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The Ninth Doctor was the ninth incarnation of the Doctor, the brooding and melancholic survivor of the Last Great Time War. By the end of this incarnation, he had largely emerged from the angry fog of his survivor's guilt, thanks to his relationship with Rose Tyler. The Doctor later regenerated after absorbing the energy of the Time Vortex to save Rose Tyler.
Biography
Regeneration
What caused the previous incarnation to regenerate was unknown. When asked about what happened to his eighth incarnation, the tenth incarnation of the Doctor answered, "What happened to me? That's simple. The Time War happened." (IDW: The Forgotten)
A report on the contact Clive website showed that almost immediately after regenerating, the Doctor arrived at Totters Lane in the early 21st century, wearing his previous incarnation's clothes and muttering to a local; "They're all gone. I'm the only one left". After trading most of his previous incarnation's clothing at an Oxfam in Sheffield, the Doctor later dumped several items belonging to his other selves in a local tip. (WEB: whoisdoctorwho.co.uk)
After regenerating, the Doctor had some adventures on his own, such as meeting Sally Sparrow. (NSA: The Eyeless, DWA: What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow)
Travels with Rose
In 2005 London, the Doctor rescued Rose Tyler from several Autons at her workplace, Henrik's, by blowing up the building. Together, they confronted the Nestene Consciousness that was controlling the Autons. Although the Doctor tried to persuade the Consciousness to leave Earth, it refused and attempted to take him prisoner. With Rose's help, however, he 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)
For her first trip by time-travelling, the Doctor took Rose to the distant future day when the abandoned Earth was allowed to be destroyed by the sun. (DW: The End of the World) He then took Rose to meet Charles Dickens, where they fought and defeated the Gelth. (DW: The Unquiet Dead)
The Doctor then took Rose back to her own time period, where he arrived one year later than he intended and was almost arrested by the police for kidnapping Rose. While on Earth, the Doctor stopped the Slitheen from destroying the planet. (DW: Aliens of London, World War Three)
New Companions
Other than Rose, the Doctor briefly traveled with Adam Mitchell, a GeoComTex employee who they met at the Vault in Utah in 2012. (DW: Dalek) Initially hesitant to take Adam on board, and doing so only at Rose's behest, the Doctor expelled him from the TARDIS soon after, saying "I only take the best, I've got Rose", when Adam tried to use knowledge from the year 200,000 for his own gain. (DW: The Long Game)
In 1941 London, they met 51st century ex-Time Agent and current conman Jack Harkness. The Doctor experienced some jealousy over Rose's interest in Jack, but rescued him before his Chula Warship exploded, taking him into the TARDIS. (DW: The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances) Jack and the Doctor got on well together, and owing to Jack's omnisexual orientation, the Doctor chose neither to encourage nor discourage Jack, though he himself did little more than playfully tease Jack. While on a refueling trip in Cardiff, the Doctor and his companions captured and eventually defeated a Sitheen survivor from their prevous encounter with the family. They also obtained a Tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator during this adventure. (DW: Boom Town)
Resolution of the Time War
In 200,100, the Doctor and Rose found that the Dalek Emperor had not died, and now commanded an army of Daleks derived from unwilling humans. The Doctor believed that he would need give his life to stop the Daleks, and sent the TARDIS back to 21st century Earth with Rose aboard. However, Rose managed to open and look into the heart of the TARDIS, causing her to become the powerful Bad Wolf entity and returned to the future to save the Doctor. Rose had absorbed the Time Vortex into herself, which would cause her death by cellular degeneration. Nevertheless, she declared the Time War to be over and destroyed the Dalek fleet by scattering their atoms with a wave of her hand.
The Doctor knew that that Rose would burn up if she kept so much power in her body, therefore he kissed her, drawing the Time Vortex from her body and into himself. The Doctor and Rose went back to the TARDIS and left Jack on the station. The Doctor suddenly spasmed in pain and realized that the regeneration process was starting. He told Rose that he would change and complimented Rose, saying she had been fantastic and noting that he had as well. He then regenerated into his tenth incarnation. (DW: The Parting of the Ways)
- For a list of Ninth Doctor stories in the order in which he experienced them, see Ninth Doctor - Timeline.
Undated Adventures
- Clive Finch possessed several images of this incarnation at well-known historical events. The Doctor appeared 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)
- The Doctor delivered a letter intended for his fifth incarnation's companions Peri Brown and Erimem while they were stranded in England in 1483. (BFA: The Kingmaker)
- The Doctor stated that prior to arriving at Satellite Five, he, Rose and Jack had just escaped from an adventure in Kyoto, Japan. (DW: Bad Wolf)
- Clive Finch's website also documented sightings during various adventures the Doctor had. These sightings showed the Doctor travelling with Rose visiting a 5000 year old Megalithic tomb in Newgrange among various other places, some without her. (WEB: Who is Doctor Who?)
- Sometime after meeting Rose, the Doctor visited the Christmas truce of World War I and refereed the football game there. (IDW: The Forgotten)
Psychological profile
Personality
This incarnation of the Doctor was very emotional and deeply affected by his actions in the Last Great Time War. However he was capable of hiding his sorrow with a facade of manic energy and a sharp, offbeat wit. Nevertheless the weight of seemingly destroying both the Time Lords and the Daleks preyed upon him greatly, creating a more emotional incarnation, who could easily be saddened, or angered. Consequently, it also created an incarnation 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. Despite this, this incarnation of the Doctor was more adept at noticing the flaws of humanity than any of his predecessors.
When questioned by the Emperor of the Daleks about whether he was a coward or a killer the Doctor struggled with the decision to destroy the Daleks and the Earth or simply allow the Dalek's to kill him and take over the universe. In the end he couldn't bring himself to destroy the Earth even to rid the universe of the Daleks and claimed that he was a coward. (DW: Journey's End)
While his previous incarnations were rarely heard uttering minor curse words like "hell" and "damn," the ninth incarnation tended to use these phrases more freely. He was also seen to be more violent, physically coming into contact with guards when arrested. (DW: Bad Wolf) The tenth incarnation implied that the ninth incarnation was angrier and pained due to being "born from war", as he compared the Meta-Crisis Doctor to the ninth incarnation. (DW: Journey's End)
At times the ninth incarnation could be ruthless, torturing a helpless Dalek even when the Dalek pleaded for him to "have pity". The Doctor's hatred for the Daleks was strong and the one he tortured even claimed that he would make a good Dalek himself. (DW: Dalek)
The Doctor cared very deeply about Rose and was even willing to let a lethal Dalek loose on Earth in order to keep her safe.(DW: Dalek) Also he was reluctant to use a missile to destroy the Slitheen because he feared that if he did so he would kill Rose too.(DW: World War Three) When the Daleks invaded Satellite Five, the Doctor lied to Rose about being able to use the TARDIS to stop them and sent her back home in order to protect her.(DW: The Parting of the Ways)
Habits and Quirks
The ninth incarnation spoke with a distinctive Northern accent. When Rose questioned this, he replied that "lots of planets have a North." He was also critical of his own large ears. (DW: Rose) He had a fondness for saying "fantastic", with emphasis on the second syllable, whenever he saw something of interest and especially something dangerous.
This incarnation nicknamed Mickey Smith "Mickey the idiot", or simply "Ricky". He also called humans "stupid apes" and seemed very alien. He carried an air of mystery around him, and rarely spoke of his past to others. However, he did "not do domestic", as he put it, which could lead to some tension in his interactions with Jackie Tyler. He also had a fondness for bananas. (DW: The Doctor Dances)
This incarnation would become noticeably emotionally exhausted and would seemingly reach moments where he would break down whenever faced with pain, suffering, or death. This problem took centre stage when the Doctor expressed his emotional exhaustion several times and ultimately resulted in a brief moment of relief and happiness when he realised that he could, for once, reverse all of the pain and suffering he had encountered. (DW: The Doctor Dances)
The ninth incarnation had a habit of folding his arms and frowning whenever giving a lecture or listening intently. He would also grin whenever he was quite happy or found something funny and also had a habit of being a little overconfident with his plans, even if he didn't think they would work. (DW: Rose et al)
Mysteries and Discrepancies
- It is unknown if the Doctor had recently regenerated when he met Rose.
- The Doctor stated that he ended the Last Great Time War. (DW: Dalek) Exactly how he did so is unknown, although the Time Lords mentioned that he was in possession of something called "The Moment". It is unknown whether "the Moment" refers to a time or a device used to end the war.
Appearance
In stark contrast to the extravagant dress of most of his predecessors, the ninth incarnation wore a plain leather jacket, mistaken in World War II for that of a German U-boat commander. (DW: The Empty Child) He would either wear a plain red, green, navy blue, or black jumper, which Charles Dickens thought made him look like a navvy, (DW: The Unquiet Dead) dark trousers and a black, strapped wristwatch, unlike his previous incarnations, who wore fobwatches.
At one time, he was photographed wearing clothes reminiscent of those his eighth incarnation wore. (DW: Rose)
During an adventure in World War I, the Doctor wore a military trenchcoat to fit in with the British soldiers. (IDW: The Forgotten)
He wore his hair close-cropped, much unlike many his previous incarnations who had had longer hair. He had two large ears and he considered his nose large as well. (DW: The Empty Child)
Key Life Events
- The Doctor takes Rose to the final destruction of Earth, and prevents Cassandra from sabotaging Platform One. (DW: The End of the World)
- Travels to the Vault in 2012, where he and Rose encounter and destroy a surviving Dalek. (DW: Dalek)
- Travels with Rose to Satellite Five, where they manage to destroy the Jagrafess that had been manipulating the population of Earth. (DW: The Long Game)
- Takes Rose to see the death of her father, only to be briefly killed after Rose creates a paradox. (DW: Father's Day)
Behind the scenes
- The ninth incarnation is the only incarnation to date to have the same companion throughout his television appearances (Rose Tyler). In spin-off fiction, the only ninth incarnation story to date where 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.
- The ninth incarnation is also one of the only two incarnations to date not to be seen on screen facing another Time Lord as an opponent or having met Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. The eleventh incarnation is also yet to face a Time Lord as an enemy or meet Stewart, though due to Nicholas Courtney's passing in 2011 this will not occur.
- The ninth incarnation is the first past incarnation who has not appeared in the Short Trips series of short story collections along with the tenth incarnation. Also, Christopher Eccleston, followed by David Tennant, 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 in an audio drama based upon the franchise.
- As BBC Audio did not launch its line of exclusive-to-audio Doctor Who stories until near the end of the Tennant era, and taking into account the Big Finish lines, the ninth incarnation is the only incarnation of the Doctor for which no audio stories have, to date, been produced.
- The ninth incarnation's era, due to its short tenure, stands as the first incarnation's era to be completely released to DVD in Australia, North America and the UK. The single film that made up the eighth incarnation's era was not available in North America and Australia by then.
- Originally, Russell T Davies approached Hugh Grant, who previously played the Doctor's alternate twelfth incarnation, to play the ninth Doctor, however he turned down the role, thinking the show would not take off. He expressed deep regret in 2007 after seeing how successful the show had become.[1]