Doctor Who: Does this Fourth Doctor story hold a clue to Series 12’s biggest twist?

Fugitive of the Judoon was an episode full of surprises, including one that could shake the whole of Doctor Who mythology itself. But does a classic Tom Baker story have a hint towards this twist? (Spoilers follow.)

If you haven’t watched last night’s episode of Doctor Who yet, stop reading now. Fugitive of the Judoon had an incredible twist, and we’re not even talking about the return of a certain much-loved character. So if you haven’t watched the episode yet and you care about spoilers, stop reading now.

Now that spoiler warning’s out of the way, let’s talk about Jo Martin’s surprise role. While she was initially credited as Ruth Clayton pre-broadcast, Fugitive of the Judoon‘s shocking ending gave us the twist that she was actually the Doctor, disguised in human form.

There’s just one problem. It’s not that this isn’t a Doctor that we haven’t seen before. It’s that she’s a Doctor who, according to the one we know, simply can’t exist. Martin’s Doctor comes from a time when Gallifrey still existed, and she doesn’t even recognize the Sonic Screwdriver. So she’s more likely to come from the Doctor’s past than her future. Except the Doctor doesn’t recognize her.

So what is going on? Are there incarnations of the Doctor that we don’t know about? Well, interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time that the idea of pre-Hartnell Doctors has been suggested within the series itself.

The Brain of Morbius

In the classic serial The Brain of Morbius, the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane are sent to the planet Karn by the Time Lords. (Fans only familiar with the New Series may still recognize the planet’s name, as the Sisterhood of Karn were instrumental in helping the Eighth Doctor regenerate in major minisode The Night of the Doctor.)

It’s not long before the Doctor finds out that Morbius – one of the most dangerous Time Lords in Gallifreyan history – is still alive. Now, any comics fan hoping that Morbius will turn out to be a vampire as well will be disappointed, although he certainly has a strong influence from one classic monster. In this case, less Dracula and more Frankenstein.

Due to most of his body being disintegrated, only the brain of Morbius has survived. To help him gain a new body, his main follower – mad scientist Dr. Solon (because of course this story has a mad scientist) – creates a body for Morbius out of the corpses of several different races. What we get is a rather horrific looking monster that’s a mish-mash of different parts.

The Morbius Doctors

Towards the end of the story, the Doctor challenges Morbius to a mindbending contest. As they fight their psychic battle, we see images of previous incarnations for both of them.

Now, this is where we get to the crucial point of the story. Because we not only see the faces of the Doctor’s previous three incarnations. We also see faces that we don’t recognize. Many, many faces, in fact.

There is the theory that these were the faces of Morbius, but to be honest, that’s clearly not the intention. Here’s what Morbius says during this crucial sequence:

"How long have you lived?…Back! Back to your beginning!"

All of these unknown faces involved key members of the production team. One such member – producer Philip Hinchcliffe – even confirms the original intention for these faces at the time in A History of the Universe by Lance Parkin:

"…It is true to say that I attempted to imply that William Hartnell was not the first Doctor."

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Retcon

One thing to keep in mind is that this story came out one year before The Deadly Assassin – the story that established the thirteen lives rule for the series. Unsurprisingly, other production teams wanted to have as many remaining lives to use as possible, and so the Morbius Doctors were quietly ignored. When we saw the First Doctor again in twentieth anniversary story The Five Doctors, he described himself as “the original” Doctor.

But what if there was more to it than that? What if Jo Martin’s new incarnation really does come before any of the Doctors we know? If Chris Chibnall is going to pull off the biggest retcon in Doctor Who history, then he’d definitely be missing a trick by not acknowledging the Morbius Doctors, at least.

Of course, this is just wild speculation, at this point. As mentioned, there could be other explanations for this new incarnation. For the moment, we’ll have to wait and see what that explanation really is.

Do you think Jo Martin’s Doctor is connected to a previous life cycle, as briefly hinted at in The Brain of Morbius? Or do you think there’s another explanation altogether? Let us know in the comments below.