Season long story arcs have been a hallmark of Doctor Who since its return to our screens in 2005. However, Executive Producer, Steven Moffat recently signalled a significant departure by suggesting a return to more monster of the week style episodes for series 7. Ordinarily this would be all well and good, except Moffat has already peppered his first two seasons at the helm with a number of story arcs that have yet to conclude. So, my pick for the most important loose ends that need tying?
The Headless Monks and Papal Mainframe
With an almost Nazgl appearance, the Headless Monks were one of the iconic adversaries of series 7. Led by the Papal Mainframe, and forming part of the Silences alliance against the Doctor, we know very little about them. What we do know is that by the 171st century they end up at the Delirium Archive, their final ending place, and that they keep their heads, post-decapitation, either in boxes for the wealthy, or on shelves for the rest of us. What we dont know is why theyre enemies of the Doctor, where they come from and, more importantly, is the Papal Mainframe Catholic?
The Church and the Anglican Marines
Just who are the Anglican Marines, and why did their base at Demons Run have Omega symbols all over it? One of the big rumours in series 6 was that Omega would return, however that never eventuated. Could it be something that we see later on, or were we just reading too much into a set designers flight of fancy? Canonically, the last time we saw Omega was when he presumably died on Earth, which does mean he should have survived the time lock.
The Timeship
One thing that has fascinated me was that the Doctor has never seemed too bothered about the Timeship he encountered during The Lodger. Youd have thought that having described it as someones attempt to build a TARDIS, hed have been a little more concerned. After all, it likely means that someone who knows about TARDISes is trying to build their own one. While the first timeship imploded, we later found that the Silence had one (or it could have been the same one, earlier in its existence) in Day of the Moon. While it appears that the Silence may be the owners of the timeship/s, it remains unknown who is building these for them? Weve seen a renegade Time Lord, the War Chief build a SIDRAT a less sophisticated version of the TARDIS back in the Second Doctors The War Games, the Daleks have produced a DARDIS (actually a Dalek time machine, but DARDIS sounds catchier) in the First Doctors The Chase and more recently, the Eleventh Doctor built a TARDIS of sorts in The Doctors Wife. The clear inference is that only Time Lords or Daleks can build these types of machines. And given the Daleks havent needed a DARDIS for some years, you have to wonder if this relates back to the Omega rumours...
Doctor... who?
In my heart of hearts, I know that the answer to the question, the question that must not be asked, Doctor who? isnt going to be what we think. Were not going to find out the Doctors name, were not going to have some great mystery revealed and its not going to change the mythos of the franchise. Instead, Im hedging my bets that well receive some moralistic spiel about how the Doctor embodies hope, healing, trust, happiness etc. Throughout the last few years weve seen other species be outspoken in casting the Doctor as someone who comes from nowhere, meddles in their affairs and leaves a huge mess behind him. I suspect that Moffat is instead going to use this as an opportunity to reinforce that the Doctor is the good guy, and the universe has been gravely misinformed about him, primarily by his enemies. Or alternatively, we could find that Judge Judy has set up residence on the fields of Trensalore and is busy dispensing justice on a galactic scale. If theres one place youd want to put the Doctor on trial, given his propensity for lying, Trensalore would have to be it. And imagine the cable ratings! Share your thoughts below on these and other story arcs were waiting to see completed.