Ranma/Doctor Who/Sailor Moon crossover idea

[P.H. Wise]

Thought I'd post this story idea I've been kicking around and see what people think of it.

Ranma/Doctor Who/Sailor Moon crossover.

As it turns out, the girl who created the Spring of Drowned Girl wasn't just any old girl: it was the final resting place of Susan Foreman, none other than the Granddaughter of the Doctor himself. For those who don't know, she first shows up in the very first episode of Doctor Who: 'An Unearthly Child' (first aired in 1963), and was a regular on the show until 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth.'

The following is a link to an image of the character: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... Ford01.jpg

Whether it be because he is her reincarnation or because of a kind of spiritual compatibility or whatever reason, Ranma doesn't get the normal girl curse, but instead gains the shape of Susan herself - something that has happened to no other victim of the spring. Now a Timelord at least half the time (unless it goes the 'mysteriously locked curse route,' or the abilties somehow bleed through to his male form, or whatever), things will go very differently for Ranma - especially once the Doctor shows up in his modern incarnation.

For those unfamiliar with the series, note that Timelords are not human. There are a number of physiological differences, among which include: two hearts, a "respitory bypass" system which allows them to survive strangulation and even extended exposure to vacuum, higher resistance to radiation, higher resistance to electricity (a lethal jolt to a human does not kill a timelord, possibly because of the second heart), telepathy (just the basic package, mind you - nothing terribly powerful), huge longevity (supposedly, a timelord can live forever, barring accidents), and a very peculiar form of regeneration.

Regeneration bears some description on its own: when a timelord is mortally wounded, they don't die. Instead, he or she regenerates. Their body undergoes a dramatic transformation, gaining new physical characteristics to the extent that they would appear to be a totally different person afterwards. Within the first 15 hours of Regenerating, the Timelord's healing ability is drastically increased, and they can regrow severed limbs, but ordinarily that is not the case. How this would interact with the Curse is unknown. I would imagine that it would vary depending on if he regenerated in male form or in female form. In male form, he would likely lose his birth form for good, but maintain the ability to transform between male and female (going to the Susan Foreman form when splashed with cold water, and back to whatever he regenerated into when splashed with warm). If he regenerated in female form, it's a bit more complex. With the magic of the curse always wanting him to return to having the body of Susan when splashed with cold water, it's possible that either the regeneration would only last until the next time he was splashed, or that he would lose his male form entirely and switch between his cursed form and his newly regenerated female form with the appropriate application of water. In any case, Timelords can regenerate a total of 13 times.

Not sure if I'd include the character of Rose Tyler or not. As for how Susan got from 22nd century earth back to the point where she drowned in the spring... she is a time traveller, so weird chronological bending might work - maybe she drowned in the 22nd century after all, but some weird effect of her timetravel caused the curse of the spring to bleed backwards through time, first appearing on the day when Nyannichuan was originally said to have formed.

In any case, the story would at first involve a series of slow changes, with Ranma discovering his telepathic abilities, Doctor Tofu discovering the second heart that Ranma possesses in female form, etc. At first, it looks like it's just a little bit of new weirdness. But then weird aliens start showing up - time travellers from the 30th century, accompanied by droids and out to capture things called 'Crystal Points.' The Doctor (and possibly Rose Tyler) arrive soon after. Ranma ends up becoming one of the Doctor's companions, and the story arc would then involve, among other eras, travel between the Silver Millenium to modern Tokyo to Crystal Toyko and beyond, with Sailor Pluto getting very irritated (it gives her migraines when people time travel within the Sol system, you see).

- With the addition of Ranma to the ranks of the Time Lords, the Doctor is no longer the last in existance. Unfortunately, the species still can't continue, as for one thing, Ranma isn't into men, and for another, his female form is the Doctor's biological granddaughter, so that kills any chance of it even if the first didn't. Will have to underline this irony.

- Must avoid 'evil Sailor Pluto' cliche.

- Idea: an outside force is attempting to corrupt the timeline. The future isn't what it's supposed to be, and actions taken in the past can correct this. This naturally leads back to something called 'The Saturn Project' back in the Silver Millenium. Possibly connections with existing Doctor Who timetravelling races.

So, erm, any suggestions? Comments? Criticisms?

[Tovath]

It sounds interesting but I don't know enough about Doctor Who to say anything more

[KonokoHasano]

I've only seen a couple (or three) episodes of the classid Doctor Who on Youtube. o_o I really need to watch some more of it.


Anywho, the idea sounds like an insanely fun twist, and Sailor Pluto getting headaches is always a fun thing.

[claymade]

It's hard to say. As it is, it seems very... concept-heavy. And concepts, while they can be interesting, can't carry a story themselves. In fact, involved concepts--as these seem to be--can actually be a weight on a fic unless explicated very skillfully and organically in the course of the story's actual conflict.

The line about how "the story would at first involve a series of slow changes, with Ranma discovering his telepathic abilities, Doctor Tofu discovering the second heart that Ranma possesses in female form, etc." was a particular red flag to me. Laying extended groundwork before the actual plot "really" starts is not something I'd particularly recommend. You want to pull the reader in, create a sense of conflict, give them a reason to keep reading, and do so as soon as humanly possible.

Conflict carries a story--whether internal, interpersonal, or interstellar. You've got a firm grasp of the fic's backdrop, which is good. But the merits of the idea will depend mostly on how well you spin that out into engaging conflict between and within the players.

It's those plot and character points that will be the crucial ones. Your idea of a turf contention over who should be doing what in the timestream between the Time Lords and Pluto shows promise, depending on how well that subplot meshes with the main threat. Not knowing anything about them, though, it's hard to say.

[P.H. Wise]

Laying extended groundwork before the actual plot "really" starts is not something I'd particularly recommend. You want to pull the reader in, create a sense of conflict, give them a reason to keep reading, and do so as soon as humanly possible.

Naturally, you are correct. If there's going to be a story at all, the whole thing needs to be interesting. I can think of two ways in which this idea could work in that regard:

A - Suggest it, evoke it, more than address it in detail. References scattered here and there, maybe a flashback scene or two, and that's about it.

B - Merge the exposition with the storytelling. The Black Moon introduces time travel into the equation, and serves as a lure for the Doctor, but they could well play a larger role than just that. Maybe Ranma and Akane's class is on a field trip to Minato during an attack on one of the Crystal Points, and that sparks the whole situation. Maybe until that point, there was no reason to think there was anything different about Ranma's cursed form.

[Atlan]

As a person with a pasing aquantiance with Sailor Moon, a love of Ranma, and an adiction to all things Dr Who, I have to say I love this idea!

Ideas:

Why use the 9th or 10th doctor? How about the 7th, and Ace? Having the Doctor traveling with a martial arts prodegy and a demolitions expert would be grounds for all sorts of disasters...

Having the Gates of Time actually being nothing more than the gutted remains of the Master's TARDIS could, along with providing some back story for the Gates, provide a decent plot device for the Master's return as the Doctor's enimy.

-As an alternitive to that idea, the garnet on Pluto's Key could be the Eye of Harmony, rescued from the ruins of Galafrey


Doctor Tofu could have once worked for UNIT, and have at least a passing knowlege of Timelords. This could do all sorts of things to the plot, like having him try to stuff Ranma into phone booth's, or simply more knowlege of how to treat his injuryies.

[Dumbledork]

Great idea. I don't have any knowledge about Dr Who but the story sounds promising.

[P.H. Wise]

Why use the 9th or 10th doctor? How about the 7th, and Ace? Having the Doctor traveling with a martial arts prodegy and a demolitions expert would be grounds for all sorts of disasters...

The reason for choosing either the 9th or the 10th Doctor is precisely because of the irony inherent in finding another Timelord (and a female of the species, at that) after the conclusion of the Time War, when the Doctor is sure that he's the last of his kind, only for it to be his Granddaughter (which is both happy and sad - happy in that he's not the last of his kind anymore, sad in that in some sense it's not really Susan, and sad in the sense that she's still biologically his granddaughter).

Having the Gates of Time actually being nothing more than the gutted remains of the Master's TARDIS could, along with providing some back story for the Gates, provide a decent plot device for the Master's return as the Doctor's enimy.

-As an alternitive to that idea, the garnet on Pluto's Key could be the Eye of Harmony, rescued from the ruins of Galafrey

I like both of these ideas, though I suspect that while either one would work, both will not.

[iiradned]

If this idea gets transformed into an actual fic, one thing that immediately goes out the window is having Ranma travel back in time to prevent himself getting cursed it the first place.

Spoilers below: (highlight the following if you want to read and be spoiled)
Doing so would cause all kinds of nastiness as what happened when Rose prevented her father from being run over and killed when she was a baby.

This could provide lots conflict with Ranma wanting to change things and the Doctor and Rose doing everything they can to convince Ranma otherwise.

[Atlan]

I like both of these ideas, though I suspect that while either one would work, both will not.

Yeah, you have a point.

Maybe Ranma and Akane's class is on a field trip to Minato during an attack on one of the Crystal Points, and that sparks the whole situation. Maybe until that point, there was no reason to think there was anything different about Ranma's cursed form.

No, Tofu would have noticed by then, for sure.

Of course, if Kuno had been in the wrong place at the right time, he could learn of the Pigtailed girl's alien nature. I wonder how that would change things....?

Perhaps he'd be trying to dress Ranma-chan up like Lum?

[Screwball]

This gives me an image of Ranma fooling around with a sonic screwdriver.

I do hope you write this, although it'd be better if you didn't use Rose IMO, but that's just because I didn't like Rose at all, so it's more personal preference then a suggestion that it wouldn't work with Rose. You sure you don't want to set it in an alternate version of the current season? That'd let you include the Master if you want to use that idea, and more to the point, lets you include Martha, who I like very much.

[Xon]

I'm against including the Master. He is a vicious murderer, perfectly willing to kill anything in his path, or even near it. The Master after all is the Champion of Death. While lots of people tend to die around the Doctor, it tends to not be the direct result of his actions but those he is working to stop.

Adding a cold blooded killer who has a mile wide sadistic streak to a Ranma fic which has Ranam dealling with major changes would be a significant challange to get it vaguely true to Ranma 1/2.

[Staren]

I'm just going to put my vote in for the 9th Doctor and Rose for the fic. This idea seems to flow better if it was after the Time War and makes for a good cross into Sailor Moon as been said. As for why the 9th, franky I just like the personality of the 9th Doctor better all around. He's more real then the 10th. But from a writting point of view, I think he has an attitude that would keep up with the NWC even given the depressed undertone. The 10th seemed a little whinny and snobbish to me. The 9th had the guts to call people "stupid apes", but had a heart. The 10th acted sweet at times but didn't seem have a clue beyond that, even though both the 9th and 10th where both just regenerated at the start of their stories.

(You can probably tell I'll be glad when we finally see the 11th. Too bad it's going to be a while...)

[camk4evr]

Having the Gates of Time actually being nothing more than the gutted remains of the Master's TARDIS could, along with providing some back story for the Gates, provide a decent plot device for the Master's return as the Doctor's enimy.

A time corridor would probably serve better than the remains of a TARDIS as it seems to be a similar method of time-travel (ie walk through a tunnel from Year A to Year B) and the Timelords used them before they developed the TARDIS.