Doctor Who: Is The Doctor Inside a Parallel World - Theories & Evidence

Whilst Doctor Who has never been shy of controversy and ever-expanding plots which baffle even the most loyal of viewers, a lot of fans have been taking to the internet recently to express one core theory they feel explains what has been a rather ambitious couple of series. With Jodie Whitakers first full-length episode debuting in 2018, fans were quite excited to see the actress bring the character into a new age, but things for the Doctor were a little bit different. Hurtling to Earth at an unfathomable speed as she watches the TARDIS burn up above her, the Doctor's crash-landing into the train below left many fans immediately gripped, and in some ways, immediately sidetracked from the core question: Why did the TARDIS crash and burn?

In recent Reddit theories and online social groups, fans have bounded together to theorise that the Thirteenth Doctor has not been within the Universe she once believed, being launched out of the TARDIS as it dramatically coincided with a parallel universe. Crash landing into Sheffield, where she is quickly sucked into the action, the Doctor did not feel anything was amiss, but the fans weren't so quick to feel comfortable, with many stating that as the series progressively moved forward, the Doctor's 'world' was less than usual. Cemented further in the New Year's special 'Resolution' and the plot-twist abundant Series 12, here's the evidence that something about the world the Doctor's in, does not seem usual:

The Unexpected Domination of the Stenza

Tim Shaw: You may tell your children you were once privileged to encounter Zim Shaw of the Stenza.

The Doctor: “Tim Shaw”?

Tim Shaw: Zim Shaw.

The Doctor: Tim Shaw?

Tim Shaw: Zim Sha. Soon-to-be leader of the Stenza warrior race, conquerors of the nine systems.

In Jodie Whitakers opening episode, we came face to tooth face with the gruesomly barbaric leader of the Stenza, T'zim-Sha (though his friends call him Tim Shaw.) Though Doctor Who has never been short of creating new threats for the Doctor, something a lot of fans noticed in the opening episode was the overly repetitive discussion of the Stenza as a 'warrior race' that from the sounds of it, have been plaguing the universe for a very long time. So the question for a lot of fans stands: Why have we never heard of them? Now in reality, this is a perhaps weak argument when you acknowledge creations such as the Silence and the Weeping Angels, whose debut stories appeared late into the shows history, however fans are quite certain that the appearance of the Stenza and the over-expression of their dominance over the universe was an early sign to the fanbase that something about the universe the Doctor is in, is different.

Are the Stenza the semi-equivelant of the Daleks in this potential Parallel Universe, or are they just a new threat that should be embraced much like the shows other bountiful creations?

Something is very wrong with The TARDIS

Having found her TARDIS on the planet Desolation, titled as the Ghost Monument, the alusive final post for a race across the Galaxy, the Doctor was thrilled, and so were the fans. However, it didn't take long before fans started noticing something a little bit...off, about the TARDIS. The TARDIS' difficulty with landing on the planet was mostly understandable, displaced and recently destroyed, the TARDIS has been known to be temprimental in the face of regeneration, but what fans cant' account for, are the TARDIS' actions following. In the beginning of Rosa, the TARDIS team were beginning to get frustrated with the Doctor, whose inability to pilot the TARDIS back to 21st Century Earth was becoming almost laughable. Though the TARDIS has been known for being unreliable in the past, the show made a big point of identifying that the Doctor's TARDIS was almost immediately presenting difficulties with travelling through time correctly. Is it possible that being displaced out of it's original universe, the TARDIS is struggling to navigate succesfully for the first few episodes, eventually stabilising itself as the series progresses?

What is also questionable, is the TARDIS' defences, something that a LOT of fans were becoming begrudged by in Series 12, when a grand total of three different entities entered the TARDIS (or at least very nearly entered) without invite. In Spyfall Part One, a Kasaavan easily began to push it's way through the TARDIS doors, and similiarly, in Can You Hear Me?, the mysterious Immortal appeared as an apparition in the TARDIS, before dissapearing. Finally, in the closing moments of The Timeless Children, the Doctor was taken aback by the sudden appearance of the Judoon in her vessel, capturing her through teleport and placing her in a prison. Whilst this in itself is a shocking cliffhanger, what confused fans most was the Judoon's ability to teleport directly into the TARDIS? Is something wrong with the TARDIS' defence shields, and does it have something to do with the TARDIS being out of it's original universe?

The Master is Evil...Again?

While many fans have almost instantaneously been taken in by Dhawan's fantastic performance as the Master in Series 12 of Doctor Who, a lot of fans were quick to speculate where the Masters timeline this incarnation fits. Though it would be fair to argue this is the Master immediately after Missy's 'death' on the Mondasian Colony Ship, a lot of fans were confused as to why Dhawan's Master is so intrinsically evil in comparison to Missy's tame and reformed nature that she finally discovered upon dying. Though the Master is a wild enigma and explanations are often scarce for characters such as him, fans do feel the change of heart has been rather drastic, with the Master opposing the Doctor once more without even a mention of their reformation. That does lead some fans to question whether Dhawan's Master is an incarnation between The Simm Master and Missy, but many theories have rendered that an implausible possibility due to Missy never mentioning their time with the Doctor as a woman, nor mentioning any of the Timeless Child story-arc we've since learnt.

Many fans therefore think, that if the Doctor were to have landed inside a parallel Universe, perhaps this version of the Master we are witnessing is no more than an alternate Master, seperate from Missy and her previous incarnations. Could this be what becomes of the Master who never redeemed themself with the aid of the Twelfth Doctor? And arguably, it has to questioned that, if this is an alternate universe, and that is an alternate Master, then perhaps...

Gallifrey isn't Dead After All

Does the possibility of the Doctor being trapped inside a parallel universe have any connection to how Gallifrey will one day be revived? Many fans are quite keen on the idea. With the finale of Series 12 witnessing the Master explaining the reason for his tyrannical destruction of their home planet, he and the Doctor soon faced off, which led to a creation of Cyber-Timelords, whose manipulation of regeneration energy spelt big trouble for the universe. Alas however, the Doctor, or should we say Ko Sharmus saved the day, using the Death Particle to wipe out all living matter from the planet, including all the bodies of the dead Timelords. The Doctor's people are well and truly gone.

Or are they? If this is an alternate universe, then somewhere, in the Doctor's real world, Gallifrey lives on, still in it's bubble universe, awaiting the Doctor's return. But if the mystery of the Timeless Child is true in all universes, is the real Gallifrey still in danger from the Master's discoveries?

The Abolition of UNIT & Where is Kate Stewart?

Something that has been bothering fans since the shows New Years special in 2019 is the complete lack of intervention or appearance from the Doctor's trusted army-science division: UNIT. Though many fans felt that the abolition of UNIT was merely used for a cheap jab at Brexit, a lot of theorists started to question whether the show would destroy such a big foundation of the show for such a small pay-off, and began looking for other reasons for UNIT's dissapearance. Whilst it's not unusual for the Doctor to go a long while without interacting with her friends of Earth, what does unsettle fans is the complete absence of clarification that Kate Stewart, Osgood and any of the UNIT team are even alive and well.

In correlation with the parallel universe theory, fans feel that the absense of Kate Stewart is a massive sign that something is amiss in the Doctor's current universe, perhaps suggesting that in this current universe she is subsiding within, UNIT is not as widly needed, and therefore perhaps Kate never truly pitched up post as the leader before it's disbandment. But if they are within a Universe without UNIT, does this mean that alien invasions are highly infrequent? Did the Battle of Canary Warf never happen? Did the Dalek Invasion of Earth in 2009 only occur in ours and Rose's universes? And if so, does that explain why...

The Companions Don't Remember Being Invaded

While this is perhaps not something so uncommon in Doctor Who, with Martha needing the Doctor to explain what the Daleks are just months after the Battle of Canary Wharf, Donna missing every invasion ever and Amy being affected by the crack in her wall so much she forgets vital invasions, a lot of fans are unnerved by the complete lack of acknowledgment to Earth's constant alien incursions. Whilst it's easy to argue that Yaz and Ryan were perhaps too young to remember key Invasions in the show's history, Graham is consistently amazed by the appearance of aliens and monsters, despite living through what would be atleast a handful of several different invasions. Though the show has written this off before in many ways, including in it's spin-off Class in which Tanya questions why everybody just forgets the alien attack at the Prom, many fans feel this is a glaring oversight which could easily be set right by the possibility that the Doctor's 'fam' are in fact not from the universe the Doctor usually frequents.

This idea of the companions being from a different Universe really would create problems for the Doctor, especially if she ever tried to leave, knowing that her companions wouldn't come with her.

There is also however the worry that Graham and Ryan would become aware to the possibility that their late wife and grandmother Grace O'Brien may well be alive. Interestingly, this was a topic explored in another episode which explores alternate universes, which begs the argument...

Why is the show so heavy on Alternate Universes at the moment?

Whilst this may not be something a lot of fans have immediately noticed or cared about, something interesting that has occured through the later half of Series 11 and the entirety of Series 12 is the constant discussion of 'alternate or parallel universes.' Whilst this is perhaps not unusual for the show, there have been several occasions in which the Doctor has discussed the idea of travelling into alternate universes as something impossible, yet seemingly so, it's become incredibly possible as of late. Beginning noticeably in It Takes You Away, the Doctor explores the Solitract Universe, a world which is incompatible with our own, that is so desperate to be reunited with us that it risks ultimate destruction of both worlds. Though this episode was a self-contained storyline, many fans on reflection when considering this theory do recognise that the show was beginning to subtly hint towards the belief that alternate universe's are reachable, and that it is very easy to get trapped within one, often not ever noticing anything is wrong until it's too late.

Another period of time in which the show has discussed the concept of alternate or parallel universes is in the opening episodes of Series 12, in which both Spyfall and Orphan 55 discuss the plausability of multiple realities and universes. In Spyfall, the Doctor discusses the idea that the Kasaarvan are alien spys imbedded on Earth, and when presenting to the 'fam' and O her findings, she uncovers what seems to be a map of their locations, which quickly divides into multiple different maps. The Doctor appears confused but writes it off as 'multiple Earths'. Though this is vague, this is never addressed again, and it would be idiotic to not think that the show will revisit the 'Other Earths' as the Doctor mentioned. Are the other Earth's the different universes the Kasaarvan's have also invaded, and if that is the case, is the Earth she usually frequents safe, or has Barton and his Kasaarvan spy's infiltrated Earth? And if the Kasaarvan can cross through universe's with ease, is it possible that this is how the Doctor came to be dislocated from her own universe? Besides, we've seen on many occasions, such as in Journey's End, that when the universes of the walls break down, travel across is easy. If the Kasaarvan are messing with the walls of the universes, whose to say the Doctor couldn't have passed through with ease?

The Doctor also discusses in Orphan 55, the concept of humanity's mutation as an alternate reality yet undecided. Is it possible that the Dregs are a mutation of humanity, exclusive to the universe the Doctor is trapped within? Parallel Worlds are only ever different in the slightest of ways, but whose to argue that this universe wasn't so ridiculously derailed that their future does not perhaps coincide with that of what we know Earth to become?

The Two Mary Shelleys

While this predicament with the show can easily be solved by fans immediately dismissing the Mary Shelley Big Finish Stories as not canon, this theory of the Doctor being dislocated within a parallel universe helps keep intact the sanctity of Big Finish's incredible three-part story-arc in which Mary Shelley is a companion to the charming Eighth Doctor after he lands in her garden twice in one night, once very much alive, and the other time, very much dead. Recently however, this story-arc has been up for discussion, with some fans arguing that with Shelley's sudden appearance in the show, there needs to be some explanation as to why the Doctor has met Mary on two differing occasions of the same night. If the Doctor was to perhaps have visited Mary before in the real universe, it'd be fair to say that her adventure in The Haunting of Villa Diodati could still remain practical, with this version of Mary Shelley being an alternate reality version. Why the Doctor does not recall travelling with Shelley before, and why she therefore does not question her previous arrival on that very specific night as not occuring is uncertain, but this is a minor plot-hole in the theory that there is no doubt the show could easily explain, without completely derailing the Big Finish Canon.

Is Ruth the Season 2B Doctor in this Universe?

While many fans feel the show has been controversial in it's creation of the Fugitive Doctor, played by Jo Martin in the Series 12 episode Fugitive of the Judoon, it opens the show up to a lot of alternate storylines. While many fans became content with the idea that Jo Martin's Doctor is in fact one and the same with the Timeless Child, a cycle of regenerations that the Doctor does not remember having prior to being the Hartnell Incarnation, a lot of fans are also convinced that this was a red herring in reference to Ruth, and that she is actually a seperate storyline. Many fans feel that due to the Police Box appearance of the TARDIS in Ruth's appearance, she can't possibly be an incarnation of the Doctor prior to Hartnell, and perhaps they are right. Is it possible that Jo Martin's Doctor, who we are almost certain has been working for the Division under the orders of Gat, is no less than the Season 2B Doctor who has been theorised about consistently throughout the past 40+ years of the show. Whilst this is the most favoured theory, another possibility is that, with the Doctor potentially in a parallel universe, is Jo Martin's Doctor the alternate universe version of Troughton's Doctor? This would explain why her TARDIS looks the same, and why she is working for the Division, with many fans recognising that though off-screen for the most part, Troughton's Doctor was manipulated into working for the Division on Gallifrey for a fair while before regenerating into Pertwee. Though Chibnall stated many times that Jo Martin is not a Doctor from a parallel universe, we know that the showrunner lies, and if Jodie's Doctor has been in this parallel universe her entire tenure, how fair is it to call it parallel?

Final Thoughts

Whilst all of these things may just come down to plain speculation and coincidence, it is fair to say that the show has been heavy handed recently on it's subtle hinting that the Doctor's universe is perhaps slightly unfamiliar, and though Jo Martin IS the Doctor, and the title will never be taken from her, universe's are a complex thing, especially after Kasaarvan interference and whose to say she's not an early incarnation from another universe? We are so quick to argue she's an intruder upon the Doctor we know and love, but maybe the Doctor we know and love is an intruder in this Doctor's universe. Confusing right? I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but until then, maybe go back and watch Series 11 and 12, and see if you can detect any potential 'Parallel Theory' clues that may strengthen the argument, because lets be real, we'll take any excuse to binge watch the series again.