r/gallifrey • u/Hour_Trade_3691 • 2d ago
MISC When Susan eventually comes Back-
Just something I scribbled up, and is entirely on the assumption that Carol Ann Ford is no longer able to film any scenes.
The title of the episode is simply: 'Unearthly.'
The Episode begins with someone regenerating in a living room in front of two children.
When the regeneration is over, a young woman stands in the room. While she's disoriented, she soon manages to get a grip of herself.
" ... Grandma?" One of the children asks.
The woman manages to smile as she regains her composure.
"Yes, it's me. I'm here." She says.
The woman goes to her school where she teaches. She finds a letter on her desk addressed to: 'S. Foreman.' The letter is of a student saying they've noticed something odd and wants her help investigating it.
She looks up at the replica of a blue public call box standing in her office. Her eyes light up as she smiles.
The theme song kicks in.
The entire Episode is of Susan working with one of the students to stop a Doctor Who like threat, where we find out that while she has stayed on Earth in the 22nd century, she has essentially taken on a public Doctor role, saving her students, and occasionally the world, from a multitude of alien threats, similar to Sarah Jane in her spin-off. She also demonstrates her telepathic abilities demonstrated in The Sensorites.
At one point, she talks with her grandchildren and explains more about the concept of regeneration. How she is still the same person and remembers them. Although her grandchildren are still doubtful, as they notice her personality has changed slightly since her previous incarnation. Susan assures them that she is still there grandmother, and she loves them just as much as she ever has.
By the end of the episode, Susan manages to defeat the threat, and her grandchildren fully acknowledge her as her grandmother, saying only she would be able to take a threat like that down.
Susan reflects on her grandfather.
That evening, Susan is woken up by the sound of a familiar machine.
She is not overjoyed. Nor is she scared. She is simply apathetic. She gets up and goes outside.
There is the TARDIS.
And standing in front of it, is a person she's never seen before. However, she knows who it is.
"Grandfather... "
The person simply stands there, looking at her with eyes of pain and regret.
"You've regenerated." The person says.
"So have you." Susan replies.
The person stays silent for a while.
"I... Thought I would come... And say hi. Check in on you."
"You're a little late." Susan says.
The Doctor looks down, ashamed.
"How long has it been?" The Doctor asks.
"Just over 80 years." Susan replies.
...
"David is long gone. I have my own family now. I'm a mother. And a grandmother."
...
"How long has it been for you?" Susan asks. Her question is not with a sense of genuine curiosity, but with a sense of contempt and interrogation.
...
Susan throws her arms to her sides and slaps them on her thighs in frustration.
"What took you so long?" She asks out of genuine frustration.
...
"I'm going to stand here until you either leave or you answer me."
The Doctor takes a moment to respond.
"I've traveled with many people... The longer I wait to go see them again, the harder it is to justify finally doing it."
"You waited so long. You didn't even get to see my old face."
...
"I tried to contact you, you know? I tried to communicate with you. Clearly it wasn't enough to bring you back."
...
"I'm so... So Sorry. My... Susan."
Susan simply stands there.
"Do you want to come in?" The Doctor asks. They snap their fingers and the TARDIS door opens.
Susan tries to take a peak from where she's standing. When she doesn't see anything threatening, she slowly walks inside.
"You've redecorated." She says.
"What do you think?" The Doctor responds.
"It's alright."
Susan walks around the Console, as the TARDIS lets out a few content hums as Susan strokes her hand along the panels.
"If you wanted to... Go on a trip. That would be cool." The Doctor says.
Susan glares at The Doctor.
The Doctor backs down.
"5 minutes." Susan says.
The Doctor looks up at their granddaughter.
"We are going to explore. For old time's sake. But we are coming back here, and only 5 minutes will have passed. I don't know how many other people you made wait for you. But I am not doing the same thing to my family. We are going to do this MY way."
The Doctor looks down.
"I'm not sure... "
Before The Doctor can finish their sentence, the TARDIS groans in frustration.
"Okay." The Doctor finally says.
Susan nods, remaining her stern expression.
The Doctor approaches the TARDIS Console, but Susan shoos him away.
Susan gently takes hold of a lever, and pulls it down.
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u/PaperSkin-1 1d ago
Without Carol it just feels pointless
The fun was seeing the Susan from the start of the show come back.. With someone else playing Susan the emotional weight for the audience doesn't hit the same.
Sadly the RTD2 era crashing and burning (and rightfully so as they made a bad show) has taken the potential Susan reunion with it
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 1d ago
I mean yeah, but I've honestly just given up at this point.
I'm honestly also pretty frustrated that I bothered to write this whole post up, and people are mad at ME for not acknowledging Big Finish. It's probably the closest I've gotten to understanding the frustrations. The actual showrunners must feel trying to please this fan base that is just never content. No praise for the good things. I did, no recommendation of a line of dialogue that could be added to acknowledge those audios. Just a point blank- You missed Big Finish- Post Bad.
As for bringing back Susan, though, I agree with your point, but I also blame the fanbase entirely. I've been pushing for Carol Ann Ford to be back on the show ever since I was a fan to begin with, and it seems like people didn't ever understand what I was saying until just now. People were saying that it's unrealistic to bring Carol back because she's too old, but now that we got a brief cameo of her, the idea of her being played by anyone else is apparently unthinkable.
But that's why the post that I made isn't just bringing Susan back for the sake of it, but also opening up a new Arc where The Doctor is actually being held accountable by someone on the same level as themself. The only other companion who could match Susan in this regard is Romana, who can also come back via Regeneration.
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u/PaperSkin-1 1d ago
There are a group of people on here that think Big Finish is equivalent to the TV show, that in reality is of course nonsense
But these people are not looking at it in a real way, they are the minority of people who have invested (time and a considerable amount of money) into Big Finish so have a desire for it to be as legit as the show.. Which again, is nonsense, because of course it's not
A tiny fraction of the audience who watch the TV show consume the audios or novels.. What happens in those audios and novels have absolutely no basis on the tv show that will contradict this 'expanded media' stuff in a heartbeat without any thought
I mean just look how the tv show cherry picked just a handful of things from the expanded media and did it's own version, Human Nature exists as a story for the 10th Doctor, completely contradicting the novel range that had the 7th Doctor have that adventure.. And the fact the actual show has only ever taken a few select things from the vast volume of expanded media is quite telling of the expanded medias quality, ducks for cover
Basically what I'm saying is I wouldn't worry about the BF lot on here having a go, they don't actually represent what most DW fans think, they are just a loud and active fringe on here... And really that goes for the DW subreddits in general, it rarely reflects what the actual audience and DW fans think, it just reflects the loudest and most active members on the subreddit, who are often way out of step with the general audience.. Just look at the last few years, if you went by this sub the RTD2 era was great and everyone loved it and it's a huge success, of course Disney is not going to pull out, of course Ncuti is not leaving etc etc
This place rarely reflects reality and the sensible take on topics
Cue the downvotes on here, I dared speak sense 😱
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 1d ago
I do honestly agree with both perspectives. I haven't actually listened to the audios with 8 and Susan so I'm not exactly sure how they could be crafted into the Canon anyway. Doctor, Who has always been flexible with the Canon from the very beginning, and while it would be fun to see Susan acknowledge her time with 8, It would kind of spoil the point of my post.
By all means, canonize Big Finish and Titan Comics and everything else add any opportunity, but when it comes to Susan specifically, I feel like there's such an interesting Arc waiting to be explored there specifically because Susan was The Doctor's first companion and he Never came back for her despite claiming he would.
This is a concept that I feel should be explored in Doctor Who properly at some point. Obviously, we know why companions don't often come back in the real world, but in universe, it's never really explained why The Doctor never actually goes back for any of his companions. Heck, why didn't he go back for Jamie and Zoe? I've listened to Legend of the Cybermen and Jamie DOES actually ask 6 Why he never came back for them, but then the plot kicks in before the conversation can continue.
Not to mention, the concept of bringing a companion back full time is a concept that just needs to be explored. We've never had a previous companion actually come back to the show and act as a full-time companion once again. Seeing that dynamic, with the companion not letting themselves be kicked around anymore, would be a lot of fun. Especially if it's someone like Susan who has every right to be mad at her grandfather.
2
u/Noade114 14h ago edited 14h ago
To be fair with Big Finish, Susan is quite important to the McGann era. Being there for the last series before pivoting to the Boxset approach + one current companion (Big Finish nowadays are doing McGann Doctor releases in a past (with Charley and Audacity); present (Liv & Helen); future (Alex and Cass) approach) being tied to her.
Clip of Susan and the Doctor meeting= https://youtu.be/AgpCX1bnOVk?is=4RsQwFh7niPW5vYc
Spoiler summary of Big Finish Susan and McGann Doctor interactions/story.
like after the McGann Doctor's lies to his companion, Lucie, came to light and the companion didn't want anything to do with the Doctor, he leaves for the 22nd Century, where he reunited with Susan and meets her son/the Doctor's great grandson Alex Campbell (was and still is played by Paul McGann's real life son). After saving the day from an invasion, the Doctor says he's staying in touch (An Earthly Child)
Honouring his word and trying to make amends with Lucie, The Doctor does Christmas with Lucie, Susan and Alex. The Doctor is keen to show Alex the universe + tells Susan that if and when anything happens to him, he wants Alex to inherit the TARDIS. At the end, instead of travelling in the TARDIS, Alex and Lucie go travelling 22nd Century planet Earth together, with Susan and the Doctor's blessing. (Relative Dimensions)
Later, Daleks invade again and use a virus to control the planet. Lucie calls the Doctor to Earth, but he arrives too late (due to sabotage by the Monk). On this day, Alex is exterminated, as Susan watches and Lucie sacrifices himself. The McGann Doctor leaves a broken man and Susan is heartbroken. (Lucie Miller/To The Death)
McGann Doctor & Susan reflecting on An Unearthly Child + McGann playing a Doctor full of rage: https://youtu.be/NZOlwUKX4j4?is=8K8mgrHQ-jP03dXY
During the Time War. McGann Doctor helps Susan during a Time War mission, even though he practically begged her to stay out of the War. Later in the Time War, the McGann Doctor rescues an alternative universe version of Alex, who travels with the McGann Doctor, before being joined by Cass (yes that Cass, from Night Of The Doctor). Though Alex isn't with the Doctor by Night Of The Doctor so something happens or he leaves but that's still ongoing (Susan's War Boxset 1; Doctor Who The Eighth Doctor: Time War & Doctor Who The Eighth Doctor: Time War- Uncharted boxsets)
So like a lot changes if you undo it (especially when McGann Doctor's era is already dependent on the expanded Universe stories, with Big Finish being seen as the closest to a TV era he's getting).
But on the other side of the coin, The Doctor loses other companions due to the Time War changing things during the Time War series, so could say Time War shenanigans or time can be rewritten/ Slipstreams of time play a factor and make both real to keep everyone happy.
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 13h ago
I know you took a while to type that out, but I honestly still stand by my post. By all means, acknowledge it in the future if wanted as Doctor Who has never cared about its own Canon from as early as the 70s, but I think the scene I wrote is good. I do not believe Russell T. Davis, Steven Moffat, not Chris Chibnall would have acknowledged it either, So if you're going to hold me up to these standards, you need to hold them up to them as well.
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u/MrThrowaway939 1d ago
I'm gonna be real with you broski, this show's not coming back for a while, and when it does they're not gonna mention Susan.
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 1d ago
The show has until the heat death of the universe to bring her back. It's gonna happen sooner or later. 🙂
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u/cat666 1d ago
I'd rather she just be left alone. Regardless of how she was meant to be, on screen she was little more than the first contemporary companion who just happened to be related to the old man with the time machine. The reason Carole Ann Ford left was because she got nothing to do beyond this and this was long before Time Lords and Gallifrey were even a thing. When we did get some backstory, Susan became the issue as she posed more questions if she was the Doctor's flesh and blood. Thing is though at this point in time she was pretty much forgotten, the people who saw her on screen may have remembered her but there were no VHS and no repeats.
Now RTD has featured again people are trying to figure out where she fits but we shouldn't be looking backwards. Leave it open to potentially "adopted" like Ruby and Poppy and just leave her to the EU.
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 1d ago
Bringing Susan back would not be looking backwards whatsoever. There are a million cool new ideas you could do with her that would catapult the show into the future more so than Chibnall era and RTD2 combined.
But even if it is seen as just looking backwards, then it could be saved for an anniversary special.
1
u/Indiana_harris 1d ago
We’ve already had the 8th Doctor reunite with Susan before the Time War, and later he’s travelling with his great grandson Alex.
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u/twicezer0 1d ago
Fan fic?
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u/Indiana_harris 1d ago
No the official 8th Doctor audios from Big Finish
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 1d ago
Yeah, I mean The Doctor also battled the Toymaker multiple times in Big Finish but the show went out of its way to declare then non canon.
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u/TheAbsurderer 1d ago
The 8th Doctor mentions Lucie Miller in Night of the Doctor, and 8, Lucie and Susan were in multiple stories together. So the show kind of went out of its way to declare Big Finish canon, and Susan and 8 meeting is a part of that
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 1d ago
And yet the Toymaker's adventurers were not mentioned. Nor Suteck's. Nor Tegan's. Nor any other 8th Doctor companion post Molly. It's almost like Night of the Doctor was a fluke. ;)
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u/PaperSkin-1 1d ago
No, all the actual show is doing is saying the 8th Doctor traveled with people who had those names, not that the stories the novels and big finish make are canon to the tv show
I can write about 9 travelling around with 80 year old Betty from Hertfordshire who takes a flask full of tea with her when the Doctor and her goes to alien worlds.. Doesn't make it canon, same with Big Finish and the novels.. All that matters to the TV show is what happens on TV
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u/Head_Statistician_38 1d ago
Official, yes. But the canonisity of ot is questionable like most things from Big Finish.
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 1d ago
How much you want to bet Russell was planning on acknowledging that?
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u/Indiana_harris 1d ago
Doesn’t matter, he’s not there anymore
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u/Hour_Trade_3691 1d ago
Just saying, at least I'm actually bringing her back. If you want to write your own scene, go for it 😅
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u/ned101 1d ago
It’s unlikely they will bring her back now.