Favorite Characters: The Fourteenth Doctor (Doctor Who)

*Fourteen-related spoilers.*

I was confused but intrigued when Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor regenerated with David Tennant’s face again. I wondered about the “reason” behind it and speculated about shenanigans, whether due to all the Doctor’s recent body upheaval through the Master’s interference or because of some plot from the Toymaker. I definitely wondered how he regenerated into new clothes, but that was a question the show never even referenced, let alone answered.

Then the 60^th anniversary specials (finally) rolled around. And what do we see in these episodes? Sure, there’s some wondering about how/why the Doctor’s “old face came back,” but really, Fourteen is just the Doctor. Same Doctor we’ve always had, and despite the repeat face, not even a carbon personality copy of Ten, which I really love. There are some specifics that they uniquely share, which is understandable, but to some extent, the “allons-ys!” feel a bit like the Doctor putting on an old coat that doesn’t quite fit anymore.

He maybe expects to be exactly the same, which might add to how surprised he is when he catches himself off guard with some of the things he says, like admitting to Shirley that he loved Donna or agreeing with Donna that Sir Isaac Newton is “hot.” The Doctor always has differences between regenerations, but this time around, they seem to startle him more than usual. That’s an interesting detail to me.

But really, it’s inevitable that Fourteen isn’t Ten, because he’s had so much life to live since then. A huge amount of stuff has happened to the Doctor just in the last ten episodes of the show, never mind everything that they went through as Eleven and Twelve. At this point, the Doctor has lived so much more than Ten: lost so many more companions, rediscovered Gallifrey and then lost it again, learned a shocking truth about a past that’s been hidden from them, and was told that the destruction of half the universe was because of them. We feel that, all that weight and loss and running, throughout the episodes.

That’s hard on the Doctor, and we see the toll it’s all taken on him. However, we also see how Fourteen is better equipped, not just to survive all that pain, but to be the Doctor who actually (eventually) listens when Fifteen tells him they can’t keep going like this. That’s because Fourteen is the most emotionally-open Doctor in a long time. When Donna gets her memories back, his voice gets husky as he tells her, “It killed me, it killed me, it killed me,” to have lost his best friend. When they get stuck on the edge of the universe, he kisses Donna’s hand and promises he’ll get her home. And when he realizes the Toymaker is the one wreaking havoc on Earth, he admits his fear that he doesn’t know if he can save Donna this time. So when Fifteen, and Donna, tell him that he’s run himself ragged and needs to take time to heal, he doesn’t want to believe it, but he ultimately listens and lets himself be cared for. And that’s huge!

Say what you will about the bigeneration, but I can’t be mad about it, for several reasons. First, it means we get that lovely meeting between Fourteen and Fifteen. That hug! Fifteen’s speech about all they’ve been through! My god! Second, it means that Fourteen doesn’t have to regenerate after having lived for only a few days, which I’d been worried about. Honestly, whether we ever see him on the show again or not, I’m happy that I can imagine him off on his own smaller adventures. (And it means there could be novels? Or comic stories? Or audiobooks? David Tennant and Catherine Tate have already done Big Finish stories together as Ten and Donna, what’s stopping them?) And third, I just love that Fourteen’s happy ending is making a home with his best friend. As an aromantic asexual who pictures the Doctor on the ace spectrum, it makes me feel so warm and fuzzy that Fourteen’s whole run is a celebration of platonic love, with him and Donna pretty much spelled out as platonic soulmates in their final scene. My heart!

One more thing I wanted to mention about Fourteen. I can’t swear to it, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve watched David Tennant on Doctor Who since seeing a lot more of his work through Other Doctor Lives, and in particular, since seeing Good Omens. I’ve said before that Crowley is the role that unlocked Tennant as an actor for me, and after watching season 1 of that show, I remember wondering how I’d react the next time I watched his performance as Ten. But it just so happens that, in recent years, I’ve mainly watched the earliest of classic Who and the latest of new Who, so my first post-Crowley viewing of David Tennant on Doctor Who has been as Fourteen, not Ten. I still think it’ll be interesting to go back and watch Ten’s seasons again, especially after Fourteen’s all-too-short run, but I know for sure that his return this time around has been quite a triumph for me.