One of the strangest and most fascinating characters introduced into the Whoniverse is the Face of Boe: a giant head that lives in an equally huge jar of some kind of space juice.
The age of the Face is never specified, though the Doctor once mentions that he could be over 5 Billion years old.
There are three encounters between The Doctor and the Face of Boe. The first time, in the episode The End of the World, old Facey takes a spaceship full of people 5 billion years into the future to watch the Sun destroy Earth. The ship is sabotaged to be destroyed, but the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) steps in and saves the day.
In the second, episode New Earth, the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) finds the Face of Boe in a hospital on his deathbed… or death jar? He reveals that he has a “great secret” to tell the Doctor but will wait until their third and final meeting. Then he just teleports away. Wait, what?
Cool foreshadowing, but what happened to being on the edge of death? I’ve never teleported before, but I imagine doing it without any kind of machine is exhausting. And why teleport away from a hospital if you’re in rough shape? I understand you want to remain a mysterious guy (or… face) but at what cost?
In their final meeting, the message the Face of Boe gives the Doctor is: “You’re not alone.” Faces love to be mysterious, don’t they? As vague as it was, that message leads to a great episode, Last of the Time Lords, which I’ll be touching on later in the month.
Also, in that episode, there’s a big intimation of the Face’s biggest mystery: his identity. Captain Jack Harkness—another great character that will have his own post—tells the Doctor, “Used to be a poster boy, when I was a kid, living in the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they called me.”
Don’t get too excited. According to writer Russell T. Davies, this is just onetheory. One that, if he has his way, will never be officially admitted or denied.
But isn’t it fun to believe?
