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5 questions we have about the Doctor Who Season 12 global trailer
Good news for Whovians across all of space and time! Not only is Doctor Who returning for a New Year's Day special on January 1, 2020, but Season 12 will also literally begin right after that. Doctor Who's new timeslot in the U.S. is Sundays at 8 p.m. on BBC America, which means that after the first new episode on Wednesday, January 1, there will be another episode the same week on January 5! Two new Whos in the same week!
To celebrate this announcement, BBC America released a new global trailer, and it's ominous. Perhaps more than any other season of contemporary Who, this season is keeping a lot of specifics of what will happen under wraps. After the first trailer showed the return of several familiar aliens, and at least one Matt Smith easter egg, the new trailer keeps things mysterious. And yet it seems as though this season of Doctor Who will have more connections to the complicated mythology of the show's past than its predecessor. And some of the biggest mysteries in the new trailer could point to huge callbacks hidden in plain sight.
Here are the five biggest questions we have after the thrilling new Doctor Who trailer. As the 13th Doctor would say, let's get a shift on!
Speculation for Doctor Who Season 12 ahead.
First up, let's watch that trailer again.
01. What is the big crisis?
The trailer begins with a voiceover from the Doctor talking about a "big crisis." But what is that crisis? Could it be connected to some kind of monster or threat we've seen before or is this something brand new?
02. Who is the Doctor talking to on the phone?
While the Doctor is talking about the "crisis," it's then implied she's leaving a message for someone on the phone. But who? At the end of the message, she says "kisses." Could this imply that the Doctor is contacting someone she already knows? Back in the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras, River Song often signed her correspondences with the Doctor with a kiss.
River Song probably isn't coming back for Season 12. (Technically, the character died during the events of "The Husbands of River Song" which led into "Forest of the Dead.") But, then again, the Doctor never met River Song in the "right" order, so it could happen!
03. What's up with this ominous room?
At one point, it appears that Graham finds himself in a strange, ominous room. But what is it? On some level, it almost seems like this room could be the control room of a TARDIS. It's been a while since we've seen the inside of a TARDIS that wasn't the Doctor's, and there's something about this arrangement that could suggest Time Lord tech. Then again, maybe that's just wishful thinking.
04. Why does the Doctor say "You don't know me"?
About halfway through the trailer, Graham asks "Who are you, doc?" And the Doctor replies, "You don't know me"... and then says... "Something's coming for me."
Why does the Doctor tell her companions they don't know her? On the one hand, this seems like it could be a literal thing: in Season 11, we didn't see the Doctor exactly explain that she was a Time Lord for the planet Gallifrey, or that she had had numerous lives before meeting Ryan, Yaz, and Graham.
So, this might mean that in the new season, Team Tardis could suddenly learn a whole lot more about the Doctor.
Then again, it could mean something else entirely. And the "something" that is coming for the Doctor might be the "Timeless Child" teased in Season 11.
05. Could the Racnoss be trying to erase the Doctor from existence?
At one point, we hear a voice say "welcome to the end of your lives." Now, this could refer to the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham, collectively, but then again, the phrase all of your lives, could also refer to the fact that the Doctor has had multiple lives.
Later, in the trailer, we again see an alien that looks a lot like the Racnoss (from the David Tennant episode "The Runaway Bride) and they say "I will take everything." So, assuming this part of the Racnoss species, and it has a grudge against 13 because of what 10 did way back in the day, what does it mean by taking everything?
Season 11 of Doctor Who had a fairly light-touch relative to touching on the complex mythology from the past of the show. But after the return of a lone Dalek in the 2019 New Year's Special, "Resolution," it seems the deep-cut canon gloves have come off.
If this trailer is any indication, the new season of Doctor Who isn't just looking to the future but might be taking unexpected detours into the Doctor's past.
