I’m hopeless. I need to finish this article, and I can’t figure out how to say what I want to say. This is nothing new; I suck at this. Or rather, I keep making things impossible for myself. Why do I keep setting the bar so high?

So, in frustration, the mind drifts.

There have been many of these fan trailers; despite the mixed aspect ratio and tacky font problems, this is the best. It seems to have a complex arc to it, that makes some real narrative sense. Here follows some interpretation, to jog my brain up to speed for more important tasks.

I guess McGann’s Doctor would be involved in the diplomatic part of the story (as far as that might go)? As long as Davros is there to talk and entreat, perhaps there’s some ill-judged hope of avoiding an all-out battle. Perhaps because he specifically blamed the Doctor for the destruction of Skaro, he took this as more of a personal vendetta. Whereas presumably the other Dalek leaders were more interested in the power to be found on Gallifrey.

Then something awkward happened (Perhaps treachery from an impatient Supreme with a back-up plan? Maybe a stupid mistake?) and Davros was taken out of the picture. The Doctor was aghast, because Davros was basically all that was holding back the Dalek army. With him gone, the talking was over and they were just going to get on with it. Which they immediately went and did, with a small invasion force to exterminate the high council.

So the Doctor tried to rush back to Gallifrey and help, but didn’t get too far. Simultaneously leaderless and (presumably) heroless, some mid-level Time Lords freaked out and thought, hey, one rogue is as good as another — that Master is a tough cookie! We never liked that Doctor fellow anyway. What have we got to lose?

So they put all their hope in him, and… he ran off. Which left a gaping hole for the Daleks to pour in.

Perhaps in his attempts to return, the Doctor fought a number of incidental battles, protecting whatever he stumbled across, putting the innocent worlds above his own. So by the time he got back to Gallifrey, it was too late. There was little left to save. So he, what, caused the Eye of Harmony to go supernova, lest it be used improperly?

That would be the most logical conclusion. The Eye is what makes the Time Lords lords of time. That would be what the Daleks would want. It is a collapsed star. If it were to fall into the wrongest possible hands, the most obvious thing to do would be to blow it up. Which presumably would destroy pretty much anything within that star system — Time Lords and Daleks alike. As the Doctor said, Gallifrey burned. Both sides gone, in an instant. And as established in “Boom Town” and “Utopia”, the TARDIS no longer runs on power from the Eye…

…

Why is it every time I write I feel like I’m dying?

Ugh. Well, I’ve got the basic structure of what I want to do, and I know what tangents to avoid. I just can’t seem to think straight. Maybe a nap?