Doctor Who: Why the Valeyard was so personal to the Sixth Doctor

Before we review his return in Time War 3, we take a look at why the Valeyard – the Doctor’s dark future self – has been such a personal enemy to the Sixth Doctor in Doctor Who.

The Valeyard. The Doctor’s darker side given form. Worse than that – he represents a version of the Doctor’s future, being from “somewhere between [his] twelfth and final incarnation”, as the Master describes him. Now, we’re past the Doctor’s twelfth incarnation already, but that’s not to say that he will never happen.

Regardless of whether the Valeyard is still the Doctor’s future or even how he was/will be created, one thing is clear: not only is he an enemy of the Doctor, at least the Doctor we’re familiar with. But, in a strange way, he feels like an enemy specifically for the Sixth Doctor.

There are a few reasons for this. The most obvious is that, on television, at least, he only appeared with Colin Baker’s Doctor, in The Trial of a Time Lord. This was his one and only appearance on television.

However, at the same time, that one story was literally an entire season. Specifically, Colin Baker’s second season in the role. More than that – it was (sadly) his last season, too. It doesn’t quite make it the equivalent of half of Colin’s entire run on television – the episodes of his first full season were considerably longer, after all – but it’s still a substantial amount. Enough to make the Valeyard a significant enemy for Colin’s Doctor, specifically.

The expanded universe

Of course, it’s not just the TV series that the Valeyard appears in. He’s also appeared in the expanded universe too, although surprisingly, not as often as you might think. The character never made any direct appearances in the novels published by Virgin in the Nineties, although there was a lot of foreshadowing of the character.

The character does appear in BBC published novel Matrix featuring the Seventh Doctor, and cameo appearances in both The Eight Doctors and Sixth Doctor novel Mission: Impractical. But that’s about it, in terms of licensed publishing. He doesn’t even show up properly in any of the comics.

However, Craig Hinton and Chris McKeon did bring the character back in the completely unlicensed novel Time’s Champion. Even as a completely unofficial charity release, this was extremely exciting. After a long absence officially, it was nice to see the character back in a major role. Particularly in a novel that gave its own take on the Sixth Doctor’s regeneration.

Hinton and McKeon weren’t the only ones to feature the Valeyard in such a story. In 2015, over a year and a half after their reunion in Trial of the Valeyard, the Sixth Doctor and the Valeyard faced each other once again (or rather, several more times) in Big Finish’s special release The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure. As the name implied, this was their take on the Sixth Doctor’s regeneration story.

Why the Sixth Doctor?

What makes the idea of the Sixth Doctor facing the Valeyard in his final adventure so appealing? After all, the Valeyard is, in some ways, the Doctor himself, albeit a twisted version of him. He’s an enemy that’s personal to the Doctor in any incarnation.

Well, along with the fact that he only appeared opposite Colin’s Doctor on TV, there’s also the Sixth Doctor himself. When he was “born”, the Sixth Doctor had some rather unlikable qualities, at least initially. Some of this was down to post-regenerative trauma, but even after he had settled down, he was arrogant and rude for quite some time. Even when he was on trial for his life, he couldn’t help but make things difficult for himself with his attitude.

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So when he’s confronted with the Valeyard, he’s essentially given a dark vision of his own future. A representation of everything the Doctor should never be. Now, the Sixth Doctor was already starting to improve his behavior at this point (if admittedly marginally). But it’s not hard to imagine him realizing how much more he needs to improve after facing this corrupted version of himself, if only to change the future. Particularly when he faced this dark future almost closed to the mid-point of his life (or so he most likely believed).

Ironically, while the Sixth Doctor does change for the better over time (at least according to the expanded universe), his next incarnation became considerably darker than ever before…

Darkness and light – Balancing two different sides of the Doctor. dark. Next

Do you think of the Valeyard as an enemy of the Sixth Doctor, specifically? Do you think he should return to television? Let us know in the comments below.

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