He definitely did just that. Time will tell but I really think that the swansong has just compounded the already difficult task in the series moving forward. I have a few friends that were not fans of the old series that have been bemoaning the fact that Tennant was leaving for what seems like eternity. One of my resolutions for 2010 is to stop having conversations with the pair of them about Doctor Who because I expect they will be likewise harp on and be ridiculously critical about Matt Smith's portrayal.

I'm expecting some very silly people will stop watching the series altogether following Tennant's departure.


It did for me as well. The forced regeneration at the end of The War Games can be quite annoying to watch at times with Pat Troughton wailing "no" endlessly but the protracted regeneration of the 'End of Time' part 2 has now taken the crown of tedium for me.

If the intended effect was to make people weep, I still think the 'death' of the Third Doctor is more effective: the poor bloke didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence and reassure Sarah Jane!

I have to agree with this whole RTD situation.

Think about it.. 1 min we have a sad Dave Tennant who dosent want to regenerate for whatever reason, then in under 1 second we have a highly animated, over excited happy Matt Smith.

How can somone go from being emotionally upset and wishing they didn't have to regenerate, to woahh look at me with my young, happy looking new face and personality within under a second ?

It makes people actually think ( especially young fans new to Dr Who ) that each doctor is not in fact the same person.

To be honest I think RTD could of handled the Tennant regneration a lot better, and I agree that he was simply saying to the fans BYE BYE.

He should of made it a happy occasion, making it look like he was handing over the batton / torch, not ending a era of Tennant.

I suppose in some respects the sudden shift in emotional upset to euphoria following regeneration is keeping to true to accepted facets of Doctor Who. The Doc has often been a tad on the hyperactive side/borderline insane following a regeneration.

As to how he can go from one to the other, it's because, to paraphrase from the good Doctor himself - he's a Time Lord and not human.

It should definitely have been more of a happier affair!

Yeah, I think you guys have explained why it wasn't right. It was too "Tennant's leaving, it's the worst thing that could ever happen to Doctor Who!" mentality of the episode. It left a bad taste, for me.

Doctor Two complained bitterly about having to regenerate.

I don't think he's absolutely certain, indeed can be absolutely certain what happens. Yes, after the regeneration, the Doctor has all the memories that the Doctor had before, but can he be certain that he's the same person? Maybe the "soul" of that incarnation goes into nothingness and someone else moves in? Like on Buffy. The vampire thinks that it is the same person that was there before the turning, but when Angelus was reinsouled the first time, Liam/Angel didn't at first know where he was or what had happened to him. When he looked into his memories, he then remembered what Angelus had done, the memories were after all stored in the brain that he was using at that time. But at first he thought it was the same time that he had died.

No fair using Spike as a counter argument because Whedon-canonically vampires cannot love, and Spike did, his mother, Drusilla, Joyce, Dawn, and Buffy, so he's a special case. So is Drusilla but she was crazy mad when she was turned. Perhaps some of her essence went into William/Spike at HIS turning and made him freaky too.

Maybe 10 was wondering if he was going into the eternal oblivion.

I confess that there is no Captain save Jack Harkness and that John Barrowman is his Avatar.

After regeneration the Doctor is the same person, this is well established even in the new series. I think we have to accept the reason RTD made it seem like a change into someone else entirely was purposely written to reflect the reality of popular David Tennant leaving.

Thank you! You've hit the nail on the head there! I didn't express myself very well in my OP, but having read your post I can now put my finger on what was bothering me, and why the mood of last night's episode was so wrong. I knew something didn't feel right about all the pre-regeneration misery, and that's exactly what it was. There was just so much mourning and focus on loss, which made the viewer feel like everything is coming to an end. And while that's understandable for RTD and DT, it's not really fair on MS or SM, who now have to restart the story from a point of extreme negativity engendered in the viewers by the extended grieving of last night.

That also explains why CE's regeneration to DT was so relatively painless and smooth: because the same writer would be dealing with the new Doctor so he wasn't reflecting the same sense of loss and bereavement.

I see it differently. I think it was written like No10 was going to actually die and not regenerate. The fact he didn't in the end leaves it as something to celebrate.

I think the problem with how it was perceived is due to everyone knowing before watching that the doctor doesn't die and were waiting for the new Dr to arrive taking away how No10 was struggling thinking that it was the end of time for him. While Time Lords do regenerate, it isn't a forgone conclusion as they can die and the prophecies were pointing to that.

Had we not been given the information beforehand of a new doctor and who he is etc, the end would have had a very different effect to find it wasn't the end at all.

Excellent point. I sometimes think how exciting it would be to be able to block out all the information and have absolutely *no* knowledge of what happens next. Just imagine how much impact that ending would have had if we were all completely in the dark about everything, and we were all wondering...is it the end of Ten? the end of the Doctor altogether? the end of the whole story?....Wouldn't that be a really amazing viewing experience!

When 9 regenerated into 10 I got the feeling that he was scared but just being brave for Rose's sake, he seemed very nervous and unsure.

Right up til the very end, the Tenth Doctor annoyed me. He snivelled! Several times! "I don't want to go"! Hah! So ungracious to Wilf. It seemed the Doctor really wanted to put himself before Wilf, when Wilf was trapped in The Box Of Death. Most ungracious, rude and impolite.

Compare the Fifth Doctor's regeneration: again he gives up his life for one person (Peri), using the only available antidote to cure Peri rather than himself of a terrible disease. "Is this death?" are his noble words, after staggering to carry Peri across the expoding surface of Androzani Minor. No grumbling, no complaining. he accepts his fate and knows that he will live again. The Tenth Doctor moans, sobs and makes his poor companion feel guilty for living.

Comparisons with the Fourth Doctor's regeneration can also be drawn: the Fourth Doctor falls a bloody long way from the top of a plyon and regenerates. The Tenth falls a bloody long way from a speeding spaceship, through a glass roof, landing on a marble floor, and gets up with just a few scratches.

Past Doctors have known when their time is up and accept it. The Fourth did not snivel once, even though his death was foretold by The Watcher several weeks beforehand.

The Tenth Doctor has been "memememememe" right til the end. Last words: "I don't want to go". The Fifth thought he might not survive: "I might regenerate. I don't know. Feels different this time". No snivelling there.

I hope the new Doctor is more grown up than the crybaby we've just waved off.

That was the point I believe. he never once thought that he wouldn't sacrafice himself for Wilf but was just bloody angry about it and screaming at the world about how unfair it is that it has to end. It might not seem heroic but it did seem honest and that is why they did that I think

I think that was the point too. The Doctor is always warring with this Time Lord Victorious aspect and I think it's a continuation from the themes in WoM.

I've never seen a regeneration as simply gaining a new body and a couple of quirks. The fundamental 'essence' of that Doctor dies, never to return. The new Doctor has all his memories, but has a different, I dunno, 'spark' there. Difficult to explain, really, and only my personal view.

I was slightly put off by the weepy-wailey-gnashing-of-teeth of this Doctor's regeneration as well, actually. That said, I still think Tennant's Doctor had a very selfish streak in him (though he usually pulled back from actually being bloody minded, apart from in WoM), a sense of his own importance despite being one of many. I just put it down to an aspect of his personality, and in a way, I guess it did make his end 'fit' when thinking like that.

I always assumed that the doctors memories are transferred into a newly regenerated (created) body, the brain in each incarnation is wired differently, so each has a different personality, but with the same memories.

So the doctor could be a grumpy cranky pain in the arse one time, then next a jolly happy person the next, but still remember being the pain in the arse he was last time.

I'll get me coat....

Couldn't agree more.

I recorded Part 2 but I'm not sure I want to watch it. I've loved DT as the Doctor but I've really objected to the whole 'death' thing. The Doctor regenerates!

It's a continuing series, RTD knew when he was writing it that the audience would know that the Doctor regenerates, so if he was trying to create some kind of dramatic tension about whether he would regenerate or not just through the writing he was really overreaching himself.

I've had great fun with RTD's story arcs etc, which has been a really good part of his recreation of the series, but he can't have it both ways. If you create a popular show on the back of interaction with fans you can't suddenly start writing as if it's a standalone drama.

Nine's regeneration was handled really well - and I was really fed up CE was leaving after only one series - it happened fast and once it was over it was on with the show.

Who knows what was going on in RTD's head but I look forward to a bit more story and bit less existential angst for a couple of years now!

My thoughts utterly. Completely over-the-top, regardless of how much you may have loved the DT/RTD combination it was totally self-indulgent and untrue to the show. At one point I was sure the doctor was going to sodding well visit RTD amd JG in their offices to say goodbye too. The whole story could've been told more effectively in just one xmas day episode and cut out all the master laughing, chicken-eating and the half hour goodbyes.

What happened to the good old days of falling on the floor and regenerating? NO one actor or writer is bigger than the show, and this was a blatant attempt to hijack that for the sake of glory-hunting.

I, for one, am extremely excited about the reboot in all areas: Actors, producer, lead writer, logo, music - everything! Less slapstick comedy, constant unnecessary gay references and arrogance - bring on the mystery, scares, thrills and old-fashioned drama!

Yes, I really think it was a mistake for the Specials to make such a song and dance about the build-up to the regeneration. What a contrast with Nine's regeneration into Ten, which was perfectly done and exquisitely well balanced--it was simply the final part of a pacy and dramatic story that kept twisting and turning right up until the big change. If you didn't know in advance, you would never have guessed Nine was on the way out. And the regeneration itself was presented as if it wasn't a big deal really, with lots and lots of reassuring emphasis in TCI that the Doctor was still "Absolutely the same man" (as Harriet Jones said.)

So the message to the viewers in TCI was that although the change came as a shock for the companion, it wasn't such a tragedy for the Doctor himself, as he was still going to be just the same but with a different body.

But Ten's regeneration had been dinned into the viewers from way back in POTD, and everything since then just felt like a long drawn-out build-up. So the second part of TEOT just felt like "Right, let's get the story out of the way so we can focus on the Doctor's goodbyes for the last 20 minutes."

Seems to me you can't have it both ways. You can't present the 9-to-10 transformation as no big deal, with everything carrying on the same as before, and then present the 10-to-11 regeneration as a devastating loss, with lots of agonising preambles and heartfelt weeping and mourning.

"It's an honour" I believe is what DT said about saving Wilf and he did still save him.

I loved DT's portrayal of the Doctor and I agree with how RTD went with the tone of the regeneration but I think the euphoria of MS was probably thrown in to make the viewer think "Oh, everythings OK, Lets Go exploring again!"

I am dissapointed in the amount of people glad to see DT but I am excited to see if MS and SM take the series into a slightly darker, more classic feel.

This is the one thing I hated about this episode.
It has been said several times that regeneration is a way of cheating death, not just a different version of it.
After CE regenerated into DT he told Rose he was still the same person.
This whole 'regeneration is the same as death' was seemingly created for these 2 episodes to make people cry.

If regeneration is the same as death (as in, if it's a whole new person with his memories rather than him with a different body and personality) then why on earth would he bother regenerating in the first place? He'd die whatever...

As I said, maybe he's not certain that -he- will be what comes after. As to the one who replied to me that it has been settled that they are the same person, let me remind you that RTD has said that there is no canon. Therefore, that being the case, at least until Moffat says otherwise, anything goes, regardless of what was said or done before.

I confess that there is no Captain save Jack Harkness and that John Barrowman is his Avatar.

Because humans coming back to slaughter their past wasn't dark enough? Living as slaves? Humans turning into a mob when trapped and faced without an outside threat? Suggestion of a concentration camp in Turn Left?

All these things were a lot darker and more possibly insightful than some long drawn out "ghosting" scenes in the Library two parters or disappearing monsters.

I agree, although i understand that the status of regeneration was upped to a sort of death to reflect the audience's sadness of tennant leaving (i was gutted to see him go and i was blubbering at the end) to have him go so far as to say 'i don't want to go' felt too much of an fourth wall, in-reference. It Didn't sound like the Doctor, it sounded like RTD saying goodbye, with was upsetting to watch, but it wasn't right. However traumatic the regeneration is, he isn't really 'going' anywhere. That's the whole point.