Your Doctor Who Series 9 Reading List

Miguel De Cervantes: Don Quixote
We all know what Quixotic means, right? The idea that you’re going to keep pushing yourself on an insane adventure, no matter how hard that insane adventure gets? While the Doctor has always had a little bit of Don Quixote in him, this season seems to cast Clara Oswald in the role of Don Quixote’s buddy, Sancho Panza. While the analogs are not exactly one-for-one, this particular Doctor seems to be tilting at windmills more than just a little bit. To my knowledge, the Doctor doesn’t quote Don Quixote directly, but I’m going to re-watch the whole thing just to be sure. Meanwhile, let’s read Don Quoixte and see if Cervantes quotes the Doctor!

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol
Dickensian themes of redemption and standing back to consider your entire life as a big tapestry are always present in Doctor Who, partly because it’s a show about a time traveler. Capaldi’s Doctor is no Scrooge, but the imagery in “Heaven Sent” surely reminds everyone a little bit of the visitations from The-Ghost-of Christmas-Yet- to-Come in A Christmas Carol. Who is Jacob Marley this time around? Believe it or not, it’s kind of Clara!

F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
It’s not like the Doctor is exactly like Jay Gatsby, but he does act self-entitled and a tiny bit distant at points this season. The real kicker comes toward the end of the finale, “Hell Bent.” The Doctor has caught up with the immortal Ashildr (Maisie Williams) and the two spar about the nature of time, and what he can and can’t do with it. Alshildr tells the Doctor, “Summer can’t last forever,” to which he responds, “Of course it can, of course it can.” This parellels Jay talking to Nick in The Great Gastby, when Nick says you can’t relive in the past, and Gatsby says, “of course you can, of course you can.” The Doctor, strangely did not call Ashildr “old sport.”

Edgar Allen Poe: “The Raven”
Big spoiler: Clara is (kind of) killed by a magical raven in the episode “Face the Raven.” The fact that the Doctor doesn’t say the word “nevermore” is clearly an oversight. Everything about this particular episode is super Poe-influenced. Also, when Clara shows up again in “Hell Bent,” she’s kind of dead, and her heartbeat is a bit of a big deal. Her tell-tale heartbeat?

Douglas Adams: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
When Clara and Ashildr team up at the very end of “Hell Bent,” they’ve procured an old school TARDIS. Ashildr mentions she can’t get the chameleon circuit to function correctly, meaning they are stuck with their TARDIS looking like an old-school diner. This, as Clara says is “awesome,” but it’s also a bit reminiscent of the Douglas Adams novel The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Douglas Adams, who wrote for old school Doctor Who during the Tom Baker era!

The Brothers Grimm: “The Shepherd Boy”
In “Heaven Sent,” the Doctor reveals not only that the Brothers Grimm were on his “dance team,” but that the story “The Shepherd Boy,” is a sure-fire way to get yourself out of pickle in which having more patience than anyone else is the key to freedom. Inspiringly, the Doctor isn’t able to recite the entire story all in one go, since he’s constantly being attacked by the Veil.  When he finally does reach the end (after several billion years) he adds his own coda, which is magic.
Which excellent books did you see referenced in this season of Doctor Who?