Shalka Doctor

The Doctor

The Shalka Doctor
Doctor Who character
File:Shalka Doctor Full.jpg
First regular appearance	Scream of the Shalka
Last regular appearance	"The Feast of the Stone"
Portrayed by	Richard E. Grant (voice)
Preceded by	Eighth Doctor (unofficial regeneration)
Succeeded by	N/A
Information
Tenure	2003
No of series	1
Appearances	1 story (6 episodes)
Companions	Android version of the Master, Alison Cheney
Chronology	Scream of the Shalka & "The Feast of the Stone"

The Shalka Doctor (or the REG Doctor) is the common fan name given to the character that appeared as the Ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the flash-animated serial Scream of the Shalka in 2003 and the later short story The Feast of the Stone which were based on the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. He was voiced by the actor Richard E. Grant.

Overview

Scream of the Shalka was designed to be an official continuation of Doctor Who. At the time, there were no plans for a continuation of the television series and plans for another movie were progressing very slowly. The Shalka Doctor was intended to be the ninth incarnation, as two lines in Scream of the Shalka imply: the Doctor mentions that Andy Warhol once wanted to paint "all nine" of him, and comments that a dead cat has used up its nine lives, like he has. The Shalka Doctor's claim to being the "Ninth Doctor" was also backed up by BBC press releases.

However, the 2005 series was announced in September 2003 — about two months before the webcast could meet its 13 November release date. This led to immediate controversy about the "official" status of the animated Ninth Doctor. Martin Trickey, executive producer of The Scream of the Shalka, noted these concerns when he was interviewed at the time of Shalka's release. "The BBC said it was the ninth Doctor," he said, "so that's great. Is it part of the canon? I don't know. There's a big argument raging on the message board. I just hope people enjoy it. That's the main thing. Whether people choose to see it as the official Ninth Doctor or not is really up to them."

As of 2010 it is fairly well-established that Christopher Eccleston is the definitive "Ninth Doctor":

• BBC press releases and advertisements have firmly established Eccleston as "the Ninth Doctor".
• The new series has also demonstrated this in two separate episodes.

• In the episode "School Reunion" the Tenth Doctor tells Sarah Jane Smith that he's regenerated "half a dozen times" since they last met — although the imprecision of this colloquial phrase allows for several different interpretations.
• In "The Family of Blood" the Doctor is hiding as John Smith, who draws the faces of all his previous incarnations.

• The second televised evidence was the fourth Christmas special of the new series: The Next Doctor. The ten incarnations of the Doctor, to date, appear in this episode through an infostamp projection. The footage for the Ninth Doctor was of Christopher Eccleston from "The Parting of the Ways".
• Further off-screen evidence is via the full screenshot of John Smith's The Journal of Impossible Things from the episode "Human Nature". In the full screenshot there are sketches of all ten Doctors, with only a sketch of the Eccleston Doctor appearing.

To date the so-called "Shalka Doctor" has appeared in only three officially licensed Doctor Who products: the original webcast, the novelisation of the webcast by Paul Cornell which was released by BBC Books, and the short story "The Feast of the Stone" by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright which has to date only been published on the BBC's "Cult Vampire Magazine" webpage.

However, the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel The Gallifrey Chronicles by Lance Parkin, briefly addresses the conundrum of multiple Ninth Doctors. In it, a Time Lord named Marnal looks through various timestreams for the Eighth Doctor. At one point he observes that the Doctor has "three ninth incarnations". This could refer to Eccleston, the Shalka Doctor, and the version played by Rowan Atkinson in the 1999 charity spoof, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death. Although this theory of the Shalka Doctor as a parallel universe Ninth Doctor would provide a kind of closure to the controversy, it should be pointed out that the passage provides no positive identification of any of the Ninth Doctors Marnal sees.

The inclusion of the Shalka Doctor in Who canon is thus very debatable. Due to the televised evidence presented above, the Shalka Doctor is not part of the new TV series canon at the very least.

Personality

To avoid capture by the Shalka, this Doctor tries to act as if he is a detached alien observer. However, he still has respect for human life and can not allow them to kill their hostage. Grant has described his interpretation of the Doctor as "Sherlock Holmes in space." This incarnation of the Doctor seems haunted by some undisclosed past event, to the point where he actively opposes the notion of Alison becoming a companion. For reasons likewise unexplained, he travels with an android which contains the consciousness of the Master (voiced by Derek Jacobi). The android Master does hint, however, that the Doctor's previous companion may have met an untimely end, perhaps explaining his initial reluctance to take on a new travelling companion.

The Shalka Doctor had an appreciation for the finer things that bordered on snobbery, although he shared with his other incarnations an abhorrence of evil. His travels seemed to be directed by an unseen power that he resented (possibly the Time Lords). This led to his refusal to intervene in the Shalka invasion of the village of Lannet until the death of a homeless woman raised his ire. He also had an abrasive relationship with the military similar to how the Third Doctor treated UNIT early in his tenure.

Portrayal

Richard E. Grant had previously played the Doctor, albeit briefly, in the 1999 Comic Relief charity special Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, when a series of explosions caused the Doctor to rapidly regenerate; Grant's incarnation was intended to be the Tenth. In the spoof, Grant's Doctor was characterised as conceited, a trait associated with many of Grant's past acting roles. For Shalka, Grant played the character straight, with little of his trademark conceitedness. This charity special does not run in the official Doctor Who continuity.

The Shalka Doctor was visually modelled on Grant himself.

External links

Scream of the Shalka

• Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka at IMDb
• Scream of the Shalka, on the BBC website
• Scream of the Shalka at The Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Scream of the Shalka theme music mp3 file

The Feast of the Stone

• The Feast of the Stone, on the BBC website
• Feast of the Stone at The Doctor Who Reference Guide