Warning: Spoilers ahead for the 2024Doctor WhoChristmas special, “Joy to the World.“Doctor Who’s rich and storied history means the show can address long-forgotten storylines, and showrunner Russell T. Davies has chosen to do so with an incredibly niche piece of canon from the era of Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor.Baker was one of the most popular actors to play the Time LordinDoctor Who’s classic era, and thereturn of SutekhDoctor Whoseason 14proves that Davies is also a fan of that period of the franchise’s history. However, the show’s leader is delving even deeper into Four’s past to possibly help informDoctor Whoseason 15’s story.
Tom Baker remains the longest-serving ofall the actors to play the Doctor.He made his debut as Four in 1974 and stepped away in 1981. His lengthy time as the show’s leading man resulted in many storylines featuring his version of the Doctor, and countless details that have been doomed to be left behind due to their apparently uselessness to the larger saga. Excitingly, Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor may be about to have a run-in with an element of his predecessor’s impressively long arc.
Doctor Who’s 2024 Christmas Special Twice Mentions The “Icelandic Alliance” From Tom Baker’s Era
“Joy to the World” is teasing a comeback for the Nordic coalition
The Icelandic Alliance is a fictitious coalition of nations based in Iceland inDoctor Who’s 51st century. It featured as an element of the story for “The Talons of Weng-Chiang,” the final serial of theDoctor Whoclassic era’s fourteenth season in 1977. Since then, it has been used very sparingly by the franchise, almost to the point of irrelevancy. TheDoctor Who2024 Christmas special, “Joy to the World,” changes all that by including two references to the Icelandic Alliance.
One of the winks to the Nordic organization comes in the form of a headline on the front of a newspaper held by Gatwa’s Doctor. The front page was posted to the officialDoctor WhoX(formerly Twitter) account, where it can be read in full. The second mention of the Iceland Alliance in “Joy to the World” is whena leaflet features its name in the Time Hotel. It may seem like a random time for the Alliance to come back, but when the writer of “Joy to the World” is considered, it makes far more sense.
How The Icelandic Alliance Could Return In Doctor Who Season 15
Prisoner Zero’s 51st-century trial ended with him being found innocent
Former showrunner Steven Moffat returned to pen the script for “Joy to the World.” This ties perfectly into Moffat connecting the Icelandic Alliance to one of his first characters as the show’s leader - Prisoner Zero. The eel-like alien has only appeared in one episode so far -Doctor Whoseason 5, episode 1, “The Eleventh Hour.” At the end of the episode,Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor manages to have Prisoner Zero arrested. However, “Joy to the World” quietly reveals Zero’s trial snagged him an innocent verdict courtesy of the Icelandic Alliance. So,Doctor Whoseason 15 could bring them both back.
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Doctor Who: Doctor Who is a British sci-fi television series debuting in 1963, following The Doctor, a time-traveling alien Time Lord. The Doctor explores the universe in the TARDIS, accompanied by companions, confronting various adversaries and striving to save civilizations while addressing injustices.
