I think it would be rather amusing if just once the Doctor died of something relatively unheroic. Like after saving the day from the Daleks he gets food poisoning or his sonic malfunctions and blows up in his face.

Given how long he's lived, surely sooner or later he's going to have an embarrassing regeneration?

The long drawn out regeneration scene was thankfully the last of the standard RTD formula of wafer thin plots dramatic device overkill and marketing ploys for Doctor Who episodes.
Having said all that I will be the first to admit it was Ten's acting ability that carried the series through. In my opinion he should have got the english equivalent of an oscar for it

My problem with the regeneration scene was that it was 'Yay it's Joan/Verity' followed by 'Oh god it's those two' then, 'Yay SJ!' quickly followed by the facepalm and utter 'bleurgh' at the appearance of Rose.
<shudders>

I'm in the 'would've preferred him to regenerate in the chamber with Wilf' camp. Wilf's face would've been a picture.

I thought the final scenes were well played. Not only did Ten get one last look at his companions, but we as an audience also got a chance to bid them farewell.

Like landing in Germany and contracting E.Coli after eating a diseased vegetable.

Or choke on a pretzel like Dubya did.

Imagine 10 regenerating and Wilf grabbing him hoping to help him somehow only for the bio-molecular matter to get mixed up with the regeneration energy, add a bit of wibbly-wobbly to it and 11 ended up with Wilf's head.

Picture the scene when Doc Wilf Head looks in the reflection on a piece of glass then looks at Wilf face to face:

Doc Wilf Head: "What?"
Wilf: "What?"
Doc Wilf Head: "WHAT!!"

The Cribbins as a Timelord? That's more than my (two) hearts can bare.

Everything about Tennants year long 'Victory Lap' was saccrine, self-indulgent, time-wasting crap - and I loathed EVERY minute of it.

The only good bit was getting Donna & Wilf back, briefly.

To be honest, I actually think Tennant should have died when that Dalek shot him.

Cue: Matt Smith & Donna zooming off into the sunset for another year; Martha punching Rose in her horsey gormless face, and Captain Jazz-Hands being disintegrated by Davros' Matter-Evapolrator.

Now THAT would've been f*ckin AWESOME.

A bit like the Sixth Doctor falling of his exercise bike while the TARDIS was being buffeted by the Rani. Really unheroic.....


Though for slightly different reason to yours I suspect, I think he should have gone at the end of that Series as well, though maybe not quite in that way.......

Earlier.



Delete some of the worst episodes of series 2-4, put the spcials in in their place, not spend 20 minutes on a grand goodbye tour, lose the Tennant-hype and and "wonder what I'll get this time?"

I wouldn't have changed a thing, it was the best regeneration scene ever.

People say he was a coward, but frankly when faced with what amounted to death of personality I think he came across as very brave, if somewhat resigned to his fate. It was above all an honest ending. He liked his life and didn't want to give it up, nothing wrong with that what so ever.

Don't forget he willingly sacrificed his tenth life to save Wilf, he could have chosen to walk away and live on, but instead he chose to die. That is what made him a hero.

Completely agree.

Loved him staggering up to the Tardis then taking it up over the Earth, like a dying animal going off to hide in a corner. Love the shot of The Tardis in that moment, for some strange reason that 'moves' me the most.

Also completely agree. A magnificent & emotional send-off for the best Doctor of the revived show.

Each to their own, I thought it was a great line. For reasons specified earlier on in this thread.


Funny.v


For me, I'd have loved him to have bowed out in Stolen Earth/Journey's End and introduced Matt Smith played out the events of Journey's End as 10 did. 10.5 could have lived on in Pete's World which would have been a pretty good reason for Rose to be kicked out of her own Universe never to return.

I reckon a good trick was missed at that point but... it is what it is and I should stop fantasising.

Those are Ten's final words in that Russell T Davies wrote them. They were as much RTD's thoughts on leaving Dr Who as the Doctor's. David Tennant claims only to have delivered them as written.
I've run across a mention from Davies that he'd plotted out or written the Tenth Doctor's finale well before it was known David was leaving.
With the line about the universe singing the doctor to his sleep, Davies pretty clearly borrowed from Hamlet. Looks like Davies saw the tenth Doctor as a Shakespearean figure. So yes, "I don't want to go" is melodramatic, but to me it fits.

I hated Ten's regeneration. Self indulgent, melodramatic rubbish. My ideal version would have cut the whole ''regeneration feels like dying'' line from part 1 of TEOT, and part 2 would have had the episode actually focusing on the story as opposed to wrapping it up halfway through in favour of the regeneration. Finally, in the last 5/10 minutes, Ten would have the fatal ''four knocks'' and seen Wilf in the radiation tank. As opposed to throwing a massive tantrum (this would have been justified if this was the Doctor's final life, but it is clear here that he was about to regenerate), we see Ten debate silently and tensely about what to do before making his decision.

Ten then makes his final farewell to Wilfred after dropping him home, getting one last glance at Donna before he leaves. He then says one last ''Allons-y!'' before he starts to glow with regeneration energy and jokingly mutters ''I hope I'm not as skinny this time'' before exploding with energy and trashing the TARDIS like he did in the original episode, then leading to Matt Smith's introduction scene.

An easy one word answer:

Sooner.

Yeahhhh. ...

Don't give up the day job will you?

Mind you if I were to change something I'd have both the doctor and the master regenerate as a way to save themselves from the time Lords (Wilf obviously being not I'm the chamber and no one needing to be saved)
As the regeneration energy takes hold the master grabs the doctor's hand and then the volcano effect of them both merges into JuSt one person....

The 11th doctor then awakens not knowing if he's more master than doctor.

Would be better than flappy armed chin child anyway

And that's also why I'm no good at this writing thing too .

I wouldn't change a thing. It was a great last line. And the whole sequence was much better than the awful exit foisted on poor Matt Smith. That was simply dreadful.

Both Tennant's and Smith's exits were pretty dreadful. The stand-out remains Eccleston's beautiful, dignified, short and snappy exit in 2005; or for Classic viewers, Davison's exit in 1984.

Smith's lacked emotional resonance, due to the skipping of 100 years in 5 minutes. Tennant's had plenty of emotional resonance but it was milked for all it was worth to the point of being horribly self-indulgent.

I can only hope that when Capaldi leaves (hopefully not for several years yet) he's given a powerful, emotional and proportionate send-off.

I also would have had Tennant leave sooner, just because we had to wait over a year knowing he was leaving and the specials had such a miserable feeling to them as a result, knowing it was all part of the grand plan for Ten to leave. Everything from the Next Doctor onwards just felt so self-indulgent, dodgily characterised and although Waters of Mars was a cracking episode, it had that big cloud over it of "He's leaving and he knows it."

At the time, I thought Tennant's emotional breakdowns over regeneration were gut-wrenching and that in itself is a testament to how fine an actor Tennant is and how exceptional he was in the role. Because from a character perspective, I can understand not wanting to regenerate, I can understand being scared of dying and both of these fit the Who mantra but the way he kicks off when he learns he is regenerating is just pathetic and in my mind it just sets the audience against the 11th Doctor from the start.

It felt like RTD and Tennant were both saying goodbye themselves rather than giving the character a proper send off.

So how would I have done it? Put The End of Time after Journey's End, not included Donna, shortened it by half an hour or so, cut out all the self-indulgent stuff and given the Doctor a heroic send off, rather than a crying one.

Ecclestone's regeneration for me is still the best in New Who for those reasons. It didn't have an incredibly long, drawn out preamble, it just went: oh look I need to save Rose. Oh dammit I need to regenerate, ah well it was worth it. Cool. Rather than the throwing the toys out of the pram approach.

(Although one thing I will say is that the difference between Ten and the other Doctor regenerations is that he was alone so doesn't have anyone he needs to be strong for but nevertheless I still think it's too much and if Tennant wasn't such an incredible actor it could have been a complete train wreck)

I like this a lot.

Am i the only one who thought Matts was a little Rushed? :/ dont get me wrong i loved Time of the Doctor even thought i loved the goodbye to clara and the Amy Cameo i would have been happy with Capaldi Appearing on the belltower and the "Love From Gallifrey" scene to have been Matts actual Exit

I wouldn't change a thing about the regeneration scene. It was the right level of emotional for what would realistically be a tramuatic event, and it was a fitting send off for such an amazing doctor. Allowing him to see his treasured friends one last time too was also brilliant. It amazes me that people can still moan about the fact that Tennants regeneration was emotional when Matt's has now been and gone and was emotional and included him seeing a former companion just the same.

When people moan about the scene, I notice they often do so in detail, not realizing that by doing so they are proving the point that whether they like it or not, it can at least be said that it is a scene that sticks in your mind because it is so powerful.

Even though I wouldn't change the scene we got, if I had some ultimate power the only change I would make would be to delete his leaving entirely and still have him as the doctor to this day, with RTD still in charge. That's not meant as a negative towards Capaldi, smith or Moffat, it's just meant as a compliment to the writng/acting abilities of RTD and Tennant respectively

I don't think its the fact that it was emotional that was generally criticised, but the emotional attitude. For instance, Matt's exit was pretty much the opposite of David's. When he thinks he's actually going to die, he accepts it and goes to confront the Daleks one last time. When he begins his regeneration in the TARDIS, he makes a speech about how change is a good thing and how we shouldn't be afraid of it.

Similarly, seeing Amy was very different to 10s final reward. 11 only hallucinates Amy in his final moments. Its his mind playing tricks on him as he begins to regenerate. 10, however, was supposedly mortally wounded by having his entire body flooded with radiation. His regeneration kicked off almost immediately as the wounds on his face healed. But then he still managed to go on a merry jaunt to say goodbye to all his friends and was even strong enough to actually creep up on a Sontaran and knock it out. Heck, he didn't even say goodbye to half of them - he just stood in the distance, looking cool and moody!

I actually think that Matt's exit is not just the polar opposite of David's, but I think it was specifically written to be just that. The thing I disliked about 10s regeneration was that it really made it such a downer. 10 describes regeneration as "like dying," he gets terrified at the prospect that he's going to have to do it, he's fearful at the loss of identity. He also has to go and say one last goodbye to all his friends - but only 10s friends, it seems.

Comparatively, 11s regen is all about how its a good thing. When he starts to regenerate, the music swells and he gets excited. This is a moment for us to smile at. When he returns to the TARDIS and talks to Clara, he comforts her by saying that he is the Doctor, but so is his next face. Rather than crying that who he is will die and a new man will walk away, he makes a comparison to how we all change throughout our lives.

Both are sad, but one looks on the tragedy of regeneration and the other looks on the excitement of change. Or put another way, ten was a glass half empty kinda guy and 11 was too busy enjoying the drink to notice it was getting low!

I honestly believed that 11s last speech was Moffat directly responding to some of the fan negativity over 10s exit.