The universe of Dr Who has a problem. When the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) hit the TV screens, he arrived with a brand new revelation - he was the last of the Time Lords, a race of near demigod aliens from the planet Gallifrey. We were told that Gallifrey was destroyed in a war against the Daleks. You'll remember the Daleks as roving dustbins with plungers and whisks for arms that are always screaming "exterminate" before utterly failing to do so. Anyway, I can't dive into that rabbithole too deeply because otherwise you'll never hear me from the locker I'll have been shoved in.

The point is, the 9th Doctor gave us something interesting never before seen in Dr Who the television show - pathos. And throughout his and the 10th doctor (David Tennant), this was explored rather well. But by the 11th doctor (Matt Smith), that well had begun to run dry. Part of the trouble is, because he's the last, there are no other time lords for him to bounce off of emotionally. Turns out, there is only so much character arc you can wring out of "I'm the very last of my species and it's all the Daleks' fault" before you just have to move on to greener narrative pastures. So, they did the unthinkable. They wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey'd their way back out of that plot dead end, and saved Gallifrey from extinction.

So, the 12th doctor (Peter Capaldi) emerged on the scene, and there were other Time Lords now in the universe! Most of his character arc was trying to figure out, if he is no longer the last of his species, what does that make him?? It turns out the answer to that question was just "I'm a weird guy who likes bouncing around the universe in his spaceship, helping people". Which is all fine, but there's no pathos in that. Another dead end character arc.

So when the 13th doctor (Jodi Whitaker) arrived, the show runners did the unthinkable again. They destroyed Gallifrey again. And the pathos is back; but at the cost of other Time Lords to bounce off of, narratively.

Basically you can see the problem. Either the character is a lonely god with no one to talk to, or he's a god with other gods to talk to but nothing to talk about! Neither one makes for truly long term convincing narrative plot arcs. The 14th doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) is making an attempt at an end run around this problem by introducing *literal* gods from outside the known universe - beings like The Toymaker, who simply don't need to obey the Laws of Physics, and are essentially magic gods who can do anything they like. They're a good foil for the doctor in terms of plot, but not in terms of depth or nuance of character arc. There's no tension, because the stakes are so abstract. When you're dealing with beings who can make and unmake reality itself on a whim, it's hard (not impossible, just really really hard) to make those stakes feel relatable on a human level.

So... Here's my suggestion.

Remember, the Daleks are explicitly Nazi-coded. Dr Who came out right after WWII, when the UK was just starting to deal with the aftermath of the war, and its emotional cost on the nation. Also remember, the 9th Doctor gave us the lore that "Gallifrey was destroyed in the war with the Daleks".

Lean in to that. If Daleks are explicitly Nazis, and it's pretty clear that the companions are explicitly coded as United Kingdom, then WHAT ARE GALLIFREYANS in this metaphor?

Answer: Gallifrey is the United States. Think about it, a weird, eccentric, but mostly friendly alien who swoops in at the last second and saves the day from Nazis? That's America.

Here's what you do. You take the statement "Gallifrey was destroyed in the war with the Daleks", said by the 9th Doctor, and you make one tiny change. Yes, it was destroyed, but it wasn't blown up. It *fell* to fascism. The Daleks (Nazis) won the time war, not by exploding the planet, but by *convincing the Time Lords (America) they were right*.

THAT'S how you fix Dr Who. Suddenly, narratively, you've got the best of both worlds. The Doctor *is* the last of the true Time Lords. But not because the others are dead, because they've been corrupted by the Daleks' fascist ideas. Now he can have his cake and eat it too. The other Time Lords (The Master, Rassilon, etc) all still exist. They're just ideologically no different from the Daleks. Hell, one of them calls himself "The Master"? The fascism is literally right in his name.

That gives the doctor PLENTY to monologue (and dialogue!) about. He's a lone survivor of a once-great civilization, waging a one-man war on two fronts, against the Daleks for being genocidal fascist freaks of nature, and against HIS OWN PEOPLE, corrupted near demi-god level time lords who are now brainwashed fascists themselves. And he's in love with the inhabitants of this one, tiny little blue corner of the universe full of silly little people who just don't know how to give up even when facing overwhelming odds.

No wonder the War Doctor seriously considered using The Moment, blowing them ALL to hell simultaneously.

Anyway, thanks for listening. I have no idea how to get this into the hands of Dr Who show runners. But Russell The Davies, if you're listening, I'll give you this one for free. You can have this one. I won't even ask for a writing credit. Just send David and Matt over to my house for a cuppa and we'll call it even.