6. The Story Arc
I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words; I scatter them in time and space. Surely no Whovian can forget this statement, uttered by Rose at the conclusion of series one. It was the moment that answered all of our questions about those two mysterious words, Bad Wolf, which had been popping up throughout the series. Some of the references are obvious, some not so much - amongst other instances, the Moxx of Balhoon uttered the words to the Face of Boe in The End of the World; the bomb Captain Jack rides in The Doctor Dances is labelled Schlechter Wolf - German for Bad Wolf, and in Boom Town, the proposed power plant is named Blaidd Drwg - the Welsh translation of the phrase. The great thing about this story arc is that it popped up here and there - like clues to a mystery - and kept us guessing. It even showed up in Doctor Who novels, on various Who websites, and later on in Torchwood. Thankfully, this idea of an arc continued throughout the Tenth Doctors era, with Torchwood, Vote Saxon, The Medusa Cascade and Four Knocks cropping up every so often, and while the more recent series do contain story arcs as well (Cracks in the Universe, the Doctors death, River Song, etc) but often they tend to be very obvious and make up the basis for the story lines throughout the series, restricting what can be done in terms of the script. The clues to Bad Wolf were hidden in plain sight, but it was a moment of excitement when we found a new one each episode. You wont get the same amount of intrigue and interest from any story arc but Nines!