Fathers and Sons takes up a similar theme to Mindflip, an Unfinished Business story that had the Ninth and Tenth Doctors getting their minds switched and all the problems that entailed. This time, The Doctor and his son get flipped only hours before Jackie is due to give birth. Christopher is distraught because he wants to be with Jackie, but his father is in his body. The Doctor is worried because he is meant to be her DOCTOR. And the only thing they agree on is that they don’t want either of their wives to know.

The problem of Christopher having to do the medical stuff while The Doctor gets to hold Jackie’s hand was difficult enough. But as things are at the critical stage they get switched again. The Doctor gets his own body back, but Christopher finds himself in the mind of his own son, moments from birth. Ok, that scene is going to disturb some people. But I hope most will recognise it as a beautiful moment, because Christopher IS the first Time Lord to have been born twice.

Flipping people into different bodies, of course, isn’t a new idea. In fiction it was first done in 1882 with the novel by F. Anstey, Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers, in which a boy and his father are switched. Several TV and movie adaptations of it are around as well as the original book. The 1972 novel, Freaky Friday, and its film adaptations are a modern variation on the Victorian novel. Similar things have happened in episodes of Star Trek and Stargate/Stargate Atlantis. There was a BRIEF comedy play around with the idea in the Scooby Do movie, but let’s not go down THAT road. Suffice to say it HAS become a familiar plot device in science fiction and fantasy. This version, being about a father and son, is slightly closer to the Anstey idea than Mindflip was, though in no way a remake of that story.

And of course the name of the baby, The Doctor’s grandson, is no surprise to fans of Theta Sigma – Garrick is The Doctor’s brother with whom he had a difficult relationship. Now he has a second chance to get the love right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_Versa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaky_Friday