A Letter from the Doctor (DWAN 2024 short story)

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A Letter from the Doctor was the first short story and first release exclusively published in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 on 7 September 2023 by Penguin Group[1] and written by Paul Lang.

The short story, also forming part of the A Letter from the Doctor series that originated in the first issue of Doctor Who Weekly in 1979, was stylised as a letter written by the Fourteenth Doctor to the readers of the annual.

Plot

Writing a letter to the readers of an annual, the Fourteenth Doctor asks his recipients if they had a good year after he realises it has been a whole year since he last wrote to them, going on to tell them about his own year being full of ups and downs.

The Doctor tells of how he recently died on a cliff in a beautiful fashion with their arms outstretched while the sun rose. However, while they should have regenerated into a a new body, this time the Doctor has regenerated back into an old one, which he realised after running his tongue over his teeth. Returning to his TARDIS to write the letter, the Doctor realises that, despite having the body of one of his previous selves, he does have new braincells, after remembering that he has a custard-cream dispenser in the TARDIS.

Explaining that he didn't think he would've missed his hands until he lost them, he hopes he would be able to keep them attached for more than fifteen hours, dismissing the possibility that he would encounter the Sycorax again and get into another swordfight on his "first day" as "quite unlikely". Continuing, he questions why this face has returned and is surprised by how his clothes also changed, but, after he notices something making "a right old racket" on the other side of the console, he goes to investigate and concludes the letter by writing:

"All right then, universe — what have you got for me today?"

Characters

Worldbuilding

  • The annual is a book.
  • The Doctor likens the acts of regenerating to letting out a sneeze after holding it in.
  • The Doctor writes that he won't be keeping his teeth if he starts eating too many custard creams.
  • The Doctor notes he has a familiar face, fantastic hair, a "slightly quizzical left eyebrow", and "that brilliant grin".
  • The Doctor mentions that his clothes changing hasn't happened for "absolutely ages".

Notes

  • A typo is made in this story, where the Doctor writes "they Sycorax" instead of "the Sycorax" when remembering how the Tenth Doctor's hand was cut off; the annual as a whole contained many typos and errors throughout, this being one example of many.

Continuity

  • The Doctor continuously references his predecessor's regeneration from The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]. He also mentions walking back into the TARDIS, which was briefly seen in Liberation of the Daleks.
    • The Fourteenth Doctor's entry in Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse [+]Loading...["Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse (reference book)"] takes place moments after The Power of the Doctor, as it follows on directly from Fourteen's line "What? What? What?", thus being set during the extremely short time in which A Letter from the Doctor takes place after Power.
  • The Doctor directly compares his appearance to the Tenth Doctor, who debuted in The Parting of the Ways [+]Loading...["The Parting of the Ways (TV story)"] and finally regenerated in The End of Time.
  • The Doctor takes note of the Custard cream Biscuit dispenser on the TARDIS control console, which was a detail highlighted in the crystal console's debut in The Ghost Monument [+]Loading...["The Ghost Monument (TV story)"]
  • The Doctor jokingly wonders if he'll be able to keep both his hands this time, slyly referencing how the Tenth Doctor lost a hand during The Christmas Invasion [+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"] but then concludes that he is unlikely the be sword-fighting the Sycorax again, alluding to the Sycorax leader that had cut his hand off.
  • The Doctor mentions his clothes having changed during the regeneration, and subtly recalls it happening when the First Doctor regenerated into the Second Doctor during The Tenth Planet [+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"].
  • At the end of the letter, the Doctor notices "something making a right old racket over the other side of the console" and goes to have a look, signing off with, "All right then, universe — what have you got for me today?", leading directly into Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"].

Footnotes

Notes

Sources

  1. ↑ Doctor Who Annual 2024 on penguin.co.uk
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Post-regeneration stories
For the purposes of this list, a "post-regeneration story" is one in which the after-effects of a regeneration is actually and initially depicted and the Time Lord fully settles into their new body. For this reason, Rose is not included below, even though it is commonly thought of as a "post-regeneration story". It doesn't actually include a clear scene of regeneration, and the preponderance of stories in other media confirm that the Ninth Doctor has not immediately regenerated prior to the story.
The Doctor
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Regeneration is usually considered a biologic process exclusive to Time Lords and a few other species. However, some consider Regeneration to also be a "post-regeneration story", though neither describes anything close to a biological process.
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