, the dark and secret future self known as the Valeyard.

And so he tries his hardest to be the opposite, to be the carefree, puckish, directionless wanderer in the fourth dimension, the man who burbles malapropisms. But he's worried that "Perhaps this is my new persona, sulky, bad-tempered..."

Luckily for him, he's got walking, talking, hopping, skipping, star-jumping personification of perky, Mel Bush from Pease Pottage as his perfect disguise. 

So he can pootle about the galaxy looking for swimming pools, winning holidays to Disneyland in... er... South Wales, and skating about for treasure on Ice World without a care in the universe.

And then Ace turns up.

And he knows.

He knows the game is up, the holiday is over. It's time to roll his sleeves up, leave his days like crazy paving behind, and set course for worlds where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream, with people made of smoke, and cities made of song. Because there's work to do.

Because there's no way on Earth or any other planet that misfit Dorothy MacShane caused a timestorm in her bedroom mixing up explosives in knackered old cans of B.O. spray, and just happens to land herself on the same planet as space "entrepeneur" Sabalom Glitz, last seen as a star witness at the Doctor's trial.

It's just a little bit too like someone helped her along the way and homed in on someone they knew had recently been in contact with the Doctor, isn't it?

And he's no fool, our 7th Doctor, no matter how badly he wants everyone to believe that. So he knows. He doesn't have a long list of suspects either; almost immediately he knows whose particular M.O. this situation fits. His enemy can't reach him on Svartos, he can only send his agent, his wolf. The enemy is still on Earth, from whence it sent her. That narrows the field considerably. He recognises the moves, recognises that it's time to get back in the game.

His first move? Clear all the WMDs out, take them off the board. The Hand of Omega and the Nemesis, they have to go. 

As statements of intent go, wiping out the Dalek homeworld is about as grandiose as it gets. 

Got your attention? Good. If you're sitting comfortably, then we can begin. What's next? I can hear the sound of empires toppling... 

The 7th Doctor is getting into his stride now. Tying up loose ends, paying off plans centuries in the making. All the while, still playing the fool. No longer playing the spoons, perhaps, but still pretending he doesn't know that there's something about Dorothy.

The chess set in Lady Peinforte's study? He knows.

It's surely no coincidence that he decides to take down the self-styled "Gods of Ragnarok", the spiders at the heart (or should that be eye) of the Psychic Circus. How's that for Norse mythology? The enemy doesn't seem to take the hint, and basks in over-confidence, believing all the while that the Doctor isn't on to him. He is.

Before he goes into battle, though, there are still some questions to be answered, some soul-searching to be done.

First, does he really have no alternative future than the Valeyard, a distillation of all that's evil in him from somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnation, whichever number that turns out to be (at least the 26th, now, presumably)? Thankfully, a resounding yes. He gets to be Merlin, and ginger. He's always wanted to be ginger.

Second, can Ace face her fears and overcome all pervading evil? Half time score: Ace 1, Gabriel Chase 0. Any regrets? "Yes, I wish I'd blown it up instead!"

And so the scene is set, and it's time to cast the runes...

The whole of the 7th Doctor's era has led to this point, to this climactic showdown. The time is now. Let the chains of Fenric shatter.

They play the contest again, and not only does the Doctor trap Fenric in a human body and persuade the Ancient One to kill him, ending the paradox of its own existence, but also has Ace in position to create her own future, rescuing the baby that will grow up to be her mother. Victory is his, Ace is freed from the chains of Fenric. No more undercurrents.

With Fenric finally defeated, maybe the 7th Doctor can relax, take things just that little bit easier?

Or maybe an even older enemy has laid more traps for him, the latest in a game that might never end. One might not get him...

But sooner or later, even the arch manipulator is bound to make a mistake, to let his guard down, maybe even grant a request that should never have been granted...?

"The chessboard is the world, and the pieces the phenomena of the universe. The opponent makes no allowances for mistakes nor makes the smallest concession to ignorance."

Thomas H Huxley, 1868.

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... "What If... Season 12 starred Jon Pertwee?"