If you poll a group of Doctor Who fans who their first Doctor was, you'll probably get a good variety in the results. Since the show's inception in 1963, there have been thirteen incarnations of the Doctor. The recasting of the Doctor is done in-show through regeneration, an ability Time Lords possess where their entire person goes through a metamorphosis that changes them physically and mentally, usually triggered when they're near death. This allows each actor who has portrayed the Doctor to put their own spin on the character, and has helped the show retain the same continuity for nearly sixty years.
When I first decided to watch Doctor Who, it was David Tennant's Tenth Doctor that got me hooked. After his three seasons as the Time Lord, I was really hesitant to continue the show without him. I did give Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor a chance, and I was still having a good time. I had similar reservations when it came to Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, and while it took a little longer, he won me over as well. As such, Capaldi was still the Doctor when I was finally caught up and watching new episodes as they aired, including his farewell and regeneration into Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor. And as for Whitaker, I loved her from the start as she brought back the young energy that was present in Tenant and Smith's seasons.
So where am I going with all this? Well, between the recent holiday marathon on BBC and rewatching some episodes on HBO Max, I started to think more about the Doctor's regenerations. Along with outside factors and the implications of subconscious input from the Doctor while preparing for his next form, I thought back to where each of my Doctors were at the moment of regeneration and how it influenced the next incarnation.
So for this post, I'll be examining the progression of the Doctor's character and the transitions of Ten to Eleven, Eleven to Twelve, and Twelve to Thirteen.
TEN TO ELEVEN
"I don't want to go." That line has more connotations to the Eleventh Doctor than you may think.
There's no doubt that there are many similarities between the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. Young guys with brown hair, fun personalities but knowing when to get serious, and both have some of my favorite epic and emotional moments of the show. It's probably why I always struggle with which one is my favorite. I know deep down it's Tennant, but Smith just knows how to but his way into my heart.
Ten's reluctance to regenerate most likely resulted in Eleven having such similarities, which made the change less overwhelming compared to other metamorphoses we've seen the Doctor go through. But I see that unwillingness to let go carrying over to the Eleventh Doctor, particularly when it came to his companions. As River Song put it, he doesn't like endings. While Ten had various companions and was dismayed when they departed, he seemed to bury the pain deep as he moved on to the next adventure. For two and a half seasons, the Eleventh Doctor travelled with Amy Pond and Rory Williams. While the couple had their own lives to live, the Doctor saw them as his family and wanted to be with them for as long as he could. So when he lost them in "The Angels Take Manhattan", it left the Doctor devastated, so much so that he briefly gave up travelling until coming across Clara Oswald and the Impossible Girl mystery.
This also plays into another difference between Ten and Eleven. While Ten had a more youthful personality and exuberated coolness, Eleven was more of an old man trapped in a young man's body trying harder to be cool and accepted by his companions. It certainly explains the suspenders and bow tie, even though he pulls them off beautifully (and of course bow ties are cool). Despite the thrill of travelling through time and space and constantly facing universal threats, the old soul of the Eleventh Doctor may have sought some stability, and he found that in Rory and Amy for quite some time.
In summation, the Eleventh Doctor came about out of a reluctance of change and fought it throughout his tenure as best he could, which culminated in his next regeneration.
ELEVEN TO TWELVE
Believing himself to be on his last incarnation and recent events having him revisit and coming to terms with his past, the Doctor was prepared to meet his end. But after being granted a new cycle of regenerations, the Doctor had come full circle as he prepared for his next change. Whereas Ten didn't want to go, Eleven bid farewell with full acceptance of what was coming. And his regeneration scene, from the Long Song instrumental in the background to the Doctor imagining Amy being there, is the one that always makes me tear up no matter how many times I watch it.
So gone were the youthful Doctors of Tennant and Smith as we welcomed the older Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. This plays into the acceptance of Eleven's regeneration as he now looked as old as he felt; as Madame Vastra put it, the veil had lifted. The idea of acceptance also applied to his companion at the time, Clara Oswald. While Clara had known the Eleventh Doctor first and had encountered all the previous Doctors in a way due to some timey-wimey reasons, it took time for her to adjust to the new one. I myself took some time to get used to Capaldi's Doctor as during his first season, I found his bluntness, while funny at times, to be a little off putting; honestly, he could be kind of a dick. He got better in his subsequent seasons, which I attribute to Clara helping him form his moral compass. In any case, Capaldi had some great moments as the Doctor and I was sad to see him go in the end.
Upon rewatching his first season recently though, I understood better what they were going for when the Twelfth Doctor debuted. From facing his past and being granted a new regeneration cycle, it was almost like a hard reset. You could say it's an inverse of Eleven, being a young man in an old man's body (and you can see that in some of the activities Twelve enjoys). The Doctor was acting like he did when he first came to Earth in his original incarnation, and had to relearn how to be a part of humanity again. It almost seemed fitting then in Capaldi's final episode, "Twice Upon A Christmas" that his Twelfth Doctor encountered the First Doctor, which I believe played a factor in the next regeneration.
TWELVE TO THIRTEEN
On the cusp of his next regeneration, the Twelfth Doctor had had enough of all the losses he had suffered, his past selves included, and was willing to succumb to his injuries rather than change again and go on. But after facing his past self (the First Doctor approaching his first regeneration) and the memories of his past companions, he decides to give it one go around. Enter Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor.
So how did we get from old Scotsman to a young woman? I think it comes down to two central themes. The first is open mindedness. Part of it has to do with his interactions with both his past self and his last companion, Bill Potts, in his final episode. I mean, we have an old man from the 60's with, shall we say, "old fashioned values" and a young gay woman from the 21st century. Twelve is visibly embarrassed by his former self's "not very PC" comments, especially in front of Bill. The change could be seen as the Doctor hoping to make amends for any past behavior that could be viewed as offensive.
But there's also the change in personality as well. Like Tennant and Smith, Whittaker brings back some youthful energy as the Doctor and is much more approachable than her predecessor, leading to a large travel entourage in Yaz, Graham, and Ryan as her tenure began. That brings us to the second theme: hope. As times got dark for Twelve, he wanted something better for his next incarnation and to be a symbol for good that the universe needed. This results in Thirteen's shining personality, positive nature, and her resilient chipper attitude which has all gotten her through some pretty touch scrapes so far.
While it's easy to see each Doctor as their own character, there's definitely progression from each regeneration to the next with a fundamental road map to the changes that occur. It'll be interesting to see where the Thirteenth Doctor goes and what events will influence the Fourteenth when the time comes. But no matter the face or personality, there is one constant: the Doctor is a wise, caring person who will always look for fun and stand up for what's right.
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