Doctor Who Trivia: Only True Whovians need try, apparently — Part 2

Yesterday I was wondering what to write about for this Daily Doctor Who series, and I struck upon the idea of looking at a Doctor Who trivial quiz online and seeing how I do at it.

(Daily Doctor Who #303)

So I found this quiz at kidadl.com where it claims that only a true Doctor Who fan can get them all correct. This claim is suspicious because the introduction to the quiz says that Doctor Who was originally a Marvel comic released on October 17, 1979, which was then adapted into a TV show in 2005 which ran for 12 consecutive seasons, and starred David Tennant and Matt Smith.

Read more about my reaction to this revelation yesterday, where I also went through the first ten questions of the quiz and commented on other similarly dubious comments.

Anyway, I only did the first ten questions (out of 40+) and so far have a 90% “true Whovian” ranking. Today, we’re going to do the next ten.

(I’m paraphrasing the questions here)…

Question 11 – What language is spoken on the Doctor’s home planet?

Hmm, that’s actually pretty interesting. Maybe the answer is Gallifreyan? I’m going to also give myself credit for “High Gallireyan”, “Old Gallifreyan,” and “Old High Gallifreyan.” Let’s see…

The answer is just Gallifreyan. So all good.

Question 12 – What species does the Doctor belong to?

Well, this is tricky. Possible answers that I think we might see are “Gallifreyan” or “Time Lord” (even though on balance I think “Time Lord” is probably a class rather than a race). He might be “half-human” based on the 1996 TV movie, or whatever the heck the Timeless Child is supposed to be.

The answer they give is “Time Lord” while commenting that he is “anthropomorphic” in appearance. Like all Time Lords, it seems.

Question 13 – Which organ dose humans just one have that the Doctor has two?

Obviously they are thinking of “heart” which the Doctor was revealed to have two of in Spearhead from Space (1970) and repeated in many other stories. But it’s also been implied or stated that the Doctor has two brain stems.

Question 14 – According to what system is Earth classified as a Level 5 planet?

I’m not sure, but I’m thinking the Shadow Proclamation? That’s a common go-to for revived Doctor Who, which this quiz seems to be focusing on.

That is the answer, although more specifically they say “Shadow Proclamation Planetary Classification Levels.” I think my answer is close enough.

Question 15 – What does the TARDIS stand for?

Not “the word ‘TARDIS'” but “the TARDIS”. So what does the TARDIS, as an entity or thing, “stand for”. Fun? Exploration? Adventure? We could scrutinize The Doctor’s Wife for answers.

But presumably they mean “Time and Relative Dimension in Space” or “Time and Relative Dimensions in Space”. The first one was the original idea, it was adjusted to the second for a long time, and lately has gone back to the original.

In The Next Doctor, TARDIS also stood for “Tethered Aerial Release Developed in Style.” The Twelfth Doctor also once claimed it was “Totally and Radically Driving in Space.”

Question 16 – Which companion was known as “Souffle Girl”?

Of course that’s Clara Oswald played by Jenna Coleman. But more specifically it was “Oswin” from Asylum of the Daleks, who was one of Clara’s splinters.

Question 17 – Which companion met and connected with the famed painter Vincent van Gogh?

Naturally, this is Amy Pond, as played by Karen Gillan, in Vincent and the Doctor.

Question 18 – Which Doctor ingeniously defeated the Silence?

Clearly that’s the 11th Doctor, aka Matt Smith.

Question 9 – Which Doctor first met the Weeping Angels?

Well, the Doctor obviously knows the Angels already in Blink, so it could have been anyone from earlier than that, but on-screen it’s obviously the 10th Doctor, played by David Tennant.

Question 20 – Which Doctor spoke with his own Scottish accent (unlike David Tennant)?

Of course they are referring to Peter Capaldi, the 12th Doctor, who makes quite a big deal out of sounding Scottish. But Sylvester McCoy, the 7th Doctor, was also Scottish and also used a Scottish accent.

The question also says that David Tennant “chose” to use a British accent. In truth, I’m not sure that Tennant chose his accent, or if it was required by the production team, but more importantly, I’d have guessed that one would say Tennant spoke with an English accent rather than British, since Scotland is part of Great Britain. But maybe that’s not the common vocabulary, I’m not sure.

So, 20 questions into this dubious quiz and I’m now 95% Whovian. Things are looking up! More next time.

See you then!