#rtd could make it happen

[horizontalsplash]

the thing about the new doctor who season is that there’s a 50% chance that this is all planned out intricately and we’ll all look back and see how everything connects in a way that makes all of the slightly weird moments suddenly make so much sense and there’s a 50% chance that this is halfway planned out flying off a cliff into a twist that makes no sense at all. and in reality it’s probably more likely the first one but we’ve all been used to the chibnall “seemingly setting little interactions up to prelude a bigger conclusion but there’s really nothing there” and the moffat “the season seems coherent but then the finale whips around and smacks you across the face” for the past 15 years so it’s kinda hard to believe that there will actually be a clever and carefully attended to plotline that ends with a conclusion that doesn’t hit you in the back of the head

[hobgoblinns]

the doctor’s daughter would be a good episode if almost everything about it was different

[ssaalexblake]

wild that for the whole of chibnall’s run nobody worked out that the man apparently doesn’t find somebody forcing themselves on somebody else funny and that’s why 95% of the kissing in the show disappeared 

[genderqueerpond]

if it is a time loop thing.... if it is a TIME LOOP it puts the whole. "I think I'm really really me" line in a completely new and absolutely delightful context.

Theory not my own, I saw it in a youtube comment.

But let's just imagine that. Let's entertain it briefly.

Fourteen lives out their life with Donna's family, and then whatever they do after that. Regenerates eventually, most likely into the Curator. Lives out that life until it wears out.

And then regenerates, but, wait.... *poof*. He finds himself somewhere else entirely, finds himself on the other side of a now distant memory.

Oh! I'm finally me! "I think I'm really, really me!"

[doctorwhoisadhd]

auauguaughgh assignmence

[unexpectederawhilesubmitting]

WARNING: DOCTOR WHO SPOILERS EXPLAINING REGENERATION SHENANIGANS

-------------------

okay so I was kind of not on board with the concept of bi-regeneration, mainly because of how it seemed like all of the Sad and the Trauma that the Doctor had undergone got kind of handwaved away? i'm all for ncuti's Doctor being sort of a fresh start/jumping on point for new viewers, but i didn't get how that could work if like, literally 40 minutes ago he was David Tennant being a sad wet puppy dog of a man

however, after rewatching it, i've realized what i think happened there, and it goes all the way back to something introduced with the 4th doctor's regeneration that was never explained: the Watcher

^this spooky guy

so, for those that don't know (or haven't seen every episode of a show that is over half a century old), the Fourth Doctor regenerates at the end of a story called Logopolis (he falls off a satellite dish, but that's not important right now). all throughout the episode, this weird figure, The Watcher, stands off in the distance, and even intervenes slightly by saving the Fourth Doctor's companion. there's not much given in the way of an explanation until the Fourth Doctor regenerates, saying "it's the end. but the moment has been prepared for..."

the watcher walks up, and gets absorbed in a super rad 1980's digital effect (never change doctor who), while his companion just gives us the not-super-helpful-for-lore statement "He was the Doctor all the time!"

then, in a crossfade, the Doctor goes from Four to weird-powder-man to Five

canonically, the Watcher is explained as a future version of the doctor that comes about in sort of a weird overlapping thing with the doctor's timeline, it's very wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey.

-------------------------

SO what does this have to do with biregeneration and satisfying character arcs/moving on from trauma?

Well, remember, Fifteen said this, about Time Lords doing rehab out of order:

so, here's the thing: Fifteen is the Doctor AFTER Fourteen (duh, I know?) But to be clear...Fourteen lives out an entire lifetime with Donna and family, gets to a ripe old age, and then, when his lifetime of healing is over, he gets yeeted back through his own timestream just to zoot himself out of David Tennant's chest.

Remember, his first words to Fourteen (after popping out of his chest) are "So good to see you! So good!", not the RTD classic "what?". He greets himself like he's almost expecting this, he then says "does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?" which only makes sense if he's coming from a different point in his own timestream (remember, when two doctors interact, memory gets really weird, 10 and the War Doctor don't remember the events of Day of the Doctor until they live through them as 11).

SO TO BE CLEAR: Ncuti Gatwa is playing the Doctor AFTER he has spent years healing from his traumas. His Doctor is fine because Fourteen takes the time to rest and work on himself.

tl;dr: I didn't like biregeneration at first because I thought it looked like this:

In actuality, it looks more like this:

[txttletale]

The wildest thing to me about that scooter Sheldon cooper child is that I know in RTDs previous run the Doctor would have had a whole scene berating Kate for not just hiring a child, but effectively making him into a soldier and putting him in harms way. SHE PUT A MACHINE GUN IN HIS FUCKING SCOOTER!! I know the Doctor wasn't around for that but it feels so fucking wild that that's just a thing that happens and the show doesn't acknowledge! Why ! A better RTD episode would have ended with the Doctor sabotaging Kate's job or just plain shouting at her for that. What the fuck happened? Why is this run like that? I genuinely believe I enjoyed Smith's first season more on average than this one, and 11 is my second least favourite!

I feel like I could find episodes in *Chibnals* run that understood the character better than THE SCENE WHERE THE DOCTOR DOESN'T TELL OFF THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL FOR HIRING A CHILD SOLDIER AND KNOWINGLY PUTTING HIM IN HARMS WAY

i think more offensive than young sheldon is rose noble. at least young sheldon is ostensibly like a supermegagenius or whatever. rose is just a 15 year old nepo hire² who is just there, in incredible danger, for no reason. silly and breaks all sense of actual stakes and tension. but yeah i agree lol this iteration of UNIT is impossible to take seriously they're like a bad 80s cartoon.

[a-bit-of-a-queer-one]

I loved Wild Blue Yonder, I thought it was a great episode. But if I see one more person proclaiming that the Doctor saying Isaac Newton was "hot" made the character "finally queer", I'm gonna set fire to sth.

For one thing, since they changed into a woman, the Doctor has, depending on one's definition, been canonically genderfluid/trans/nonbinary/genderqueer. That was made even more explicit last week in Star Beast. So saying that the Doctor as played by a man and using he/him pronouns calling a man "hot" somehow made the character queer is stupid in and of itself.

And secondly, the Doctor has long been regarded as aro and ace-coded by people of those communities and guess what? Aro and ace people really do exist and we are queer. And it would be lovely if other queer people could stop excluding us by saying that characters who provide what little, mostly accidental and incidental representation we get "become queer" by expressing same-sex attraction. It happened with Good Omens and it seems to be happening again with Doctor Who and I am so fucking tired of it

Edit (6th Dec 2023): Several people have pointed out in the notes that there have been quite a few instances of the Doctor ambiguously or indeed unambiguously expressing 'same-sex' attraction and exploring their gender identity/identities in the past, both in the show and in extended media. I just wanted to be absolutely clear on the fact that I was in way trying to diminish the importance of those moments by emphasing the aspect of asexuality and aromanticism in my post. That is not to say that I think anyone was implying that I was doing that, in fact everyone's been lovely (which is why I also wanted to thank everyone for their input, I learnt a lot, especially about the novels!!)

Of course, as an asexual, aromantic and agender/nonbinary person, that is the lens through which I watch the show and relate to the character of the Doctor. This does not make my reading of them any more or less valid than anyone else's. In fact, I absolutely love the fact that the Doctor is a character who speaks to people of so many different queer identities and I am so happy that RTD is exploring their queerness more explicitly, building on what he and so many other writers and also the actors have already established. I just hope that the fandom will respect the aro and ace aspects of the Doctor's queerness the same way they do their gender identities and other sexual and romantic orientations. Part of the reason I was initially quite worried about this was because of my experiences in the Good Omens fandom, particularly post series 2, as indicated in my original post. The other is that I doubt the show will explore the aro and ace aspects of the character as much as they may other queer identities - unfortunately aspecs have a history of being left behind in this regard...

But we will see, maybe I'll be proved wrong! For the time being, I just hope the queer community can celebrate all the different facets of the Doctor's undeniable queerness, including the aspec ones. And as the reactions to this post have been overwhelmingly supportive (I don't think I've seen a single outright negative response), I think this hope is far from unfounded.

(Sorry, this edit turned out to be longer than the original post...)

[cyber-corp]

wow. WOW.

This one was a nutter. Here are some of my favourite moments from the final Doctor Who special, The Giggle

SPOILERS AHEAD

First of all, I underestimated Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker. He is absolutely terrifying and absolutely hilarious all in the scenes he’s in.

The Toymaker was the perfect villain for this special. A unstoppable, petrifying entity that hasn’t been seen since William Hartnell is a very good choice for an anniversary special

The puppets of the past companions were a nice touch, and the Doctor correcting the Toymaker on what actually happened is funny

Furthermore, the Toymaker entering to Spice Up Your Life. RTD saw what Chibnall did with Rasputin and went “OH NO CHIBBIE. DON’T TRY AND OUT-CHEESE ME”

The less-than-subtle political and social allegory through the Toymaker “making everyone’s thoughts superior”, which kind of shook me a little bit with how accurate it was.

Mel!!!! Melmelmelmelmelmel!!!!! Never really knew her in the Classic Series, but she is absolutely wonderful in this episode 🥕

Donna utilising her typing skills as Best Temp in Chiswick

Fourteen’s last words were probably going to be “Allons-y” which is the complete opposite of “I don’t want to go”. Please ignore me while I go cry in a corner

Bi-regeneration? Okay???

NCUTIIIIIII GATWA IS HEEEERE EVERYBODY!!!! HIS SMILE COULD CURE SO MANY DISEASES!!!!!! AND HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY PANTS OOOOOOON

Three guys play with balls

Fifteen giving Fourteen/Ten a hug was my all-time favourite moment from these specials. Someone finally tells the Doctor “Hey man. Slow down.” and that the only person that could tell him is him

The Doctor finally talks about the planet where you communicate with your eyebrows, as mentioned 53 years ago in Spearhead in Space

The Fourteenth/Tenth Doctor finally settles down with people he loves. A satisfying ending to a once tortured character.

Meanwhile the Fifteenth Doctor goes off on his own adventure, ready for a new era of this show.

This was absolutely fantastic, and it also made me cry the most out of all the specials (unsurprisingly). Everything in this episode felt right, and it feels like RTD has been planning something like this for quite some time. A proper end to David Tennant as the Doctor.

Fifteen’s era is going to be amazing!!!!

[13thdoctorposts]

Sometimes it’s important to know when to let a show go. 

When 13 regenerated into 14 and had her clothes burnt off like a witch on a stake, sending a horrible message about women and gender RTD came out and said he did it to protect David from right wing media. Then the fans defended David coming back and that RTD would address why he had that face and why the clothes also regenerated, although I was upset with 13s regeneration I thought ok I’ll wait and see how this get handles. Because even though I don’t like the real world messaging maybe the in world messaging will be enough to make it ok.

But then what happens? We get a trans story for the very first story with very positive messaging for trans issues which is great but undermined by the fact RTD wanted to protect David from gender critiques by the right wing but didn’t seem to want to protect Yasmin Finney. So first David can’t wear Jodies costume for protection but then RTD has Yasmin live through being deadnamed in the show which she herself has said made her uncomfortable and then also gave her character the line of telling the Doctor to not assume pronouns… which any of the characters could have done but RTD chose Rose and then what happen? What always happens with the right wing, the pronoun line and the male presenting line are the ones that the right wing all go on about in every video, in every article… they deadname the character and then misgender and say horrible things about Yasmin… so RTD protects the 50+ year old white man who’s worn way more feminine things then 13 outfit in his career the media could use if they wanted to go after him but don’t protect the 20 year old Trans Woman? How people aren’t talking about how fucked up that is I don’t know.

Then we get no reason why the Doctor has that face and why the clothes regenerated on them. Then in their own regeneration… they don’t! They bi-regenerates and this time Ncuti does get the Doctor clothes, well half of them… why didn’t 15 regenerate with their own clothes? No instead we have the new Doctor walking around with no pants on… and why is it that 15 has to go pantless and not David? are we protecting David again? Perfectly fine to have a bunch of pics of 15 in his tighty whities and no pants but again David could not be seen in 13s full gender neutral outfit. 

Then to top all this off theres no mention in the loves lost of Yaz… even though the Doctor chose to drop her off in a park 3 days ago after telling her if they could Date anyone it would be Yaz… is that not love lost? Was saying good bye to Yaz not an emotional trigger? Now people are saying thats because only the dead were brought up… Rose is not dead unlike Yaz Rose is not only alive in another Dimension but also got herself a Doctor… Yaz currently is mourning the Doctor while they cant even seem to remember she existed despite dropping her off 3 days a go… so they weren’t all dead… however Rose was over 1000 years ago and Yaz 3 days ago… what hurts more the lost of someone you loved but who is still alive from 50 years ago or the one you lost last week? What makes logical sense is the love you lost most recently hurts the most… and people dont need to die for you to hurt losing them from your life if you love them.

Now we have 2 Doctors and people are already saying they can’t wait for David Tennant episodes, so if you think the 10th Doctor overshadowed the other Doctors when he was no longer the Doctor how overshadowed do you think the first main Doctor of colour is going to be when lots of peoples favourite white Doctor ever is also a legitimate Doctor in universe existing at the exact same time with a TARDIS? Ncuti doesn’t event get to be the only Doctor during his tenure he has to share it with David.  

The lastly no mentions of Yaz at all… seems shes completely forgotten and at the very end the Doctor says they are finally with their family the happiest he’s ever been… what a diss of every TARDIS team ever that the Doctor has found family with… your last crew you literally called your ‘Fam’, the Ponds you actually married into… Susan was your flesh and blood… but no this family you haven’t seen in 1000 years, of which only one of who was part of your TARDIS team are the ones you finally found family with and make you the happiest you’ve ever be? Literally at the exact same time the Doctor is sitting at that table saying all of that, Yaz is mourning the Doctor and not wanting to have left the TARDIS, but she doesn’t get a mention because for some reason if it’s a wlw relationship it means nothing and can be ignored completely. 

Honestly by the end the Doctor just seems like a complete prick, and not in a 13 I’m dealing with internal trauma and I accidentally snapped way but just in a I’m a shit person way. Talk about compromised morals, people wouldn’t shut up about it with 13 but the Doctor just left a young woman to mourn them while being the “happiest they have ever been” grabbing themselves a new family and pretending Yaz doesn’t exist. Talk about shit morals. People say Chibs didn’t know anything from 12s era, which wasn’t true it directly affected the way 13 kept the fam at arms length but after watching this clearly RTD didn’t even know what happened in the episode 14 regenerated from 13 in and the previous episode Legend of the Sea Devils, because surely if you did, you wouldn’t not mention Yaz at all and give a reason why the Doctor wouldn’t go see her while she’s mourning them and just grabbing a new family and claiming to be the happiest you’ve ever been in the 2000 years of life you remember. Because that would make the character look like a prick, not a hero, which is exactly what happened. If RTD is the amazing writer people claim, he could have come up with a Yaz mention and a reason why the Doctor wasn’t going to see her.

I know not everyone was happy with the wlw representation with Thasmin but you know what’s way worse? Not even mentioning it or even acknowledging Yaz’s existence.

And to top it off I am so very very over the double standard of the fandom… this episode, had plot holes, had important things that weren’t explained… like why that face and why did the clothes regenerate… things that weren’t explained that weren’t so important like where did the sonic screw driver come from, why can it do all the things it now does… it had racism from both the Toymaker and Donna… what on earth was that line about ‘do you come in every colour’, was paced poorly, it clearly should have been longer and decided to mess with lore by creating bi-rengeration out of thin air and not explaining how it would effect things going forward or why it even happen, like a true WTF… if Chibs had done even one of these things, or wrote this episode the exact same way the fandom would be coming for him instead they are praising the genius of RTD not caring about any of those things, all the sins they claimed Chibs did and some of them on a bigger scale in this episode but the treatment of RTD is the polar opposite. 

It’s unbelievably hypocritical, and makes the fandom look even worse for being so hard on the first female Doctor because none of this was acceptable for her but its not only fine but great with a male Doctor.

So I think it’s time for me to let this show go, and know it’s time to bow out. Because unlike the people who have been horrible about 13 for the last 6 years I understand sometimes you have to step away from something you love when its no longer for you and leave it for other people to love.

Im out with 13.

[stompandhollar]

I have some….. harsh(?) words for rtd.

I miss when Doctor Who was scrappy. Where the working class was at the forefront of our story. Where the hero had a broken time machine and one shitty little gadget that only sometimes could do anything useful. When the TARDIS was cobbled together with glue sticks and a dream.

Rose as a story worked because it was paired down. ALL of good DW works when it’s paired down. The stakes aren’t the whole world or the whole universe ending. The charm and the stakes both come from the same place— focusing on the characters, and making their problems the central focus. Blink was stunning because the world wasn’t in danger, just Sally Sparrow, and for 40 minutes of runtime, she was the focus of the viewer’s world.

The “base under siege” episodes work because it matters just as much to us that the Doctor gets the crew to safety as it would if the whole universe were in danger.

Even Utopia works because while being a high-stakes-for-humanity episode, it’s focused heavily on each character, and on concepts, not flashy visuals and dramatic build ups with no payoff. Utopia has exactly the right level of stakes for the story it’s telling, and the twist at the end delivers because it’s on that same level.

Ncuti is phenomenal. He and Millie are the only reason I’m sticking around (with s14, not with DW. I metaphorically sold my soul to this show a long time ago and that’ll never change) and watching each new episode with the hope that it’ll get better. But good gracious we do not have a lot of substantial evidence to back that hope up right now, lol.

The dialogue is hollow because we don’t sit with any characters long enough for their emotional moments to hit home. These brilliant actors can’t even save the scripts they’re being given.

I liked Rouge so much because it felt so bottled within its own episode. The stakes seemed so low, and it was fun and campy and the energy was electric. But I’m disappointed all over again with the Marvel-ization of the show in the newest episode. We saw it in the 60th specials, and it’s back swinging again in TLORS.

We don’t want Stark Tower SHIELD UNIT and their big flashy technology to save the day. The Doctor running straight to UNIT for help at all was crazy to me.

Part of me got so excited when Death was revealed as the big bad. The deluded part of my brain immediately thought we’d get a paired down concept of Death, like in the Big Finish Master audio drama. And I still really hope that happens, or is at least a little bit alluded to. (or maybe not. maybe i want to write that story myself some day when i’m in the damn writers room for this silly perfect show) But as soon as they got my hopes up, they got dashed again five seconds later when it became evident how overpowered and goofy and trope-y our big bad is shaping up to be.

RTD shines when he’s writing characters full of hope and wonder and a need to see the stars. Moffat shines when he’s writing twisted little think pieces that show the indomitable human spirit. Both of them have had my heart and changed my life with their writing. And right now I need them both to take a back seat and pass the baton. Russel keeps trying to outdo himself, and it’s all become too grandiose.

We need a writer in that room that doesn’t care how The Doctor is going to save the world next, but instead, cares about how he’s going to save that one person right in front of him, who needs his help, now.

[edwardshundredyearoldspunk]

dot and bubble might just be my favorite episode this series. it's safe to say there have been NAUR bad episodes but the futility of dot and bubble, the slow realization that these young adults (who have been chosen as the final vestiges of this civilization) aren't just rich and beautiful, they're also ALL white. the subtle, unexplained hostility lindy pepper-bean has for the doctor. the way she listens to only ruby, addresses only ruby even when it's the doctor who is talking to her. and then. that ending. the doctor's disbelief. he can't believe these people aren't letting him save them just because he's black. and they could have gone the allegorical racism, the whole sci-fi alien bigotry. but I'm glad they didn't. the doctor has never encountered this problem before and what does he do? he screams. he cries. because if there's anything the doctor will always hate, it is the meaningless loss of life. and that's exactly what will happen to lindy and her friends. they will die. and as audience members there is some part of us that enjoys that, because we hate bigots and we love the doctor. but the doctor cares, so part of us cares, even when we don't want to. and that's the beauty of doctor who. I truly don't believe a piece of media has had more of a hand in making me as empathetic as I am and for that I love it. best episode so far this season for me. rtd at his absolute best!

[expectiations]

going to the TARDIS Wiki to figure out the Doctor's ancestry is not for the weak

the way there are several versions of the Doctor's parentage leaves my mind reeling. one account where the Doctor is half-human on his mum's side, the other where the Doctor is loom-born, and then yet another one where the Doctor is maybe from another universe entirely. heck even the Doctor's supposed father's backstory has several versions. one of the backstories made the Master and the Doctor as half-siblings lol

i wonder if they'll do something to somehow merge it all together and make it make sense? like is that what RTD is doing?

as much as I am hoping all this is pointing to a River comeback, I find myself in disbelief that such a thing would ever happen. so i'm reading all these theories, all the callbacks from previous episodes and spin-off shows. my favorite is the "they're in a TV show" theory where someone is directing them and perhaps that would be the reason why the Doctor has several conflicting backstories because they keep rewriting it.

remember that part where Ruby's memories changed and instead the woman who dropped her off at the church pointed at the Doctor? oh and how about the accounts of the Woman Who Killed the Doctor and the Woman Who Married the Doctor supposedly being different things but actually ending up being the same person? the Doctor destroying but apparently not actually destroying Gallifrey?

this for me is an interesting bit that this woman could be the Doctor's father because well Time Lords can change genders yeah

but reading the part about them doing the Weeping Angels pose??? maybe someone has done the 'what if the Weeping Angels are actually Time Lords who'd been punished?' theory already. is there a fic or a post that explores that? it's horrifying and sad at the same time T_T like they're no longer mere monsters to me. they could be like zombies? humans turned into zombies. my mum could turn into a zombie but that would, to me, still be my mum except zombie-fied. idk what point i'm trying to make but the Weeping Angels are so Time Lord punishment coded to me

this post has gone in different directions much like the Doctor's backstory

[hollow-keys]

Jodie Whittaker vs Russel T Davies.

If you don't make a joke out of it, it won't be a mockery. It's that simple. The only way you could believe it was is if you thought there was something inherently insulting about a man wearing non masculine clothing.

What does him being straight have to do with anything? Can straight men not be gender non conforming?

I was going to ask what him being a Scotsman had to do with things, especially when they won't let him use his natural accent, but then I realised that makes it even more ridiculous because Scottish men traditionally wear kilts! And yes, they're not feminine within Scottish culture but they do look that way from an Anglo point of view, which is the viewpoint the press and probably RTD is taking (despite him being Welsh).

And about the press thing, that's not what would have happened and you know it. Source: David Tennant has already worn much more feminine clothes on Good Omens.

It's honestly ironic that Jodie specifically stressed that her costume felt inclusive and could be worn by anyone and RTD spat in the face of it.

[intuitive-revelations]

I wonder if the Toymaker saying "I made a jigsaw of your history" is RTD's way of saying everything is canon now, and everything can be welded together. Once he released "Doctor Who and the Time War", he stated "all stories happened, all are real."

Yeah I'm still puzzling - pun unintended - over that line too. I know a bunch of people (mostly anti-Chibnall-ers unfortunately) have suggested it's acknowledging and/or retconning the Timeless Child storyline. While RTD clearly doesn't want to wipe the slate, I do think there's a bit of a connection there? Part of me likes to think it's also meant to be why, for example, The Star Beast can coexist with all the EU Beep the Meep stories.

I've been thinking about Doctor Who and the Time War too. Especially with this little comment in the light of Shalka appearing in Rogue (screenshot cribbed from @doctornolonger):

[ID: Instagram notification linked to an RTD post on "Doctor Who and the Time War" reading: "russelltdavies63 liked your comment: "Fantastic read! Please tell me that the Ninth Doctor here could also be interpreted as the Shalka Doctor or the Rowan Atkinson Doctor for the hat trick of alternative Ninth Doctors?""]

Personally, while the show (even post revival) has never been too solid on its continuity, I hope this flexibility is something we continue to explore.

One thing I've been thinking ever since The Timeless Children is that now would be the perfect time for some sort of Unnatural History spiritual adaptation. To me, that kind of thing would be the perfect way to acknowledge that backstory and make it solidly part of the Doctor's possible on-screen history, while also reconciling it with everything it contradicts and allowing people to prefer other origins. It also would be a fun opportunity to bring up stuff like the half-human hybrid reference in Hell Bent and question how that reconciles with the Doctor's 'new' origin.

[bnxxshthealien]

who tf is mrs flood

She's probably a time lord. we know that. She overtly seems evil (she didn't give cherry tea 💔💔), which I think is rtd's misdirection to make us think she's part of the pantheon, but I think she's a time lord and a ally to the Doctor.

If you're deep enough into dw Tumblr to see this post, you're probably aware of all the hints to her being a time lord (I'm always hiding myself away / never seen a Tardis before) but there are some thing people miss:

she is not under a chameleon arch: if she was, she would not remember what a tardis is

she has not been to Gallifrey since before the time war. if she had, she would've instantly recognised a police box as the doctor's tardis. (it is therefore possible that she has no idea that the time lords are gone)

she knew about Sutekh before the doctor. maybe for a long time. whatever happened to Sutekh between pyramids of mars and now, she was probably involved

ok, but what if she's not a time lord? here's who I think she could also be:

Horus

Susan / Susan's mother

A member of the pantheon, but not an evil one

A servant to Sutekh (as in pyramids of mars)

something completely different that only Russell T Davies could come up with