The final Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, “The Giggle,” introduced the latest Doctor in dramatic fashion. The Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) sprang from the side of the injured Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant). This was said to be due to a process called Bi-Generation.
Described as a Time Lord myth, Bi-Generation is a variation on the Time Lords’ Regeneration powers. Rather than regenerating into a new form, Bi-Generation causes the next incarnation of a Time Lord to split off from their current body. This effectively leads to two independent beings with the same memories. While this was introduced as a new concept, it evokes a character called the Watcher,one of the biggest mysteries in the show’s history.
Doctor Who’s Watcher Explained
The Watcher was introduced in the 1981 episode Logopolis. The final episode starring the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), Logopolis concerned the latest conflict with the Doctor’s archenemy, the Master. This built to an uneasy alliance between the two foes, after the Master’s actions threatened to unmake the universe.
Over the course of Logopolis, an indistinct figure clad in white was seen observing the events of the story. They continued to appear, leaving the Doctor feeling unsettled each time. Never speaking, but apparently capable of telepathic communication, the figure was dubbed the Watcher.
The Watcher was later revealed to have taken an active role in the events of the story. It was the Watcher who escorted Nyssa of Traken to join the Doctor and his companions. This saved Nyssa from the destruction of Traken at the Master’s hands. The Watcher also piloted the TARDIS, enabling the Doctor’s companions to join him later on Earth.
Injured to the point of regeneration following a great fall, the Fourth Doctor was joined by his companions. Reassuring them that “It’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for,” the Fourth Doctor and the Watcher merged into a single being. This created the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), but did little to explain the Watcher’s existence. The only explanation in the episode was Nyssa’s declaration that the Watcher “was the Doctor all the time.”
Who Was the Watcher?
The novelization of Logopolis does little to clarify matters. There, the Watcher is speculated to be a side effect of the Master’s manipulating the laws of cause and effect. Even then, it is unclear if the Watcher is a result of the future Doctor manifesting early or a creation of the universe made to ensure its own survival.
A different explanation was offered in the 1999 Doctor Who novel Divided Loyalties. This book suggested that Watchers were a common phenomena and were psychic projections of alternative versions of a regenerating Time Lord. This would fit what we know of the Watcher seen in Logopolis.
The Divided Loyalties explanation would also tie into another Classic Series regeneration. The episode Planet of the Spiders introduced the Time Lord K’anpo, who retired to Earth to live as a Buddhist holy man. He was somehow able to manifest his next regeneration, a monk named Cho-Je, who worked as his assistant before K’anpo’s death. Cho-Je revealed this as he assisted the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) with his regeneration into the Fourth Doctor. It is remarkably similar, yet distinct, to Bi-Generation.
It should be noted, however, that the canonicity of the Doctor Who novels to the show is disputed. Officially, the BBC only counts the television episodes when it comes to series’ canon. Even then, so many writers have worked on the show over six decades that much of the canon is contradictory and apocryphal. Given that, there may not be a connection between the Watcher and Bi-Generation. And yet, it seems as good an explanation as any.
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