Doctor Who - The Chameleon Arch Explained - How A Time Lord Becomes Human

Doctor Who - The Chameleon Arch Explained - How A Time Lord Becomes Human

" Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who's Season 12 episode "Fugitive of the Judoon"

Doctor Who's chameleon arch returned for season 12 - here are the origins of the Time Lord technology and exactly how it works. "Fugitive of the Judoon" proved to be a particularly eventful episode of Doctor Who, introducing Jo Martin's mysterious new Doctor, bringing back John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness and establishing a serious new Cyberman storyline for the longer term. But, of course, it had been the unknown regeneration of the Doctor that dominated the post-episode debate, with this version of the character found hiding out as a guide in 21st century Britain, of all places.

The Judoon are hired by a mysterious puppet master to locate and find a particular iteration of the Doctor. They're drawn to a few living in Gloucester and mistakenly apprehend the suspicious husband, ignoring Ruth, who is clearly none the wiser on what is going on on. Ultimately, however, it's revealed that Ruth is really the Judoon's target which her entire Earth identity may be a facade to hide up her true self: the Doctor. consistent with the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker's version, that is), this deception was achieved via the utilization of a chameleon arch, which is that the dangling helmet contraption briefly glimpsed aboard Ruth's TARDIS. However, the small print of this process is glossed over and will prove confusing to those unacquainted David Tennant-era Doctor Who.

The concept of the chameleon arch was first introduced in the episode "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood." Invented by the Time Lords, this device will take all the memories of the user and install a pre-programmed persona into the host instead, leaving them completely unaware of getting lived the other life. However, the method also alters the subject's biology, meaning they will essentially become another species and are cloaked from scans and therefore the like. The Tenth Doctor used the chameleon arch to cover in WW1 England and therefore the Master in his guise as Professor Yana in "Utopia", but certain reminders and triggers can bring back old memories. The Tenth Doctor would dream of his old adventures while within the guise of Smith and therefore the word "regeneration" caused Yana to become conflicted. Ruth experiences similar flashbacks throughout this week's episode.

The chameleon arch has got to store the Time Lord's original memories and biology somewhere, in order that they might at some point be restored. The Tenth Doctor and Master used the quality fob watch container, which might return their original personas when opened. Ruth features a fire alarm, which did precisely the same when she broke it. As a precaution, these things are usually hidden away or kept near the amnesiac Gallifreyan to avoid a Time Lord's personality falling into the incorrect hands, but they even have a built-in perception filter, very similar to the TARDIS, to stop any meddling. The Time Lord using the chameleon arch will have a handler of sorts - someone to protect them and allow them to know when it is time to return out.