Forgotten Storylines: The Face of Boe

BBC

Which Storyline from Doctor Who goes in the Forgotten Pile this week? None other than the Face of Boe?

Back in 2005, in the second episode of Doctor Who, we met the Face of Boe. All we knew about him was that he was a giant head in what appeared to be a tank full of fluids, most likely to keep him alive. We had no idea who this was, or why he was only a head.

Throughout season one and two of New Who, we continued to see this Face of Boe. He was who prophesized that the Master would be coming back, by telling the Doctor that he was not alone. He wasn’t the last Time Lord in existence.

However, after we saw him in the hospital during season two, we never saw the Face of Boe again. Or did we?

Of course, we did. We saw Jack Harkness, who we learned was unable to die when Rose brought him back to life. After the episodes of Utopia arc, we found out that he was from the Boeshane peninsula, and was often called The Face of Boe, as he was the first to make it into the Time Agency.

In what was an astounding shock to the audience, it was short lived. Mostly because we never saw The Face of Boe again.

What happened late in Doctor Who?

There are instances throughout the later seasons that give fans theories on what happened to our favorite alien fighter. In season five, we learned about the Headless Monks, or Order of the Headless, the religion that believed people should listen to their heart, not their head, thereby cutting off people’s heads.

Dorium Maldavar was a notorious member of the religion and a popular black market seller as well. Once, when River Song was looking for a time vortex manipulator, Dorium said he had one fresh off the hand of a handsome time agent — which we found out was quite literal.

Since Dorium was such a prominent member of the Order of the Headless, does this mean that Jack loses his head? We know that people can live without their bodies, as Dorium eventually gets his head cut off as well.

All just speculation

However, this is all speculation. Though it fits that Jack’s face would become distorted, none of what we know is certain.

With rumors of Chibnall wanting to bring back more of an RTD era to the show again, is it possible to see Jack and get some answers? Who knows? We know Chibnall has a good relationship with Barrowman has he did Torchwood, and we know that Jack wants to come back.

Could this be a storyline brought back to life? I hope so. But for right now, it goes in the Forgotten pile.