A new Doctor Who audio adventure will finally answer a lingering mystery surrounding Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. While he only played the time-traveling alien from Gallifrey for one season, many fans view Eccleston as their favorite Doctor. However, there was a mysterious event hinted at in the Ninth Doctor's past that was never addressed on the show.
Eccleston's Doctor was the face that fans saw when Doctor Who regenerated for the first time since 1989. The immensely popular British television series follows the Doctor as he travels through time and space, often finding himself (or herself) having to save the universe from an intergalactic array of villains. The Doctor doesn't like to travel alone, frequently plucking humans from Earth to join along as companions on his adventures. The first episode of the revival series saw the Doctor's soon-to-be-companion, Rose Tyler, conversing with conspiracy theorist Clive. He shows Rose a series of photographs of the Doctor throughout various eras in history, from the Krakatoa eruption to the Kennedy assassination.
According to an io9 report, the mystery of what the Ninth Doctor was doing when Krakatoa erupted will be answered in a brand-new audio tale from Big Finish. The story, titled In Her Own Bootstraps, reveals how the Ninth Doctor found himself in the Sundra Straits - the day before Krakatoa erupts in 1883 - with the intent of destroying a deadly weapon he confiscated from a scientist during the Time War. In a quintessential time-travel twist, the scientist in question is at the Sundra Straits at the same time, having stolen the weapon from the Doctor in the first place in an endless paradoxical time loop.
It's particularly poignant that the audio story features the Time War, as that is a crucial aspect of the Ninth Doctor's character arc. Eccleston's Doctor was haunted by the vestiges of the great Time War, which wiped out his fellow Time-Lords (and the Daleks) due to the Doctor's actions. The Big Finish audio stories have always done a fantastic job of expanding the Doctor Who universe. However, it's a shame Eccleston himself couldn't return to voice the Doctor for the story (the actor has said in the past that he did regret only playing the Doctor for one season). In Her Own Bootstraps, written by Amy Veeres, will be one in a series of short audio stories that will be released for download on the Big Finish website starting September 2020.
Although Christopher Eccleston was only the Doctor for one season, his impact on the series will never be forgotten. The future of Doctor Who was still up in the air when the show was revived in 2005, but Eccleston's portrayal of the Doctor laid a strong foundation for the series moving forward. The Ninth Doctor was the perfect chaotic mix of pathos and passion, danger, and destiny all combined in one figure who would stop at nothing to save the universe. Surely the new audio story will be a worthy addition to his legacy.
Source: io9