Ninth Doctor

Rose, you were fantastic! And you know what ?.. So was I !The Ninth Doctor's Last Words

Ninth Doctor
Main aliases:	The Oncoming Storm Dr John Smith
Place of origin:	Gallifrey
Main actor:	[[actor::Christopher Eccleston|Christopher Eccleston]]

The Ninth Doctor was the ninth incarnation of the Doctor. Outwardly manic and energetic, he harboured deep survivor guilt over the Last Great Time War.

Biography

It is not specifically known how the Doctor regenerated into this incarnation or whether or not it happened because of the Last Great Time War. When visiting Rose Tyler's home in Powell Estate, he looked in a mirror and commented on his new face, which would suggest that he has not had a chance to look in a mirror since his regeneration. (DW: Rose)

File:Ninth Doctor.jpg

The Doctor shortly after first meeting Rose Tyler.

After the conclusion of the Time War, of which the Doctor was the sole survivor, the Eighth Doctor regenerated for an eighth time. His ninth incarnation travelled to Earth, where he rescued a young human woman, Rose Tyler, from several Autons and confronted the Nestene Consciousness that was controlling them. Although the Doctor tried to persuade the Consciousness to leave Earth, it refused and attempted to take him prisoner. With Rose's help, however, the Ninth Doctor defeated the Nestene Consciousness and thwarted its plans of world domination. Appreciative of Rose's assistance, the Doctor subsequently invited her to travel with him on his journeys through space and time inside his TARDIS. Rose accepted, and consequently became his companion. (DW: Rose)

The TARDIS harboured three different companions during his lifespan - most notably Rose Tyler, a shop assistant from early 21st-century Earth. He also met Adam Mitchell following his experience with the 'last' Dalek in 2012 Utah (DW: Dalek), but expelled him from the TARDIS for his selfish conduct (DW: The Long Game). The Doctor's third assistant was ex-Time Agent, conman, and sometime Captain Jack Harkness, whom the Doctor and Rose met on a visit to London during the World War II Blitz (DW: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances).

The Doctor regenerated due to cellular degeneration caused by absorbing the energies of the Time Vortex from Rose, who had absorbed them from the TARDIS (DW: The Parting of the Ways).

Characteristics

Appearance

In stark contrast to the extravagant dress of most of his predecessors, the Doctor wore a plain leather jacket (mistaken in World War II for that of a German U-boat commander; DW: The Empty Child), red, green or black jumper (which Charles Dickens thought made him look like a navvy; DW: The Unquiet Dead) and dark trousers. Unlike previous Doctors, the Ninth Doctor wore his hair close cropped.

Psychological profile

Personality

This incarnation was a study in contrasts. On the one hand, he shared many characteristics with his predecessors. One moment he was full of manic energy and a sharp, offbeat wit; the next he was removed and reserved, keenly aware of the divide between himself and the humans he encountered. But the Time War of which the Doctor was the sole survivor had clearly affected him deeply indeed. This was a sadder and angrier Doctor; the weight of his having seemingly destroyed both the Time Lords and the Daleks preyed upon him greatly. But consequently, this was also a Doctor who harboured a new appreciation for the wonders of the universe and who, more keenly than ever, burned with a desire to keep the universe safe from harm.

While his previous incarnations were rarely heard uttering minor curse words like "hell" and "damn", the Ninth Doctor tended to use these phrases more freely. The Tenth Doctor implied that the Ninth Doctor was more angry and pained due to being "born from war" as he compared the Meta-Crisis Doctor to him. (DW: Journey's End)

Habits and Quirks

He also spoke with a Northern accent, and was critical of his own large ears. (DW: Rose).

He also has a fondness for saying "Fantastic" with emphasis on the second syllable whenever he sees something of interest - usually something dangerous.

He nicknames Mickey Smith "Mickey the idiot" or simply "Ricky".

This Doctor called humans "stupid apes" and seemed very alien. He carried an air of mystery around him, and sometimes argued with Rose. However, he "does not do domestic", as he put it, which could lead to some tension in his interactions with Jackie Tyler. He also has been revealed to have a fondness for bananas (DW: The Doctor Dances).

This Doctor would noticeably become emotionally exhausted and would seemingly reach moments where he would breakdown whenever faced with pain, suffering, or death. In DW: The Doctor Dances this problem takes centre stage when the Doctor expresses his exhaustion several times, which ultimately results in a brief moment of relief and happiness when he realizes he can for once reverse all of the pain and suffering he has encountered.

Mysteries and Discrepancies

• We do not know if the Doctor had really just regenerated when he met Rose(DW: Rose), but there was a comment on Clive website as follows from Steven Hudson:

I saw him a couple a years ago outside a new building development in Totters Lane, East London. The guy seemed really confused and keep muttering, "They’re all gone, I'm the only one left". The man was either a complete loon or was drunk. Looking back I think he was probably drunk as he looked as if he'd been to a fancy dress party. He was wearing some old Edwardian outfit, not a leather jacket.

• For reasons unknown, this incarnation of the Doctor gives his age as 900, (DW: Aliens of London, et al) even though his Seventh incarnation stated he was 953 at the start of his life (DW: Time and the Rani) and the Eighth claimed a much older age of 1,012 (EDA: Vampire Science). The Doctor's tenth incarnation stated approximately two years into his life that he was 903.

The reasons for this have yet to be addressed, though it's possible it may have had something to do with the Time War. Also it is possible that given he is so old he has begun to count his age another way, "900 hundred years of telephone box travel", for simplicity's sake making him around 1350 years old. He may be missing some memories, this would not be the first time for that!

• Clive Finch showed Rose Tyler some photos of the the Doctor just prior to the Kennedy assassination and at the Titanic amongst other photos. The Doctor implies that he regenerated recently, however. These events may have happened in the future, yet they don't show Rose with him. There is a scene at the end of the episode where the Doctor mentions the TARDIS travels in Space, then dematerializes and then rematerializes after which the Doctor adds "and Time". Though from Rose's point of view the two events were simultaneous, in reality, the Ninth Doctor could have participated in the events Clive had pictures of, then returned.JTFinME 01:26, 8 March 2009 (UTC)(DW: Rose)

• The Doctor eventually states he somehow ended the Time War, screaming to a captured Dalek "I made it happen!" Exactly how he did so, however, is unknown. (DW: Dalek)

Undocumented adventures

• Clive Finch possessed several images of this incarnation at well-known historical events. One in Dallas at the moment of John F. Kennedy's assassination, in Southampton just before the launch of the Titanic, and in Indonesia on the day of Krakatoa's eruption. (DW: Rose)

• Captain Jack states that just prior to arriving at the Gamestation, the Doctor, Rose and himself had just escaped from an adventure in Kyoto, Japan. (DW: Bad Wolf)

Other information

• Although the exact lifetime length of each of the Doctor's incarnations is ambiguous (an exception being the second incarnation, who is known to have lived for a little less than 450 years (DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen)), it can be surmised that the ninth incarnation of the Doctor may well be the Doctor's shortest-lived incarnation to date. He appears to be newly regenerated when he first meets Rose Tyler (or at least new enough in his body that he hasn't had a chance to examine his appearance closely) (DW: Rose), and it is implied that Rose's travels with him take place over the course of less than a year as she is still referred to as being 19 years old when the Doctor believes her to have been killed on Satellite 5 (DW: Bad Wolf), only hours before his regeneration occurs.

Key Life Events

• The Doctor regenerates from his previous incarnation.

The circumstances behind this remain unknown, although it is suggested that it happened in the climax of the Time War and not very long before DW: Rose (TV story).

• Rose Tyler and the Doctor meet and she accepts joining him in his travels (DW: Rose)
• The Doctor meets the Face of Boe and sees the destruction of the planet Earth (DW: The End of the World).
• The Doctor meets the supposed last surviving Dalek. (DW: Dalek)
• Adam Mitchell becomes a companion (DW: Dalek) but the Doctor soon evicts him for taking advantage of his privileged position (DW: The Long Game).
• The Doctor and Rose meet Captain Jack, who joins the TARDIS crew. (DW: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances)
• The Doctor, Rose and Jack attempt to take Blon Fel-Fotch Pasameer-Day Slitheen back to her homeworld to be punished for her crimes and accidentally allow her to cause the expansion of the Cardiff rift. (DW: Boom Town)
• Re-encounters the Daleks. As Bad Wolf Rose resurrects Jack and ends the Last Great Time War, Jack ends up marooned. (DW: Bad Wolf)
• The Doctor regenerates into his next incarnation as a result of saving Rose's life. (DW: Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways)

Behind the scenes

• The Ninth Doctor has the distinction of being the only Doctor to date to have the same companion throughout his television appearances, without interruption, namely Rose Tyler. The closest anyone had come before was the Second Doctor who travelled with Jamie McCrimmon in all but the first of his stories. In the case of spin-off fiction, the only Ninth Doctor story to date in which he is not depicted travelling with Rose is "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow", a short story written for the 2006 annual and of uncertain canonicity as it was later remade as the TV episode, Blink.
• The Ninth Doctor, as of 2008, is the only past Doctor who has not appeared in the Big Finish Short Trips series of short story collections. Also, along with the Tenth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston has yet to take part as the Doctor in any of Big Finish's audio dramas, the first Doctor since Tom Baker to not participate (deceased actors notwithstanding). This also makes Eccleston the only Doctor actor since Patrick Troughton to not participate (to date) in an audio drama based upon the franchise (David Tennant has recorded for Big Finish, but not playing the Doctor).
• The Ninth Doctor era, due to its short tenure, stands as the only Doctor era to be completely released to DVD in Australia, North America and the UK. The single film that made up the Eighth Doctor era is not available in North America and Australia.
• All other Doctors still have serials that remain to be released to DVD, either worldwide or at all (with the First and Second Doctor's unlikely to ever be completely represented due to many of their serials being lost). This superlative will expire once the final episodes of the Tenth Doctor era are released to DVD, presumably sometime in 2010.

External Link

• Ninth Doctor's theme music

Incarnations of the Doctor
Widely accepted
Others / unplaced incarnations
More ambiguous