David Tennant has returned to Doctor Who as the Fourteenth Doctor, but what sets this incarnation of the Time Lord apart from Tennant’s Tenth Doctor?
“The Star Beast” marked the first full episode of David Tennant’s Doctor Who return. Tennant famously portrayed the Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who, taking over as the Time Lord from Christopher Eccleston at the end of the first season of the sci-fi series’ 2005 revival. Tennant’s Doctor quickly became a fan favorite, infusing the Doctor with a far more upbeat and energetic personality than his predecessor, while maintaining moments of severe intensity. Following Eccleston’s departure, the Tenth Doctor led the show for the rest of Russell T Davies’ first era as Doctor Who showrunner, surviving into Season 4 and the specials that followed.
While David Tennant’s return to Doctor Who for the series’ 60th anniversary was confirmed prior to Jodie Whittaker’s final episode as the Thirteenth Doctor, it wasn’t until the very end of “The Power of the Doctor” that he was confirmed to be playing the Fourteenth Doctor. Tennant previously returned for the 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” which teamed up his Tenth Doctor with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and John Hurt as the War Doctor. Fans may have initially assumed the 60th anniversary would be another multi-Doctor story, or a lost adventure of the Tenth Doctor and Donna. Tennant’s return as a new incumbent incarnation of the Doctor is unprecedented, but this approach has a significant impact on how he handles his Doctor Who return.
The Fourteenth Doctor has Regenerated Several Times Since Being the Tenth Doctor
While David Tennant’s previous return to Doctor Who on “The Day of the Doctor” saw him slipping straight back into the role of the Tenth Doctor, the Fourteenth Doctor is a new man. The Doctor may have regained an old face in their latest regeneration, but that doesn’t mean the Fourteenth Doctor feels like the Tenth Doctor on the inside. At one point, he tells UNIT Scientific Adviser Shirley Anne Bingham that he doesn’t know who he is anymore, looking back on the lives he has lived since he was last “the one in the skinny suit.” It’s clear that the Doctor is not only confused by the return of his old face, but is having a hard time reconciling the return of the Tenth Doctor’s appearance with the experiences he has lived through since he last looked like this.
By the time of “The Star Beast,” it has been a while since the Fourteenth Doctor’s regeneration, as evidenced by the Doctor Who Magazine tie-in comic, “Liberation of the Daleks,” and the Children in Need special, “Destination: Skaro.” Despite this, he still seems to be struggling to settle into his new/old body. When he first meets Shaun Temple, the Doctor poses as a “Grand Master of the Knowledge,” only for the psychic paper to refer to him as a Grand Mistress. “Oh, catch up,” he says to the paper, which is apparently still being influenced by the Doctor’s previous female incarnation. But the influence of the Doctor’s recent incarnations appears to run deeper than fleeting moments of confusion.
While talking to Shirley about Donna, the Doctor was surprised to find himself saying “I absolutely love her.” He later spoke similarly lovingly of Donna’s grandfather, Wilf. While the Tenth Doctor was always a more human incarnation, the Fourteenth Doctor’s new vocabulary and more openly compassionate nature seems to be a quality he has inadvertently adopted from his most recent predecessor. The Thirteenth Doctor, while still reluctant to delve into deeper emotional discussions, was far more emotive than most Doctors and often enthusiastically professed her platonic love for her companions and other friends. This emotional honesty and openness is something the Doctor has struggled with in the past, but it seems to be prevalent in the Fourteenth Doctor.
“The Star Beast” ends with the Doctor and Donna Noble back on the TARDIS together, with Donna’s memories of the Doctor finally restored. The Doctor confesses to Donna that wiping her memory killed him and he is relieved to have her back on the TARDIS now, again displaying an emotional openness with his friend that is reminiscent of the Thirteenth Doctor. Donna then tells the Doctor that her staying on Earth doesn’t have to mean they part ways forever and that the Doctor could always come and visit her. He appears to consider her proposal, maybe hinting at the impact of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors, who often left their companions at home on Earth between adventures, allowing them to live their own lives alongside their travels on the TARDIS.
The Tenth Doctor’s Spirit Perseveres in the Fourteenth Doctor
In many regards, the Fourteenth Doctor is evidently a different incarnation from the Tenth Doctor, influenced by the experiences he has had since coming to the end of his tenth life. However, traces of the Tenth Doctor still remain in this new incarnation, who has evidently inherited more than just his old incarnation’s face. The Doctor may now be a different person in his hearts, but certain personality traits of the Tenth Doctor have been carried over into his new incarnation, as if bound to his old appearance through the nature of the Time Lord regeneration process. This places the Doctor in the strange position of once again experiencing time and space through his 10th incarnation’s eyes, while also shouldering the weight of new wisdom and lived experience.
Immediately after his regeneration on “The Power of the Doctor,” the Fourteenth Doctor hinted at the return of the Tenth Doctor’s persona. Upon realizing he had regenerated back into an old body, the Fourteenth Doctor uttered the Tenth Doctor’s iconic “What? What? What?!” — a phrase that was often used by the Tenth Doctor in the midst of major cliffhangers. Early on in “The Star Beast,” while getting into Shaun’s taxi, the Fourteenth Doctor is also heard repeating the Tenth Doctor’s catchphrase of “Allons-y!” While the Doctor is struggling to adapt to aspects of this latest regeneration, it is clear that certain traits of the Tenth Doctor have come back as suddenly and naturally as the Tenth Doctor’s appearance. It is as though all surface-level components of the Tenth Doctor have returned, even if something more complex is occurring beneath the surface.
Obviously, the one factor that is most powerfully reconnecting the Fourteenth Doctor to the Tenth Doctor — other than their shared appearance — is the return of Donna Noble. It’s possible that the Fourteenth Doctor’s regeneration is connected to Donna in some way. In “The Star Beast,” when she believes the return of her memories will kill her, Donna even asks the Doctor if his old face came back simply to say goodbye. While Donna survives the events of “The Star Beast,” thanks to her daughter, Rose, it may well be the case that the Tenth Doctor’s face returned in anticipation of a reunion with Donna, which might mean other traits of the Tenth Doctor return to better align the Time Lord with who he was when he traveled with Donna on Season 4 of Doctor Who.
The Fourteenth Doctor Confirms the Doctor is Always the Same Person
While talking to Shirley about the unexplained regeneration back into his old body, the Doctor hints at the fact that there is an enduring sense of self-identity buried somewhere deep beneath the different faces they wear. Of course, Doctor Who has never attempted to suggest the different Doctors are genuinely different people, but it has posed the question of just how much the Doctor feels like a different person from one incarnation to the next. In “The End of Time,” the Tenth Doctor likened regeneration to an actual death, saying “Some new man goes sauntering away… and I’m dead.” Whenever multiple incarnations of the Doctor have met each other, they almost always have a hard time getting along as well, treating each other more like irritating siblings than reflections of themselves.
