Doctor Who Debunks The Biggest Theory To Explain Why Jodie Whittaker Regenerated Into David Tennant
Docotor Who's anniiversary special, "The Star Beast," has debunked one of the most popular theories about why David Tennant has returned.
Doctor Who has debunked one of the most popular theories explaining why the Doctor has regenerated back into the form of David Tennant. The Thirteenth Doctor’s era ended with a shock, when Jodie Whittaker regenerated into the familiar form of David Tennant. The Doctor was as bewildered as anyone else, left reeling in shock. Since then, various tie-ins have confirmed this is unprecedented even for the Time Lord; the Doctor hasn’t a clue what is going on.
The return of Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble seemed to offer an important clue to viewers. Many theorized that there was unfinished business for this incarnation of the Doctor, and the Time Lord had taken on this appearance to deal with it – likely on a subconscious level. Donna’s time with the Doctor ended with both triumph and tragedy, when she absorbed the knowledge and intelligence of a Time Lord – part of an event called a metacrisis. The human mind is unable to contain such a vast reservoir of knowledge, and Donna would have burnt out of the Doctor hadn’t taken drastic measures; he erased her memories. Was the return of the Tenth Doctor’s face and form all about righting this wrong?
The Fourteenth Doctor’s Appearance Had Nothing To Do With Saving Donna
It’s easy to see why this theory was popular with the fanbase. Previous regenerations had indeed been tied to the Doctor’s subconscious need to right a wrong, with Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor representing his regrets over previous actions in “The Fires of Pompeii.” But the time gap in this respect always seemed odd, because the Doctor has lived for many centuries since wiping Donna’s memories, and has regenerated twice. Although the theory fit the basic facts, it always seemed unlikely and more than a little clunky.
“The Star Beast” confirms the Doctor’s regeneration is nothing to do with Donna – at least not diirectly. In this episode, the TARDIS lands the Doctor next to Donna right before an alien spaceship crashes nearby; the Doctor is stunned at the level of coincidence, recognizing something very odd is going on. But by the end of the story, although Donna’s memories have been restored, there’s simply no way it could possibly be tied to the Doctor’s regeneration. Rather than resolve the matter, “The Star Beast” makes it even stranger – as the Doctor himself openly acknowledges. He returned to a form that risked jogging Donna’s memories; she did indeed regain them, and yet it all still feels so strangely unconnected and far too coincidental.
The Doctor Looking Like David Tennant Again Is Still A Mystery
Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary story is essentially a mystery. Why has the Doctor regenerated into a family form? Viewers are used to the Doctor having all the answers, usually explaining the latest crisis with a bit of technobabble, but even the Doctor is in the dark this time. Although it is theoretically possible for a Time Lord to take on a past form – Tom
Baker’s return as the Curator in “The Day of the Doctor” proved that – it is clearly rare, and the mechanics are poorly understood even by the Doctor. He’s demonstrated a delightful level of confusion over the whole thing, suggesting this is something that simply should not happen – which corresponds to Doctor Who lore, and fits with the fact it has never been known to happen before.
Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary story is essentially a mystery.
There’s something wonderfully refreshing about this sense of mystery. Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies’ previous tenure often used the Doctor as a quasi-omniscient narrator, explaining everything away as soon as he saw it, but Davies had returned with a story in which the Doctor is just as confused as viewers. This allows the Doctor to become the point of view character rather than the companion, a subtle but exciting change in approach for Davies.
Doctor Who Also Hasn’t Explained Why The TARDIS Landed Near Donna
All that doesn’t mean “The Star Beast” shrugs in response to this central question, though. Instead, it would be more correct to say “The Star Beast” adds more layers to the mystery. As the Doctor himself notes, the probabilities involved in this story are simply astronomical; he takes on a familiar face, then lands right next to Donna Noble just at the moment events are most likely to jog her memories. It all feels as though it’s been deliberately engineered.
If this is the case, then the stakes have been raised to a staggering level. Something has orchestrated the Doctor’s regeneration, manipulating and controlling it. Even more troubling, this same force has been able to redirect the TARDiS. Precious few entities have been shown to possess the ability to penetrate the TARDIS’ defenses, let alone control its flight, so the list of possible perpetrators is pretty short.
The Toymaker Is Now The Most Likely Explanation For Fourteen’s Appearance
Neil Patrick Harris is known to be appearing in future specials as the Celestial Toymaker, a classic Doctor Who villain of unimaginable cosmic power. It’s reasonable to assume the Toymajer is the one responsible for all this, influencing the Doctor’s regeneration and taking control of the TARDIS somehow. It’s perhaps important to note that Whitaker’s Thirteenth Doctor is the first one to regenerate outside the TARDIS, perhaps explaining why this time the Doctor was uniquely vulnerable to the Toymaker.
The mystery only deepens in light of this, however, because the Toymaker’s motives are a complete unknown. The most probable explanation is that all this is something to do with Donna, with the Toymaker wanting her memories to be restored for some reason. It’s possible the end of “The Star Beast” – which saw Donna and Rose release the metacrisis energy they possessed into Earth’s atmosphere – played right into the Toymaker’s hands in some way. If so, the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials will continue this exciting story, with the sheer scale of the Toymaker’s plans becoming clear in the next two episodes.
