A New Personality for the Doctor

Although Matt Smith is often thought to be the eleventh Doctor, the use of regeneration energy throughout the Doctor Who episode “Journey’s End” shows that David Tennant should be considered the tenth doctor as well as the eleventh. The Doctor is an alien known as a Time Lord. Time Lords are thought to possess packets of regeneration energy that allow them to renew themselves in times of great injury, also known as regeneration. Regenerations do not just heal the body, they “create a new physical form” (Corry et al. 12) . Corry et al. go on to explain that regeneration can cause a “notable shift in personality” (12) From the events that take place during Journey’s end, it can be concluded that David Tennant used the regeneration energy to heal himself, and create a new physical form with a unique personality, thereby making him the tenth and eleventh regeneration of the Doctor.

Journey’s End begins with the Doctor using his regeneration energy to heal himself, and siphoning off the rest into his extra hand. As previously mentioned, Time Lords are thought to have packets of regeneration energy, meaning that the number of regenerations possible lies in the number of energy packets in one’s body. In Jim Leach’s book, “TV Milestones: Doctor Who”, Leach explains the importance of this number. According to his research, it is not “in The Deadly Assassin (1976) do we learn that Time Lords have the capacity to regenerate twelve times.” (56) By placing a limit on regeneration, David Tennant’s “Journey’s End” regeneration becomes incredibly important. It is no longer a technicality; it dictates how long the show will be able to continue. The law of twelve regenerations has become so engrained in the culture of Doctor Who it cannot be ignored. Many people try to explain away David Tennant’s first regeneration in an attempt to keep the show going longer, but the evidence says otherwise – all the regeneration energy is used and results in the Meta-Crisis Doctor.

The Meta-Crisis Doctor is created in scene where Donna, a friend of the Doctor, touches the spare hand the Doctor siphoned his regeneration energy into, and a new Doctor spontaneously appears. In an attempt to explain the situation to Donna, the Doctor says, “Never been another like me. 'Cause all that regeneration energy went into the hand... But then you touched it— WHAM! Instantaneous biological metacrisis. I grew out of you” (Journey’s End). If the hand did not have the regeneration energy in it, nothing would have happened when Donna touched it. The Meta-Crisis Doctor differs physically from the regular Doctor in that he half human, having only one heart and an inability to regenerate.

Not only does this Doctor have a new physical form, he has a new personality. The Meta-Crisis Doctor is a bit rougher, and angrier than the regular Doctor. The Meta-Crisis Doctor quickly realizes that he has picked up a bit of Donna’s personality when he says, “Oy! Watch it, Earthgirl!” (Journey’s End). This is type of comeback is usually closer to something Donna would say, as opposed to the Doctor. Tennat’s Doctor is usually quite witty, so as he says this new personality sounds “all rough” (Journey’s End). Later in the episode, the shift in the Meta-Crisis Doctor’s personality becomes even clearer. One of the most prominent traits in Tennant’s Doctor is his ability to show mercy to anyone. He is willing to give everyone a second chance, and never kills anyone unless it is necessary to save lives. The Meta-Crisis Doctor, however, destroys an entire fleet of daleks, the race of aliens trying to destroy the universe in this particular episode, just because they could potentially cause harm. By this point in the episode, the Doctor and his friends had already beaten the daleks and the people of earth were safe, but the Meta-Crisis Doctor wouldn’t leave until he destroyed the entire ship full of daleks. According to him, there were enough daleks to “slaughter the cosmos. They’ve got to be stopped” (Journey’s End). This is a huge personality shift from the regular Doctor, showing that the Meta-Crisis Doctor fits the “new form” and “notable personality shift” (Correy et. 12) needed to be considered regeneration.

The regeneration that takes place during this episode has all the makings of a full regeneration, which means that David Tennant should be considered the tenth and eleventh Doctor. With the twelve regeneration rule so engrained in the show, this would mean there can only be one more Doctor past Peter Capaldi, the latest actor to portray the Doctor. For a show with so few limitations – no time, or universe is out of the question – the idea that David Tennant is the eleventh Doctor severely limits the shows future.


Word Count: 791

Works Cited:

Corry, Neil, Jaqueline Rayner, Andrew Darling, Kerrie Dougherty, David John, and Simon Beecroft. Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary. New York: DK Publishing, 2010. Print.

Leach, Jim. "Talking about Regeneration: The Five Doctors." TV Milestones:Doctor Who. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2009. 55-64. Print.

"Journey's End." Doctor Who. BBC. 5 July 2008. Television

The Meta-Crisis Doctor

For those of you that have not seen Doctor Who, or didn’t read my earlier post here are some things you should know before reading any further:

1.       Time Lord: part of the alien species the Doctor belongs to. Time Lords are “the oligarchic rulers of the planet Gallifrey” (Time Lords)

2.       Regeneration: “the process by which Time Lords renewed themselves, causing a complete physical and often psychological change”. (Regeneration)

3.       TARDIS: the time machine/space ship that the Doctor travels in; “Time And Relative Dimension In Space” (Rose)

4.       The Doctor’s extra hand: During the 10^th Doctor’s initial regeneration from the 9^th Doctor, he was in fight that resulted in his hand being cut off. The residual regeneration energy allowed him to grow a new hand, but he kept the old hand in the TARDIS. This takes place during  the episode “The Christmas Invasion”

5.       Here’s a video of the scene I will be discussing (feel free to watch the whole thing, but the important part is the first 35 seconds, and then from 1:55 to the end)

In my previous post, I discussed the biology of that process. Today, I will be delving into the physical change that occurs as a result of David Tennant’s first regeneration.  This regeneration poses a rather unique situation in that the physical change doesn’t come until much later, and actually doesn’t come purely from the regeneration itself.  I’m referring, of course, to the Meta-Crisis Doctor.

                The Meta-Crisis Doctor occurred in the episode “Journey’s End” when Donna, one of the Doctor’s friends, was trapped in the TARDIS. She touched the extra hand that the Doctor siphoned off all the extra regeneration into, which caused an “instantaneous biological meta-crisis”. (Journey’s End) This means a combination of the regeneration energy and Donna caused a new Doctor to grow from this hand.

                Biologically, Time Lords are fairly similar to humans. The main differences between the two are the Time Lord’s ability to regenerate and their two hearts. The Meta-Crisis Doctor has neither of these things. In the above video, while explaining the meta-crisis to Donna he says, “This body has got one heart... That’s disgusting….I’m part Time Lord, part human.” (Journey’s End)  Later, the Meta-Crisis Doctor explains, “I’m part human. Specifically the aging part. I’ll grow old and never regenerate.” (Journey’s End) While these physical changes are in a way a result of Donna touching the hand, they would never have happened without the regeneration or the regeneration energy. Regeneration energy is made to cause a physical change and this was its opportunity. If that’s not enough, the Doctor went from having one body to having two. That’s certainly a physical change.

                Based off of the definition of regeneration, we can conclude that this has the makings of a full regeneration and therefore means that David Tennant should be considered the 11^th Doctor as well as the 10^th.

                 

"Regeneration." TARDIS Data Core. Wikia, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013. .

"Time Lords." TARDIS Data Core. Wikia, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013. .

"TARDIS." TARDIS Data Core. Wikia, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
"Christmas Invasion." Doctor Who. BBC. 25 December 2005. Television

"Journey's End." Doctor Who. BBC. 5 July 2008. Television

Is David Tennant Actually the 10th AND 11th Doctor?

Since I realize many of you reading this blog have never seen Doctor Who, there are a few things you need to know before I go any further.
1. Time Lords: part of the alien species the Doctor belongs to. Time Lords are “the oligarchic rulers of the planet Gallifrey” (Time Lords)
2. Regeneration :  “the process by which Time Lords renewed themselves, causing a complete physical and often psychological change”. (Regeneration)
3.  Enjoy this video of the scene this discussion is centered around: David Tennant regenerating into….David Tennant



Regenerations have always been a controversial topic within the Doctor Who world. From the very first one in the 1966 episode “The Tenth Planet”, people haven’t been able to stop talking about it. During the 2008 episodes “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End” David Tennant regenerates into himself. Before this, every time the Doctor had regenerated, his appearance and parts of his personality changed drastically. This begs the question: does this actually count as regeneration making David Tennant the 10th and 11th Doctor? I say yes it does.

Now, you may be asking, why does this matter? Isn’t it just a technicality? In some ways yes, but it’s a technicality that has serious repercussions for the future of the show. Unfortunately, many of the episodes from the original series are extremely difficult to find, so I have to rely on experts such as Jim Leach. In his book TV Milestones: Doctor Who, Leach explains, “in The Deadly Assassin (1976) do we learn that Time Lords have the capacity to regenerate twelve times.” (Leach 56) This means that if David Tenannt is in fact the 10th and 11th Doctor, Matt Smith would actually be the 12th and Peter Capaldi will be the 13th and last incarnation. This issue dictates how much longer the show can continue.

While the process of regeneration has never been completely explained, there are a number of things we can deduce from the information provided. The website, “The TARDIS Data Core” is dedicated to collecting information about every area of Doctor Who. In its article about regeneration, it says, “Time Lords were also said to have "packets" of regeneration energy in their bodies, one for each life. These packets could be physically removed from a Time Lord's body, essentially robbing them of their regenerations.” (Regeneration) In this scene, David Tennant uses the energy to repair his body, and then siphons the rest off into a spare hand. While David Tennat’s appearance and personality don’t change, he does rid his body of all the regeneration energy. Regeneration is a biological process, so if a Time Lord’s body only has enough energy to regenerate 12 times, the use of the energy is what matters, not the change in appearance. Based off the information we as viewers know, I am led to believe that is David Tennant is in fact both the 10th and 11th Doctor.

"Regeneration." TARDIS Data Core. Wikia, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013. .

"Time Lords." TARDIS Data Core. Wikia, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013. .

Leach, Jim. "Talking about Regeneration: The Five Doctors." TV Milestones:Doctor Who. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2009. 55-64. Print.

A Little Bit About Myself...

Hello and welcome to my blog! In a little bit, I'll be dissecting regenerations on Doctor Who. But before that, let me introduce myself a little bit. I love to travel. This is me in London, one of my favorite cities in the world.

I worked with a discipleship training school for a few years and hope to one day be a missionary in the U.K. This is a picture from one of my school's annual trips to Honduras.

I love music, particularly the Beatles. A few years ago, my best friend and I got to see Paul McCartney in concert, and it was one of my favorite nights ever.

I'm very into grandma crafts like knitting, crocheting, and cross stitching. Here's my latest project:

Last but not least, I'll watch pretty much anything by Steven Moffat, one of the head writers of BBC's Sherlock and Doctor Who.