It is quite common on Doctor Who to see the Doctor zipping through time and space, venturing to the past, present, or future depending on where his whims take him. While it may not happen often, the Doctor has been known to return to the same place from time to time, either after regenerating or in the same body. Yet, no matter what incarnation of the Doctor is presently off on his adventures, his exploits are the stuff of legend.
In fact, the Doctor’s forays into different areas are so noteworthy or worth celebrating, that they are recorded. Even his foes, such as the Cybermen, have their records of the Doctor, where they keep track of his actions throughout time and space. Yet, aside from River Song and her book of spoilers, we do not see many allusions to the Doctor’s future exploits.
Even when faced with the records of the Doctor, they only go up to the current incarnation. Yet, with the future Doctors zipping about time and space, making their presence felt everywhere they end up, it is strange to think that those future exploits would not be recorded in the journals of the past. These events, while they may not have happened yet in the Doctor’s timeline, will have already occurred. Wouldn’t someone, or some thing, have taken note of that?
Yes, the Doctor does his best to avoid knowing too much about his future self. That does not stop River from mentioning things like how she met him when he was ‘older.’ The TARDIS, likewise, does have a future archive, when the Doctor’s adventures, that occur in the future but took place in the past, are stored. While this allows the TARDIS to keep from causing a paradox, it proves that the knowledge of the future of the Doctor does exist.
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While it is impossible to change the past, or so the Doctor would have us believe, that does not mean that the knowledge of the past cannot affect the future. These other entities, who have a vested interest in either avoiding or controlling the Doctor in some manner, would certainly want to know about the movement patterns from the future of the Doctor. If nothing else, these histories would, in theory, detail what the Doctor looks like, keeping his enemies from being surprised in the future.
It is often said that forewarned is forearmed. With the Doctor’s wanderings through time, one would imagine that records would exist showing what he looks like in future incarnations, giving his enemies an advantage. Yet, whenever those records are examined, these future incarnations are never mentioned, aside from River’s spoilers.
The past and future often collide on Doctor Who, yet we rarely see reference to the Doctor’s future exploits that occurred in the past. Perhaps one day, we can look at River’s book of spoilers and find out what is going to happen.