Looking back at a key arc from Series 9, and why it may not have worked as well as it should have.
Let me be clear on one thing: I loved Series 9. There’s a lot I enjoyed about it. I thought both the Doctor and his relationship with Clara was overall handled better than in previous series; I loved that most of the stories had room to breathe and allowed for more drama and great character moments; I especially loved the shocks and twists of the series, as I’ve mentioned before. But there was one thing I wasn’t so keen on: the Hybrid arc.
Since Doctor Who came back in 2005, each series has had it’s own distinctive arc. A few examples of these include Bad Wolf, Torchwood, and Mr Saxon for Russell T. Davies’s series. For Moffat, we’ve had the Cracks, the Silence, and Missy. If I’m being honest, out of all the arcs we’ve had, the Hybrid has been the least satisfying.
The idea behind the arc had potential, starting from a point of hinting at the Doctor’s origins and why he left Gallifrey in the first place. I think that even replacing the original reason given in ‘The War Games’ (i.e. that he was “bored”) with being scared, if done right, could’ve been quite the revelation. But in my opinion, it sadly wasn’t done so.
For one thing, the Hybrid is too obvious about what it is – an arc brand new and specific for Series 9. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem – I actually quite liked the fact that Russell T. Davies had a series specific arc that would be resolved by the end before starting fresh for the next series – but the problem here is that this isn’t your regular series arc. It’s not simply a nice way of setting up a big finale, reintroduce an old enemy, or even something to do with the consequences of the Time War. This time, it was an arc about the very origins of the Doctor. Specifically, why he ran away from Gallifrey.
When it comes to exploring the Doctor’s origins, it really needs to be done right. At the very least, it needs to show us just enough that it reminds us of how little we know about the Doctor and puts the “who” back into Doctor Who. Quite honestly, I think Moffat has previously been great at this. He’s hinted at the importance of the Doctor’s name without revealing what it is; he’s made the Doctor naming himself such a conscious choice, but we don’t know the full reasons why decided to call himself “the Doctor,” and he’s even shown us the tiniest glimpse of the Doctor’s childhood.
But with the Hybrid arc, it just doesn’t seem to work as well. First, quite frankly, it doesn’t feel big enough. A hybrid of two warrior races destined to destroy Gallifrey and the Doctor running away from what he learned about it… for something that even hints at the origins of a story that’s been going on for over five decades, it feels like it should be something larger, or at least, more personal – Hints of his family, actions the Doctor personally may have made in his youth… Hints, but not concrete answers, like the explanations that we got of the Doctor learning about the Hybrid.
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The fact that the Hybrid arc has ties to the Time War doesn’t help. In fact, it kind of takes away a little bit more from the Doctor’s origins rather than add to them. While I don’t mind the Time War being foreshadowed in Big Finish stories set during the Classic Era, to say that the Time Lords had known about it – or suspected it long before the Doctor left Gallifrey – just doesn’t sit right with the depiction of them that we got in the Classic Series.
Perhaps the worst thing about the Hybrid arc was the revelation of what it was – the relationship between the Doctor and Clara. Once again, Clara has an important part in the Doctor’s past. I love it when companions make a difference to the Doctor, but it should be something in the present that pushes him into the future, rather than simply be tied to his past.
Perhaps I wouldn’t mind so much if this were the only time that Clara had ties to his history, but it’s pretty far from the case. First, we had copies of her going back to the Doctor’s beginning and throughout all of his history in ‘The Name of the Doctor.’ Then, we saw her change his mind about destroying Gallifrey in ‘The Day of the Doctor.’ Then, we saw her speak to him as a child in ‘Listen.’
All of the above examples, I actually don’t mind as such, especially ‘The Day of the Doctor.’ It would make sense that, with a companion by his side, the Doctor wouldn’t wipe out billions of lives – that he’d try harder to find another way. But what we got in ‘Hell Bent’ – that the Doctor had been running away for so long because of what would eventually happen due to his unhealthy relationship with Clara – is just one example too many.
Next: David Tennant Receives Honorary Doctorate from His Alma Mater