Doctor Who Season 11: 10 BIg Questions After The Ghost Monument
3. Will The Stenza Be The Series' Big Bad?
The Timeless Child was not the only hint of a wider arc to series 11. The first two episodes were also tied together by the Stenza. Tim Shaw, one of them, had indirectly killed Grace in The Woman Who Fell to Earth, and now we learn that the same race is responsible for the horrors of Desolation and the ethnic cleansing of Angstrom’s people, and the death of her partner.
Whilst each episode is self-contained with a clear beginning, middle and end, there is nothing to say the Stenza will not be back later in the series, this time in numbers. It would be an odd development, since Tim Shaw was very much styled around the solitary predator alien type. It might therefore have been nothing more than a way of helping our heroes bond with Angstrom.
Back in 1996 plans were being hatched to create a new big bad for Doctor Who, to rival the success of the Daleks in the 1960s. Scriptwriter Matthew Jacobs was encouraged to work on such a villain for the TV Movie, but chose instead to bring back the Master, saving such a new foe for any subsequent series. Sadly, it turned out to be all academic.
Since the show returned, only the Weeping Angels have really joined the pantheon of immediately recognisable, nameable Doctor Who enemies. It would be a brave and bold move to attempt to do this again, and the Stenza hardly feel like suitable candidates at this stage. With Chibnall apparently misdirecting us about the lack of a series arc, all bets should be off as to whether he might be plotting a surprise return of the Daleks (perhaps for the seasonal special). There is a good possibility that the Stenza could be a smokescreen, or foot soldiers for a more epic battle to come.