#The Ancestor Cell

[melbush]

eda memes 3/?

[intuitive-revelations]

Now that Shalka!Doctor has been acknowledged in the show, I am 100% back in on my old theory that he:

a) is a post War in Heaven Ninth Doctor (linking with his intended backstory with the Time Lords in the matrix),

b) is the same incarnation as the "Cabinet of Light" Doctor, with the Eighth Doctor being the one who was betrayed and shot in the back,

c) erased himself in restoring Gallifrey / splitting the timeline from the War, but due to the intricate timelines is kinda remembered by the Doctor as another life within Eight's lifetime. This is also why he shows up in With All Awry / Now or Thereabouts in the Eleven Day Empire with the post Ancestor Cell amnesiac Eighth Doctor and the post Time War Ninth Doctor.

(Weirdly this is also very similar to the recent fate of the Nicholas Briggs Doctor - what this means, I don't know. It's interesting that this may be a pattern that repeats: the Briggs!Doctor erases himself to bring back Gallifrey, the Shalka!Doctor erases himself to bring back Gallifrey... if they hadn't managed to 'trick out time' this would have been the fates of the New Who Doctors too in Day of the Doctor... erasing themselves to give their wartime incarnation a new future...)

While I'm all in that he links somehow to the post-War universe, this does leave us in an awkward position where his exact existence depends not just on exactly how that happened, but also leaves us with the question of where exactly he emerges from the whole mess.

My original interpretation was that he was simply a post Gallifrey Chronicles Ninth Doctor, who was later erased restoring Gallifrey,

But I also really like the idea that the Jacobi!Master seen in Scream of the Shalka is the "same" incarnation we meet in the Time War / Utopia, even if his history might be quite different. Compare this with the post biodata virus Fourth Doctor, who was born under very different conditions, but is still effectively the incarnation we know. While this works extremely well with the interpretation that Romana III / Trey's Gallifreys are one and the same and the War started not during the Grey Eminence erased VNAs!Romana Presidency, but the delayed BF!Romana Presidency, it does somewhat clash with my original idea.

Assuming their timelines sync up (which tbf isn't necessarily the case, especially as the War Master has been zipping his way all over the timeline - plus we have the 'child' War Master to account for) this would seemingly place the Shalka Doctor MUCH later in the timeline: nearly to the point of Night of the Doctor (or at least around the time of the current Eighth Doctor audios), with the Android Jacobi!Master still succeeding Macqueen.

But as far as we can tell, Shalka doesn't really fit with the future Doctors during the War (the ones leading up to the Relic anyway, though we may also need to note the rejected "The War" novel that would have featured COFD!Thirteen too). I guess he could emerge from one of the other(?) alternative Eights, like "Grandfather Paradox" or the Infinity Doctor? This does somewhat go against the idea of him still being part of the Doctor's history though.

Hmm....

I guess for now, my interpretation has to be that the Shalka!Doctor is indeed post-EDAs, and the Shalka!Master is a remnant of the War, from the Doctor's future, with the timelines indeed still being out of sync? This does at least continue to work well with the idea that Gallifrey is still around in the post Ancestor Cell Eighth Doctor's "present" but he's still living in the unerased War timeline - so the Shalka!Master is native to the post-War universe, but the Shalka!Doctor is not.

[do-you-know-this-dw-story]

the ancestor cell - peter anghelides & stephen cole (novel: 2000)

[theeighthdoctoradventures]

What is Tumblrs EDA Ranking?

the EDA ranking tournament you’ve not been waiting for! this is not an elimination bracket! this is to determine a ranking of 1st to 73rd place.

ROUND THREE: POLL SIX

The Ancestor Cell by Peter Anghelides & Stephen Cole

vs…

The Space Age by Steve Lyons

- this is just for fun! all pairings were randomly generated by a ranking website

- you can leave propaganda in notes and reblogs

- no books will be eliminated

- this is absolutely not a perfect way of ranking, i can't be bothered to think any harder about this

[wanderingmadscientist]

I'm reading the Ancestor Cell and I love how Fitz picks up the skull mask and starts dropping puns that reveal he knows that the party goers are faction paradox

[chapter-title-tournament]

Round 2, Match 5

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey (The Ancestor Cell, Peter Anghelides and Steven Cole)

Death and Chocolate (The Book Thief, Markus Zusak)

[familyparadox]

I am currently reading the Ancestor Cell and one or both of the writers could not write woman at all I mean I keep half expecting them to say compassion Breasted Boobily at some point. I mean pouted prettily? Compassion would never do that. She smirk sardonically if anything. Pouted prettily my buttocks. God also everywoman other than Romana feels like a pallet swap both in description and personality. I would like to add I am only half way in but this is my part way review.

Pouted prettily, heh, what and idiot.

[gallifreyanhotfive]

Adding onto 5 and Castrovalva, even in the Doctor Who TV movie, 8 still had his fear of heights. In Kursaal and The Ancestor Cell, he had a fear of hospitals. In The Scarlet Empress, 8 was afraid of spiders (and I believe there is a book where 5 is too) because of what happened to 3.

This isn't exactly a headcanon, since I have no evidence of it ever happening, but it'd be interesting if each incarnation of the Doctor was afraid of the thing that killed the last one. 5 is afraid of heights because 4 died from a fall, 8 is afraid of medical procedures because 7 was killed by medical malpractice, etc.

[heimeldat]

I did another cover.

[gingersnaptaff]

We all know Culhwch and Olwen is this massive, sprawling quest, right? But have you considered the alternative view of it simply being a couple's retreat for Cai and Bedwyr (riding salmon taxis, defeating a giant together - the couple who slays together, stays together - and getting custody of their shared son, Goreu? Just a thought!

[melbush]

wade and father kreiner parallels or whatever

[intheholler]

o mississippi of a thousand ghosts. my parents made it clear they never asked for a changelin like me, but the woods always made me feel like i belonged. left the state bc too many angry spirits hauntin me everywhere i went. copperhead, catfish, gator & more i had to leave behind. now i'm an invasive species in the west. i could return, but i can never go home

this is my favorite thing that has ever graced my ask box. i just keep re-reading it.

i wish you could come home, darling. i really, really, really do

[askcaptainmindfang]

Y9u aren’t as vici9us and ruthless as all the rum9rs say y9u are, 6ut that might 6e me speaking a little t99 9ut 9f line.

[♏︎]: I am not heartless. Stowaways often seek refuge upon my ship. It is far safer than the land.

[♏︎]: I encountered such a soul and graciously 8estowed upon him a 8erth.

[♏︎]: In the 8rig.

[♏︎]: I extended an offer of li8erty...for a price, yet he persisted in his claim of ina8ility to transmute his 8lood into wine.

[♏︎]: A pity, for had he possessed such a talent, he and I could have amassed a fortune within this empire.

[theeighthdoctoradventures]

What is Tumblr’s EDA Ranking?

the EDA ranking tournament you’ve not been waiting for! this is not an elimination bracket! this is to determine a ranking of 1st to 73rd place.

ROUND FOURTEEN: POLL NINE

The Taking of Planet 5 by Simon Bucher-Jones & Mark Clapham

vs…

The Ancestor Cell by Peter Anghelides & Stephen Cole

[regicidal-defenestration]

I think if you're making a plot relevant entry into a series the least you can do is make it good

[chapter-title-tournament]

Round 4, Match 2

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey (The Ancestor Cell, Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole)

Important and Exciting Galactic History. Do Not Skip. (Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen, James Goss)