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Toward the end of the Doctor Who episode Vincent and the Doctor the Doctor takes Vincent van Gogh to the present time, to a gallery of his paintings. While there the Doctor asks the curator what his opinion of Vincent is, where the curator responds:

that Van Gogh was "the greatest painter of them all" and "one of the greatest men who ever lived".

I am wondering, has the Doctor done this for anyone before Vincent?

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    Excellent question; one of my very favorite episodes. It literally brings tears to my eyes when Vincent gets to see the impact of his work!
    – eidylon
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 16:26
  • "Before" as in The Doctor's timeline or ours? ;)
    – Chahk
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 16:27
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    @Chahk Luckily our timeline is mostly in sync with the Doctors. Now, if there was a similar question for River Song...
    – Xantec
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 16:33
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    Technically he does this for almost every one of his companions. Right after the relaunch he shows Rose how the earth will be destroyed (if that's not an Douglas Adams homage...!).
    – Einer
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 17:20
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    @KeithThompson: One never knows =] Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 4:47

2 Answers 2

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He seems to take "famous" hitchhikers every now and then.

  • Queen Nefertiti travels with 11th Doctor and the Ponds in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship."
  • Queen Elizabeth I travels with 10th Doctor on at least one occasion, as seen in "The Day of the Doctor."
  • 9th Doctor gives Charles Dickens a glance of what's to come in "The Unquiet Dead."
  • 11th Doctor takes Richard Nixon for a ride in the TARDIS in "Day of the Moon."

I'm sure there are more examples in both new and classic Who.

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    I'd say Charles Dickens is the closest to this from those you list... (he almost did the same for Agatha Christie too, but stopped from actually telling her), although he didn't actually bring Dickens to show him, just told him. The rest he didn't really 'show them their future' per se.
    – eidylon
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 16:37
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    If we include non-historical characters, the Eleventh Doctor also shows a young Kazran the old bitter man he becomes in the future in "A Christmas Carol" (though this was after "Vincent and the Doctor", not before): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol_(Doctor_Who)
    – Hypnosifl
    Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 19:37
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We could make the argument that the Doctor doesn't do this for Vincent either. Yes he takes Vincent to the future, but it is not Vincent's future, as it is outside of his timeline.

As Hypnosifl states, a young Kazran does travel within his timeline to see what he becomes in the future in "A Christmas Carol".

The Doctor also invites River Song to a picnic at Lake Silencio to inevitably see herself kill the Doctor in "The Impossible Astronaut".

We could could also argue the flip-side by saying, the Doctor does this for everyone that travels to the future with him.

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