Doctor Who: Difference between revisions

6,317 bytes removed ,  4 months ago
no edit summary
m (update links)
No edit summary
 
(92 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{work}}
[[File:The_12_Doctors.png|frame|Not pictured: The War Doctor, the Thirteenth and later Doctors<ref>[[William Hartnell]], [[Patrick Troughton]], [[Jon Pertwee]], [[Tom Baker]], [[Peter Davison]], [[Colin Baker]] (no relation to Four), [[Sylvester McCoy]], [[Paul McGann]], [[Christopher Eccleston]], [[David Tennant]], [[Matt Smith]], [[Peter Capaldi]]</ref>]]
{{outdated}}
<!-- Get pictures of the 12 doctors. War Doctor optional. -->
[[File:TV_Tropes_-_11_Doctors_-_Better_11th_Doctor_7937.png|frame|The Eleven Incarnations of the Doctor (Is it just me, or is he getting younger the longer he does this?):<ref>[[William Hartnell]], [[Patrick Troughton]], [[Jon Pertwee]], [[Tom Baker]], [[Peter Davison]], [[Colin Baker]] (no relation to Four), [[Sylvester McCoy]], [[Paul McGann]], [[Christopher Eccleston]], [[David Tennant]], [[Matt Smith]]</ref>]]
 
{{quote|''He saves worlds, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures, and [[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others|runs a lot]]. Seriously, there's an ''outrageous'' amount of running involved.''|'''Donna Noble''', in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E6 The Doctors Daughter|The Doctor's Daughter]]"}}
|'''Donna Noble'''|"[[Doctor Who/Recap/S30/E06 The Doctor's Daughter|The Doctor's Daughter]]"}}
 
Since its debut on 23 November 1963 on [[The BBC|BBC television]], the British sci-fi series ''Doctor Who'' has thrilled, entertained, and [[Nightmare Fuel|terrified]] three generations of fans worldwide. It takes place in and established the [[Whoniverse]], which has a [[Broad Strokes|very loose and lax continuity]], even discounting the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]]. It is the longest running sci-fi series in the world, bar none -- innone—in fact, the latest three actors to play the title role were all born after it started.
 
The premise of the show is simple enough: it follows the adventures of a renegade [[Time Lord]], the Doctor, and his various companions through time and space. Travelling in his time machine, the TARDIS, he meets many foes, ranging from heavily armoured robots to microbes and pollen to - well, members of his own race. The TARDIS and the Doctor's recurring enemy the Daleks have become British cultural icons and it is fair to suggest that the overwhelming majority of Britons would instantly recognize both. It is, in fact, difficult to over-state the extent to which ''Doctor Who'', ostensibly a slightly daft children-oriented sci-fi show, has become a part of the British cultural landscape. It casts as much a shadow over British culture, as one Anthropology Professor put it, as ''[[Star Trek]]'' casts over American culture; more so, in fact, as while acknowledged fans of ''[[Star Trek]]'' are still rather consistently made fun of by mainstream culture, ''Doctor Who'' is beloved by Britons of all ages and demographics. Including, as it happens, [[HMElizabeth the Queen|Her Majesty the QueenII]].
 
The show originally ran from 1963 to 1989 (with an 18 month hiatus in 1985-6 caused by [[Executive Meddling]], during which it "rested"). A canon [[Made for TV Movie]], created [[Backdoor Pilot|as a pilot]] for a revival, aired in 1996, but nothing else resulted.
Line 14 ⟶ 13:
Between 2001 and 2003, [[The BBC]] produced a series of webcasts which it considered in every way an official continuation of the series (insofar as the Beeb ever indicates what is and isn't canon). It is possible more would have been made but for a very exciting development on the television front:
 
In 2005, a [[Revival]] began. It's presented a continuation of the old series (rather than being a [[Continuity Reboot]]), with the Ninth Doctor being a direct successor to the original series incarnations ''and'' the 1996 movie's Doctor. The revival series has radically upgraded production values, shorter story arcs but much more continuity throughout, and it introduced deeper [[Character Development]] and romance to the series. The revival's sixth series finished airing October 2011. The old series lasted 26 seasons, and the new episodes are called "series". Officially, the show went from Season 26 to ''seriesSeries'' 1, and so on.
 
The show has spawned several spinoffs within its [[Whoniverse]], which tend to cross over with the main show. The main ones are:
Line 25 ⟶ 24:
It also has a behind-the-scenes [[Companion Show]] called ''[[Doctor Who Confidential]]'' which aired in 2005 and was canceled in 2011.
 
{{tropenamer}}
[[Doctor Who/Recap|Also has an episode guide.]]
* [[Alan Fridge]]: Joke announcement by [[Steven Moffat]] on [[Outpost Gallifrey]].
 
* [[Aliens of London]]: [[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E04 Aliens of London|Episode of the same name]].
Now with its very own [http://fyeahdoctorwhotropes.tumblr.com/ Doctor Who TV Tropes Tumblr].
* [[Bigger on the Inside]]: Well, aren't ''you'' going to say it about the TARDIS? (Almost) everyone else does.
 
* [[Bow Ties Are Cool]]: [[Catch Phrase]] of the Eleventh Doctor.
For more detailed information, check the [[Doctor Who/Analysis|Analysis tab]].
* [[The Brigadier]]: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, recurring character.
 
* [[Changed My Jumper]]: "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E03 The Unquiet Dead|The Unquiet Dead]]".
= Tropes =
* [[Everybody Lives]]: "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E10 The Doctor Dances|The Doctor Dances]]".
* [[Five Rounds Rapid]]: "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S8/E05 The Daemons|The Daemons]]".
* [[Immune to Bullets]]: "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S12/E01 Robot|Robot]]".
* [[Mind Probe]]: No, ''not'' the mind ''probe''. ("[[Doctor Who/Recap/20th AS the Five Doctors|The Five Doctors]]")
* [[The Missus and the Ex]]: Welcome to every man's worst nightmare. ("[[Doctor Who/Recap/S28/E03 School Reunion|School Reunion]]")
* [[The Nth Doctor]]
* [[Perception Filter]]: "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E11 Boom Town|Boom Town]]".
* [[The Slow Path]]: "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S28/E04 The Girl in the Fireplace|The Girl in the Fireplace]]".
* [[Spooky Silent Library]]: "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S30/E08 Silence in the Library|Silence in the Library]]"/ "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S30/E09 Forest of the Dead|Forest of the Dead]]".
* [[Time and Relative Dimensions In Space]]: Or "Dimension", depending on what era.
* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: Of wibbly-wobbly... er... stuff. ("[[Doctor Who/Recap/S29/E10 Blink|Blink]]")
 
{{franchisetropes}}
* For tropes used in specific episodes of the TV series, go [[Doctor Who/Recap|here]].
* For tropes used in ''Doctor Who'' media outside of the TV show, go [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|here]].
Line 40 ⟶ 51:
** The Daleks are willing to use other sentients as slaves, or let them believe they're valuable allies, but in the end they just want to kill every non-Dalek in the universe and glory in their solitary awesomeness.
** In ''Pyramids of Mars'', Sutekh the Destroyer was a [[Physical God]] and [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] with these tendencies to preclude the possibility that something that could challenge him ''might evolve''.
* [[Acting for Two]]:
** William Hartnell as the Doctor and the Abbot of Amboise in ''The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve''.
** In ''The Chase'', Peter Purves debuts as new companion Steven Taylor a few episodes after appearing in the same story as a totally different character.
** Patrick Troughton as the Doctor and Salamander in ''The Enemy of the World''.
** Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier and Caroline John as Liz Shaw play "real world" and "evil alternate universe" versions of their characters in ''Inferno''.
** Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant encounter future versions of themselves briefly in ''Day of the Daleks''.
** Tom Baker as the Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and a robot duplicate in ''The Android Invasion'' (also Ian Marter's Harry Sullivan and John Levene's Benton are also duplicated in the same way).
*** Ian Marter is similarly cloned in ''Terror of the Zygons''.
** Tom Baker as the Doctor and as Xoanon in ''The Face of Evil''.
** Tom Baker as the Doctor and Meglos in ''Meglos''.
** Mary Tamm as Romana, Princess Strella, and a robot duplicate of Strella in ''The Androids of Tara''.
** Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Ann Talbot in ''Black Orchid''.
** Peter Davison as the Doctor and Omega in ''Arc of Infinity''.
** Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith and Ricky Smith in "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel".
** David Tennant as the Doctor and the Doctor's "clone" in "Journey's End".
** Acting for Six Billion: {{spoiler|John Simm as the Master Race}} in ''The End of Time''.
** Matt Smith plays both the Doctor and {{spoiler|Prisoner Zero's version of him from Amelia's mind}} in "The Eleventh Hour".
** Matt Smith's Doctor {{spoiler|encounters a future version of himself}} in "The Big Bang".
** Michael Gambon as Kazran Sardick and his father in "A Christmas Carol".
** In the 2011 Comic Relief Red Nose Day mini-episodes {{spoiler|all three main actors play two versions of their characters}}.
** Most of the cast of "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E5 The Rebel Flesh|The Rebel Flesh]]" and "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E6 The Almost People|The Almost People]]" also play Ganger versions of themselves.
** In "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E8 Let's Kill Hitler|Let's Kill Hitler]]", Karen Gillan plays both Amy and a Teselecta copy of her.
** In "The Girl Who Waited", {{spoiler|Amy appears opposite an alternate 36 years older self}}.
** Sylvester McCoy in ''Time and the Rani'' playing as his own 7th Doctor and also having to wear a bad wig to stand in for Colin Baker's 6th as Baker refused to appear for the regeneration scene.
* [[Action Girl]]: All female companions have their moments, but most of all Sara Kingdom, Leela, Ace (who took on the Daleks ''twice'') and Rose (more so after her return in the 2008 series than her initial run).
** Barbara Wright, one of the original companions! When she's not smashing [[Mind Rape|Mind Rapist]] brains (it's more awesome in context) or destroying planet-engulfing entities, she's mowing down Daleks with an ancient truck.
** In seriesSeries 5, River Song managed to {{spoiler|fly out an airlock into the TARDIS, put her paralysis lipstick to good use, and killed a Dalek in cold blood}}.
*** {{spoiler|And before killing said Dalek, she made it plead for mercy. That's right. Mercy.}}.
** {{spoiler|And kill an entire room of Silents all by herself including a final [[Offhand Backhand]]}}.
** In "The Girl Who Waited", {{spoiler|older Amy Pond}} is one of these.
*** And in a parallel world in {{spoiler|"The Wedding of River Song"}}, shows that shecanshe can be a total badass when she {{spoiler|saves alternate timeline Rory from the Silence and leaves Madame Kovarian to die by ocular electrocution.}}.
* [[Action Prologue]]: A few [[Cold Opening|cold openings]] of the series are this.
** "The Empty Child" begins with the TARDIS chasing after a Chula warship through a time track.
Line 83 ⟶ 70:
** "A Christmas Carol" begins with a crashing spaceship with Amy and Rory on board.
** "The Impossible Astronaut" features the Doctor running through various adventures in history in succession, while Amy and Rory read from a history book about them in 2011.
** "Day of the Moon" has {{spoiler|Amy and Rory running as apparent fugitives, River falling off a building and the Doctor imprisoned in Area 51}} three months after the events of "The Impossible Astronaut". {{spoiler|Agent Canton Delaware apparently executes Amy and Rory, though it turns out to be faked.}}.
** "A Good Man Goes to War" begins with {{spoiler|a man who's centuries old and the father of Amy's child taking on the Cybermen and handing them an explosive "message" and demanding that they tell him the location of his wife}}.
** "Let's Kill Hitler" begins with Amy and Rory writing a message for the Doctor with a car.
** "The God Complex" begins with a woman being pursued by the Minotaur.
** "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" begins with the Doctor escaping an exploding spaceship and crashing into the Earth.
* [[Actor Allusion]]
** In the 2011 Christmas special, Alexander Armstrong plays a [[World War II]] pilot in a possible reference to his and Ben Miller's pilot sketch in ''The Armstrong And Miller Show''.
* [[Affably Evil]]:
** The Master (in some, but not all of his incarnations, including Roger Delgado and John Simm's portrayals).
Line 103 ⟶ 88:
* [[Air Vent Passageway]]: Used a lot, actually.
* [[Alan Fridge]]: Since the revival, a lot of tabloid stories have claimed exclusives on upcoming plots. It's a very scatter-gun result. It helped that the last minute or two of the penultimate episode and the entirety of the finales were [[Not Screened for Critics|withheld from press previews]].
* [[Alien Invasion]]: Both types, almost constantly.
* [[Alien Invasion]]: Both types, almost constantly.<br /><br />In some cases, it's not necessarily Earth that the aliens want to invade, nor is the species invaded human at all. In many future-based stories, humans are themselves the invaders. We're usually not outright malicious, but we're often quite destructive to native species, paralleling historical imperialism and colonization.
:In some cases, it's not necessarily Earth that the aliens want to invade, nor is the species invaded human at all. In many future-based stories, humans are themselves the invaders. We're usually not outright malicious, but we're often quite destructive to native species, paralleling historical imperialism and colonization.
* [[Aliens and Monsters]]: Basically contractual.
* [[Aliens Are Bastards]]:
** Foremost on the list are the Daleks; super-intelligent, genetically engineered, [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|space Nazis]] designed to feel no other emotion than hate (though they sometimes display fear and others). They are utterly fanatical about their own [[Fantastic Racism|inherent superiority]], to the point where civil wars have broken out amongst them if factions start displaying minor differences, and to where they have chosen death when "contaiminated" by foreign DNA. Their goal is nothing less than to [[Catch Phrase|exterminate]] every living thing in the universe (and, once, the multiverse) other than themselves, and they often tend to find themselves dealing with Earth.
** The Cybermen are, basically, alternate humans, from Earth's twin planet Mondas (and in the [[Russell T. Davies]] era, a parallel universe) who converted themselves into emotionless cyborgs obsessed with the survival of their race, and the best way to do that is to forcibly convert humanity into them. That they are a direct threat to mankind means that they have also sought to destroy them, or sizeable chunks, in the distant future when we manage to successfully fight back.
** The Time Lords are a race of supposed non-interventialists, but they are really a controlling and elitist, and somewhat stagnant, race of [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]]s who, as their name suggests, have mastered [[Time Travel]], amongst other technologies. Generally they are not malevolent and have plenty of decent members- notably The Doctor himself- but they throw up plenty of maniacs like the Master and the Rani, not to mention their insane founders Rassilon and Omega, amongst other miscreants. As the Time War drew to a bloody close they became a race of [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal Maniacs]]s who were ready to put an end to time itself in an effort to avoid ultimate defeat, which means they last showed up as a villain race.
** The Sontarans are an entire race of [[Blood Knight|Blood Knights]]s who are engaged in a 50,000 year war with another species, and to ensure a ready supply of troops turned to cloning, to the point where practically every living Sontaran is now a clone of someone else, resulting in a buttload of uniformity. They usually attack Earth as part of a strategy aimed at achieving victory in their war rather than any particular feelings about us, though they enjoy it when we fight back because [[War Is Glorious]].
* [[Aliens of London]]: The Doctor speaks with an [[British Accents|accent]]. ''Which'' accent depends on the incarnation. The original series Doctors mostly tended towards Received Pronunciation, Seven sounded Scottish, Eight sounded Liverpudlian, Nine Mancunian, Ten had the accent of Estuary London,<ref>as opposed to [[David Tennant|the actor's]] native Scottish accent</ref>, and Eleven has a Northampton accent.
* [[Aliens Speaking English]]: Justified due to [[Translator Microbes]]. Mostly. The TARDIS is said to feature a psychic translation facility (mentioned in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S14 E1/E01 The Masque of Mandragora|The Masque of Mandragora]]'', "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E2S27/E02 The End of the World|The End of the World]]", "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2005 CS the Christmas Invasion/Recap|The Christmas Invasion]]", and "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E2S30/E02 The Fires of Pompeii|The Fires of Pompeii]]"), but it seems to rely on the Doctor's conscious presence to complete the "circuit," as it has been shown not to work when the Doctor is unconscious or out of range.<br /><br />Other examples, such as the Daleks, the Slitheen and Matron Cofelia are explicitly speaking English (whether they've learned English or are using different [[Translator Microbes]] are never made certain; the Daleks, however, have been demonstrated speaking different languages when appropriate, such as German in Germany).<br /><br />Also, the Judoon were seen speaking English in [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E1 Smith and Jones|Smith and Jones]], but that was because they recorded a man speaking it, and then "assimilated" the language.
:Other examples, such as the Daleks, the Slitheen and Matron Cofelia are explicitly speaking English (whether they've learned English or are using different [[Translator Microbes]] are never made certain; the Daleks, however, have been demonstrated speaking different languages when appropriate, such as German in Germany).
<!-- %%The Fires of Pompeii example doesn't really illustrate this particular trope. -->
:Also, the Judoon were seen speaking English in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S29/E01 Smith and Jones|Smith and Jones]]", but that was because they recorded a man speaking it, and then "assimilated" the language.
* [[The Alleged Car]]: More like "The Alleged TARDIS" though it's in even worse shape by the 2005 series. He's had it for several centuries, and it was already ancient when he got it, yet it's still immensely powerful and advanced, even by alien standards. In "The Eleventh Hour", however, the TARDIS regenerated along with the Doctor and seems to be in a bit better shape. Two people (rather than the designed six) piloting it, as well as {{spoiler|leaving the handbrake on}} doesn't improve its poor state and [[Explosive Instrumentation]].
* [[All Myths Are True]]: And they're all aliens. Vampires, werewolves, yeti, the Loch Ness Monster; even the devil is an alien.
* [[Alternate Universe]]: Oddly enough, not extensively used. There ''are'' alternate universes in the ''Who'' multiverse—one Classic Series [[Story Arc]] took place in one called "E-Space" and the story ''Inferno'' has a [[Mirror Universe]], and the [[Russell T. Davies]] era has at least two, a [[Zeppelins from Another World]] universe and an alternate timeline world centred on Donna Noble in "Turn Left"—but travel between alternate universes seems to be extremely difficult (compared to travel in time and space, creating and controlling a black star, making dimensionally transcendental ships...) and very dangerous.
* [[The Alleged Car]]: More like "The Alleged TARDIS" though it's in even worse shape by the 2005 series. He's had it for several centuries, and it was already ancient when he got it, yet it's still immensely powerful and advanced, even by alien standards. In "The Eleventh Hour" however, the TARDIS regenerated along with the Doctor and seems to be in a bit better shape. Two people (rather than the designed six) piloting it, as well as {{spoiler|leaving the handbrake on}} doesn't improve its poor state and [[Explosive Instrumentation]].
* [[Alternate Universe]]: Oddly enough, not extensively used. There ''are'' alternate universes in the ''Who'' multiverse--one Classic Series [[Story Arc]] took place in one called "E-Space" and the story ''Inferno'' has a [[Mirror Universe]], and the [[Russell T. Davies]] era has at least two, a [[Zeppelins from Another World]] universe and an alternate timeline world centred on Donna Noble in "Turn Left"--but travel between alternate universes seems to be extremely difficult (compared to travel in time and space, creating and controlling a black star, making dimensionally transcendental ships...) and very dangerous.
** Although the Doctor states that it used to be easy to do before the Time War; since then, though, the universe(s) don't seem to like letting the travel occur.
* [[Always Save the Girl]]:
** The Doctor, particularly Ten, puts his companions (who are usually, if not always, young and female) before anyone else. Also, the new ''Doctor Who'' series suggests that his companions represent his humanity in a universe full of mass death; as seen in "The Fires of Pompeii", when Donna convinces him to go back for one family among all those destroyed in Pompeii. It's mentioned some times that he feels responsible for them because it's his fault that they are in danger, since he brought them to wherever it is they are.<br /><br />The Doctor has sacrificed two of his regenerations for a girl now. {{spoiler|And one for an elderly man.}}
:The Doctor has sacrificed two of his regenerations for a girl now. {{spoiler|And one for an elderly man}}.
** Then you have Rory:
{{quote|'''The Doctor:''' {{spoiler|All of creation has just been wiped from the sky. D'you know how many lives have now never happened, all the people who never lived? Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole universe.}}.
'''Rory:''' {{spoiler|''[["Hey You!" Haymaker|(punches him)]]'' SHE IS TO ME!}} }}
*** This also is a {{spoiler|[[Something Only They Would Say]] the Doctor uses to check whether Rory's personality has overpowered his Auton programming.}}.
** The Eleventh Doctor also saved both {{spoiler|Amy and Rory by dropping them off back home, having finally gotten [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realize the danger he puts them in.}}.
** Amy and River are gender-inverted examples. River will {{spoiler|rip the world apart in order for the Doctor not to be killed}}, and Rory is the only thing that {{spoiler|convinces older!Amy to defy all laws of time}}.
* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Jake, from "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age Ofof Steel", seems to love Ricky. A deleted scene would have confirmed it. An unusual case; since the show's return in 2005 (under openly gay producer Davies), most of the gay characters are not ambiguous in the least. Then there's the Silurian Madame Vastra and her 1880s1880's-era human maid Jenny in "A Good Man Goes to War", who in addition to being heavily teased as lesbians, are also an inter-species couple.
* [[An Asskicking Christmas]]: The Christmas specials.
* [[Ancient Astronauts]]: Earth has been visited a ''lot'' over its history. ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S13 E3 Pyramids of Mars|Pyramids of Mars]]'' is but one example.
* [[Ancient Astronauts]]: Earth has been visited a ''lot'' over its history. ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S13/E03 Pyramids of Mars|Pyramids of Mars]]'' is but one example.
* [[And I Must Scream]]: Many, many examples, some of them inflicted by the Doctor:
** The Weeping Angels in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 S29/E10 Blink|Blink]]" end up permanently frozen in stone, but still conscious.
** Borusa and the other Time Lords who sought immortality from playing the Game of Rassilon also get trapped as living stone.
** In "Midnight", the Doctor is unable to move (or speak words of his own) as the passengers drag him to the door and prepare to throw him out to be burned to death. In fact, he's forced to repeat Sky's words as she tells them to kill him.
*** The Doctor looks like he would scream if his voice hadn't been stolen.
** The fates inflicted upon the Family of Blood by the Doctor. {{spoiler|He chains Father of Mine up in chains forged at the heart of a dwarf star, seals Mother of Mine in the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy, traps Daughter of Mine in all the mirrors in the universe so you can only see her out of the corner of your eye and seals Son of Mine into one ongoing instant that stretches out through all of time, to watch over the part of England the family attacked, then dresses him as a scarecrow.}}.
** The story ''Mawdryn Undead'' features a group of scientists who attempted to steal the secret of regeneration from the Time Lords. Caught by the Time Lords, the scientists were condemned to perpetual regeneration while also being trapped on a ship that is almost completely isolated from the universe.
** In ''The Mark of the Rani'', some poor fool accidentally steps on a mine planted by the Rani, turning him into a tree. Initially this just looks stupid, but a few moments later one of the tree's branches suddenly moves to prevent Peri from standing on another mine, thus making it clear that the guy's mind still lives on inside the tree. In fact, a sarcastic comment by the Rani about how he's better off because trees live longer than humans makes things ''worse'', as he could end up tree-ified for decades, if not centuries.
Line 141 ⟶ 130:
** Cessair of Diplos is sentenced to "perpetual imprisonment" by the Megara in ''The Stones of Blood'' and is promptly turned into a standing stone in a megalithic circle.
* [[Animate Inanimate Object]]: The Nestene Autons and the Weeping Angels. The Weeping Angels are a strange example; they only move when no one is looking at them (except for that one occasion in "Flesh and Stone"), making it more like short range [[Offscreen Teleportation]].
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: Unless someone happens to be a historical figure (and [[Doctor Who/Recap/S28/E04 The Girl in the Fireplace|even]] [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31/E10 Vincent and The Doctor|then]]...), there is a good chance they will die before the end of the episode. The Doctor and his companions are not immune to death, either.
<!-- %% Please no natter about "moving between the film frames". It has nothing to do with anything here. -->
** Lampshaded in "The God Complex" with Rory commenting on the poor survival chances of characters the Doctor is friendly with. {{spoiler|Rita, the character he is friendly with, later dies}}.
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: Unless someone happens to be a historical figure (and [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E4 The Girl in The Fireplace|even]] [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 E10 Vincent and The Doctor|then]]...), there is a good chance they will die before the end of the episode. The Doctor and his companions are not immune to death, either.
** Lampshaded in "The God Complex" with Rory commenting on the poor survival chances of characters the Doctor is friendly with. {{spoiler|Rita, the character he is friendly with, later dies.}}
* [[Apocalypse How]]:
** Every point on the scale has either been threatened or carried out by now. ''Especially'' X and X-2. Xs happen almost once a season, multiple times in a few episodes. The Time War managed to pull an X-3. The revival's season finales are usually a threatened or averted X-4. There have been two Class Z Threats in the modern series. {{spoiler|'''''Not to mention a Z-3.''''' Creation got better}}.
* [[Apologises a Lot]]: The Tenth Doctor tends to do this, though the person whom he's apologizing to is usually in some kind of horrible state of existence that is irrevertible.
* [[Arc Words]]: A staple of both the [[Russell T. Davies]] and [[Steven Moffat]] eras.
** Series 1 had the phrase Bad Wolf. {{spoiler|It's Rose Tyler [[Physical God|after staring into the heart of the TARDIS.]] }}.
** Series 2 had Torchwood.
** Series 3 had various mentions of a Mr Saxon, evidently the a public office figure running for Prime Minister. {{spoiler|Who is later revealed to be the Master.}}.
** Series 4 was chock full of them, tied together by a theme of things disappearing. First there was talk of vanishing bees, then planets, then moons, and finally Wilfred's "the stars are going out." {{spoiler|This all turned out to be due to the Daleks and their planet-stealing operation.}}.
*** Unusually, Series 4 also had arc words specific to each of the two main characters. The Doctor had "she is returning,", while Donna Noble had the thoroughly unsettling "there's something on your back." In addition to that, The Doctor also referred to The Shadow Proclamation on several occasions before it was properly revealed.
** Series 5 had "cracks" which is spoken often but also emphasized visually. Near the end most episodes, after the Doctor had left, the camera would linger on some part of the scenery where a mysterious crack similar to the one that appeared in the first episode of the series had appeared, {{spoiler|later revealed to be a result of the TARDIS exploding on June 26, 2010.}}. The cracks played a more prominent role in some episodes than others.
** Several times in Series 6, a hatch opens in a nearby wall, revealing woman with a silver eyepatch, who says a few words to Amy and vanishes. {{spoiler|It's [[Names to Run Away From|Madame Kovarian]], who has abducted the real Amy and is trying to [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E7/E07 A Good Man Goes to War|steal Amy's baby to raise as a]] [[Laser Guided Tykebomb]]}}.
** The Moffatt era has its own arc words: "Silence will fall."
*** Expanded in seriesSeries 6 to "Silence will fall when the question is asked."
** Series six adds [[Ironic Nursery Tune|"Tick-Tock goes the clock."]] It's the first verse of a recurring nursery rhyme. The second verse changes each time but always refers to {{spoiler|the Doctor's impending death.}}
** Perhaps the biggest arc words spanning the whole series is: "Doctor Who?"
* [[Armor-Piercing Question]]: The oldest question in the universe, one the Doctor has been running away from for his whole life: ''{{spoiler|[[Title Drop|"Doctor who?"]]}}''
** {{spoiler|Although the real problem posed by this question is the fact it will be asked in a place and time where no being may lie or fail to answer.}}.
* [[An Asskicking Christmas]]: The Christmas specials.
* [[Attack Backfire]]: In the episode "Vincent and the Doctor", the [[Monster of the Week]] [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|seemed to enjoy]] the sonic screwdriver.
* [[Author Tract]]: ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S10 E5/E05 The Green Death|The Green Death]]'' ([[Green Aesop]]), ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S22 E4/E04 The Two Doctors|The Two Doctors]]'' (vegetarian), "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E4S27/E04 Aliens of London|Aliens of London]]"/"[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E5S27/E05 World War Three|World War III]]", ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S15 E4/E04 The Sun Makers|The Sun Makers]]'' (anti-corporatism), ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S9 E2/E02 The Curse of Peladon|The Curse of Peladon]]'' (pro-EEC), ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S11 E4/E04 The Monster of Peladon|The Monster of Peladon]]'', ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S26 E1/E01 Battlefield|Battlefield]]'' (anti-Nuclear weapons).
* [[Auto Kitchen]]: The food dispenser in the Tardis.
* [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other|Aww, Look She Really Does Love Him]]: Though she doesn't often show it, Amy really does love Rory. This is made clear in "Day of the Moon".
{{quote|I love you. I know you think it's him (referring to the Doctor). I know you think it ought to be him. But it's not. It's you.}}
* [[Back-to-Back Badasses]]: The Eleventh Doctor and River Song against the Silence in "Day of the Moon".
* [[Back for the Dead]]: The Master. ''Three times''.
* [[Back-to-Back Badasses]]: The Eleventh Doctor and River Song against the Silence in "Day of the Moon".
* [[Badass]]: Every incarnation of the Doctor for starters, and many of his companions and allies. The villain teams aren't lacking in this quality either, with the Master and Davros standing out.
* [[Badass Boast]]:
Line 175 ⟶ 162:
** Proof that, for the Doctor at least, it sometimes doesn't need many words to be Badass.
{{quote|'''Eleventh Doctor''': ''(Shows one of the Monsters of the Week a nice long clip of himself kicking ass on every kind of alien to mess with Earth, EVER)'' Hello, I'm the Doctor. Basically... '''run.'''}}
 
{{quote|'''Eleventh Doctor''': There's one thing you never put in a trap if you're smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow there's one thing you never ever put in a trap...
''' {{spoiler|Angel}} Bob''': What's that, sir?
'''Eleventh Doctor''': '''Me'''. }}
** For more, see the quotes page.
* [[Badass Crew]]: Collectively, the Doctor's companions, as noted by Davros, are [[Badass Nickname|The Children of Time.]]
Line 189 ⟶ 175:
** Davros. No matter how many times the Daleks turn on him, they always need him back to save the Dalek race.
* [[Batman Gambit]]:
** Twice in Series 5, {{spoiler|the freakin' ''Daleks''}} pull one on {{spoiler|the Doctor}}.
** Twice in series 5, {{spoiler|the freakin' ''Daleks''}} pull one on {{spoiler|the Doctor}}.<br /><br />First, in {{spoiler|"Victory of the Daleks", they let him declare himself as the Doctor and identified his enemies. This was exactly what the Daleks wanted, as their Progenator wouldn't recognize their spoiled DNA. They needed their oldest and most powerful enemy to tell the Progenator who they were, setting off the creation of a new bigger, badder, and [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|technicolor]] Dalek race. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]...}}<br /><br />Then, in {{spoiler|"The Pandorica Opens", they let the Doctor fall straight into the Pandorica, supposedly trapping him for good.}}
:First, in {{spoiler|"Victory of the Daleks", they let him declare himself as the Doctor and identified his enemies. This was exactly what the Daleks wanted, as their Progenator wouldn't recognize their spoiled DNA. They needed their oldest and most powerful enemy to tell the Progenator who they were, setting off the creation of a new bigger, badder, and [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|technicolor]] Dalek race. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]}}...
:Then, in {{spoiler|"The Pandorica Opens", they let the Doctor fall straight into the Pandorica, supposedly trapping him for good}}.
** The Seventh Doctor is a master [[Chessmaster]] setting up all the pieces and having his enemies and friends effortlessly go where he wants them to go in order to save the day... at first glance. However, many of the TV stories involving this aspect of his character end up revolving around the sudden realisation that something is happening that he didn't actually plan for (such as two factions of Daleks seeking out the Hand of Omega rather than one), or someone does something that he didn't expect, necessitating a frantic run-around as he desperately tries to improvise some stop-gap solution to get things back on track.
{{quote|'''Doctor:'''I don't suppose you've completely ignored my instructions and secretly prepared any Nitro-9, have you?
Line 195 ⟶ 183:
'''Doctor:''' And naturally, you wouldn't do anything so insanely dangerous as to carry it around with you, would you?
'''Ace:''' Of course not. I'm a good girl and do what I'm told.
'''Doctor:''' Excellent. Blow up that vehicle. }}
** The Tenth Doctor is taken to task by Davros for doing precisely this. Davros points out to the Doctor that he makes a big point of how pacifistic he is, while at the same time manipulatively turning those around him into the kind of people who will blow up their own planet to stop an invasion.
** The Tenth Doctor is pretty fond of this -- [[Obfuscating Stupidity|feigning ignorance]] and getting himself captured so he can be brought face to face with the bad guy of the week. Ninth plays around with it too -- "I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."
* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]:
** The Doctor does this a ''lot''. [[Applied Phlebotinum|Psychic paper]] helps... unless the viewer happens to be psychic enough to see through the illusion, like everyone working for Torchwood, or intelligent enough, like [[William Shakespeare]]. Though lies too big will actually break it, as seen in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2010 CSACS A Christmas Carol/Recap|A Christmas Carol]]", when it refuses to say he's "widely acknowledged as a mature and responsible adult".
** In "Aliens of London", he gets out of being held at gunpoint by a room full of armed soldiers by using this -- whenthis—when a scream sounds from another room he yells, "Defense plan Delta! Come on!" and runs out of the room, and they all instinctively follow his orders, even though he's presented no identification at all.
** In ''Silver Nemesis'', the TARDIS arrives in the present day on the grounds of a castle and the Doctor approaches the little old lady he sees confidently, telling Ace, "Act like we own the place... Always works. We own the place." Ace has to point out that the woman they're approaching really does own the place -- andplace—and the place is Windsor Castle.
** The 7th used this to much better effect in ''The Curse Of Fenric,'', wandering onto a secret naval base, bypassing a patrol holding them at gunpoint by barking orders and nitpicking about uniform cleanliness, breezing into an office and proceeding to write his own letter from the War Office, which he promptly hands over to yet more soldiers as proof of his right to be there.
** Used in ''The War Games'' to get into a military prison. One of the most impressive uses in the series - the Doctor has been convicted of espionage in wartime and has escaped from prison. He is not in uniform, or even a proper suit, and he has a gaping HOLE in the knee of his trousers, and yet managed to bluff the Prison commander for a solid chunk of time just by knowing what to say and shouting loudly.
* [[BBC Quarry]]: Filled in for dozens of planets over the years - and not necessarily just for ''Doctor Who''. An anecdotal account exists of the ''Doctor Who'' and ''[[Blake's Seven7|Blakes Seven]]'' crews shooting in the same quarry on the same day.<ref>some humourless fans have exhaustively compared location shooting dates for the two shows and determined that this could never have happened</ref><br /><br />Subverted in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S14 E2 The Hand of Fear|The Hand of Fear]]'', in which the TARDIS arrives in what turns out to be an actual quarry. Similarly, in the [[Virgin Missing Adventures|Missing Adventures]] novel ''The Shadow of Weng-Chiang'', the Doctor is taken to a quarry, and compares it to the landscapes of Gallifrey and Skaro. Likewise for ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S13 E1 Terror of the Zygons|Terror of the Zygons]]'', where the Doctor escapes the Zygon ship after it lands in what is described as "a disused quarry".
:Subverted in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S14/E02 The Hand of Fear|The Hand of Fear]]'', in which the TARDIS arrives in what turns out to be an actual quarry. Similarly, in the [[Virgin Missing Adventures|Missing Adventures]] novel ''The Shadow of Weng-Chiang'', the Doctor is taken to a quarry, and compares it to the landscapes of Gallifrey and Skaro. Likewise for ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S13/E01 Terror of the Zygons|Terror of the Zygons]]'', where the Doctor escapes the Zygon ship after it lands in what is described as "a disused quarry".
* [[Belief Makes You Stupid]]: Religion has never come off particularly well in ''Doctor Who'' and the series contains many examples of people worshipping things like mad computers or empty spacesuits in the mistaken belief that they were gods.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]:
** The Tenth Doctor practically personifies this trope. When pushed too far, he's been known to dish out a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] and even commit genocide.
** The mild, polite Fifth Doctor has one of the highest onscreen body counts for the entire series. He also looked on and did nothing while the Master ''burned alive.''.
** The goofy Seventh Doctor might blow up your planet, and he's not above using his own companions [[The Chessmaster|as pawns]].
** The Tenth Doctor didn't kill the members of the Family Of Blood; instead, he [[And I Must Scream|kept them alive but put them in hellish prisons that they cannot die in but cannot escape from]] because they [[Be Careful What You Wish For|wanted immortality]] at any cost.
Line 214 ⟶ 203:
{{quote|''"Basically... '''run.'''"''
''"You gave me hope and then took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me."''
''"Good men don't need rules. [[Badass Boast|Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.]]"'' }}
** [[Adorkable]] Rory "[[Always Save the Girl|Nurse-Boy]]" Williams aka "[[Memetic Badass|The Lone Centurion]]" - 'Nuff said.
* [[Big Bad]]: The revival series manages a couple.
** The first series had the megalomaniac Dalek Emperor and his revived army of Daleks.
** The second series kicked off with the equally megalomaniac John Lumic and his version of the Cybermen. The season finale featured the return of Cybermen, now led by a generic Cyber-Leader, but they spend half the time [[Evil Versus Evil|competing]] [[Big Bad Ensemble|with]] {{spoiler|Dalek Sec and the Cult of Skaro}}.
** The third series ''did'' show a two-part re-appearance of {{spoiler|the Cult of Skaro}}, but it's ultimately [[The Master (trope)|The Master]] that takes center-stage by the finale.
** The fourth season finale had Davros and his resurgent Dalek empire, but {{spoiler|Davros is just a representative this time around, while the Supreme Dalek is the one calling the shots. }}.
** The Silence, a religious order primarily made up of creepy make-you-forget-they-exist aliens and [[Large Ham]] lackeys, are shaping up to be the [[Big Bad]] of the [[Steven Moffat]] era. They were an unseen [[The Man Behind the Man|man-behind-the-man]] villain in seriesSeries 5, causing the cracks in time that almost erased the universe from existence and drove most of that series' villains away from their homes and towards the Doctor. They made their onscreen debut in seriesSeries 6 {{spoiler|with a convoluted and almost-successful assassination attempt on the Doctor}}, and all indications are that they'll be back in future series of the Moffat era.
** In the classic series, the Black Guardian was the [[Big Bad]] of two separate story arcs: The Key to Time arc and what was later known as the Black Guardian Trilogy.
** Also in the classic series, the Valeyard was the [[Big Bad]] of seasonSeason 23 (''The Trial of a Time Lord''). Depending on how far you want to stretch the definition, the Master might qualify as such from seasonSeason 8 and 9, as well.
* [[Big Creepy-Crawlies]]: The Zarbi in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S2 E5/E05 The Web Planet|The Web Planet]]''; the Wirrn in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S12 E2/E02 The Ark in Space|The Ark in Space]]'', The Eight Legs from ''Planet of the Spiders'', the giant beetle on Donna Noble's back in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E11 Turn Left|Turn Left]]", Chantho in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 S29/E11 Utopia|Utopia]]" and the giant wasp in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E7S30/E07 The Unicorn and Thethe Wasp|The Unicorn and the Wasp]]".
* [[Bigger on the Inside]]: The TARDIS.
{{quote|'''The Fourth Doctor:''' That's because it's dimensionally transcendental.
'''Companion:''' What does that mean?
'''Doctor:''' That means it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. }}
* [[Big Labyrinthine Building]]: theThe TARDIS.
** Also the hotel in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 /E11 The God Complex|The God Complex]]"- complete with a Minotaur!
* [[Bi the Way]]: Jack Harkness, along with the rest of the 51st century.
* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]]:
** Any number of critters, not least of which is the Doctor himself--hehimself—he can do things like regenerate, re-grow hands, and absorb radiation, transform it into a form harmless to humans, and expel it through his ''foot''. Oh, and he has two hearts.
** The giant beetle on Donna Noble's back in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E11 Turn Left|Turn Left]]" could create an alternate reality from your memories when attached.
** The Aplans, and the Doctor's Godmother, who both we're told had two heads.
{{quote|"A godmother with two heads and very bad breath... twice.}}
* [[Blatant Lies]]:
** From the [[Villain of the Week]] to the Doctor himself, you can usually find at least one example of this per an episode. The Doctor's abuse of the psychic paper has become so egregious it sometimes outdoes the [[Magic Tool|sonic]] [[Everything Sensor|screwdriver]]. Perception filters [[Depending on the Writer|range from]] generating an [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]] field to outright sensory illusions.
*** In "A Christmas Carol", The Doctor tells Kazran he is a mature and responsible adult, then pulls out the psychic paper to prove it. It doesn't work.
{{quote|The Doctor: "Finally, a lie too big."}}
** In a non-psychic paper example in "Planet of the Dead": No Christina, the Doctor will leave the Cup of Aethelstan ''just as he left it''. Cue hammers.
* [[Blond Guys Are Evil]]: The Editor from "The Long Game" and {{spoiler|the Master}} in ''The End of Time''.
* [[Blood Knight]]: The Sontarans. Unlike the Daleks, who want to destroy everything out of a sense of racial supremacy, the Sontarans just love to fight and need no particular motivation beyond that.
* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: ''Usually.'' A few stories have gotten pretty gory - ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S13 E5/E05 The Brain of Morbius|The Brain of Morbius]]'' featured a pretty graphic blood squib when Condo gets shot, and the sheer bloodiness of Season 22 may have contributed to the show's first hiatus. As a family show, the series mostly shies away from graphic violence. Due to the BBC's current attitudes, the show has been far less violent after its return than before its cancellation, though the classic series' violence was often undercut by its endearing phoniness.
* [[Body Horror]]:
** The Ood Industries leader in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E3S30/E03 Planet of the Ood|Planet of the Ood]]" mutates into an Ood himself. In the mini-episode "Death Is the Only Answer", [[Albert Einstein]] also undergoes this, albeit only temporarily.
** Done in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E12 The Stolen Earth|The Stolen Earth]]", when Davros reveals he gave himself to the Daleks...''literally''...he grows them from ''cells in his own body.'' Normal cloning procedure? In his enthusiasm, he ended up using up most of the flesh on his chest, baring his rib cage - ''you can see his heart beating''.
** The people becoming water bloated, ruptured skin sporting, dead eye having monstrosities in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E16 The Waters of Mars|The Waters of Mars]]".
** The classic serial ''Revelation of the Daleks'', with the human slowly being turned into a Dalek inside the glass Dalek.
** In "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E9S27/E09 The Empty Child|The Empty Child]]"/"[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 S27/E10 The Doctor Dances|The Doctor Dances]]", the gas mask transformation.
** Lazarus from "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E6S29/E06 The Lazarus Experiment|The Lazarus Experiment]]"'s transformation into an "evolutionary reject" definitely qualifies.
** There's also the Wirrn from ''The Ark in Space''.
** "The Rebel Flesh"/"The Almost People" has {{spoiler|Ganger Jennifer}} finding interesting/terrifying ways to change her body, eventually settling on some sort of {{spoiler|gangly demonic hellbeast, all while retaining her original face, more or less.}}.
* [[Bond One-Liner]]: Plenty, but [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31/E02 The Beast Below|Liz 10]] gets in a pretty good example after blowing away one of The Smilers:
{{quote|"I'm the bloody queen, mate; basically, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|I rule]]."}}
* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: Given how long running the series was it was inevitable this trope would crop up. In fact virtually every Doctor and companion underwent this trope or the milder [[Brainwashed]] trope at some point in the series as well as guest characters in some stories.
* [[Brandishment Bluff]]: In "Victory of the Daleks", the Doctor convinces the Daleks that a jammie Dodger (a type of cookie) is a super weapon.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: The Eighth Doctor is much more sentimental than most of the other Doctors...he was also the one who fought in the [[Beware the Nice Ones|Time War]]. You can see how badly he got broken by observing the Ninth Doctor, who is probably the most aggressive and angry of the Doctors to date.
* [[Britain Is Only London]]: Considering that the TARDIS can travel anywhere and any''when'' in the universe, a disproportionate number of episodes in the [[Russell T. Davies]] era take place in present-day London. (As well as near-future London, 1953 London, 1969 London, 1987 London, Elizabethan London, London in the Blitz and Victorian London.)
** Averted in [[Steven Moffat]]'s first series, seriesSeries 5, where of the six stories set in the UK, <ref>there's a seventh if you count the Starship UK from "The Beast Below"</ref> only two are London-based. Two of seriesSeries 6's seven stories set or partially set in UK also take place in London, and even then, neither are as the central focus. Moffat's production staff have lampshaded that focusing action on London has started to be a cliché.
<!-- %%% Victory of the Daleks, The Big Bang, Vastra's scenes in A Good Man Goes to War and The Wedding of River Song. A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler is counted as a two-parter. -->
* [[British English]]: To be expected with most of the characters, but phrases like "''send for'' another" and "Vaporized ''the lot''" sound a bit strange in Jack Harkness' American accent. He also calls his tank top a "vest" at one point.
** However, Capt. Jack has been living in the UK for more than 100 years. Enough time to even learn Welsh.
** Peri, who was supposed to be American, only used British slang to avoid confusing British viewers.
** A Tennessee-born New Yorker in "Daleks in Manhattan" uses the word "lorry" instead of "truck.".
* [[British Series]]: Do we really need to explain?
* [[Broad Strokes]]: The series abandons and introduces new concepts and twists on old concepts that were never previously mentioned, and often never mentioned again. Big as it is, the series can get away with this easily.
* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: The Doctor. A complete list would be too long.
* [[By-The-Book Cop]]: Subverted; the Judoon strictly obey the letter of the law - but their "book" allows for a lot of [[Cowboy Cop]] or even [[Knight Templar]] behavior on their part.
* [[Call Back]]: Done rather spectacularly in "The Almost People", wherein {{spoiler|The Flesh version of}} the Doctor quickly runs through lines from his previous incarnations.
{{quote|'''The Doctor:''' Would you... like a jelly baby?}}
** In the episode "The Poison Sky", The Doctor puts on a gas mask and says "Are you my mummy?".
** "Let's Kill Hitler" was full of them. Of course, for at least one character it's really a {{spoiler|call forward.}}.
* [[Camp]]: The classic series is retrospectively looked at as this, especially the Nathan-Turner years. Davies also deliberately added his own camp moments when he was on the show.
* [[Canine Companion]]: K-9.
* [[Cardboard Prison]]: Stormcage, where River is incarcerated. She escapes so often that they go on high alert whenever someone sees her packing. At one point, she phones them to cancel the alert; she's breaking back in, not out.
<!-- %%% -->
<!-- %% Cargo Ship is YMMV, and either way, do not add the TARDIS, as the TARDIS is not inanimate. -->
<!-- %%% -->
* [[Cash Cow Franchise]]: The BBC has been prompt to capitalize on the show's newfound success since it returned. Two decades of [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]] literature and audio also probably help.
* [[Cast Incest]]: [[David Tennant]], the Tenth Doctor, is married to [[Georgia Moffett]], who played the title character in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E6 The Doctors Daughter|The Doctor's Daughter]]", and ''is'' the daughter of 5th Doctor actor [[Peter Davison]], who interestingly enough is one of Tennant's favorite Doctors. They have a kid, too.
* [[The Cast Showoff]]: Matt Smith originally trained as a footballer, before a back injury made him change careers. His football talents come into play in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 E11 The Lodger|The Lodger]]".
** Katherine Jenkins in the 2010 Christmas Special. Of course she sang.
** [[Peter Davison]], a avid cricketer, got to play a full match while filming ''Black Orchid''. The game he played on screen was the only perfect game he had ever bowled.
** [[Jon Pertwee]] jumped at any excuse during the show to show his interest and skill in motor vehicles of any sort. Consequently, he was the only Doctor to drive motor vehicles (Bessie and the Whomobile) on a regular basis.
** Early on in his run, Sylvester McCoy would show skills of his from his old vaudeville act, such as playing spoons. As the show got [[Darker and Edgier]], and as the Doctor's character became [[The Chessmaster|more complex]], such displays were discarded.
* [[Catch Phrase]]:
** Nearly every Doctor has at least one. See the [[Doctor Who/Characters|List of characters.]]
Line 290 ⟶ 270:
** The Simm incarnation of the Master seems to have made his catchphrase "Oh NO you DON'T!"
* [[Catfolk]]: The Sisters of Plentitude in the episodes "New Earth" and "Gridlock".
* [[Chaos Entity]]: The Black Guardian embodies the force of chaos in the universe and uses this element throughout it.
* [[Character Development]]: The First Doctor started off as someone, who'd in a moment of desperation, tried to bash in a injured man's skull in, to escape the present danger. He was stopped by a Human who called him on this, even though he was someone the Doctor had belittled as beneath him until then. This might explain why all of his later companions are mostly Human, because they do ''stop'' him, when he goes too far. [[Russell T. Davies]] and [[Steven Moffat]]'s runs seem to embrace this interpretation.
** Some companions also get their fair share. Notable examples from the revived series include Jack Harkness, Donna Noble and Rory Williams.
* [[Charm Person]]: Craig is certain the Eleventh has this power. Specifically, telling anyone to hush and them doing it.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The Doctor's Hand. ''Three times.''.
** "The Christmas Invasion" (Dec 2005), it gets chopped off in a swordfight above Earth. It is (at some point) picked up by Captain Jack.
** ''[[Torchwood]]'', Series 1 (2006-072006–07), Jack has a mysterious hand in a container for the entire first series.
** "End of Days" (''Torchwood'') /"Utopia" (Jan/June 2007), Jack hears the TARDIS and sees the hand respond ([[Chekhov's Gun|bang]]), grabs it, and joins the Doctor.
** "The Sound of Drums" (June 2007), The Master uses the Doctor's DNA (from the hand) in order to age him to reflect how old he actually is ([[Chekhov's Gun|bang]]).
** "Last of the Time Lords" (June 2007), The Doctor takes back his hand and leaves it in the TARDIS.
** "Journey's End" (July 2008), After being shot by a Dalek, {{spoiler|the Doctor sends his regeneration energy into the hand and continues his adventure}}. Unknown to him, {{spoiler|the hand grows into a full clone of the Doctor and imbues Donna with the Doctor's mind, effectively creating ''three Doctors''}}, two and a half years after the hand was first cut off. ([[Chekhov's Gun|BANG]])
{{quote|'''Captain Jack Harkness:''' {{spoiler|Three Doctors?}}? [[Twin Threesome Fantasy|I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now]].}}
* [[The Chessmaster]]: {{spoiler|Dalek Caan, to name one.}}.
** The Seventh Doctor, definitely.
** And the Eleventh Doctor more and more, especially in Series 6.
* [[Chewing the Scenery]]:
** The Wire from "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E7S28/E07 The IdiotsIdiot's Lantern|The Idiot's Lantern]]" is HHUNNNNGGGRRRYYYYYY.
** IT'S YOUR FATHER, FROM "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 S28/E11 Fear Her|FEAR HER]]", AND I'M COMING TO HURT YOU.
** Son of Mine, '''''SIR''''', from "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E8S29/E08 Human Nature|Human Nature]]", '''''SIR''''', and ''[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E9S29/E09 The Family of Blood|The Family of Blood]]'', '''''SIR'''''.
** '''[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 S29/E13 Last of the Time Lords|HERE. COME. THE. DRUMS!]]''' The Master knows it's '''''[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E17 E18 The End of Time|DINNERTIME!!]]'''''
** '''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S17 E5/E05 The Horns of Nimon|Myyyyyyy DREEEAAAAMS of CONNNNN-QUEEEST!!!!]]'''
* [[Cliffhanger Copout]]: The programme did this many times. The most (in)famous is probably from ''Dragonfire'', in which The Doctor dangles himself over a precipice because the episode was coming to an end, and [[Pseudo Crisis|just...climbs out of it next episode]].
* [[Christmas Episode]]: The aforementioned comedy episode, "The Feast of Steven", the first (and, until New Who, only) episode to air on Christmas Day, which had no continuity to the main serial ''The Daleks' Master Plan''. In New Who, an annual series of specials, which between 2005 and 2009 doomed London (usually, but not always present day London) in some way. Aliens also threaten the Earth in 2011's episode, though it's not the primary plot.
* [[Cliffhanger Copout]]: The programme did this many times. The most (in)famous is probably from ''Dragonfire'', in which The Doctor dangles himself over a precipice because the episode was coming to an end, and [[Pseudo Crisis|just...climbs out of it next episode]].
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]:
** The Fourth Doctor's coat would change depending on the "genre" of the particular serial. The yellow-brownish one was more for adventure, red for action, and grey for horror or mystery.
Line 319 ⟶ 300:
** The rejuvenated Daleks have different colored casings to identify their functions, but thus far we haven't seen enough of them for it to really make a difference. Black Daleks are usually called "Supreme" and have leadership positions. And when they were divided into two factions in ''Remembrance of the Daleks'', they had different colors as well.
* [[Conqueror From the Future]]: The Master, the Daleks, and several others over the years.
* [[Contrasting Sequel Character]]: This TV series loves this trope, the latter's the reason why the [[The Nth Doctor|Nth Doctor]] exists.
* [[Continuity Cavalcade]]: Rose and Sarah Jane trying to one-up one another in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E3 School Reunion|School Reunion]]".
* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: In "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E06 Dalek|Dalek]]", a single Dalek manages to wipe out an entire base full of trained elite soldiers (and is only defeated because it decides to destroy ''itself''). More recent episodes have seen entire armies of the supposedly terrifying and insurmountable space-Nazis regularly thwarted by a combination of [[Reverse Polarity|technobabble]] and [[A Wizard Did It|genetic wizardry]].
:In-universe, it's strongly implied that the lone Dalek was moments from being thoroughly blasted by the Doctor, and vast armies of Daleks are treated as the end of the world rather than Mooks. In practice, trope is fully in effect, though this seems to be more a case of the Doctor being able to beat the Daleks each time they appear regardless of the numbers even though they are a tremendous in-universe threat. Pretty much every time the Doctor isn't present or isn't really invested in their enemy surviving ({{spoiler|aka when Daleks fight the Cybermen, both were enemies and if either survived the survivor would take over the world}}) the result is that the Daleks pretty much [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb stomp their opponent]] {{spoiler|with the only real exception being the Time Lords themselves who were still losing. The Cybermen lose easily, and let's not forget that it took minutes for them to subdue earth in spite of tremendous preparations specifically for this eventuality}}.
{{quote|'''Rose''': Five million Cybermen, no problem. One Doctor? ''Now'' you're scared."}}
* [[Continuity Cavalcade]]: Rose and Sarah Jane trying to one-up one another in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S28/E03 School Reunion|School Reunion]]".
{{quote|'''Sarah Jane''': I saw things you wouldn’t believe!
'''Rose''': Try me.
'''Sarah Jane''': [[Doctor Who/Recap/S13 E3/E03 Pyramids of Mars|Mummies.]]<br />
'''Rose''': [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E3S27/E03 The Unquiet Dead|I’ve met ghosts.]]<br />
'''Sarah Jane''': [[Doctor Who/Recap/S12 E1/E01 Robot|Robots. Lots of robots.]]<br />
'''Rose''': [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E4S27/E04 Aliens of London|Slitheen.]] [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E5S27/E05 World War Three|In Downing Street.]]<br />
'''Sarah Jane''': [[Doctor Who/Recap/S11 E3/E03 Death to Thethe Daleks|Dal]][[Doctor Who/Recap/S12 E4/E04 Genesis of the Daleks|eks!]]<br />
'''Rose''': (smugly) [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 S27/E13 The Parting of the Ways|Met the Emperor.]]<br />
'''Sarah Jane''': [[Doctor Who/Recap/S13 E2/E02 Planet of Evil|Anti-matter monsters!]]<br />
'''Rose''': [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E9S27/E09 The Empty Child|Gas-mask]] [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 S27/E10 The Doctor Dances|zombies!]]<br />
'''Sarah Jane''': [[Doctor Who/Recap/S11 E2/E02 Invasion of the Dinosaurs|Real living dinosaurs!]]<br />
'''Rose''': [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E2S28/E02 Tooth and Claw|Real living werewolf!]]<br />
'''Sarah Jane''': [[Doctor Who/Recap/S13 E1/E01 Terror of the Zygons|The. Loch Ness. Monster!]]<br />
'''Rose''': (Stunned) Seriously? }}
** Several references to past adventures take up the Battle of Demon's Run in "A Good Man Goes to War".
** Anniversary episode ''Remembrance of The Daleks'' was chock-full of these.
* [[Continuity Drift]]: Poster child.
** Even the main character's ''name'' has been subject to this: The original treatment, and early scripts and end titles, are not at all clear about the idea that the Doctor's name is not "Doctor Who". This wasn't firmly established until later.
** The Daleks could almost have their own page for this. In the original encounter, the Daleks had been living in their underground city for only a few hundred years, waiting for the radiation from a nuclear war to fade, only to discover their mutated forms needed radiation to survive. Their self-created "travel machines" could only operate on powered metal surfaces,<ref>This was later bypassed with a power-receiving antenna dish mounted on their backs, but even that was soon forgotten.</ref>, and even in-story stuck to smooth surfaces, ramps, and elevators. They were cold and cruel, but by no means super-intelligent. They were defeated in the Doctor's first encounter, before they had a chance to ever leave their city. By the time the new series got into action, they had become computer-integrated, universe-conquering, flying battle machines.
** The Cybermen didn't achieve their trademark appearance until the Second Doctor serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S6 E3/E03 The Invasion|The Invasion]]'', their fifth appearance, and only gained a weakness to gold dust in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S12 E5/E05 Revenge of the Cybermen|Revenge of the Cybermen]]''. ''Silver Nemesis'' flanderized this into an extreme weakness to all forms of gold.
* [[Continuity Nod]]:
** [[Steven Moffat]] loves to make numerous references, both in dialogue and in the background, to past on-screen adventures.
** After being subjected to painful "decontamination", a rather weak Eleventh Doctor asks his captors if they have some celery. The Fifth Doctor enthusiastically eats celery after his difficult regeneration in ''Castrovalva'', and wears a stick of it stuck to his lapel from then on.
** Eleven's theft of his new outfit from a hospital locker room can't be anything but a nod towards the way the Third Doctor acquired his wardrobe forty years before. The Eighth Doctor did this, as well. Must be a theme.
** In "The Doctor's Wife", the Doctor remarks to a patchwork person "I once had an [http://wilybadger.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/sixth_doctor.jpg umbrella] like you."
** Blink-and-you-miss-it example: In the 1985 story ''Revelation of the Daleks'', Davros gets his only functioning hand shot clean off. His hand is concealed inside {{spoiler|his Dalek Emperor disguise}} in the next story, ''Remembrance of the Daleks'', but in the 2008 episode "The Stolen Earth", he sports a shiny new robotic hand.
** The birth of Ganger!Doctor in ''"The Almost People''" was shaky at best. According to the Doctor, it was having a hard time coping with the memories of his past regenerations. It spoke dialogue from the first, third, fourth, and tenth Doctors (using the actual voices of the latter two). Topics of conversation included [[Reverse Polarity|neutron flows]] and [[Trademark Favorite Food|jelly babies]].
* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: In "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E6 Dalek|Dalek]]", a single Dalek manages to wipe out an entire base full of trained elite soldiers (and is only defeated because it decides to destroy ''itself''). More recent episodes have seen entire armies of the supposedly terrifying and insurmountable space-Nazis regularly thwarted by a combination of [[Reverse Polarity|technobabble]] and [[A Wizard Did It|genetic wizardry]].<br /><br />In-universe, it's strongly implied that the lone Dalek was moments from being thoroughly blasted by the Doctor, and vast armies of Daleks are treated as the end of the world rather than Mooks. In practice, trope is fully in effect, though this seems to be more a case of the Doctor being able to beat the Daleks each time they appear regardless of the numbers even though they are a tremendous in-universe threat. Pretty much every time the Doctor isn't present or isn't really invested in their enemy surviving ( {{spoiler|aka when Daleks fight the Cybermen, both were enemies and if either survived the survivor would take over the world}}) the result is that the Daleks pretty much [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb stomp their opponent]] {{spoiler|with the only real exception being the Time Lords themselves who were still losing. The Cybermen lose easily, and let's not forget that it took minutes for them to subdue earth in spite of tremendous preparations specifically for this eventuality.}}
{{quote|'''Rose''': Five million Cybermen, no problem. One Doctor? ''Now'' you're scared."}}
* [[Cosmic Retcon]]:
** The Time War makes history far more malleable and rewritable, and effectively wipes out Gallifrey and Skaro, as well as most of their residents, from history.
Line 354 ⟶ 337:
* [[Crazy Consumption]]:
** {{spoiler|The Master}} in ''The End of Time''.
** The Wire in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E7S28/E07 The IdiotsIdiot's Lantern|The Idiot's Lantern]]"...FEED ME...
** {{spoiler|The second Doctor, being turned into a cannibalistic Androgum}} in'' [[Doctor Who/Recap/S22 E4/E04 The Two Doctors|The Two Doctors]]''.
* [[Creepy Changing Painting|Creepy Changing Statue]]: The Weeping Angels who by biological necessity only move when you can't see them but then move very ''very'' fast.
* [[Creepy Child]]:
** In ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S25 E4/E04 The Greatest Showinthe Galaxy|The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]'', ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S25 E1/E01 Remembrance of the Daleks|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'', "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E9S27/E09 The Empty Child|The Empty Child]]"/"[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 S27/E10 The Doctor Dances|The Doctor Dances]]", "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E8S29/E08 Human Nature|Human Nature]]"/"[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E9S29/E09 The Family of Blood|The Family of Blood]]", "[[Recap/Doctor Who NS 32 E 9 Night Terrors|Night Terrors]]" and "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 S28/E11 Fear Her|Fear Her]]". Heck, the entire series started with Ian and Barbara wondering why Susan was such an [[Doctor Who/Recap/S1 E1/E01 An Unearthly Child|"Unearthly Child."]].
** The Emergency Pilot's form of a young girl in "The Lodger" could be counted as one of these.
* [[Creepy Children Singing]]: The show has used this since at least ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', where the Doctor is hunted through a series of abandoned warehouses whilst Creepy Children sing "Ring-a-Ring-o-Roses" in the background; it isn't clear if he can hear them or not. The new series uses it in the Series 6 episodes "Night Terrors", "Closing Time", and "The Wedding of River Song".
* [[Crew of One]]: Rarely has the Doctor had a companion who could fly the TARDIS, or do much of anything besides simple button-pushing. And on the occasion a companion or foe ''does'' pilot it, it's still just the one. Though in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E13 Journeys End|Journey's End]]", the Doctor pointed out that a TARDIS is supposed to be piloted by six people at once, and the reason it has so much [[Explosive Instrumentation]] going on is because the Doctor isn't ''quite'' filling in perfectly for the other five - though the fact it runs at all is probably proof that he's just that good.
* [[Criminal Doppelganger]]:
** In ''The Massacre of St Bartholemew's Eve'', one of the villains just happens to look like the First Doctor (William Hartnell).
Line 367 ⟶ 350:
** In ''The Face of Evil'', the villain Xoanan takes on the image of the Fourth Doctor.
** In ''Meglos'', the villain deliberately invokes this trope by using alien technology to make himself look like the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), plus he had his android double in the Android Invasion.
** Subverted in "The Almost People". {{spoiler|The Doctor's "Ganger"}} appears to join the rest of them, only to plant the seeds of dissent, nurture them, and finally help to fix the whole problem of the fighting between the Gangers and the humans. {{spoiler|It's also actually the Doctor himself, and not his Ganger.}}.
<!-- %%% -->
<!-- %% Leave the Crowning Moments to the pages please -->
<!-- %%% -->
* [[Cruel Mercy]]: The Doctor is very, very good at this.
* [[Crystal Spires and Togas]]: Gallifrey, usually, and several other alien examples. Gallifrey may be a subversion; the crystal spires and togas help hide the stagnation and decay of Time Lord culture: a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|sufficiently advanced]] alien society that has rested on its laurels for ten million years.
Line 378 ⟶ 358:
* [[Cuteness Proximity]]: The Doctor is this with K9.
* [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]]: The Cybermen, one of the earliest examples of this trope, as they first appeared in 1966.
 
 
== D-F ==
* [[Damsel in Distress]] and [[Dude in Distress]]: The Doctor, in varying degrees throughout all his incarnations; most if not all of the companions, whether male or female, at some time or another; assorted bystanders of both sexes. Seriously, having someone taken prisoner or menaced by the [[Monster of the Week]] is one of the standard plots.
* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: The Master, at least when played by John Simm. He even likes to [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] when he should make a typical villain mistake and doesn't. Hell, his first step of {{spoiler|taking office as prime minister was to kill all of his 'advisors,' as every one of them had abandoned their parties and candidates to latch onto him and would likely treat him the same way.}}
* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: The Master, at least when played by John Simm. He even likes to [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade]] when he should make a typical villain mistake and doesn't. Hell, his first step of {{spoiler|taking office as prime minister was to kill all of his 'advisors', as every one of them had abandoned their parties and candidates to latch onto him and would likely treat him the same way}}.
* [[Dark Secret]]: Everything about the Doctor.
{{quote|'''Reinette''': Doctor? Doctor Who? ''It's more than just a secret, isn't it?''}}
* [[Dawson Casting]]:
** Typically, a teenage companion will be played by someone much older. Billie Piper is far closer to her character's age than other actors who play teenagers. Averted by Matthew Waterhouse (18, when he started) and Sarah Sutton (19, when she started) in the classic series.
** Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill (who we first saw playing their characters after they'd left school) played secondary school versions of Amy and Rory when they were 23 and 29 in "Let's Kill Hitler".
* [[Deadly Rotary Fan]]: In "The End of the World", the Doctor must [[Death Course|navigate a series of these]] in order to reach an [[Malevolent Architecture|otherwise inaccessible]] switch.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: The Doctor is quite susceptible to this, as is the Master, though various companions do this, mostly as a defence mechanism.
{{quote|'''Ninth Doctor''': (''narrowing down the Slitheen's homeworld'') What else? Hyphenated surname! YES! That narrows it down to one planet: Raxacoricofallapatorius!
'''Mickey''': Great, we can write 'em a letter. }}
* [[Death By Pragmatism]]
* [[Death Is Cheap]]: The Master has [[Deader Than Dead|died on-screen without regenerating]] no less than {{spoiler|three}} times. It's never stopped him from coming back for more. The show doesn't even bother to explain why his possessed Trakenite body is alive again in "''The Mark of the Rani"'', after burning to death in ''Planet of Fire''.
** The [[Russell T. Davies]] era has seen "Thethe end of the Daleks" no less than three separate times, and yet everyone's still surprised when more Daleks show up. They wised up after a bit--outbit—out of those three "ends of the Daleks,", two happened in seriesSeries 1. After that, they made a point of ensuring that at least one member of the Cult of Skaro survived each encounter, until Russell T Davies decided to go out with a bang and did them in again at the conclusion of seriesSeries 4. Naturally, this meant Steven Moffat had to go and dig them up again, but he's been careful to keep them alive since.
* [[Death Ray]]: ''Everywhere.''.
* [[Death Seeker]]: All of the incarnations of the Doctor following the Time War have shades of this.
* [[Deconstruction]]: Since its reboot in 2005, the show has been gradually deconstructing itself. The Doctor is, as always, an eccentric man with a saviour complex whose mystique both entices and frightens people, and these traits have increasingly tended towards tragedy for him. It started with realistic problems finding their way into the story, like a companion's family assuming her dead and the emotional fallout that resulted, and got worse. [[Russell T. Davies]] made a huge jab at the Doctor's character in "Midnight", when all of the Doctor's normal methods of controlling a situation backfire entirely, and he is almost killed because of it. Soon after, in "Journey's End", he is shown his "true colours" when his companions are prepared to destroy themselves and the Earth if need be to stop the Daleks' plan. Since [[Steven Moffat]] took over the show, things have only gotten bleaker at an increasing rate, and by the end of seriesSeries 6, the Doctor has practically lost all faith in himself and is basically a [[Death Seeker]].
* [[Defeat Equals Friendship]]: notNot a running theme, but in "A Good Man Goes to War", Madame Vastra and Commander Strax are two old foes of the Doctor's, turned into allies.
* [[Development Gag]]
* [[Damsel in Distress]] and [[Dude in Distress]]: The Doctor, in varying degrees throughout all his incarnations; most if not all of the companions, whether male or female, at some time or another; assorted bystanders of both sexes. Seriously, having someone taken prisoner or menaced by the [[Monster of the Week]] is one of the standard plots.
* [[Divine Chessboard]]: In whole-season spanning story arc ''The Key To Time'' there were the White and Black Guardians.
* [[CowboyMedia BebopResearch at His ComputerFailure|Doctor Who In His Tardis]]: It's become generally accepted, by fans and production alike, that The Doctor's name is '''''not''''' "Doctor Who", but the media doesn't seem to know this. Even the end titles sometimes list the character as "Doctor Who". (Thatthat last is less [[Egregious]] of an error in early episodes, when the name distinction wasn't firmly established yet.).
* [[Dramatic Irony]]: The Silence are the distilled essence of dramatic irony, since everyone else in the show can only remember they exist when they're looking at them.
* [[Driving Question]]: "Doctor ''who''?" It's been asked an ungodly number of times, and as of seriesSeries 6, {{spoiler|it's the oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight, and must never '''''ever''''' be answered. "Silence must fall when the question is asked."}}
* [[During the War]]: The Time War and World War II are only the obvious examples.
* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: The show was originally conceived of as a strictly children's program with a strong ''educational component''. Several early episodes take place in a "real-world" historical setting, with the only "sci fi" element being how the characters got there. The doctor is prone to making speeches about how things work, often directed spoken to the camera. This has all but disappeared even a few seasons in, with it becoming a pure adventure show.
Line 410 ⟶ 386:
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: Many villains are these. The Doctor [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|beats them anyway]]. Justified, as he is on a par with them in some ways. Physically, he's human except for [[Bizarre Alien Biology]], but he's over 1100 years old and uses [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Sufficiently Advanced Technology]] and the time vortex as playthings.
* [[Eldritch Location]]: The TARDIS in ''The Edge of Destruction'', The Impossible Planet in "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit", the Earth in "The Hungry Earth", House/House TARDIS in "The Doctor's Wife".
* [[Empathic Weapon]]: The Moment, in the fiftieth-anniversary special, ''"The Day of the Doctor''".
* [[Enforced Method Acting]]: According to [[Word of God]], Alex Kingston (River Song), [[Karen Gillan]] (Amy), and Arthur Darvill (Rory) all know certain things about their character that haven't been revealed. These details have been intentionally withheld from Matt Smith. So when he doesn't know something, he really doesn't know.
* [[Epic Hail]]: Whether it's his old companions hailing the Doctor, the whole population of Earth hailing the Doctor, the Time Lords hailing the Master, or Rose Tyler hailing ''herself'', the [[Russell T. Davies]] era ''loves'' to put an [[Epic Hail]] in his season finales. Series 2 is the only one he missed.
* [[Eternal Hero]]: As a hero who saves the world in different ages, on different planets, and in different incarnations, The Doctor is a certifiable hero of mythological scope.
* [[Eureka Moment]]: The Tenth Doctor meets River and has no idea who she is, although she clearly knows him very well. He spends the whole episode trying to puzzle out who she is to him in the future, and while he never gets his suspicions confirmed for certain, you can just see him clicking when one of their companions gets sick of their constant bickering and snaps. "We're all about to die, and the two of you are standing around {{spoiler|arguing like an old married couple!"}} As River would say, "Penny in the air... annnnd the penny drops!"
* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|Everyone Calls Him Doctor]]
* [[Evil Counterpart]]: The Master, the Rani, the Valeyard. The Master's laser screwdriver.
** {{spoiler|The Valeyard in particular, since he actually IS the Doctor gone wrong.}}.
* [[Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor]]: Several examples, though the Slitheen are probably the most obvious.
* [[Evil Me Scares Me]]:
** The Valeyard.
** Also, {{spoiler|the Dream Lord.}}.
* [[Evolving Music]]: The theme tune over the years.
* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: Stories with "of the" in the title, i.e. "''The Tomb of the Cybermen"'', "''Resurrection of the Daleks"'', "''Terror of the Autons"'', etc.
* [[Expanded Universe]]: In a word, ''huge''. At least two hundred original novels covering all eleven Doctors, over 100 audio dramas made by [[Big Finish]] covering Five through Eight, and around forty-five years' worth of comics. There are several EU companions who have become well-known among the fandom. See [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]].
* [[Explosive Decompression]]: Exceptions. Several times.
* [[Exposed Extraterrestrials]]: Slitheen, when not in human suits. Also, Silurians in ''Doctor Who Andand Thethe Silurians'' and ''Warriors Fromof Thethe Deep.''. Averted in ''Doctor Who And The Sea Devils'' due to a concern about "naked Sea Devils running around on telly at teatime."
* [[Exposition Beam]]: The Doctor, Eleven in particular, has the [[Psychic Powers|interesting ability]] to mind-meld information into other people's heads without having to explain it verbally, or the target having to be conscious, or even ''alive at the time.'' In cases of emergency, where a lot of information has to be imparted very quickly, The Doctor will opt to '''HEADBUTT''' the person in question, rather than simply mind-meld with them!
* [[Exposition of Immortality]]: ''Doctor Who'' does this all the time. Whether it's a serial [[Big Bad]] being outed as an alien who's been on Earth for centuries or the Doctor himself's longevity via regeneration. Encounters with recurring enemies the Cybermen and the Daleks frequently went hand in hand with a montage of past episodes or declamations by either side about their past encounters. It's a little confusing due to time travel being involved, but the Doctor definitely qualifies, as he himself keeps on aging in between encounters, and there's often several hundred years or both his and his enemies time between each confrontation.
* [[Extra-Strength Masquerade]]: During Classic Who. New Who (and by extension ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' and ''[[Torchwood]]'') seem to have stopped this. As seriesSeries 5 and 6 have few-to-no contemporary invasions, it's difficult to judge if they're continuing this.
* [[Faceless Goons]]: Sontarans (literally clones behind their masks), Judoon, Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, and so many more...
* [[Fake Defector]]: Adric. Unfortunately, he does this [[Doctor Who/Recap/S18 E4/E04 State of Decay|so]] [[Doctor Who/Recap/S19 E2/E02 Four to Doomsday|many]] [[Doctor Who/Recap/S19 E3/E03 Kinda|times]] that the fandom regularly mistakes him for "always siding with the villain."
* [[Fan Service Pack]]:
** Nyssa and Tegan both changed their looks to get more attractive during the Fifth Doctor's second year.
Line 438 ⟶ 413:
* [[Fauxshadow]]: The parenthood of Amy's baby. A lot of twists in the show are like this, but the prologue of "A Good Man Goes to War" goes out of its way here:
{{quote|'''Amy''': He’s the [[Last of His Kind]]. He [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|looks young, but he’s lived for hundreds and hundreds of years]]. [...] [[Wham! Line|this man is your father]]. He has a name, but the people of our world know him better as {{spoiler|The Last Centurion}}.}}
** The show also tried to keep this going till the last possible moment, with the Doctor remarking, while pointing at the baby, that "it's mine.". He meant the cot, of course.
* [[Females Are More Innocent]]: The original show ran for a quarter century and had a large number of villains yet in that time period only about 10 were women, and only one or two of theme appeared in the shows first 15 seasons.
* [[Feudal Future]]: Various planets the Doctor's landed on, from time to time.
* [[Fingertip Drug Analysis]]:
** The Doctor's [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] lets him taste things safely...including ''human blood''. "Planet of the Dead" goes further; he can sense traces of cities and mountains in the ravaged world of San Helios' sand.<br /><br />In "The Eleventh Hour", he can tell the exact age of a shed by licking it.<br /><br />In "Day of the Moon", he can tell {{spoiler|where the TARDIS-blue envelopes from the previous episode were made from licking}}.
:In "The Eleventh Hour", he can tell the exact age of a shed by licking it.
* [[Five-Man Band]]: During the Eleventh Doctor's era.<br />[[The Hero]]: The TARDIS<br />[[The Lancer]]: The Doctor. (the above two are interchangeable)<br />[[The Big Guy]]: Rory Williams, {{spoiler|at least after he becomes the Centurion}}.<br />[[The Smart Guy]]: River Song<br />[[The Chick]]: Amy Pond
:In "Day of the Moon", he can tell {{spoiler|where the TARDIS-blue envelopes from the previous episode were made from licking}}.
** During the Third Doctor's exile to Earth<br />[[The Hero]]: The Doctor<br />[[The Lancer]]: The Brigadier<br />[[The Big Guy]]: Sergant Benton<br />[[The Smart Guy]]: Liz Shaw/The Doctor<br />[[The Chick]]: Jo Grant<br />[[Sixth Ranger Traitor]]: Captain Yates
* [[Five-Man Band]]:
** First Doctor's initial group<br />[[The Hero]]: Barbara/Ian<br />[[The Lancer]]: The Doctor<br />[[The Big Guy]]: Ian<br />[[The Chick]]: Susan<br />[[The Smart Guy]]: The Doctor/Barbara<br />[[Team Pet]]: The TARDIS
** During the Eleventh Doctor's era:
** The Children of Time ("The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End")<br />[[The Hero]]: The Doctor<br />[[The Lancer]]: Jack/Donna/Wilf<br />[[The Smart Guy]]: The Doctor/Mickey<br />[[The Chick]]: Rose/Martha<br />[[The Big Guy]]: Jack
*** [[The Hero]]: The TARDIS.
*** [[The Lancer]]: The Doctor (the above two are interchangeable).
*** [[The Big Guy]]: Rory Williams, {{spoiler|at least after he becomes the Centurion}}.
*** [[The Smart Guy]]: River Song.
*** [[The Chick]]: Amy Pond.
** During the Third Doctor's exile to Earth:
*** [[The Hero]]: The Doctor.
*** [[The Lancer]]: The Brigadier.
*** [[The Big Guy]]: Sergant Benton.
*** [[The Smart Guy]]: Liz Shaw/The Doctor.
*** [[The Chick]]: Jo Grant.
*** [[Sixth Ranger Traitor]]: Captain Yates.
** First Doctor's initial group:
*** [[The Hero]]: Barbara/Ian.
*** [[The Lancer]]: The Doctor.
*** [[The Big Guy]]: Ian.
*** [[The Chick]]: Susan.
*** [[The Smart Guy]]: The Doctor/Barbara.
*** [[Team Pet]]: The TARDIS.
** The Children of Time ("The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End"):
*** [[The Hero]]: The Doctor.
*** [[The Lancer]]: Jack/Donna/Wilfred.
*** [[The Smart Guy]]: The Doctor/Mickey.
*** [[The Chick]]: Rose/Martha.
*** [[The Big Guy]]: Jack.
* [[Flat What]]: Shows up from time to time.
** Pretty much a catchphrase for the Tenth Doctor.
** One example: at the end of "Time Crash", when {{spoiler|the TARDIS crashes into the Titanic}}.
** Amy would appear to have a taste in these, such as in "The Eleventh Hour", {{spoiler|when she sees the hidden door in her own house.}}.
** There are dueling Flat Whats when The Doctor first meets Donna Noble.
* [[Flying Car]]:
Line 461:
* [[Forever War]]: Sontarans versus the Rutans. It's been going on for 50,000 years as of "The Poison Sky", and is still going at least 10,000 years after ''that'' in ''The Sontaran Experiment'' with no end in sight. Both sides are perfectly fine with this.
* [[For the Funnyz]]: Leave it to the Doctor to make quips and resort to measures with an amusing/ironic edge.
* [[For Want of a Nail]] / [[In Spite of a Nail]]: Occasionally even in the same adventure.
* [[Fourth Wall Shut-in Story]]: This is the trap in The Land of Fiction in the serial ''The Mind Robber'': defeat the (supposed) Big Bad by writing yourself into a story as the hero.
* [[Friendly Enemy]]: The Master. Particularly so, since that he and the Doctor ''used'' to be friends as children on Gallifrey. Despite everything they do each other, they still want the other alive.
* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: Come ''on'' now... there's one that's been used several dozen times over on this page alone.
* [[Fur Bikini]]: Leela.
* [[Future Imperfect]]: Cassandra really really sucks at history. Highlights include believing the ostrich had a wingspan of 50 feet and was able to breathe fire, and thinking a jukebox is an iPod.
* [[Future Me Scares Me]]: The Valeyard.
 
 
== G-I ==
* [[Gambit Pileup]]: Common in stories involving the Master and/or the Daleks.
* [[Gambit Roulette]]
* [[Gender Bender]]: It was hinted that regeneration can do this in ''The End of Time'', and confirmed in "The Doctor's Wife", in which the Doctor mentioned that this has happened to another Time Lord, the Corsair, on several occasions. And it finally happened to the Doctor, in the regeneration from Twelve to Thirteen (Jodie Whittaker).
* [[Genius Breeding Act]]: In one episode, Rattigan explains his master plan for a new world to the other [[Teen Genius|Teen Geniuses]]es he'd collected, and mentions that he's written up a breeding program. They are appropriately appalled.
* [[Genius Cripple]]: Davros. C'mon, he's eyeless, has one arm, and is in a Dalek-base wheelchair.
* [[Genius Loci]]: The TARDIS, others, House in "The Doctor's Wife".
* [[Genre Roulette]]: borderlineBorderline [[Genre Busting]] at times. It did so even more in the era of William Hartnell, who played the First Doctor, before the series had quite settled into its format. As showrunner [[Steven Moffat|The Grand Moff]] put it: "Sometimes it's comedy, sometimes thriller, sometimes horror, sometimes children's stories, the silliest stories you've ever seen. Sometimes it's all that in the same episode"
** On the Nerdist podcast, Matt Smith praised the format for not being bound by "logic, time, space, or genre."
* [[Genre Savvy]]:
** After various aliens make a mess of London each Christmas for two years in a row, in "Voyage of the Damned", people keep away from shopping in central London the following Christmas Eve.
** River Song is remarkably genre-savvy, to the point where on at least one occasion she made the very remark the audience was thinking at the time.
** River may well have gotten her genre-savviness from Rory Williams, who displays a lot more caution than most companions for this very reason (and almost immediately understood how the TARDIS could be [[Bigger on the Inside]], much to the Doctor's annoyance).
Line 486:
** Moffat seems to love this trope. The Doctor/Amy scene at the end of "Flesh and Stone" springs to mind, especially this particularly [[Egregious]] exchange:
{{quote|'''Eleventh Doctor:''' Listen to me! I'm 907 years old. Do you know what that means?
'''Amy:''' It's been a while? }}
** A made for DVD scene included in the Series 5 box set expands on this further, with Amy discussing former companions in the same way a girlfriend might ask her boyfriend how many women he's slept with...
{{quote|'''Eleventh Doctor:''' ''(as the TARDIS shows Amy photos of all previous female companions)'' Thanks, dear. Miss out the metal dog, why don't you?
'''Amy:''' Is that a ''[[Continuity Nod|leather bikini]]''? }}
** Any mention of [[The Virgin Queen|The "Virgin" Queen]], Elizabeth I.
** In "The End of the World", Jabe goes through a list of possible relationship statuses between the Doctor and Rose, such as wife, concubine etc... until she eventually suggests "prostitute?"
Line 495:
** In "New Earth", on top of the numerous boob and butt jokes, Cassandra also explains that her new skin comes from the back of her body, which prompts this delightful exchange:
{{quote|'''Rose:''' Rrrriiight! So you're talking out of your a-
'''Cassandra:''' [[Curse Cut Short|Ask. Not.]] }}
** Also in "New Earth".
{{quote|'''Cassandra:''' At last I can be revenged on that little...
(cut to Rose and the Doctor)
'''Rose:''' Bit rich, coming from you. }}
** Amy and Rory's outfits in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2010 CSACS A Christmas Carol/Recap|A Christmas Carol]]".
** This particularly dodgy exchange in "The Doctor Dances".
{{quote|'''Jack:''' Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?
'''Doctor:''' What? You never been bored? Never had a long night? }}
** In the 2005 episode "Dalek", the use by the character Henry Van Statten of the term "spooning", in a sexual context, raised a mini firestorm of controversy with viewing watchdog groups who apparently were so outraged at such a thing they missed van Statten uttering the curse word "goddamn" in the same episode - the first and to date only time such a strong word has ever been used on ''Doctor Who'' which, remember, airs at teatime on a Saturday.
** Series 6's opener "The Impossible Astronaut" had this exchange...
{{quote|'''Doctor:''' Shout if you get in trouble.
'''River:''' Don't worry, I'm [[Immodest Orgasm|quite the screamer.]] Now ''there's'' a spoiler for you... }}
** Series 6's mid season finale has several, including:
{{quote|'''River:''' Two Doctors, that's another birthday.}}
** Very similar one when a time crisis causes the TARDIS to materialise inside the TARDIS, resulting in two Amys.
{{quote|'''Doctor:''' Oh great, so this is how it all ends. Pond flirting with Pond. True love at last...Sorry, Rory.
'''Rory:''' [clearly in awe] Absolutely no problem at all... }}
** Series 6 finale: "River Song came twice."
** In "The Shakespeare Code", the victim in the teaser that was eaten by the Carrionites clearly wanted to get into bed with Lilith.
* [[Ghost City]]: Several examples, notably the Exxilon city in ''Death to the Daleks'' and the seemingly-abandoned Dalek city in ''The Daleks''.
* [[Ghost Planet]]: "Planet of the Dead", ''The Daleks'', "Silence in the Library".
* [[God-Emperor]]: A favorite position of Dalek leaders, being used by both the Emperor of the Dalek and even more so by Davros.
* [[A God Am I]]:
** {{spoiler|The Doctor}} snaps and starts giving off [[Death Note|Light Yagami]] vibes in "The Waters of Mars". He got better though, when reality makes it clear that it's not going to take that shit.
Line 523 ⟶ 524:
** {{spoiler|The Time Lords}} in ''The End of Time''.
** The Dalek Emperor.
** In ''The Armageddon Factor'', The Doctor makes a point out of how easily this could happen by having the Key to Time.
* [[God-Emperor]]: A favorite position of Dalek leaders, being used by both the Emperor of the Dalek and even more so by Davros.
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: ''The Pirate Planet'' and ''The Happiness Patrol''.
* [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation]]: What happens to some Time Lord when they are Initiated.
* [[Government Agency of Fiction]]: UNIT and Torchwood, among others.
* [[Great Offscreen War]]: The Time War, taking place at a scale so epic it broke space and time.
Line 534:
* [[Helmets Are Hardly Heroic]]: UNIT never wear helmets, or even ''body armour''.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]:
** The Ninth Doctor goes catatonic for minutes when Rose appears to have been vaporized in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 S27/E12 Bad Wolf|Bad Wolf]]".
** The Tenth Doctor is seen to do this on a couple of occasions (most notably "The Stolen Earth") when his insane ingenuity has failed him and he can't think of anything to do--hedo—he simply stands there, motionless, his face blank and fixed. It's fairly creepy, in fact.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Extremely, extremely common. A couple of the Doctors have done it too.
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Rather, He Who Outsmarts Monsters After The Mundanes Fail Miserably At [[Five Rounds Rapid]]. Hell, the Doctor has been asked ''twice'' if he's scared of monsters, and always replies, "No. [[Badass Boast|They're scared of me.]]"
* [["Hey You!" Haymaker]]: Used by the Brigadier in ''The Five Doctors'', when he taps the Master holding the Doctors at weapon point and slugs him, saying "Nice to see you again."
<!-- %%% -->
* [[Hidden in Plain Sight]]: The TARDIS, plus many times when characters barely conceal themselves in an alcove or behind a pillar until the monsters pass by (all monsters have limited peripheral vision). Known by some as a "quantum hide".
<!-- %% Please place Hey, It's That Guy! and Hey, It's That Voice! in the Trivia namespace. -->
<!-- %%% -->
* [["Hey You!" Haymaker]]: Used by the Brigadier in "The Five Doctors" when he taps the Master holding the Doctors at weapon point and slugs him, saying "Nice to see you again".
* [[Hidden in Plain Sight]]: The TARDIS, plus many times when characters barely conceal themselves in an alcove or behind a pillar until the monsters pass by (all monsters have limited peripheral vision). Known by some as a "quantum hide."
** The first Question.
* [[The Highwayman]]
* [[Historical In-Joke]]: Hello, it's a show with ''time travel''... In fact, this trope is so common the jokes frequently mutate into running gags, like the one about the "Virgin" Queen.
* [[Home, Sweet Home]]: The Doctor never evinces this, but it causes some companions to leave.
* [[Hopeless War]]: {{spoiler|The Last Great Time War ended up as one of these. Countless soldiers were being killed and revived in time loops, the crossfire was spawning cosmic horrors by the truckload, and the Time Lords were so desperate to survive they brought back Rassilon, whose victory plan amounted to destroying the rest of the universe so they could become beings of pure thought. The Doctor had to wipe out both sides rather than let either of them "win".}}.
* [[How's Your British Accent?|How's Your Scottish Accent]]: [[David Tennant]] as the Tenth Doctor "faking" a Scottish accent in "Tooth and Claw.".
* [[Human Alien]]: Excepting some physiological differences that aren't readily apparent (the two hearts thing, etc.), Gallifreyans are indistinguishable from humans, at least on the outside.
{{quote|'''Christina:''' You look human.
'''Tenth Doctor:''' You look Time Lord. }}
 
{{quote|'''Amy:''' You look human.
'''Eleventh Doctor:''' No, ''you'' look Time Lord. We came first. }}
** The companions Adric, Nyssa, Turlough and Astrid are neither humans nor Time Lords, but are physically indistiguishableindistinguishable from either.
** Countless other alien species from the Thals to the race of Appalapucia are physically identical to humans.
* [[Humanity Is Infectious]]
* [[Human Outside, Alien Inside]]: Time Lords have two hearts with a redundant circulatory system, a low body temperature, a respiratory bypass system, an ability to regenerate from death twelve times, a lifespan of potentially hundreds of years per body, and a complete additional sensorium tuned to temporal events.
* [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]]:
** A number of stories have shown future humans abusing (or ''enslaving'') other humans or aliens, for example ''The Ark'' and "Planet of the Ood". As Gwen says in ''[[Torchwood]]: Children of Earth'', "Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame."
** The episode "Midnight" offers a rather different, but still very disturbing, flavor of this.
** [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E02 The Beast Below|"Nobody talk to me! Nobody]] '''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E02 The Beast Below|HUMAN]]''' [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E02 The Beast Below|has anything to say to me today!"]]
** [[Humans Are Good]]: However, this is also inverted just as often if not more.
* [[Humans Are Morons]]:
** In the first season, there comes a moment when the Doctor wonders why he likes humans so much, seeing as we have "such limited brains.".
** His later incarnations seem to have pretty much the same thought. Indeed, when he's not going on about the marvelousness of humanity (a particular feature of the Tenth Doctor), he's ranting about how stupid/blind/ignorant they are. Sometimes in the same episode.
** In "The Impossible Planet", the Tenth gave a passion-filled mini-speech about how marvelous humans were. With his next breath he talked about how stupid they were.
Line 575 ⟶ 571:
* [[Hurl It Into the Sun]]:
** According to "Amy's Choice", the Doctor threw the TARDIS' manual into a supernova.
** It's actually shown in "The Big Bang", {{spoiler|when the Doctor flies the Pandorica into the sun (which is actually the exploding TARDIS) to restart the universe.}}.
* [[Hyde Plays Jekyll]]
* [[Iconic Item]]: The sonic screwdriver, especially post-2005, where it commonly appears in publicity pictures.
* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: ''Warriors of the Deep'' and the ''Terror of the Vervoids'' section of ''The Trial of a Time Lord''. Also, the end of the Time War: it was established during the Ninth Doctor's run that the Doctor had ended the War by killing all the Daleks ''and'' the Time Lords, he revealed in ''The End of Time'' the reason he'd done so was that after years of war, the {{spoiler|Time Lords had become just as vicious and brutal as the Daleks, and would have been an even worse threat to the universe.}}.
* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: Many Dalek-centric serials (mostly in the classic series, but the revival has occasionally made nods to it) have been titled "[blank] of the Daleks". The Nathan-Turner era stories used the theme of R-words like "Resurrection", "Revelation" and "Remembrance".
* [[I Lied]]:
** The Cybermen in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E14 The Next Doctor|The Next Doctor]]".
{{quote|'''Mercy Hartigan''': You promised me I would never be converted!
'''Cyber-Lord''': That was designated: a lie. }}
** Lady Christina in "Planet of the Dead", right before kissing the Doctor.
{{quote|''Remember when I said I hated you? I was lying.''}}
Line 591 ⟶ 587:
* [[I Meant to Do That]]:
** When River Song manages to pilot the TARDIS better than he does, pointing out several features he didn't know about, the Doctor insists that it's better the way he does it because it's more interesting in a tone that clearly suggests he had no idea it could do that.
** From the seriesSeries 6 commercials. The Doctor is talking about how he can go anywhere in time and space, and that now he's in the most amazing place of all.
{{quote|'''Doctor''': Paris, France!
'''Amy''': America, in fact.
'''Doctor''': I was gonna say America. }}
** In "The Time of Angels", River parks the TARDIS alongside the ''Byzantium''. The Doctor remarks that she can't have parked it, because it didn't make the noise.
{{quote|'''River''': What noise?
'''Doctor''': You know, that *imitates the TARDIS noise*.
'''River''': It's not supposed to make that noise. It only does because you leave the brakes on.
'''Doctor''': Well, it's a brilliant noise. }}
* [[Impersonating an Officer]]
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: "It looks like he had a metal breakdown."
Line 605 ⟶ 601:
* [[In Harm's Way]]: The Doctor himself, and many companions.
* [[Insistent Terminology]]: Steven Taylor, one of the First Doctor's Companions, would often call him "Doc". The Doctor would demand that Steven call him by his proper name.
* [[Instant Web Hit]]: The Doctor Who Cast and Crew's music video for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4Czla6tXc I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)]. It was released on October 30, and the Tumblr Doctor Who fandom promptly exploded.
** Also, David Tennant and Catherine Tate's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giaMRyn47Xg The Ballad of Russell and Julie].
* [[Interdimensional Travel Device]]
* [[The Internet Is for Porn]]:
Line 610 ⟶ 608:
{{quote|'''Eleventh Doctor''': Get a girlfriend, Jeff! ...oh, and delete your internet history.}}
** In "The Stolen Earth". The reason why Rose can't use a webcam to access the subwave network, is because Wilf's daughter won't let him use one "because they're naughty".
* [[Instant Web Hit]]: The Doctor Who Cast and Crew's music video for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4Czla6tXc I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)]. It was released on October 30th, and the Tumblr Doctor Who fandom promptly exploded.
** Also, David Tennant and Catherine Tate's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giaMRyn47Xg The Ballad of Russell and Julie]
* [[Intro-Only Point of View]]: Both the old and the new series begin with contemporary Earth humans puzzling out the mysterious happenings triggered by the Doctor. They shift to more minor points of view. Many episodes start with the point of view of characters in the situation where the TARDIS will arrive; some do not survive the opening, and others become much less important POVs once the Doctor arrives.
* [[Ironic Echo]]:
** In "Planet of the Dead", the Doctor and Malcolm Taylor each say "He hung up on me." and "Not now, I'm busy!" at different points.
** A slightly harder to spot one is the Doctor saying 'Funny? No? Little bit?' in ''The End of Time'' partPart 1One. The Master says exactly the same thing in "The Sound of Drums", a full series beforehand.
** Blink and you miss it, but in "Doomsday", when Pete Tyler tells the Doctor "That's your problem", it does sound awfully familiar...
** In ''Warriors' Gate'', "the weak enslave themselves".
* [[It Got Worse]]:
** The end of "Army of Ghosts". And most of "Turn Left". ''Hoo'' boy...
** The end of "The Pandorica Opens"." Basically, {{spoiler|Rory has killed Amy and the TARDIS explodes with River inside, erasing the universe from existence, whilst the Doctor is being locked inside the greatest prison ever constructed by all of his enemies}}. It really doesn't get much worse than that, honestly.
* [[I Would Say If I Could Say]]
 
Line 628 ⟶ 624:
* [[Joker Immunity]]: The Daleks, the Master, the Cybermen. Mostly the Master, really. He's a guy who just won't stay dead, and even lampshades it occasionally. The Daleks were in a war that was passing through the fabric of time and space, not to mention a few of them having the capability to make emergency temporal shifts, and thousands more being trapped in Time Lord prisons, waiting to be let out. The Cybermen ''were'' wiped out, but re-emerged from an alternate Earth where they almost took over the world and, again, were hurled through time and space, and that never seems to kill anyone permanently.
* [[Just Smile and Nod]]: He's [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|the]] [[Last of His Kind|Doctor]].
* [[Kangaroo Court]]: ''The Trial of a Time Lord'' and ''The Deadly Assassin''. Also, Ian's trial in ''The Keys of Marinus''.
* [[Kill'Em All]]: Usually the Doctor and his companions survive, but they have been known to depart from places where all known characters died, or there ''might'' be minor survivors in the odd corners.
* [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better]]: In many new series stories, future humans seem to be taken to modified P90s as their weapon of choice.
* [[Kingpin in His Gym]]: Played for laughs when the Delgado Master, locked up in a sea fortress, exercises on a rowing machine. It doesn't seem to be working, though—the Doctor remarks that the Master has put on weight!
* [[Large Ham]]: [[Large Ham/Live-Action TV/Doctor Who|Has its own page]].
* [[The Last Dance]]: {{spoiler|The Tenth Doctor himself, in the 2009 specials. At the end of "Planet of the Dead", a low-level psychic tells him he's going to die, so he spends the next episodes running around having as many adventures possible before his inevitable [[The Nth Doctor|regeneration]]}}.
* [[Laugh with Me]]:
** {{spoiler|It occurs more literally in ''The End Of Time''; after receiving a fatal dose of radiation, the Doctor spends his last hours visiting the people he'd cared about during his tenth life and... well, not so much saying goodbye as helping them out from a distance and then staring sadly at them before wandering off. Except for Rose, whom [[Timey-Wimey Ball|he meets before she met him]] to have one last conversation with her. ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' says he visited every companion from all his incarnations}}.
** In "A Christmas Carol", Kazran does this and follows it up with a "That was funny!".
** {{spoiler|And in "Closing Time", Eleven does it again in anticipation of getting [[Killed Off for Real]]}}.
** Also, Henry van Statten in "Dalek". "Intruder window. That was funny!"
** Even before that, Eleven did it in "Let's Kill Hitler", after {{spoiler|being poisoned by River Song and told he was cut off from regenerations and would be dead in just over thirty minutes}}. The Doctor's response? {{spoiler|He takes the time to put on a nice tux, fabricate a Sonic Cane, and move the TARDIS to confront the Justice Department out to punish River for his murder}}.
* [[Last Words]]:
** The Fourth Doctor: "It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for."
** The Ninth Doctor: "You were fantastic... And d'you know what? So was I."
** The Tenth Doctor: "I don't want to go."
* [[Laugh with Me]]:
* [[The Last Dance]]: {{spoiler|the Tenth Doctor himself, in the 2009 specials. At the end of ''Planet of the Dead'', a low-level psychic tells him he's going to die, so he spends the next episodes running around having as many adventures possible before his inevitable [[The Nth Doctor|regeneration]].}}
** In "A Christmas Carol", Kazran does this and follows it up with a "That was funny!".
** {{spoiler|It occurs more literally in ''The End Of Time''; after receiving a fatal dose of radiation, the Doctor spends his last hours visiting the people he'd cared about during his tenth life and... well, not so much saying goodbye as helping them out from a distance and then staring sadly at them before wandering off. Except for Rose, whom [[Timey-Wimey Ball|he meets before she met him]] to have one last conversation with her. ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' says he visited every companion from all his incarnations.}}
** Also, Henry van Statten in "Dalek". "Intruder window. That was funny!"
** {{spoiler|And in "Closing Time", Eleven does it again in anticipation of getting [[Killed Off for Real]].}}
* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: Part of what makes the Weeping Angels so terrifying to viewers was the implication that the audience counted as an observer when deciding when the angels can or can't move. {{spoiler|Averted later in "Flesh and Stone"}}.
** Even before that, Eleven did it in "Let's Kill Hitler", after {{spoiler|being poisoned by River Song and told he was cut off from regenerations and would be dead in just over thirty minutes.}} The Doctor's response? {{spoiler|He takes the time to put on a nice tux, fabricate a Sonic Cane, and move the TARDIS to confront the Justice Department out to punish River for his murder.}}
* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: Part of what makes the Weeping Angels so terrifying to viewers was the implication that the audience counted as an observer when deciding when the angels can or can't move. {{spoiler|Averted later in "Flesh and Stone".}}
** The Silence get similar treatment. 95% of the time when a character interacts with a Silent and then forgets about it, it's not shown; the scene we see continues smoothly from immediately before to immediately after.
** At the end of seriesSeries 6, we hear of the "oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight". It is actually {{spoiler|only hidden in plain sight for the viewers of the show, since it's in the title.}}.
* [[Left the Background Music On]]:
** In "The Stolen Earth", [[The Sarah Jane Adventures|Mr. Smith]] begins his fanfare, which was assumed to be a piece of background music, but then Sarah Jane tells him to shut it off.
** The Master's 'evil' music in the ''The Mind of Evil''. And then he turns off his little handheld radio...
* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: Companions are meant to do this.
* [[Licensed Game]]: The "adventure games" which are tied to seriesSeries 5 and 6.
** Previously there was ''Destiny of the Doctors'' in the late 1990s and a couple of simple games for the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum.
* [[Life Drinker]]: Magnus Greel in the serial "''The Talons of Weng-Chiang"'' attempted to stay alive by draining the life essence out of young women. Leela only just avoided suffering this fate.
* [[Light Flicker Teleportation]]: How Weeping Angels move around.
* [[Little Stowaway]]: This is how Adric got on the TARDIS.
Line 666 ⟶ 662:
* [[Long Runner]]: 48 years of continuity. 16 straight DAYS of film. Second only to ''the entire'' [[Star Trek]] franchise in total length for Science Fiction series (23 days).
* [[Loophole Abuse]]: The Doctor has squirmed his way out of many sticky situations using this trope. One of the best examples is from ''The Deadly Assassin'' where he postpones his own execution by [[It Makes Sense in Context|becoming a candidate for President of Gallifrey.]]
* [[Loss of Identity]]: Addressed at each regeneration and when he {{spoiler|became human in "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood".}}.
* [[Loud of War]]: Doctor Who has done this a time or two, with the Doctor's [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|sonic screwdriver.]] Once it's plugged into a pair of speakers, he's [[Foregone Conclusion|pretty much won.]]
* [[Love Makes You Evil]]: Not only for lovers.
{{quote|'''Ninth Doctor''': There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can.}}
* {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father]] / [[Luke, You Are My Father|Rory & Amy, You Are My Parents]]}}: {{spoiler|In "A Good Man Goes To War," River tells Amy and Rory that she is their kidnapped child Melody Pond. It's also revealed that this is the little girl from "The Impossible Astronaut" that's been phoning Nixon.}}
* [[Low Culture, High Tech]]
* {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father]]/[[Luke, You Are My Father|Rory & Amy, You Are My Parents]]}}: {{spoiler|In "A Good Man Goes to War". River tells Amy and Rory that she is their kidnapped child Melody Pond. It's also revealed that this is the little girl from "The Impossible Astronaut" that's been phoning Nixon}}.
 
 
Line 682 ⟶ 678:
* [[Male Gaze]]: The Doctor's companions have consistently been attractive young women, with some dressed in, shall we say, less than practical clothing. Ya'know, considering they're running around all of time and space, often with things with sharp teeth just a step behind.
** This [http://zahrawithaz.livejournal.com/20996.html#cutid1\] article covers different aspects of the issue quite well, (lovingly) using Amy Pond as an example.
* [[Man of Wealth and Taste]]: The Master...usually. He's not his usual smart dressed self in {{spoiler|''The End of Time''}}. Then again, {{spoiler|he has just come [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]], [[Came Back Wrong|wrong too]]...a tailor is low on his list of priorities.}}.
* [[Mass Hypnosis]]
* [[The Master (trope)|The Master]]: The Master, of course.
* [[Mayfly-December Romance]]:
** David and Susan in ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth''.
** The Doctor and Rose. Jack and everyone. Also, Ten and Madame de Pompadour, as well as (jokingly implied) Ten and Queen Elizabeth I.
* [[Meaningful Background Event]]: Used a lot in the new series. It will usually be something relating to the finale of that series. Series 1 had the words Bad Wolf scribbled everywhere; Series 2 had everyone and their mother mentioning Torchwood; Series 3 had posters saying Vote Saxon; Series 4 featured various TV screens briefly {{spoiler|showing Rose screaming}} and so on.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Stormcage Prison, [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|with its literal Storms and Cages.]]
** The name "Melody Pond". It ends up related to the phrase uttered by the TARDIS that "The only water in the forest is the river," meaning that {{spoiler|1=that in the language of the Gamma Forests river is the only word for pond, and melody the only word for song. Therefore River Song= Amy and Rory's daughter.}}.
* [[Memetic Badass]]: In-universe.
* [[Meaningful Release Date]]: In series 5, the date in which the universe was [[Apocalypse How|scheduled to blow up]] was June 26th 2010, the day the last episode of that series aired.
** For a [[Guile Hero]] the Doctor's very good at [[Badass Boast]]s.
** Another in-universe example: River Song. The mere mention of her name caused a '''DALEK''' to beg for mercy.
* [[Metaphorgotten]]:
** "A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of... uhh, statues."
Line 697 ⟶ 695:
{{quote|'''The Doctor:''' *trying to describe a [[Pocket Dimension]]* "Y'know a soap bubble that has one of those smaller bubbles stuck to the side of it?"
'''Rory:''' "Yeah?"
'''The Doctor:''' "Well it's nothing like that..." }}
** The Seventh Doctor had his moments.
** Don't forget the ball of [[Timey-Wimey Ball|wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey]]... stuff.
** Eleventh Doctor again in "Space":
{{quote|'''Eleven''': We're just entering conceptual space. Imagine...a banana. Or anything curved. Actually, don't because it's not curved...or like a banana. FORGET THE BANANA!}}
* [[Memetic Badass]]: In-universe.
** For a [[Guile Hero]] the Doctor's very good at [[Badass Boast|Badass Boasts]].
** Another in-universe example: River Song. The mere mention of her name caused a '''DALEK''' to beg for mercy.
<!-- %%% -->
<!-- %%For non-in-universe examples, add them to YMMV/DoctorWho -->
<!-- %%% -->
* [[The Midlands]]: Eleventh Doctor actor, Matt Smith, is from Northampton. Also his companion Rory Williams is apparently from a small village near Gloucester (and his Scottish wife Amy living there since she was little) and the actor who plays him, Arthur Darvill, is from Birmingham.
* [[Mind Rape]]:
** In the 2009 specials, what was the Master was subjected to when he looked into the time vortex as a child? {{spoiler|Turns out that the "drumming in his head" isn't a product of his insanity, but a signal sent back in time by the Time Lords High Council, which ''drove him'' into insanity.}}.
** And many see Donna's forced memory wipe at the Doctor's hand as a form of [[Mind Rape]].
** House (no, not that [[House (TV series)|House]]) does this with Amy and Rory because... he's essentially a pocket universe that is [[1408]].
Line 728 ⟶ 720:
* [[Muggle and Magical Love Triangle]]: Rose between the Doctor and Mickey.
* [[Mundanger]]: Although the earliest episodes alternated between science-fictional and purely historic episodes (the series started out as an educational show, you see), it soon evolved into a purely sci-fi show. The only post-'60s episode to feature a completely mundane threat was the Fifth Doctor story ''Black Orchid''.
* [[Murderous Mannequin]]: The Autons.
* [[Mutilation Conga]]: By the end of ''The End Ofof Time'', the Doctor has gone through this, leading up to his regeneration.
* [[My Card]]: ''The Happiness Patrol'' and "The Vampires of Venice" (a ''library'' card, no less) not to mention all those uses of the psychic paper.
** Harriet Jones, Prime Minister.
* [[My Friends and Zoidberg]]: A running gag with Donna's friend Nerys.
{{quote|"This photo is just with friends. And I want all of you in it. Well, friends... and Nerys."}}
* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]:
** The Valeyard.
Line 745 ⟶ 737:
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]:
** Any name starting with "Dalek" (e.g. Dalek Caan, Dalek Jast, etc), not to mention the Doctor's sobriquet to the Daleks: The Oncoming Storm.
** And [[The Master (trope)|The Master]]. No-one good was ever named the Master. Come to that, 'The Doctor' has an ominous ring to it too, if only because of its anonymity. The Eleventh Doctor even invokes this trope at the start of the 5th series:
{{quote|'''Eleventh Doctor''': "Hello, I'm The Doctor. Basically, Run."}}
*** This has gotten to be an actual truth in-series as well, with Lorna's people (of "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E7/E07 A Good Man Goes to War|A Good Man Goes Toto War]]") having the word 'Doctor' mean 'Great Warrior' in their language. Heck, it's outright stated that our word Doctor was taken from him in the first place.
** The Controller in ''The Macra Terror''. Subverted as he's even more a slave than the rest of the colony.
** The Vashta Nerada. Or as they're nicknamed: piranhas of the air. The translation of their formal name is even more clear: "The Shadows That Melt The Flesh".
** Craig's son Alfie, or as he has dubbed himself: Stormaggedon the Dark Lord of All.
* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name]]:
** Before the events of "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 S28/E12 Army of Ghosts|Army of Ghosts]]"/"[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 S28/E13 Doomsday|Doomsday]]", Torchwood is very Nazi-like - just substitute "aliens" for "Jews". The Daleks were also based partly on the Nazis, and the Kaleds (from whom the Daleks were genetically engineered) more so. Remember it was only 18 years after the war when they first appeared.
** In "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E03 Victory of the Daleks|Victory of the Daleks]]", {{spoiler|the new Daleks call themselves the "Master Race"}}. They fight [[Winston Churchill]] and the British during World War II. It's subverted in that they ''would'' destroy the real Third Reich... but also the two billion ''other'' humans on Earth. <!--at Thisthat was in 1941, keep in mindtime. It's 7 billion -now-. -->
* [[Nephewism]]: Amy Pond was raised by her aunt {{spoiler|prior to the seriesSeries 5 finale}}, as was Sarah Jane Smith.
* [[Neurodiversity Is Supernatural]]: There appears to be a link between Vincent van Gogh's madness/depression and his ability to see invisible aliens. Which one causes which is somewhat unclear, though.
* [[Never Recycle a Building|Never Recycle A Room]]: Appears in seriesSeries 5. In this case, of course, there really ''is'' something protecting the room.
* [[Newspaper Dating]]:
** A character does this immediately after stepping out the TARDIS in "The Unquiet Dead", "Rise of the Cybermen" and "Daleks in Manhattan".
Line 765 ⟶ 757:
** Eleven's many fezzes.
{{quote|'''River''': What in the name of ''sanity'' have you got on your head?
'''Eleventh Doctor''': It's a fez, I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool. }}
** In "The Impossible Astronaut", the Doctor dons a short-lived Stetson.
{{quote|'''Eleventh Doctor''': I wear a Stetson now. Stetsons are cool.}}
Line 772 ⟶ 764:
** Good work {{spoiler|screwing the timeline over}} in "The Waters Of Mars", Doctor.
** Also, the Doctor calling the Daleks out on how they were tricking everyone about their victory was exactly what they needed to create a new race of Daleks. Great work, Doctor.
* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: {{spoiler|painfullyPainfully, averted in "The Pandorica Opens"}}, played straight in {{spoiler|"Flesh and Stone". The Doctor would have had no clue how to stop the light in the crack, if the angels hadn't suggested he sacrifice himself, which gave him the idea to sacrifice them instead.}}.
<!-- %%% -->
<!-- %% Keep Nightmare Fuel to its own page, please. -->
<!-- %%% -->
* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: The Doctor is a psychic alien time-traveling slider. [[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'s [[Your Head Asplode|head would asplode]] with joy were she to meet him.
* [[Nobody Over 50 Is Gay]]:
Line 786 ⟶ 775:
* [[No Name Given]]: The Doctor has a name besides just "the Doctor", but it has never been revealed.
** Presumably "the Master" was not a birth name, either. Or "the Monk." Or "the Rani." Or "the War Chief." Time Lords ''do'' have names, but almost all of the renegades we see prefer to go by titles (exceptions: Romana and K'Anpo).
* [[Noodle Implements]]: Often seen in episodes where the Doctor isn't in the centre of the action and we see him in the middle of something. For example, in the end of "Blink", an episode where we mostly see the Doctor through a video screen, he's seen with a bow and arrows when the episode's temporary main character meets him, combined with a [[Noodle Incident]]. {{spoiler|Well, four noodle incidents. ''Well'', four noodle incidents...and a lizard}}.
<!-- %%% -->
<!-- %% See the discussion page before re-adding Non Sequitur -->
<!-- %%% -->
* [[No Periods, Period]]: Despite constantly dragging young women along on his travels, the Doctor never has to deal with this particular obstacle. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.
* [[Noodle Implements]]: Often seen in episodes where the Doctor isn't in the centre of the action and we see him in the middle of something. For example, in the end of "Blink", an episode where we mostly see the Doctor through a video screen, he's seen with a bow and arrows when the episode's temporary main character meets him, combined with a [[Noodle Incident]]. {{spoiler|Well, four noodle incidents. ''Well'', four noodle incidents...and a lizard.}}
{{quote|'''The Doctor:''' Yeah, listen, gotta dash. Things happening. Well, four things. Well, four things, and a lizard.}}
* [[Noodle Incident]]:
** While the Time War in the new era has been a constant point of mention (especially when the Daleks or some re-introduced species are involved), it has never been specifically explained what exactly the Doctor did throughout the war. All that is known is that his actions resulted in the almost-complete extinction of both the Daleks and the Gallifreyan Time Lords, as well as the destruction of Gallifrey, and various other universal disturbances. This, of course, has been used as a [[Chekhov's Gun]] for the Doctor's [[Character Development]] repeatedly.
** Events of the show are regularly presented this way to other people in universe. For instance, when Agatha Christie says her husband left her for a younger woman, Donna replies "Well, mine left me for a giant spider"." It makes sense if you saw the episode, but to Agatha Christie it sounds ludicrous.
** Also, the Doctor's dealings with Queen Elizabeth I in between "The Waters of Mars" and ''The End of Time''. Apparently Queen Elizabeth's nickname is no longer accurate.
** In "The Vampires Of Venice", we find out he owes [[Casanova]] a chicken.
** At the end of ''"The Shakespeare Code''", Queen Elizabeth shows up at the Globe Theatre, only to send her guards after the Doctor on site, calling him a "sworn enemy". This was, at the time, a noodle incident even to the Doctor, since this was the first time he'd met her and had no idea why she hated him. It's likely that whatever he did just before ''The End of Time'' was what led to this encounter.
* [[No Periods, Period]]: Despite constantly dragging young women along on his travels, the Doctor never has to deal with this particular obstacle. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.
* [[The Noseless]]: The Silents. They appear to have nostrils, but no definable nose.
** [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E5/E05 The Rebel Flesh|The Gangers]] are noseless whenever they start losing cohesion, which is often.
** Although the Cybermen have been through numerous radical redesigns since their first appearance, this has always been a constant.
* [[No Sense of Humor]]: Most of the villains... with the notable exception of the Master.
* [[Not So Different]]: The Ninth doctor runs afoul of this. He meets {{spoiler|what he thinks is}} the last dalek and shouts at it to kill itself. "Finish the job! Remove your filth from the universe! JUST DIE!" The dalek replies, "You would have made a good dalek."
* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]:
** We never find out exactly ''what'' the things in "Midnight" are.
** Much of the Time War. We have the Nightmare Child, who was somehow obscene enough to drive Dalek Caan completely mad, not to mention the Could've Been King. The Doctor even describes the final days of the war as having almost literally taken place ''in hell.'' And we ''don't actually see any of it.''
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XehDKAWqSGo&feature=player_embedded This promo] for seriesSeries 6. It's ''six seconds long'' and can be pretty damn creepy.
* [[Not So Different]]: The Ninth doctor runs afoul of this. He meets {{spoiler|what he thinks is}} the last dalek and shouts at it to kill itself. "Finish the job! Remove your filth from the universe! JUST DIE!" The dalek replies, "You would have made a good dalek."
* [[Novelty Decay]]: In the early years, we knew almost nothing about his people. It was six years before we learned the name "Time Lords". From the Tom Baker serial ''The Deadly Assassin'' onwards, we began to learn more and actually visited Gallifrey. Over the next decade or so, more stories featuring the corrupt, self-interested and machiavellian Time Lords were made, to the point where many fans complained that too much was being explained and the mystery had gone. One of the objectives of the so-called "Cartmell Master-plan" was to [[Retcon]] some of this and reintroduce the mystery.
* [[Nubile Savage]]: Leela, although there are a few stories where she dons period clothing.
* [[The Nudifier]]: The Defabricator. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].
* [[Off the Record]]: The Brigadier to Sarah Jane.
* [[Oh Crap]]: It says a ''lot'' about this show that [[Oh Crap/Live-Action TV/Doctor Who|it has its own subpage for this trope]].
* [[Ominous Floating Castle]]: The Aircraft Carrier ''Valiant'', first seen in "The Sound of Drums", which was {{spoiler|used by the Master as his base (of sorts) when he conquered the Earth during the Year that Never Was}}.
* [[Ominous Floating Spaceship]]: Seen in "The Christmas Invasion" with the Sycorax ship. Several Dalek ships do this too.
* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]:
** Murray Gold's Dalek theme (actually in Hebrew), not to mention chants performed on-screen by various spooky cults of Exxilon, Karn, Pompeii, etc.
** The Ood songs. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] being in Latin as it is a [[Translation Convention|translated form of Classical Ood]].
* [[Ominous Floating Castle]]: The Aircraft Carrier ''Valiant'', first seen in ''The Sound of Drums'', which was {{spoiler|used by the Master as his base (of sorts) when he conquered the Earth during the Year that Never Was}}.
* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: Sutekh, the Beast, Davros, the Daleks, the Fendahl...
* [[Omniscient Morality License]]: The Doctor frequently [[Playing with a Trope|plays with]] this. It's been played straight, subverted, averted, and outright deconstructed depending on both [[Depending on the Writer|writer]] and [[Era Specific Personality|era]].
Line 823 ⟶ 809:
* [[One Steve Limit]]:
** Usually obeyed, although "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" gave us Proper Dave and Other Dave.
** Averted ''hard'' with last names: The number of unrelated characters with the last names "Smith" ,<ref>Mickey Smith, Sarah Jane Smith, and the Doctor's alias John Smith</ref>, or "Jones" <ref>Ianto Jones, Martha Jones, Harriet Jones, Clifford Jones</ref> seems to definitely be on the excessive side.
** Series 6 had two Georges in the space of four episodes.
* [[Oop North]]: Three of the eight Doctors from the classic series were played by actors from from the North of England (and one from Scotland), but the two Bakers were expected to use [[British Accents|the Queen's English]]. Paul McGann and [[Bonnie Scotland|Sylvester McCoy]] still had audible regional accents, but were toned down from their normal speaking voices. When (Mancunian) Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor, claimed to be "the first Northern Doctor", (Liverpudlian) [[Tom Baker]]--the—the iconic Fourth Doctor--calledDoctor—called him on it.
{{quote|"Lots of planets have a North."}}
* [[Organic Ship]]: The TARDIS.
* [[Our Time Travel Is Different]]: Confusing, as there is no definite description of how time changes work.
** If a paradox is created monsterous [[Clock Roaches]] show up to "cauterize" the wound as seen in "Father's Day". It could only apply to certain types of paradox. Or sometimes there is a big explosion as seen in ''Mawdryn Undead''.
Line 834 ⟶ 820:
** Also, the Doctor and other Time Lords cannot travel back in time to affect his own timeline. This explains why he can't simply just travel back thirty minutes and undo the mistakes he made.
*** In the classic series, this was (vaguely) described as the [[Techno Babble|"Blinovitch Limitation Effect"]].
** Very early on in the classic series run the "rules" of time travel transitioned from "you can't change history... not one line" in the seasonSeason oneOne story ''The Aztecs'' to manipulation of history being the plot of the seasonSeason twoTwo story ''The Time Meddler''.
*** Of course, the "rules" were being explained to Barbara by the Doctor, who himself seemed surprised to find he could have an effect on history in the early <ref>(prior to the Time Meddler arc)</ref> seasonSeason twoTwo story ''The Romans''.
* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: ''State of Decay'', ''The Curse of Fenric'', "Smith and Jones" and "The Vampires of Venice" each featured different variations on the standard bloodsuckers.
* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: Actually, the creature in "Tooth and Claw" is identical to your standard pop culture werewolf...except that, like almost all monsters on the show, it's actually an alien.
* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]:
** "The Waters of Mars".
** And the Gelth's hosts in "The Unquiet Dead.". And the eponymous "Empty Child", at a pinch. A later episode refers to the enemy as "gas mask zombies".
** ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S26 E3/E03 The Curse of Fenric|The Curse Of Fenric]]'' combined this with [[Our Vampires Are Different]], somehow.
** The New Humans in "New Earth", at least thematically.
** Staff Sgt. Arnold in ''The Web of Fear''.
** Robomen in ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth''.
* [[Out-Gambitted]]
* [[Overly Long Name]]:
** The villain in "The Long Game": the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. His [[The Dragon|Dragon]], [[Faux Affably Evil|the Editor]], calls him "[[Fluffy the Terrible|Max]]".
** Also, the planet that the Slitheen are from, Raxacoricofallapatorius.
*** This is made even funnier by the fact that its sister planet is named Clom.
** Romanadvoratrelundar.
** Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All (a.k.a. Alfie) in ''"Closing Time''".
 
 
Line 860 ⟶ 846:
* [[Panty Shot]]: Jo in ''The Three Doctors'', Nyssa in ''Terminus'', Ace in ''The Curse of Fenric''.
* [[Parent Service]]: A lot of it, referred to as "for the dads", although both male and female [[Fan Service]] occurs.
* [[Perspective Magic]]
* [[Percussive Maintenance]]:
** Thumping things often gets them working again... including the TARDIS. In fact, the Doctor has a mallet on a piece of twine on the console for just that.
** According to ''State of Decay'', this is an easy way of telling when technology is from Earth.
* [[Perspective Magic]]
* [[Phlegmings]]: During his big reveal at the climax of ''The End of Time'' Part One, {{spoiler|Rassilon}} sprayed quite a bit.
** The Eleventh Doctor also gets this quite a bit.
* [[Phony Newscast]]: Common -- oftenCommon—often using real newscasters -- innewscasters—in the present-day episodes in the Davies era of the show.
* [[Pirate Booty]]: ''The Smugglers'', "The Curse of the Black Spot" and, in a very Douglas Adams way, ''The Pirate Planet''.
* [[Pocket Dimension]]: Technically speaking, the inside of the TARDIS is one of these.
** Also the domain of House and his caretakers Auntie, Uncle, and Nephew in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E4/E04 The DoctorsDoctor's Wife|The Doctor's Wife]]".
* [[Politically-Incorrect Villain]]: The Master (as Harold Saxon) and Jeremy Baines.
* [[Pound of Flesh Twist]]: In "''The Five Doctors"'', Time Lord President Borusa, having manipulated the Doctors into granting him access to Rassilon's tomb, claims the reward of immortality promised to the winner of the game of death. Rassilon grants it, which, unfortunately for Borusa, takes the form of being turned into a living statue.
** In "The Hand of Fear". Eldrad the Kastrian, having long ago been executed by his people for attempting to usurp rulership of Kastria, is resurrected on Earth many centuries later. He returns to Kastria to become its ruler, only to find the planet entirely dead. A final message from King Rokon (the king who Eldrad planned to usurp) crowns him 'King of Nothing'.
* [[Post Mortem One Liner]]: Plenty, but [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 E02 The Beast Below|Liz 10]] gets in a pretty good example after blowing away one of The Smilers:
{{quote|"I'm the bloody queen, mate; basically, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|I rule]]."}}
* [[The Power of Love]]: "The Doctor Dances", "Fear Her", "Victory of the Daleks", "Night Terrors" and "Closing Time".
** Played with in "Closing Time", after {{spoiler|Craig is able to overcome the Cybermen process of turning him into their leader byhearing his son crying and in need of him. It is so strong it feeds back into the rest of their circuits and undoes their emotional inhibitors, which makes their heads explode. Doubles as [[Papa Wolf]] moment as well.}}.
{{quote|"I blew them up with love..."
"No, that's impossible, and also grossly over-sentimental and over-simplistic. You destroyed them because of the deeply ingrained hereditary trait to protect one's own genes, which in turn triggered a... a..." *everyone is staring at him* "Yeah. Love. You blew them up with love." }}
** Subverted in ''The Curse of Fenric''. {{spoiler|Ace's love and faith in the Doctor prevents the Ancient One from moving to attack Fenric. To defeat the ancient god, the Doctor is forced to cruelly and methodically disavow his companion, calling her a social misfit and emotional cripple and turn her trust and love into hatred.}}.
* [[Pre-Mortem One-Liner]]: Several.
** [[Queen VickyVictoria]] to a monk in "Tooth and Claw".
{{quote|''The correct form of address is'' your majesty.}}
** John Lumic in "Rise of the Cybermen" to a dissenter.
Line 888 ⟶ 872:
{{quote|''Go to hell.''}}
* [[Primal Fear]]: How the show is so scary, especially in the Moffat era and Davies era stories written by Moffat.
* [[Promoted Fanboy|Promoted Fanboys]]: [[David Tennant]] and [[Steven Moffat]]
** Tennant's case is a particularly amazing one. Not only did he start acting ''just'' to become the Doctor, there was a special that landed him with his favorite Doctor, [[Peter Davison]]. The following year, Tennant met Peter's daughter Georgia, fell in love and proposed, later having a child together, Olivia. Not only is Tennant clearly the ''ultimate'' [[Promoted Fanboy]], but Olivia is the only person who can claim both her father and grandfather were the Doctor.
** Moffat's case is pretty amazing in and of itself, when you consider that he's getting the chance to put [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.drwho/browse_thread/thread/7cd734f99a62ae98/c845f05e9b213df9?pli=1 ideas he thought of back in 1995] into the show now.
** Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) and the author of his [[Doctor Who/Recap/S18 E3 Full Circle|introduction story]], Andrew Smith.
* [[Psychic Powers]]:
** The Doctor has a number of these, though he seldom uses them. Other aliens sometimes wield them as well.
** Some human characters possess them too: the Sibylline Sisterhood in "The Fires of Pompeii", Gwyneth from "The Unquiet Dead,", Tim from "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" and Carmen in "Planet of the Dead".
* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: The Celestial Toymaker from the story of the same name, Hindle from ''Kinda'', the John Simm incarnation of the Master.
* [[Public Secret Message]]: The "Bad Wolf" [[Arc Words]] as well as the Doctor's DVD extra message in "Blink".
Line 906 ⟶ 886:
* [[Ragnarok Proofing]]:
** The eponymous Impossible Planet, imprisoning the devil (sort of) since before time and matter itself.
** Subverted in "The Doctor's Daughter". {{spoiler|It's initially assumed that the spaceship containing the Source and the Precursors to the war's combatants is many years old and should have burnt out, yet is working fine. It later turns out that thousands of generations of cloning is actually only a week, and the "abandoned" city was never populated to begin with.}}.
* [[Raygun Gothic]]: Cybermen and Daleks.
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]:
** The Doctor, in every incarnation. Even the one with the oldest body, One, looks positively spritely for four-hundred. And Eleven was cast at age 26, despite the Doctor now claiming to be 1100-ish (And from "Aliens of London" up until "The God Complex", claimed to be younger than the figure used by his seventh incarnation)
Line 913 ⟶ 893:
** Rory, while bodily a normal age, still remembers the ca. 1800 years he lived through is an Auton body in the "The Big Bang"-timeline.
* [[Red Baron]]: The Daleks call The Doctor the Bringer of Darkness and the Oncoming Storm. But the most telling is probably the name he is given by the Face of Boe: ''The Lonely God''.
* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: Several examples throughout the series.
* [[Red Herring]]: The new series is especially fond of throwing these out for viewers trying to figure out the its various ongoing mysteries. The [[Arc Words]] for the 2009 specials, for example ("he will knock four times") were given at least four or five false explanations before we found out the truth (and if you add fan speculation, go ahead and multiply that number by a couple of thousand.)
* [[Redshirt Army]]: UNIT soldiers. From the villain side, many.
* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: Several examples throughout the series.
* [[Regularly-Scheduled Evil]]: Subverted in that is not always the same evil, but evil always attacks/tries to invade at Christmas.
* [[Reign of Terror]]: The First Doctor visited the original French one in the story of the same name, each Doctor has overthrown at least one.
Line 923 ⟶ 903:
** "Father's Day" is another use and Margaret Slitheen and {{spoiler|Donna}} both get their own personal Reset Buttons.
* [[Resurrection Sickness]]: The result of a regeneration.
* [[Retcon]]: The insertion of a previously-unknown regeneration between 8 and 9 (played by John Hurt) in the fiftieth-anniversary special, ''The Day of the Doctor''.
* [[Ret-Gone]]:
** What happens to those who fall through the cracks in the universe. And Steven Moffat has reportedly said that, as a result of the cracks (and what was necessary to fix them), a number of major events of the preceding series {{spoiler|(most notably, the several alien invasions and other incidents that attracted widespread public notice)}} have been erased from history, {{spoiler|leaving an earth that is once again (almost) entirely ignorant of the existence of alien beings}}. What this means for the past Companions whose travels with the Doctor hinged on those events is anybody's guess.
* [[Retcon]]: The insertion of a previously-unknown regeneration between 8 and 9 (played by John Hurt) in the fiftieth-anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor".
* [[Reverse Polarity]]: Multiple examples, including "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" and the sonic screwdriver.
* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized]]: ''The Reign of Terror'', ''The Robots of Death''.
Line 931 ⟶ 911:
** Exploited in several serials involving direct rewrites of history, most notably the Year That Never Was in "The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords".
** Also part and parcel of being a time traveller. One's perception of history is altered, forever, allowing you to remember what the world was like before history was changed via [[Retcon]] and [[Ret-Gone]]. However, it isn't retroactive.
*** Heartbreakingly subverted in "Cold Blood,", which shows that time travelers are not immune to [[Ret-Gone]] if {{spoiler|what is removed was a part of their own reality--poor, poor Rory}}.
* [[Roar Before Beating]]: The Daleks shouting "EXTERMINATE" before opening fire, giving their target, provided they're not a [[Red Shirt]], plenty of time to escape.
* [[Rock-Paper-Scissors]]:
Line 937 ⟶ 917:
** In "The Satan Pit", the Doctor uses it to decide who goes first - he claims he psychologically imprinted the idea of paper in her brain by saying the word 'paper' to her earlier, so she would choose it.
* [[Rogues Gallery]]: ''Doctor Who'', being a [[Long Runner]] show, has a large one. Some of the villains and aggressors are [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|the Daleks]] and their creator [[Omnicidal Maniac|Davros]], [[Arch Enemy|the Master]], [[You Will Be Assimilated|the Cybermen]], [[Replacement Artifact|the Cybermen]], [[Sociopathic Soldier|the Sontarans]], [[Murderous Mannequin|the Autons]] and [[Manchurian Agent|Nestene replicants]], [[Lizard Folk|the Silurians]], [[Living Statue|the Weeping Angels]] and [[Fat Bastard|the Slitheen]]. Several of these races would form [[Legion of Doom|the Alliance]] in "The Pandorica Opens" to save the Universe from the Doctor.
* [[Romance on the Set]]:
** Most notably, [[Tom Baker]] and Lalla Ward, and [[David Tennant]] with a couple of the guest actors.
** Notably Sophia Myles (Reinette) and [[Georgia Moffett]] (Jenny). Mr. Tennant obviously has a taste for stacked blondes.
* [[Rule of Cool]]
* [[Rule of Perception]]: Duck into the corner or behind that pillar, crouch behind the lab bench, etc. etc. etc. Make sure the audience can see you. Even by [[Rule of Perception]] standards, it's amazing how conspicious the characters can be without being found by the search party.
Line 946 ⟶ 923:
** There's also:
{{quote|'''Harriet Jones''': "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."
'''Whoever she's talking to at the moment''': "Yes. We/I know who you are." }}
*** Even {{spoiler|the Daleks}} get in on this.
** The Doctor always hoping to be a ginger when he next regenerates.
** The Eleventh Doctor's constant indignant repeatings that "[[Bow Ties Are Cool]].".
*** As are fezzes and stetsons. This gag seems to be expanding to a universal template for goofy clothes.
{{quote|'''Eleven:''' I wear an X now. [[Bow Ties Are Cool|Xes are cool]].<br />
'''River Song:''' *shoots the X* }}
** "It's bigger on the inside."
** As well, the tendency of new companions to attempt to speak in foreign accents (and, of course, failing spectacularly) with the Doctor just wincing at them saying, [["No. Just... No" Reaction|"Don't...don't do that."]]
Line 962 ⟶ 939:
 
== S-U ==
* [[San Dimas Time]]: Despite being a show about ''time travel'', almost all recurring characters always seem to remember their last encounter from the same perspective, and the Doctor's idea of "present day" always agrees with the audience's. It is taken for granted that Time Lords meet each other in sequence, due to a presumptive "Gallifrey Standard Time.". Of course, it's also easier to run a recurring character if you can refer back to the previous encounter.
** Averted with River Song, who never meets with the Doctor in the right order. In his [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E8S30/E08 Silence in Thethe Library|first meeting]] with River, she's already formed a very long and complicated history with him that he hasn't experienced yet.
** Also averted in "The Shakespeare Code", as the Doctor finds himself running away at the end of the episode from an antagonist that he had yet to "antagonise". {{spoiler|In fact, the Doctor apparently later ''married'' Queen Elizabeth I}}.
** Also averted in "Blink" where {{spoiler|Sally Sparrow discovers at the end that the only reason the Doctor was able to record a message in the past telling her what's going on and what to do is because SHE gives him the message in the future. The Doctor naturally has no idea who this crazy girl is when he meets her.}}.
** Also averted in "''The Five Doctors"'' when the Second Doctor meets the Brigadier after both have left UNIT (from the Brig's point of view) and the Third Doctor meets Sarah Jane after the Fourth Doctor dropped her off in not-Croydon.
** For ''The End of Time'' Part One, the Ood elder implies that because the Doctor waited to meet them and went off on other adventures after the events of "The Waters Of Mars", things are going badly because of this. Events happening in modern day only just affecting the Ood.
** Unfortunately averted in ''The Trial of a Time Lord'' where Mel has met the Doctor, but he hasn't met her yet. We never do see how she first meets him, she just gets in the TARDIS with him at the end.
Line 973 ⟶ 950:
* [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]]: The Doctor's faced several examples, but the new series Daleks pretty much take the cake.
** The Daleks have since been supplanted by the Silence, who are explicitly a ''religious order'' dedicated to taking down the Doctor, among other undetermined things.
* [[Science Fantasy]]: Famed ''[[Discworld]]'' author [[Terry Pratchett]] claims in [http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/05/03/guest-blog-terry-pratchett-on-doctor-who/ this post] that, while the show is very entertaining, it lies more in the realm of fantasy than science fiction. To be certain, a lot of [[Speculative Fiction Tropes]] from [[Fantasy]], [[Science Fiction]], and [[Horror]] are blended together.
* [[Screwed by the Network]]: Happened quite a few times in the 80s, which ultimately put the show on a year and a half hiatus and was the reason Colin Baker was fired.
* [[Scry vs. Scry]]
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]:
Line 980 ⟶ 956:
** The {{spoiler|time lock keeping all life from entering and exiting}} in the Time War could be seen as this, especially from what we've learnt about {{spoiler|the Time Lords}} in ''The End of Time''.
** According to info supplied in one of the novels, the green slime in ''Inferno'' was evil deliberately sealed in a planet, even though nobody in the T.V. story knew that.
* [[Sealed Good in a Can]]: The Doctor himself in "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" as well as {{spoiler|in the end of "The Pandorica Opens", and Amy in the beginning of "The Big Bang".}}.
* [[Searching the Stalls]]: In ''"Partners in Crime''", and it turns out that {{spoiler|the bad guys are actually searching for a ''different'' person, also a spy, who happens to be in the cubicle next to Donna's}}.
* [[Self-Made Orphan]]: The Doctor destroyed his people, including his parents, and his entire planet to end the Time War.
* [[Sensor Suspense]]:
Line 992 ⟶ 968:
** "The End of the World", "New Earth" and "Gridlock" are season-apart stories loosely connected to the Face of Boe's final message to the Doctor.
** "Mission to the Unknown", the Dalek Cutaway, led into ''The Daleks' Master Plan'', two serials later.
** Satellite Five (and all the mess the Doctor's involvement caused) reappears in the seriesSeries 1 finale, after an assumed one-off encounter with the Mighty Jagrafess in "The Long Game".
** While ''Torchwood'' was a recurring [[Arc Words]] in Series 2 (with the Doctor meeting a group identifying as the Torchwood Archive in "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit"), the Doctor's only direct encounters were at the founding in "Tooth and Claw" and his capture by ({{spoiler|and the subsequent slaughtering of the team of by the real villains}}) Torchwood London in "Army of Ghosts".
** Series 4, 5 and 6 have a recurring string of non-consecutive River Song episodes ("Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead"; "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone", "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang", "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon", "A Good Man Goes Toto War"/"Let's Kill Hitler"..., though from her point of view, they're (mainly) prequel episodes.
** ''The End of Time'' picks up from {{spoiler|The Master's death}} at the end of "Last of the Time Lords".
** "Closing Time" is a followup encounter with Craig from "The Lodger".
** ''Kinda'' and ''Snakedance''.
* [[Series Hiatus]]: The 1985-86 hiatus, as mentioned up top.
** The cancellation of the classic series in 1989 was originally described as a "hiatus" by the BBC. And it was, of a sort. It just lasted considerably longer than the earlier one: at least seven years (until the 1996 TV movie) and up to sixteen years (until the series resumes on a regular basis with ''Rose'' in 2005).
* [[Seven Deadly Sins]]:
** Some species have one of them as [[Planet of Hats|a hat]].
Line 1,009 ⟶ 983:
* [[Share Phrase]]: Nearly every person who stepped into the TARDIS for the first time said, "It's bigger on the inside [than on the outside]", to the point where on one occasion the Tenth Doctor silently [[Genre Savvy|mouthed the phrase along with them]], and the Eleventh later became surprised when those that enter it ''don't'' say it.
* [[Ship Tease]]: And a lot of it.
* [[Shirtless Scene]]: The Third Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S7 E1/E01 Spearhead From Space|Spearhead From Space]]'', the Ninth in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E6S27/E06 Dalek|Dalek]]", a meta-crisis clone of the Tenth in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E13 Journeys End|Journey's End]]" and the Eleventh in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E11 The Lodger|The Lodger]]". Also, Eight...while wearing a shroud, no less.
* [[Shout-Out]]:
** The Tenth Doctor is fond of these.
** David Tennant's final episode, ''The End of Time'' Part 2Two was seemingly a 75 minute ''[[Star Wars]]'' homage: {{spoiler|Bernard Cribbins shoots down aggressors from an on board ack-ack gun}} a scene that Davies described as making him seem like Luke Skywalker); {{spoiler|in an act of self-sacrificial redemption, the Master}} casts arc lightning at his superior in order to save the protagonist, (Vader-style sporadically visible skeleton thrown in for good measure); we even see {{spoiler|Captain Jack hanging around in}} what is definitely an alien cantina.
*** The actions of Cribbins' character as detailed above avert the phenomenon by which Luke Skywalker, upon {{spoiler|climbing into the gunner's chair in the ''Millennium Falcon'', was able to work the thing on the first try without being told.}}. Wilfred {{spoiler|screams frantically for instructions, and gets them,}}, but fortunately they aren't all that complex.
** "The Stolen Earth", where Rose and the Doctor are running to each other in the street and a Dalek attacks, feels to some like a homage to ''[[West Side Story]]''.
** "The Beast Below" has a fairly ambitious quotient of these. There's ''[[Star Wars]]'' (the royal [[Action Girl]], the heroes landing in the garbage chute, "you're my only hope", the villain looks like an expy for Grand Moff Tarkin, finding oneself inside the digestive tract of a giant space creature), ''[[Discworld]]'' (the [astral plane] ship that was never meant to fly, the space whale that looks just the ones in ''[[Discworld/The Last Hero|The Last Hero]]'', and the final shot of the country being carried on the back of the giant space-sea-creature), and ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' (involving a miraculous whale, and Amy is new to space/time travel and wears pajamas).
** The name and garbs of the [[Church Militant|army]] in '"The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" is obviously a shout-out to the [[Warhammer 4000040,000|Imperial Guard]], although with quite different ranks.
** River's relationship with the Doctor, a woman who falls in love with a time traveller and meets him in the wrong order throughout her life is a pretty obvious shout -out to ''[[The Time TravellersTraveler's Wife]]''.
** The name of Bowie Base One in "The Waters of Mars" is a shoutout to [[David Bowie]]'s song ''Life On Mars''. {{spoiler|It later also works as a shoutout to ''Space Oddity'' with astronauts stranded and knowing that they are about to die.}}. In the same episode, there's a shout out to ''[[28 Days Later]]'' with a character becoming infected just by looking up and a single drop falling on to their eye from above.
** In "The Runaway Bride", the Racnoss Webstar bears a striking resemblance to the Cylon Basestar of the reimagined ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]''. Both ships are made with Y shapes stacked on each other. The names are also quite similar.
** The Toclafane bear an uncanny resemblance to the spheres from ''[[Phantasm (Film)|Phantasm]]'', right down to {{spoiler|being powered by the brains of the creator's human victims}}. Bonus points for the similarity between [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUizt6kMgbQ this] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ieQxm_M2I this].
** In "Flesh and Stone", the ship is referred to as "[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Galaxy-class]].".
** The Eleventh Doctor once referred himself to a decaying Silence ship as Captain Troy Handsome of [[Thunderbirds|International Rescue]] and to [[Star Trek: Voyager|state the nature of the emergency]].
** The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeJ4Ak2xCkw Eleventh Doctor tells Amy] he's like, "I dunno, [[The Lord of the Rings|Gandalf]]! A [[Recycled in Space|space Gandalf]]. Or the little green one in ''[[Star Wars]]'', *lightsaber noise*"
** ''The Curse of Fenric'' has Ace's grandmother cry out "[[Gone with the Wind|Where shall I go, what shall I do?!]]"
* [[Shower Scene]]: The Third Doctor in ''Spearhead Fromfrom Space'' and the Eleventh in "The Lodger".
* [[Shut Up and Save Me]]
* [[Sickly Green Glow]]: Most monsters.
* [[Single-Target Sexuality]]: Rory for Amy in the flashbacks of "Let's Kill Hitler" (causing her [[Mistaken for Gay|much confusion]]).
* [[Signature Device]]: The Time Lords' sonic screwdrivers and TARDIS.
* [[Skeleton Key]]: The Doctor's sonic screwdriver often acts as one of these.
** In the serial ''Carnival of Monsters'', the Doctor complains that he can't open a non-electronic lock with the sonic screwdriver. Jo Grant responds by producing an impressive collection of skeleton keys.
** In at least one seriesSeries 6 episode, the screwdriver ''succeeds'' at unlocking a door bolted from the other side. Perhaps green is just better at that...
* [[The Sky Is an Ocean]]: In "A Christmas Carol", the Series 6 Christmas episode.
* [[Slow Motion Fall]]: Several falls from high places, notably the Cyber-Controller in "The Age of Steel" and most of the Doctor's team in "Voyage of the Damned".
Line 1,037 ⟶ 1,012:
* [[Space Is an Ocean]]: "Voyage of the Damned" has a space Titanic orbiting Earth, which almost crash-lands into Buckingham Palace.
* [[Space Is Noisy]]:
** {{spoiler|In "Victory of the Daleks", laser fire from the Dalek ship and the British Spitfires can be heard}}. Justified - {{spoiler|the genius scientist has created a bubble of gravity and oxygen, which was how the spitfires came to be in space. Thus, there was sound.}}.
** Averted in "The Parting of the Ways" -- Lynda—Lynda (with a 'y') looks out a window of the space station to see a Dalek looking in at her. Though we can't hear it, the lights on its head clearly flash in synch with the word "<small>EXTERMINATE</small>!"
* [[Space Whale Aesop]]:
** Several here and there. For example, use clean, renewable fuels, because sometimes the thing you're using for fuel is [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E7S29/E07 42|sentient, angry and capable of possessing you]]. Also, don't chop down too many trees even if it's to publish books, because the [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E9S30/E09 Forest of the Dead|invisible air piranhas will eat you]].
** Or: we shouldn't get too selfish about the planet because there might be lizard people who we have to share it with.
** Or: [[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E02 The Beast Below|Don't enslave any members of any race when they come to save your children from certain death, or a time traveler might be forced to go against his moral code.]] Complete with the above literal [[Space Whale]]!
* [[Spinning Out of Here]]: The TARDIS spins as it flies through the Time Vortex.
* [[Spoiler Opening]]: "Doomsday".
{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Rose Tyler''': This is the story of how I died.}}}}
** {{spoiler|Subverted, because it refers to her fictional 'death' in her home universe; she ended up stuck in a parallel one.}}.
** Then again in "Cold Blood".
* [[Spot of Tea]]:
Line 1,055 ⟶ 1,030:
** Donna suggests ideas to Agatha Christie about books she hasn't written yet. Agatha "forgets", but likely remembers them well enough to invent them herself years later.
** The Red Nose Day short "Time" runs on this - Amy, Rory, and Eleven all get info from their past selves then go back in time to deliver it.
** {{spoiler|Amy named her daughter "Melody" after a friend she grew up with; said friend turned out to be her daughter waiting for The Doctor to show up.}}.
*** This character falls prey to it a lot, really. {{spoiler|River Song only calls herself that because that's what Team TARDIS call her when she first regenerates. The 'spoiler' thing only became a catch-phrase for this reason. Pretty much, her whole live could be called a [[Stable Time Loop]]- she could only have been born if she'd sacrificed her life in the library so her parents could conceive her on the TARDIS.}}.
* [[Staff of Authority]] -: Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart often carried a Swagger stick with him, and the Sontaran baton is a device is carried by certain high ranking officers of the Sontaran Empire symbolizing rank as well as being functional.
* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: The Tenth Doctor and Rose.
** Kazran and Abigail in ''"A Christmas Carol''".
* [[Starfish Language]]: For when the [[Translator Microbes]] are broken, absent or just unable to cope. See "The Long Game", "Partners in Crime", "The Doctor's Daughter", "Planet of the Dead", ''The Web Planet'', "The Waters of Mars" and ''The Creature from the Pit'' for a notoriously suggestive classic series example.
* [[Starfish Robots]]: The metal casings that the Daleks and the Toclafane use for transportation and combat.
* [[Staring Kid]]: Common. One example being the group of kids at the end of "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E12 Closing Time|Closing Time]]". An interesting example, since they actually had some influence on the story! {{spoiler|The next scene shows River Song reading interviews with the grown-up children about their memories of the Doctor.}}
* [[Star-Killing]]:
** The Hand of Omega.
** The Doomsday Weapon in ''Colony in Space''.
* [[Starfish Language]]: For when the [[Translator Microbes]] are broken, absent or just unable to cope. See "The Long Game", "Partners in Crime", "The Doctor's Daughter", "Planet of the Dead", ''The Web Planet'', "The Waters of Mars" and ''The Creature from the Pit'' for a notoriously suggestive classic series example.
* [[Starfish Robots]]: The metal casings that the Daleks and the Toclafane use for transportation and combat.
* [[Staring Kid]]: Common. One example being the group of kids at the end of "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E12 Closing Time|Closing Time]]". An interesting example, since they actually had some influence on the story! {{spoiler|The next scene shows River Song reading interviews with the grown-up children about their memories of the Doctor}}.
* [[Station Ident]]: For Christmas 2009, BBC One has a specially-filmed ''Doctor Who'' ident (following the special ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' idents for Christmas 2008). [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kXvs0aKSt0 Watch It Here.]
* [[Stock Lateral Thinking Puzzle]]: The Fourth Doctor gave one to Davros at the end of the adventure where he was revealed to have escaped being killed by the Daleks (just before being put in cryo for transport to his trial):
Line 1,072 ⟶ 1,047:
''Doctor'': Do you know what a human would say to that?
''Davros'': What?
''Human'': Elephants aren't pink. }}
* [[Stop or I Shoot Myself]]: The Eighth Doctor in [[Doctor Who/Recap/TVM the TV Movie/Recap|the TV movie]].
* [[Strange Syntax Speaker]]: The Malmooth Chantho begins every sentence with Chan, and ends it with Tho. Apparently, to not do this is rudeness the equivalent of swearing in the Malmooth language.
* [[Stunned Silence]]: Half-way through the regeneration cycle the 10th Doctor manages to stop the process in the episode "Journey's End", his looks unchanged, while Donna, Rose and Captain Jack are all expecting him to look different, are utterly stunned into silence.
Line 1,083 ⟶ 1,058:
** Type 0: Most companions and companions' family members, UNIT scientists, historical figures
** Type 1: UNIT soldiers and other human soldiers, [[The Brigadier|Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]], Torchwood staff, a few companions
** Type 2: Captain Jack Harkness, the Doctor (with flashes of Types 3 and 4 on occasion), the Master, Romana, most Time Lords, {{spoiler|The Doctor Donna}}, Davros, most villains and races, the Ood (including Ood Sigma), the Face of Boe, {{spoiler|Rory in the seriesSeries 5 finale}}, {{spoiler|River Song}}.
** Type 3: The Daleks, the Cybermen, {{spoiler|The Master (in ''The End of Time'')}}, the Weeping Angels, several villains.
** Type 4: The Black Guardian, the White Guardian, the Animus, the [[Eldritch Abomination|Great Intelligence]], Sutekh, the metamorphosed Solonians, [[Mind Rape|the Midnight monster]], [[A God Am I|The Bad Wolf Entity]], the TARDIS, higher Time Lords (including Rassilon), {{spoiler|the Star Whale}}, the Eternals, the Beast, {{spoiler|the Silence}}, {{spoiler|House}}, presumably the [[Eldritch Abomination|Skaro Degradations, Horde of Travesties, Nightmare Child, and Could've-been King]]<ref>considering the Doctor was more worried about them getting out of the Time Lock than the Daleks...</ref>
** Type 5: The Key to Time and its [[Physical God|wielder.]]
* [[Swirly Energy Thingy]]: The Time Vortex.
* [[Switch to English]]: In the serial ''The Curse of Fenric'', a group of Russian soldiers are on a secret mission in England. The first scene has them speaking Russian with subtitles, then their leader says "From now on, we speak only English"," and they do.
* [[Sword Fight]]: The Third Doctor with the Master in ''The Sea Devils'', The Fourth Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S16 E4/E04 The Androids of Tara|The Androids of Tara]]'', the Fifth with the Master in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S20 E6/E06 The Kings Demons|The King's Demons]]'', and the Tenth and his new hand with the Sycorax in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2005 CS the Christmas Invasion/Recap|The Christmas Invasion]]".
* [[Talkative Loon]]: The Eleventh Doctor may be this, but it's certainly a side effect of a Time Lords regeneration as evidenced by both the Doctor's regenerations (Nine into Ten and Ten into Eleven) and The Master's regeneration in "Utopia".
* [[Take a Third Option]]:
** The Doctor's good at finding these.
** Subverted in seriesSeries 5's {{spoiler|"The Beast Below", in which the Doctor's third option is just as horrific as the other two... on first glance. It's Amy who figures out that there's a miscommunication going on and the second option isn't that bad after all}}...}}
* [[Take That]]/[[Self-Deprecation]]: Any time two or more incarnations of the Doctor meet, it's a safe bet they'll have something snarky to say about one another's looks or attitude {"A dandy and a clown?"). Counts as a [[Take That]] between the actors ''and'' [[Self-Deprecation]] for the character.
** In "The Almost People", the Ganger!Doctor is coming to grips with his various regenerations. At one point he speaks in the Tenth Doctor's voice, immediately following up with "We've moved on!" Likely a [[Take That]] to the large amount of David Tennant fans that still want him back.
* [[Talkative Loon]]: The Eleventh Doctor may be this, but it's certainly a side effect of a Time Lords regeneration as evidenced by both the Doctor's regenerations (Nine into Ten and Ten into Eleven) and The Master's regeneration in "Utopia".
* [[The Tape Knew You Would Say That]]: The Tenth Doctor's recorded message from 1969 in "Blink".
<!-- %%% -->
<!-- %% Keep Tear Jerker to its own page, please. -->
<!-- %%% -->
* [[Technical Pacifist]]:
** The Doctor won't kill anyone and [[Gun Hater|doesn't like guns]] because he thinks they're wrong. When people around him are willing to kill and use guns, his reaction is little more than scolding... and he doesn't go out of his way to [[Hoist by His Own Petard|save his enemies from themselves]]... and some of his enemies amount to [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal Maniacs]]s with [[Joker Immunity]], so killing them really would be the kindest option overall... and he'll visit all kinds of horrible [[And I Must Scream|fates worse than death]] on people [[Beware the Nice Ones|he thinks deserves it]], mind you... but he won't kill (although he has killed people and things on numerous occasions, including releasing cyanide into a room with a mad surgeon).
** A good example of this is the Family of Blood who [[Be Careful What You Wish For|want immortality]] at any cost, so he gives it to them...[[And I Must Scream|by keeping them alive but putting them in hellish prisons that they cannot die in but cannot escape from]].
** However, in "Day of the Moon", he {{spoiler|admitted he quite liked River Song's gun toting ways, even if he shouldn't}}.
* [[Techno Babble]]:
** Averted when [[Steven Moffat]] writes. He ''did'' invent the [[Timey-Wimey Ball]].
** It went insanely overkill in seriesSeries 4's finale.
** Subverted in "The Girl in the Fireplace".
{{quote|'''Doctor:''' It must be a spacio-temporal hyper-link.
'''Mickey:''' What's that?
'''Doctor:''' I dunno. I just made it up. I didn't want to say 'magic door'. }}
** Made fun of slightly in "A Christmas Carol". While Abigail is calming the shark with her singing, the Doctor attempts to ruin the magic by technobabbling about how it works (something about resonating delta wave patterns...). He gets several fishbites for his trouble and is shushed.
* [[Temporary Love Interest]]: Rose Tyler, River Song, and every companion or person the Doctor ends up loving or falling in love with.
Line 1,117 ⟶ 1,089:
** The episode "Dalek" sees the title character respond to the Doctor's claim to have wiped out the Dalek race with "YOU LIE!"
** Suki Macrae Santrell's biography is called out as being the work of a liar by Satellite Five's Editor successively in "The Long Game".
* [[Theme Naming]]: After series 4, companions had a tendency to be named after bodies of water. Jackson Lake, River Song ({{spoiler|a.k.a. Melody Pond}}), Amy Pond, Adelaide Brooke ...
* [[Themed Aliases]]: The Master tends to use aliases which are anagrams of "master" or mean master in another language. From Nu Who, Mister Saxon is an anagram of "Master No. Six" (this being the sixth incarnation of the Master that we've seen). [[Word of God]] is that it was a coincidence.
* [[Theme Naming]]: After Series 4, companions had a tendency to be named after bodies of water. Jackson Lake, River Song ({{spoiler|a.k.a. Melody Pond}}), Amy Pond, Adelaide Brooke ...
* [[The "The" Title]]: During the Second Doctor era, only "Fury from the Deep" did not start with "The", and its working title was "The Colony of Devils".
* [[The "The" Title]]: During the Second Doctor era, only ''Fury from the Deep'' did not start with "The", and its working title was ''The Colony of Devils''.
* [[This Is My Human]]: The Doctor has always insisted that the stole ("borrowed") his TARDIS from a museum in order to see the universe. But in "The Doctor's Wife" when {{spoiler|the TARDIS' soul is implanted in a human host}}, she insists that ''she'' stole ''him!''
* [[This Banana Is Armed]]: "Pssh, what could a screwdriver do?" is a pretty common reaction at first. But did we mention it's ''sonic''?
* [[This Is My Human]]: The Doctor has always insisted that the stole ("borrowed") his TARDIS from a museum in order to see the universe. But in "The Doctor's Wife", when {{spoiler|the TARDIS' soul is implanted in a human host}}, she insists that ''she'' stole ''him!''
* [[Thoughtcrime]]: The Happiness Patrol, where enforced cheerfulness was the law on one planet.
* [[Three-Way Sex]]: Captain Jack alluded to this when three Doctors (kind of) turned up in "Journey's End".
{{quote|'''Jack:''' I can't tell you what I'm thinking.}}
** "I've come from the Doctor, too." "But from a different point in the time stream." "Unless there's two of them." "That's a whole different birthday."
* [[Threesome Subtext]]: Pretty much any time the Doctor has two companions (especially in the new series), this comes up.
* [[Time Paradox]]: Happens often. So much so that in the newer series, there exists a thing called a Paradox Machine which prevents time from healing itself in the face of a temporal contradiction. So, for example, you could [[Grandfather Paradox|kill your own grandfather]] and the Paradox Machine would ensure that nothing happened to you.
* [[Time Travel Romance]]:
Line 1,133 ⟶ 1,108:
** More prominently, they do this in the sixth season finale. "DOC... TOR... ''WHO?!''"
** Also in the episode "Amy's Choice".
* [[Took a Level in Badass]]:
* [[Thoughtcrime]]: The Happiness Patrol, where enforced cheerfulness was the law on one planet.
* [[This Banana Is Armed]]: "Pssh, what could a screwdriver do?" is a pretty common reaction at first. But did we mention it's ''sonic''?
* [[Threesome Subtext]]: Pretty much any time the Doctor has two companions (especially in the new series), this comes up.
* [[Took a Level In Badass]]:
** The [[Russell T. Davies]] era has a recurring theme of the Doctor turning the companions into badasses.
** Mickey, during "The Age of Steel" and culminating in his [[Darker and Edgier]] persona in "Army of Ghosts", "Doomsday" and "Journey's End". This started in "World War Three" when after a whole year of being slandered and accused of killing her daughter, he doesn't even think, he immediately picks up a baseball bat to defend Jackie Tyler and tells her to run while he holds it off.
** Donna, who goes from a person whose best achievement is being the "best temp in Chiswick" to being able to make the entire Dalek race's weaponry useless, not to mention making them ''spin in circles uncontrollably''.
** In "The Big Bang", {{spoiler|Rory does this, first by becoming a legendary figure while protecting the Pandorica for nearly 2000 years, and then in this scene:}:}
{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Dalek:''' SCANS INDICATE INTRUDER UNARMED!}}!
{{spoiler|'''Rory:''' Do you think?}}?
{{spoiler|''Then he shoots the Dalek with his 'hand' gun.''}} }}
** Amy Pond in " {{spoiler|The Girl Who Waited}}". She's become a proficient warrior, sword fighter, hacker and designed her own sonic screwdriver.
* [[Town with a Dark Secret]]: ''The Daleks'', "The Velvet Web", ''The Savages'', ''The Macra Terror'', "Amy's Choice".
* [[Transformation Is a Free Action]]: Averted. Whenever possible, the Doctor makes sure to regenerate in a safe place (usually the TARDIS). Even the Master does this.
* [[Translation Convention]]/[[Translator Microbes]]: Started as the former, then was [[Justified Trope|justified]] as the latter.
* [[Trash the Set]]:
** ''The End of Time'' Pt.Part 2Two - {{spoiler|The Tenth Doctor's Regeneration into Eleven results in [[Stuff Blowing Up]] and some pillars falling down inside the TARDIS. Oddly enough, the set is mostly intact as of series 6, having been used as a backup control room in "The Doctor's Wife". Instead, word on the tubes is that the old [[Torchwood]] hub set (which was previously demolished off-screen) donated its sound stage to the new set for the TARDIS.}}.
** This also happened to Solon's laboratory in ''The Brain of Morbius'' when the Doctor was looking for an air vent.
* [[Translation Convention]]/[[Translator Microbes]]: Started as the former, then was [[Justified Trope|justified]] as the latter.
* [[Trust Me I'm a Doctor]]: More like, "Trust me, I'm the Doctor." From "The Eleventh Hour".
* [[Turn the Other Cheek]]
* [[The Un-Reveal]]: In "The God Complex", all we get from The Doctor's fear room is the sound of the Cloister Bell and the Doctor musing "Of course, who else would it be?"
* [[Unfazed Everyman]]: The Doctor's many companions.
* [[Universe Bible]]: Somewhat notable for being a [[Long Runner]] TV show and ''not'' having one.
* [[Unrobotic Reveal]]: Daleks.
* [[Unflinching Walk]]:
** The Seventh Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S25 E4/E04 The Greatest Showinthe Galaxy|The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]''.<ref> Also McCoy himself. The pyrotechnics were a mite bit bigger than expected, but McCoy knew there'd be no second shot, so just kept rolling. His clothes were actually partially set on fire in that shot.</ref>.
** The Tenth Doctor embraces this, he often walks from explosions and combined with sheer [[Tranquil Fury]] unnerves his enemies into submission.
** More like running, but if taken as canon and was meant to be the explosion in ''"Rose''", the teaser of the Ninth Doctor had him run down a ordinary corner quite calmly. ''Then we notice the massive fireball chasing him.''
** Rose in "{{spoiler|[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E12 The Stolen Earth|The Stolen Earth]]}}" when she was walking on the street and a Dalek blows up a house / path a little way behind her.
* [[Universe Bible]]: Somewhat notable for being a [[Long Runner]] TV show and ''not'' having one.
* [[The Un-Reveal]]: In "The God Complex", all we get from The Doctor's fear room is the sound of the Cloister Bell and the Doctor musing "Of course, who else would it be?"
* [[Unrobotic Reveal]]: Daleks.
* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]:
** The Doctor, despite going back and forth through time and space, rarely (although there are exceptions) seems to have his outfit questioned, though his companion(s) might.
Line 1,168 ⟶ 1,140:
** The Doctor turns his church organ volume up at the climax of "The Lazarus Experiment". He even uses the trope name when he does it.
** The Doctor himself fits, in more ways than one.
* [[Used Future]]: Despite being far ahead of most technology even approaching the end of the universe, the TARDIS is seriously broken and worn out by Gallifreyan standards. He's also mentioned on several occasions that he's stolen or borrowed it. The Time Lords were also ''phasing out that particular TARDIS model'' for being outdated when the Doctor nicked it.<br /><br />''The Deadly Assassin'' and ''Shada'' both had an aged, senior Time Lord reminiscing about how he "hadn't seen a Type 40 since [he] was a boy".
:''The Deadly Assassin'' and ''Shada'' both had an aged, senior Time Lord reminiscing about how he "hadn't seen a Type 40 since [he] was a boy."
** There has been run-down human technology too (ie "42" and "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit"). It's implied that these are the more industrial purposes that run alongside the shiny futuristic tech.
* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]:
Line 1,174 ⟶ 1,147:
** Supposedly the motivation behind the Cybus Cybermen's massive conversion factories: they plan to "upgrade" humanity by force in order to eliminate emotions and the pain connected to them:
{{quote|'''Cyber Leader:''' This broadcast is for humankind. Cybermen now occupy every landmass on this planet; but you need not fear. Cybermen will remove fear. Cybermen will remove sex, and class, and colour, and creed. You will become identical. You will become like us.}}
 
 
== V-Z ==
Line 1,184 ⟶ 1,156:
* [[Video Inside, Film Outside]]: Throughout most of the classic series, though ''Spearhead from Space'' was entirely in film. Some episodes shot studio segments on film to make them "feel" outside.
** Many early episodes, however, were originally recorded on video but only preserved as film telerecordings made for overseas sales. It has only recently become possible to reprocess the film recordings (using the [[Vid FIRE]] process) to restore the original video "feel" for DVD release.
* [[Villain-Beating Artifact]]: Subverted in the "Last of the Time Lords" episode, Martha Jones spent the whole year searching for a weapon, which was divided into four parts. It's shown in the end that the quest for the Villain-Beating Artifact {{spoiler|was all a ruse to distract from Jones' real objective.}}
* [[Viral Marketing]]: There is an actual [http://www.cybusindustries.net/ Cybus Industries] website, along with [http://www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk/ a conspiracy site], as well as another telling you to [http://www.haroldsaxon.co.uk/ vote for Mr. Saxon].
* [[The Virus]]: ''Inferno'', "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances". The Cybermen, being techno vampire/zombies, are a form of virus.
* [[Walking the Earth|Walking the Universe]]
* [[Wasn't That Fun?]]: The Doctor is fond of this quip.
* [[The Watson]]: The role of all the companions, or close enough.
* [[We All Do It Together]]: "Arachnids in the UK", the fourth adventure of the 13th Doctor, ends with the Doctor, Graham, Yaz and Ryan all grasping the lever that activates the TARDIS and pulling it as one to symbolize their active decision to travel together.
* [[Wealthy Ever After]]:
** In ''The End of Time'', {{spoiler|the Doctor's present to Donna outside her wedding is a lottery ticket.}}.
** At the end of "Voyage of the Damned", {{spoiler|The Doctor leaves Mister Copper in London with just the credit card he had put some money on for passengers to buy Earth trinkets. Turns out he underestimated the value of the British Pound and loaded it with a million Pounds!}}!
** In "Doomsday" , {{spoiler|Rose gets this sort of future since Alternate Universe Pete is a wealthy businessman.}}.
* [[Weapons Grade Vocabulary]]: There is a audio Drama where Donna defeats a blob monster with nothing but pure indignation.
* [[We Have Forgotten the Phlebotinum]]:
** The Doctor is regularly separated from the TARDIS or his sonic screwdriver. An interesting example is in ''The Daleks'', in which the Doctor intentionally invokes this trope (by pretending his fluid link is broken) because he wants to explore the planet they've just arrived on. He doesn't know that the planet in question is Skaro...<br /><br />In "The Eleventh Hour", the TARDIS and Sonic Screwdriver are there, but the TARDIS is rebooting and the Sonic Screwdriver is fried.
:In "The Eleventh Hour", the TARDIS and Sonic Screwdriver are there, but the TARDIS is rebooting and the Sonic Screwdriver is fried.
{{quote|'''The Doctor''': "No TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare... Who da man?"
*[[Beat]]*
'''The Doctor''': "Alright I'm [[Never Say That Again|never saying that again]], fine!" }}
* [[Welcome to the Liberator]]
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: ''The Reign of Terror'', ''The Massacre'', ''Invasion of the Dinosaurs'', ''Robot'', ''Remembrance of the Daleks''.
* [[Wham! Episode]]:
** ''The End of Time'', Part One. That last twenty seconds. To drop some ''major'' spoilers in- : {{spoiler|The Time Lords aren't just back, ''they're'' the ones trying to do as the title says.}}.
** "The Impossible Astronaut". {{spoiler|It ''starts'' with the Doctor's [[Killed Off for Real|Final Death]]. Except not really, but we don't know this for certain until the finale.}}.
** And straight after that, "Day of the Moon". {{spoiler|The young girl from the Apollo spacesuit is implied to be Amy's daughter. This possibility is made even more confusing by the fact the TARDIS can't determine whether Amy is actually pregnant or not.}}. To top things off, {{spoiler|the girl is seen wandering the streets close to death at the end of the episode...and then it STARTS REGENERATING! Yes, as in Time Lord-style regenerating. River kisses the Doctor at the end of the episode, confirming their relationship is DEFINITELY romantic to some degree}}.
** "The Almost People". {{spoiler|[[Tomato in the Mirror|Amy's been piloting a Ganger body for a long time, possibly for all of the first half of seriesSeries 6, with the real Amy being kept by a Midwife from hell. Oh, and she's in labor.]] }}.
** "A Good Man Goes to War". At that point, Series Six6 basically becomes a Wham Season.
** The theme of Series Six6 being a Wham Season continued in "The Wedding of River Song", where {{spoiler|we find out that the Doctor who was shot in Utah was actually a Teselecta, that the Doctor's exact relationship with River is that they're married, that it will be the Doctor who will cause silence to fall, and that the Question is [[Title Drop|Doctor Who]].}}.
** While basically every fan these days is familiar with [[The Nth Doctor|regeneration]], the switch from the First Doctor to the Second Doctor must have been a ''massive'' Wham Episode for viewers back in the 1960s.
** ''The Trial of a Time Lord'' episode 13. {{spoiler|The Valeyard is really a corrupted future incarnation of the Doctor, employed by the Time Lord High Council to destroy the Doctor to prevent him from revealing their role in the attempted genocide of the human race. The Doctor's only ally in this is the Master, who (obviously) cannot be trusted.}}.
** "The Traitors" (episode 4 of ''The Daleks' Master Plan''). {{spoiler|Two companions (Katarina and Bret Vyon) are killed in two separate incidents, book-ending the episode.}}.
* [[What Year Is This?]]: Used more often than not, given it's a time travel show.
* [[When It All Began]]: The Time War is a strong defining moment for the Ninth and Tenth Doctors and the aftermath of it plays a part into both of their regenerations.
* [[Whooshing Credits]]: Several uses.
* [[The Wonka]]: All of The Doctors qualify.
* [[The World Is Always Doomed]]:
** Two stories, ''The Ark'' (1965) and "The End of the World" (2005) have gone whole hog and actually shown the Earth gettin' blowed up.
*** A third story, ''Frontios'' (1984) mentions the Earth's destruction at length without actually depicting it.
** Especially during Christmas specials in the [[Russell T. Davies]] era -- wellera—well, London Is Always Doomed, at any rate. The residents [[Genre Savvy|have picked up on this]] after ''two'' successive Christmases running of destruction and chaos, and get out of town for Christmas Day.
* [[The Wonka]]: All of The Doctors qualify.
* [[World of Badass]]
* [[World of Ham]]
* [[World War OneI]]: The ending of "The Family of Blood". The war is also alluded to throughout "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" Also the setting for the initially visited War Zone in "''The War Games"''.
* [[World War Two]]: The settings of ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S26 E3/E03 The Curse of Fenric|The Curse of Fenric]]'', "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E9S27/E09 The Empty Child|The Empty Child]]", "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 S27/E10 The Doctor Dances|The Doctor Dances]]", the final scene of "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E02 The Beast Below|The Beast Below]]", "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E03 Victory of the Daleks|Victory of the Daleks]]", {{spoiler|"[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E12 The Pandorica Opens|The Pandorica Opens]]" (partially), with "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 /E13 The Big Bang|The Big Bang]]" using the fires of the London Blitz as a plot point}} and "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2011 CS the Doctor the Widow Andand Thethe Wardrobe/Recap|The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe]]".
* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: So ''very'' many.
** Special mention should be made of "Victory of the Daleks", in which the Daleks run an elaborate [[Xanatos Gambit]] in which pretty much every possible outcome has them come out ahead. {{spoiler|And it works!}}.!
* [[The X of Y]]: By far the single worst abuser of this trope, guilty of it no less than '''''116 times'''''. Having trouble coming up with an episode title? Try mixing and matching these ones that ''already'' exist.
** '''Column X:''' Age, Aliens, Ambassadors, Androids, Arc, Army, Attack, Bargain, Battle, Bell, Brain, Bride, Brink, Carnival, Cave(s), Change, Claws, Coronas, Crater, Curse (3 times), Dalek Invasion, Day (''5 times''), Death (3 times), Destruction, Dimensions, Edge, End (3 times), Enemy, Escape, Evil, Evolution, Face, Family, Feast, Fires, Forest, Genesis, Guests, Hall, Hand, Horror, Horse, Image, Invasion, Keeper, Keys, Knight, Land, Last, Mark, Masque, Massacre, Mind, Monster, Music, Parting, Planet (''8 times''), Power, Priest, Prisoners, Pyramids, Reign, Remembrance, Revenge, Resurrection, Revelation, Rise, Robots, Roof, Sea, Seeds, Sentence, Snows, Sound, State, Stones, Talons, Temple, Terror (3 times), Time, Tomb, Trap, Tyrant, Vampires, Victory, Voyage, Wall, War, Warriors, Waters, Web, Wedding, Wheel
** '''Column Y:''' Androzani, Angels, Armageddon, Autons, Axos, Black Spot, Blood, Conciergerie, Cybermen (4 times), Daleks (''10 times''), Damned, Danger, Darkness, Dead, Death (''7 times''), Decay, Decision, Deep, Destruction, Dinosaurs, Disaster, Doctor Who, Dolls, Doom, Drums, Earth, Evil (4 times), Fang Rock, Fear (4 times), Fenric, Fendahl, Fire, Fortune, France, Ghosts, Giants, God, Identity, Infinity, Jaffa, Kroll, Lies, London, Madame Guillotine, Mandragora, Marinus, Mars, Monsters, Moon, Morbius, Necessity, Needles, Ood, Peladon, Pompeii, Rani, Reckoning, River Song, Sacrifice, Secrets, Skulls, Spheres, Spiders, Spy, St Bartholomew's Eve, Steel, Steven, Sun, Tara, Terror, Time (''5 times''), Time Lords, Tomorrow, Traken, Venice, Vervoids, Ways, Weng-Chiang, Wits, World (3 times), Zygons
** Statistically the most likely title? ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S10 E4/E04 Planet of the Daleks|Planet of the Daleks]]''. Also surprisingly high on the list: [[Death Takes a Holiday|The Death of Death]] and [[Groundhog Day|The Day of Time]].
** So overdone that the title convention itself was parodied in "''The Curse of Fatal Death''."
* [[You Already Changed the Past]]: Heavily implied every time the Doctor interacts with and saves a historical figure; the Doctor and companions probably wouldn't remember the celebrity as well or at all if they failed. It's particularly obvious when the Doctor turns out to be responsible for historical events, like the destruction of Pompeii, or the short disappearance and memory loss of Agatha Christie. The Doctor says certain points in history are "fixed", unchangeable, but for plot reasons he never elaborates on which ones.
** One time he is seen clearly changing the past (well, the past relative to the future anyway) is when he saves the crew in "The Waters of Mars". He does manage to save 3 survivors, but {{spoiler|Adelaide Brooke, the important one, kills herself}} to restore the timeline anyway, leaving only cosmetic changes, and giving us a nasty taste of what happens when you change a fixed point.
* [[You Are Number Six]]: As the Doctor fills Craig in psychically in "The Lodger", the Eleventh Doctor simply responds: "Eleven" to Craig's [[Angrish|rambling gibberish]].
* [[You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good]]
* [[You Have Failed Me...]]:
** Many a [[Big Bad]] says this.
** Notably averted in ''The Talons of Weng-Chiang'', in which [[The Dragon]] is simply fired, and sets out to save face on his own.
* [["You?" Squared]]: used in "Partners in Crime", in which the Doctor and Donna meet for a second time—except they do it in mime, through a window.
* [[You Will Be Assimilated]]: The main objectives of the Cybermen.
* [[You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry]]: The Doctor (Ten and Eleven get special mentions)
* [[Your Head Asplode]]: The Cybermen, Daleks and others.
* [[You Will Be Assimilated]]: The main objectives of the Cybermen.
* [[You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry]]: The Doctor (Ten and Eleven get special mentions).
* [["You?" Squared]]: Used in "Partners in Crime", in which the Doctor and Donna meet for a second time—except they do it in mime, through a window.
* [[Zeerust]]:
** Both intentional (the TARDIS's controls look rather clunky, possibly partly because of its dodgy condition) and unintentional. Basically every story set in space or and/or the future from the first eleven years of the series by now looks absurdly out-of-date, though the bell-bottomed space uniforms of the 70s now look oddly fashion-forward. And while the late 1960s stories makes some gestures toward internationalism, they almost always show show a preponderance of men in technical or scientific roles.
** Called out in "School Reunion" regarding K9's appearance after Rose calls him "Disco". The Doctor retorts: In the year 5000, this was cutting-edge!
* [[Zeppelins from Another World]]: Specifically, the other world that the Cybus Cybermen came from.
 
----
<!-- %% -->
<!-- %% Let's skip the heckler bit here, please. Attacking the wiki is a lot less funny than you seem to think it is. -->
<!-- %%
-->
 
{{reflist}}
{{Doctor Who Franchise}}
{{BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Series}}
{{TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:British Series]]
[[Category:Edutainment Show]]
[[Category:Hugo Award]]
[[Category:Historical Series]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 1960s]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 1970s]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 2010s]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 2020s]]
[[Category:Notable Quotables]]
[[Category:Canadian Series]]
[[Category:Turn of the Millennium/Live Action TV]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Series]]
[[Category:HistoricalTV FictionSeries]]
[[Category:AncientTelevision RomeSerial]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:The Epic]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Tabletop Games]]
[[Category:Mega Crossover/Fanfic Recs]]
[[Category:World War One]]
[[Category:Alternate Reality Game]]
[[Category:The Sixties]]
[[Category:EdutainmentTrope ShowOverdosed]]
[[Category:Nintendo DS]]
[[Category:Hugo Award]]
[[Category:The Great Depression]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
[[Category:Whoniverse]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]