Matt Smith's Final Series (That Should've Been)
The Time of the Doctor aired four days ago, and while I did really enjoy it (and even more so upon a second viewing), I did feel it was a bit rushed. This, combined with the knowledge that Steven Moffat had tried to persuade Matt Smith to do one last series, leads me to assume that the events contained within the episode were supposed to play out over a 13 episode series. As a side note, before I move on to the actual content of this blog, I wanted to point out that signing up the Doctor Who actors to a fixed term contract is ridiculous; instead, they should be signed up for a minimum of 3 years, with the proviso of a one-year notice period. That way, when the actor wants to leave, the writers have a whole series in which to tie up loose ends. Anyway...
There should've been another series featuring the 11th Doctor (or the 12th, or the 13th, dependent on how you count them now). So, here's an outline of the episodes I would like to have seen in the final series, off the back of the 50th anniversary, and featuring an extended telling of the events seen in The Time of the Doctor...
EPISODES ONE & TWO - DIVINE INTERVENTION / THE LOST CONFESSION
The Doctor and Clara are in the middle of one of their adventures, running away from a would-be-assassin - who's been hired by the criminal gang they were investigating - when their demise is prevented by the arrival of a battalion of Clerics - joined by three Silents - who are looking into the same group. Featuring the Papal Mainframe and Tasha Lem's introductions, and we learn that The Silents are actually genetically engineered priests, designed for hearing confessionals. We also meet a young Madame Kovarian, who is a junior nun working for Tash, who is yet to establish a prejudice against the Doctor.
The eventual resolution to the second episode would come from information provided by the Silent Priests, garnered from the confessionals they've received.This episode would've had nothing to do with Trenzalore, in the same way as Let's Kill Hitler had nothing to do with the Impossible Astronaut, other than to establish the Tessalecta's existence.
EPISODE THREE - ENEMY OF THE DEEP
News of an untranslatable message reaches the Doctor, as he's confronted with the return of a classic series enemy, such as the Terileptils (since they were mentioned in The Time of the Doctor) or perhaps the Sea Devils.
EPISODE FOUR - THE SILENT CHAPTER
In the future, the older Madame Kovarian leads a rebellion against Tasha Lem, forming the Kovarian Chapter, who break away from the Mainframe, and blow up the TARDIS. At the end of the episode, the rogue Silents are killed by a squadron of clerics, and Madame Kovarian is taken to the Stormcage Facility, and locked away in what used to be River's cell.
Last appearance of Madame Kovarian.
EPISODES FIVE & SIX - THE PATH ONCE TAKEN / BY THE BOOK
We also find out that Romana's third incarnation is not only the current President of Gallifrey, but that she's also the woman who appeared to Wilf throughout The End of Time. At the very end of the episode, the crack appears in the wall of Romana's office.
EPISODE SEVEN - THE GREAT DETECTIVE
Stand alone episode, involving the paternoster gang, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who, as we know, is basing his Sherlock Holmes stories on Madame Vastra's investigations).
EPISODE EIGHT - THE FALLEN FIELDS
An adventure with River Song at the Bone Meadows (as listed in River's diary in The Time of Angels). At the end, Tasha Lem summons the Doctor to the Mainframe.
EPISODE NINE - THE SILENCE OF THE DALEKS
The Doctor, Clara, and River arrive at the Papal Mainframe, but they don't arrive alone. The Daleks have begun an infiltration, turning several Silents into Dalek puppets (in other words, Dalek drones that you forget as soon as you look away). The Doctor, River, Clara and Tash (along with several clerics and unaffected Silents) fight off the Daleks' attack. Tash says she shall endeavour to learn what they were looking for. River and Tash don't get on (as both are psychopaths with a thing for the Doctor) so lots of humourous back and forth there...This would be the last time that the 11th doctor would meet River, who leaves via her vortex manipulator after the battle.
EPISODE TEN - THE IMPOSSIBLE FAMILY
An adventure back on earth, involving Clara's family and their "tricky" dynamic.
EPISODE ELEVEN - SPARE PARTS
An adventure at the Maldovar Market (possibly featuring Dorium's head), in which the Doctor stops the illegal smuggling of stolen/damaged Cyberman parts. He also finds and "liberates" Handles the Cyber-head, who continually makes reference to an incoming message. The episode ends with Handles decoding the message: "Doctor Who? Doctor Who? Doctor Who?"
The presence of both Handles and Dorium could result in some form of wonderful Doctor-spoken line, about how "two heads are better than one..."
EPISODE TWELVE - THE SIEGE OF TRENZALORE
With the message decoded, The Doctor and Clara rush to the Mainframe, which has established a shield around the planet of Trenzalore, from which the message is originating (much of what happens next is what happens in the first half of the actual Time of the Doctor). At the end of the episode, it's revealed that Tash was actually killed and turned into a Dalek puppet back during The Silence of the Daleks, leaving us with a cliffhanger that brings us to...
EPISODE THIRTEEN - THE FALL OF THE ELEVENTH
After some 500 years of fighting back the siege, the 11th Doctor's final battle begins, as the Dalek mother-ship attacks the town of Christmas. But the Doctor is an old man now, dying at time's hand, and his regenerations have been used up. Yet, there's a whispering voice through a crack in the wall, that may bring hope to Christmas, and to Clara...