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Doctor Who predictions 2009 - how the Tenth Doctor regenerates: introduction
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A set photo shot of David Tennant
This Examiner is back from the busy demands of school and (other) work to begin a new series of articles predicting the causes and effects of the upcoming regeneration of the Doctor as played by David Tennant. But first, some backhistory, old and new.
As most Doctor Who fans know, Tennant is the tenth actor to play the Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, whose body can change or regenerate completely during conditions of grave health or massive physical trauma. Tennant, who has portrayed the Doctor since the Doctor Who 2005 Christmas special The Christmas Invasion (although the actor appeared in cameo as the Doctor following the Ninth Doctor's regeneration in the 2005 series one finale The Parting of the Ways and then later in the 2005 Children in Need charity mini-episode Born Again) will hand the mantle of the Doctor to actor Matt Smith in the upcoming two part Christmas 2009/New Year's Day 2010 special The End of Time. But the big question on many fans' minds as that momentous date approaches is, what can possibly cause this Doctor, of all Doctors, to regenerate?
It is no surprise or secret that David Tennant's Doctor is popular amongst fans; for many he is the most popular Doctor, having at times topped in fan-conducted polls even Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, who has been until recent years the perennial favorite version of the Time Lord. The reasons of Tennant's popularity can be traced to many sources: his energy, charisma, enthusiasm for the role (the actor is a self-admitted lifelong fan of the series, with Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor as his personal favorite version), and genuine - for lack of a better word - 'Doctorishness' which he has brought to his interpretation of the character as imagined by head writer and executive producer Russell T Davies, the architect of Doctor Who's New Series revival, who is leaving the series with its departing main star. However, as it seems ever to be with well-liked Doctors, it seems there is a direct relationship between an individual Doctor's popularity and the difficulity there must be to, in effect, destroy that Doctor to create a new one.
The difficulty in terminating a popular Doctor lies in the fact part of the charm and strength of the Doctor is his inherent and apparent indestructibility of spirit and life. The Doctor is not human; he is an alien, a Time Lord from another planet, whose body and mind far exceed the normal pain and truama tolerances of a typical person he encounters on the street, often to save from danger. To overcome and destroy a given Doctor takes a special amount of care and danger in an incumbent actor's final story, dubbed by fans to be a Dcotor's 'regeneration story,' and Tennant's Doctor has a particular difficulty to deliver a satisfying sense of danger worthy to overcome him, mainly because of what he has already experienced.
In the Tenth Doctor's television lifetime he has lost a hand (only to regrow it), been possessed by a thin-skinned alien, struck by lightning, been trapped in a massive cave-in, caught in an alien's crayon drawing, drained of blood, suffered single-heart stoppage, been struck by lightning again, possessed by a sunfire alien, turned into a human, prematurely aged thousands of years, survived the crash of the spaceship Titanic, survived an active Mount Vesuvius, was almost crushed by a manically-controlled crane, been possessed by a voice-mimicking alien, and been shot through one heart by a Dalek ray-gun. All this is just a sample from his television adventures; there are hordes of books, comics, and even animated adventures which feature the physical and emotional agonies of the Tenth Doctor, but they all have one thing in common: the Doctor overcomes and survives.
But soon, the Tenth Doctor will face a danger that he will not survive, a danger which David Tennant himself described in his October 30th GMTV appearance as his biggest story ever. Little is known about this event, The End of Time, except for some worldwide bad dreams and the return of one other and very familiar Time Lord. But online rumors have circulated that the Tenth Doctor's personal regeneration may be different from his predecessors, and have hinted that the difference may lie in what happened to the Doctor in the events of the Series Four finale, The Stolen Earth/Journey's End. In the next article, to build the foundation of my prediction for the Tenth Doctor's departure, we will return to those events. But first, for your viewing enjoyment below, here are the trailers for David Tennant's finals adventure from 2008's The Stolen Earth until the upcoming 2009 Christmas/2010 New Year's special, The End of Time. Please note that the only available footage of The End of Time's trailer is a hand-filmed video from the 2009 San Diego Comic Con, so video quality is admittedly poor, but undeniably exciting. Until next time...
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