Fourteenth Doctor
With a near-identical appearance to his tenth incarnation, the Fourteenth Doctor embraced having a second chance with his old face, and responded to all calls of adventure. Humorous and curious, but also sentimental and compassionate, this incarnation of the Doctor was one who ran across the universe particularly quickly, with the Doctor's first battle against psychoplasm Dalek constructs in the Dalek Dome to his final encounter with the Toymaker taking place over the course of about only fifteen hours.
After his encounter with the psychoplasm Daleks, he eventually reunited with his old companion Donna Noble for new adventures, all while trying to unravel the mystery of his "new" appearance. Along the way, he was forced to admit he had become emotionally exhausted by everything he had been through on his travels, and was particularly haunted by the devastation caused by the Flux. After undergoing a bi-generation that created the Fifteenth Doctor and defeating the Toymaker, the Fourteenth Doctor settled into a life of rehab on Earth with his TARDIS, Donna, her family and Mel Bush.
Biography
A day to come
When the Eleventh Doctor met the Curator in the Under Gallery and quipped how he "never forget[s] a face", the Curator cryptically replied that he "might find [him]self revisiting a few" in the "years to come", though only "the old favourites". (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"])
At the conclusion of the final Flux event, after the embodiment of Time disintegrated the Ravagers Swarm and Azure, the Thirteenth Doctor was warned that her "time [was] heading to its end". (TV: The Vanquishers [+]Loading...["The Vanquishers (TV story)"]) The Thirteenth Doctor later compiled a book about all of her lives to aid the her next incarnation if they "[felt] weird" after regeneration. (PROSE: A Short History of Everyone [+]Loading...["A Short History of Everyone (novel)"])
Post-regeneration
- Main article: Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration
After the Doctor freed the Qurunx so it could destroy the cyber-conversion planet, the Master spitefully used his Tissue Compression Eliminator to redirect the Qurunx's destructive blast at the Doctor, fatally wounding her. Staving off the regeneration long enough to have a final conversation with Yaz, the Doctor then travelled alone to a cliff overlooking the sea, where she could enjoy the sunrise before she regenerated. Making peace with herself, the Doctor began to regenerate, with her outfit morphing into a completely different set of clothes with her. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]) After the regeneration completed, the Fourteenth Doctor ran his tongue over his teeth (PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor 2024 [+]Loading...{"page":"6","1":"A Letter from the Doctor (DWAN 2024 short story)"}) and found himself taken aback by the fact that he was in a body remarkably identical to his tenth incarnation, (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]) thinking how he should be "somebody new" instead of "somebody [he'd] been before", and also thought that his clothes changing too was "weird". (PROSE: "Heroes of Time" [+]Part of Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse, Loading...{"namedpart":"Heroes of Time","1":"Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse (reference book)"})
After returning to the TARDIS, (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) the Doctor wrote a letter to the readers of an annual as he continued to question why he had regenerated back into an old body. While he acknowledged that he had new braincells, he wrote that he had regained his old teeth, hands, "fantastic" hair, "slightly quizzical left eyebrow" and "brilliant" grin, concluding that it was nice to have this face back, but that he was still unsure as to why. As he wrote down how his clothes had also changed for the first time since the in ages, he got distracted by something "making a right old racket" on the opposite side of the console. (PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor 2024 [+]Loading...{"page":"6","1":"A Letter from the Doctor (DWAN 2024 short story)"})
The first adventure
Seeing that the noise was a distress signal, the Doctor followed it to what seemed to be Wembley Stadium during the 1966 World Cup Final, where he found what he thought were time tourists watching the historical football tournament, using psychic shields to cover the fact they were a family of purple aliens. However, when a Dalek flying saucer appeared in the sky and started deploying a force of Bronze Daleks to start an invasion, the Doctor focused his efforts on getting the Supreme Dalek's attention so that the Daleks would abandon their attack in an attempt to exterminate him instead. Fleeing back to the TARDIS, the Doctor was handed the World Cup's Jules Rimet Trophy by Georgy Gold, who had mistook him for the police. Not having enough time for explanations, the Doctor bundled Georgy into the safety of the TARDIS, only for a Dalek saucer to seize it before he could follow her in, leaving him surrounded by the Daleks as the Supreme Dalek ordered them to exterminate him, only for their blasts to have no effect, surprising both them and the Doctor. With both wanting answers, the Doctor let himself be taken aboard the Dalek saucer, where he bargained for the invasion to be stopped in return for providing an explanation to the Supreme Dalek after scanning himself with the sonic screwdriver, which the Supreme Dalek agreed to. After scanning the Daleks, the Doctor realised that they were simulacra of real Daleks and and that he was in a simulation, though the Supreme Dalek refused to believe him and destroyed the Earth to prove they were real. However, Claire and Claudine then materialised on the bridge, captured the Doctor and teleported him away, as the Daleks watched in confusion, to the Dalek Dome, where the Doctor met Georgette Gold and learnt he had been in an attraction at a theme park based on Dalek history.
As Georgette showed him the attractions, the Doctor continuously voiced his displeasure at how the "suffering of countless billions" was being made a "fun day out for the family". When Georgette revealed she had lured him in with the distress signal, the Doctor attempted to return to his TARDIS until Georgette told him he couldn't return to the 66-scape until the psychoplasm had been vented, so he followed her to a control room and discovered Kaled mutants sleeping in tanks, with the one designated Specimen Six Sigma waking up, which the Doctor realised was due to his questioning of the Daleks' existence in the 1966 simulation, prompting Georgette to shut it down, depositing the TARDIS in the lobby. The Doctor rushed to the TARDIS, where they discovered Georgy, who was Georgette's simulacra in the 66-space, had been forced to let the Supreme Dalek into the ship in order for it to survive the shutdown and escape into reality. The Doctor tried to convince the Supreme Dalek the Daleks were still fakes by scanning them with his sonic screwdriver, only for the the Supreme Dalek to have one if its guards destroy it, with the gathering crowd convinced they were watching a live show and asking to be exterminated, ignoring the Doctor's warnings. However, it soon became apparent that the Daleks were becoming anatomically unstable and would soon dissolve once the residue from the artron energy in the TARDIS dissipated, along with Georgy. Unable to stop a tearful Georgy from running off due to needing to focus on the Daleks, the Doctor kept them distracted until they melted away, but was then forced to leave the Dalek Dome by the staff when he continued to advocate its closing.
As he planned to skip ahead in time, the Doctor was drawn into the Dalek Dome's Golden City Zone by Georgy, who had allied herself with the Golden Dalek Emperor in order to find a way for the simulacra to become real, and could only watch as a Dalek interrogator used a hypno-pulse in conjunction with Georgy's connection to her to hypnotise Georgette into transmitting the hypno-pulse into the Dalek Dome and allow the Golden Emperor to gain control as it began constructing a quantum-powered reality gate to enable it's escape from the simulation. However, the Doctor managed to trick the Golden Emperor into revealing its plan of conquest to Georgy, and she severed the hypnotic link to the Dome, though she was swiftly killed. As the Golden Emperor explained it would harvest the psychoplasm of the other Dalek Zones, the Doctor was rescued by Georgette, Claire and Claudine, and they escaped to a zone governed by the Dalek Emperor of the Dalek City, who the Doctor convinced to ally with him and a Dalek Alliance in order to stop the Golden Emperor, though the Alliance's attempt to destroy the Golden Emperor only incited chaos. Taking control of the situation, the Doctor teleported himself into the Golden Emperor's control centre and arranged the destruction of the quantum-powered reality gate, causing the psychoscape to collapse as he escaped in his TARDIS, which also destroyed the Daleks attacking the Earth. As Georgette lamented the destruction the Daleks had caused while free in reality, the Doctor left it up to her what to do with Dalek Dome as he made his leave. However, he found that the Jules Rimet Trophy that Georgy had left on the TARDIS control console had also melted, and he pondered if the fast return switch had been compromised. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"])
After the TARDIS crash-landed on Skaro (TV: Destination: Skaro [+]Loading...["Destination: Skaro (TV story)"]) due to the compromised fast return switch, (COMIC: "The Nightmare Ends" [+]Part of Liberation of the Daleks, Loading...{"namedpart":"The Nightmare Ends","1":"Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"}) the Doctor emerged to greet Castavillian and ponder aloud why he had regenerated back into an "old face", only to discover that the TARDIS had collided with a Dalek in a Mark III Travel Machine casing and torn its multi-dextrous claw clean off, as he thought aloud about his fortunate at not being exterminated during the "genesis of the Daleks". Once he realised that Castavillian had been recording down his musings, and that he was creating a bootstrap paradox that could put ruptures in "the timelines and canon", the Doctor went to leave, but stopped to replace the multi-dextrous claw with a plunger before he left. (TV: Destination: Skaro [+]Loading...["Destination: Skaro (TV story)"])
Enjoying a second chance
After he obtained a new sonic screwdriver, (WC: The Fourteenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver [+]Loading...["The Fourteenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver (webcast)"]) the Doctor's TARDIS brought him to a Sycorax spaceship piloted by the Queen of the Sycorax during Christmas, (COMIC: Into Control [+]Loading...{"page":"48-53","1":"Into Control (comic story)"}) however he was unaware that he was in anything other than a cave. (PROSE: Under Control [+]Loading...{"page":"10-15","1":"Under Control (short story)"}) Being compelled to explore due to remnants of a prior incarnation's blood being used in blood control, (COMIC: Into Control [+]Loading...{"page":"53","1":"Into Control (comic story)"}) the Doctor encountered captive members of various species who had been tricked into they were in danger: he found a Strombok wedged in a fissure, attempting to use his screwdriver to dislodge a large rock to prevent the fissure walls from closing in, before the Strombok climbed out another took his place; the Doctor found Vega Raptons terrified of a harmless pig, which he freed and named Alfredo; he found a group of humans taken from Earth at Christmas, fearing a platform of stalactites would descend upon them; and the Doctor and Alfredo freed a group of Sarnsquids from a bile-pit. After being freed, they explained their torture was being used to power psychic turbines to fly the craft. The Doctor went to help one of the other groups being tortured, but entered an arena, (PROSE: Under Control [+]Loading...{"page":"10-15","1":"Under Control (short story)"}) finding himself face to face with the Queen of the Sycorax, who planned to use blood control and the blood taken from the blade that cut off the Tenth Doctor's hand to force the Doctor to take the place of the Sarnsquids that were moving her ship. However, because he had different blood from his tenth incarnation, the Doctor was able to resist the blood control and duelled the Queen until Alfredo knocked her into the ship's bile-pit, with the Sycorax Queen teleporting away to escape the vengeful Sarnsquids. As the Sarnsquids took control of the ship, the Doctor urged all the lifeforms aboard to use it to get home as he left with Alfredo, saying that they should make the most of "second chances". (COMIC: Into Control [+]Loading...{"page":"48-55","1":"Into Control (comic story)"})
The Doctor arrived on Planet Bedtime Stories and told The Way Back Home, a story written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, about a boy who befriended a Martian after they got stranded on the Moon. After concluding the story, he began to tell a story about himself before realising he didn't have enough time to tell it. (TV: Doctor Who: The Bedtime Story [+]Loading...["Doctor Who: The Bedtime Story (TV story)"])
Reunion with Donna Noble
Information from PROSE: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (novelisation)"] and PROSE: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (novelisation)"] needs to be added.
The Doctor was later reunited with his former companion Donna Noble when London was attacked by the Meep (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) in November 2023. (PROSE: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (novelisation)"]) Having had to wipe her memories of her adventures with him after a Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis turned her into the DoctorDonna as his tenth incarnation, the Doctor was anguished at the idea that his presence would potentially return her memories to her, thus overloading her mind and killing her. Nevertheless, the Doctor was forced to restore Donna's memories so she could help him save London and defeat the Meep. To his shock and delight, Donna survived the process, as her daughter, Rose, had inherited part the meta-crisis and shared her power.
After the Meep was defeated, Donna and Rose safely expelled the meta-crisis energy from their bodies, and Donna accepted the Doctor's offer of one last trip in the TARDIS to visit her grandfather Wilf. However, mere minutes after entering, Donna accidentally spilled coffee on the centre console and sent the TARDIS spinning out of control through time and space. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"])
Hurtling out of control, they intercepted the Red Baron in 1917 where a Gübernator hitched onto the TARDIS roof. From there, the Doctor stayed inside the TARDIS as it landed in front of Neanderthals in 200,000 BC, accidentally saved Harold Godwinson's life at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and eventually disposed of the Gübernator, self-destructing high above London in a December in the 1970s, unaware that a young Donna was performing a nativity play far below. (COMIC: Untitled [+]Loading...{"noital":"1","1":"Untitled (DWM 598 comic story)","2":"Untitled"})
Next, the Doctor and Donna briefly stopped in 1666 England, where they met Isaac Newton and inspired his theory of gravity, which he misheard as "mavity", before they were launched onto an empty spaceship at the edge of the universe. The TARDIS abandoned the pair due to its Hostile Action Displacement System being switched back on, and so they investigated the ship to defeat the threat the TARDIS had fled from, which led them to find two Not-Things from beyond the edge that frightened them as much as they could to feast on their fear and take their forms. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) While still unsure why his face had returned, the Doctor was certain it was not for the Not-Thing to take it. (PROSE: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (novelisation)"])
The Doctor discovered that the ship's captain had killed herself to stop them impersonating her and had set the ship on a very slow self-destruct sequence so the Not-Things couldn't figure out what was happening and stop it. The Doctor sped up the countdown, which the TARDIS sensed and travelled back to the ship, picking up the Doctor and Donna just before the ship exploded and killed the Not-Things. They returned to 2023 London to meet Wilf, only to find the city in chaos and Wilf begging the Doctor to stop it. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"])
Rematch with the Toymaker
After returning Donna to Earth and encountering Wilfred Mott again, the Doctor watched as humanity appeared to descend into chaos, every human believing themselves right. He and Donna were found by UNIT and taken to their headquarters, where he reunited with Mel, a companion of his sixth incarnation. With Kate and Shirley Anne Bingham's help, the Doctor deduced that a giggle hidden in every screen was manipulating humanity to behave as they were.
To find the origin of the problem, the Doctor and Donna travelled to Soho in 1925. There, the pair encountered the Toymaker, one of the Doctor's oldest enemies, whom he last remembered fighting during his first incarnation. The Toymaker tormented the Doctor, reminding him of his struggles to keep previous companions safe, before then revealing that he had turned the Doctor's past into a 'jigsaw puzzle'. Giving in, the Doctor challenged the Toymaker to a game of Highest Card, hoping to win and use the Toymaker's own rules of play to banish and defeat him as he had before, but lost. However, the Doctor invoked the Best of Three rule, meaning - since the Doctor won the first match between the pair and now the Toymaker won the second - they were tied one-all so needed to have one more game to decide the victor in a Best of Three. Delighted, the Toymaker agreed and transported to 2023.
The Doctor and Donna pursued him, arriving at UNIT headquarters in time to watch as the Toymaker harassed the UNIT members. Seeing the Toymaker take control of the Galvanic Beam, the Fourteenth Doctor tried to persuade the Toymaker to leave Earth and play his games elsewhere in the universe. However, the Toymaker refused as he had decided to make Earth his new playground, and fired the Galvanic Beam at the Doctor, citing a new rule: since the Doctor had played the first game in his first incarnation and then the second game as the Fourteenth Doctor, the Toymaker was allowed to force the next Doctor to fight him instead. Defeated, the Doctor collapsed to his knees, the beam killing him. However, regeneration energy emitted from his body, revealing his regeneration had begun. Donna and Mel rushed to his side to be with him. The Fourteenth Doctor smiled, insisting, this time his regeneration did not feel like dying and embraced the regeneration energy, remarking "Here we go again. Allonsy!". (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Bi-generation
- Main article: Fourteenth Doctor's bi-generation
However, just as the regeneration energy was about to burst from him, the Fourteenth Doctor experienced bi-generation, in which his next incarnation emerged during his lifetime. Together, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors defeated the Toymaker in a game of catch. For his prize, the Fourteenth Doctor banished the Toymaker from existence. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Rehabilitation
Following the defeat of the Toymaker, the Fifteenth Doctor noted that they had not stopped since the First Doctor's encounter with the Toymaker. At that time, the Fourteenth Doctor's regeneration from the Thirteenth Doctor had only been about 15 hours prior, with the Doctor having already battled Daleks, the Meep, the Not-Things, and the Toymaker in that time. (PROSE: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (novelisation)"])
Listing numerous battles and mourning the loss of previous companions Adric, Rose Tyler, and River Song, the Fifteenth Doctor advised his predecessor to rest on Earth and experience the one adventure that had always eluded him: a normal life.
Aware of the Doctor's emotional exhaustion, Donna Noble suggested that the Doctor had subconsciously adopted his old appearance again to find her and "come home". Following the victory over the Toymaker and the gifted duplication of the TARDIS, the Fourteenth Doctor started his recovery on Earth with the Noble family and Mel Bush, while the Fifteenth Doctor, mentally and emotionally rejuvenated by his previous self 's brief retirement, resumed their adventures.
Although he intended to remain on Earth, the Doctor clandestinely took Rose Noble to Mars and Mel to New York City during the Gilded Age, sharing smaller adventures and his tales with his adopted family. He also indulged in more human activities, like family dinners. He developed a fondness for the moles in the backyard, safeguarding them from Wilf with force fields. Although Donna suggested that the Doctor could resume his travels in the future, he simply said "We'll see." Witnessing the peace he had long fought for, the Doctor admitted to Donna that he was at his happiest at this moment in time. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Undated events
- When the Master attempted to force all the incarnations to the Doctor to regenerate at once, the Fourteenth Doctor's head was mixed with his twelfth, fifth, and eighth incarnations' faces, and a human was tasked with identifying each incarnation to repair the timeline. (GAME: Random Regenerations [+]Loading...["Random Regenerations (game)"])
- Following a rupture in time that resulted in the creation of multiple versions of reality, the Doctor asked a human to examine two pictures of the Toymaker to determine the differences. (GAME: Double Danger [+]Loading...["Double Danger (game)"])
- At some point prior to 5 March 2005, the Doctor was photographed on Earth. This photo would later be in the possession of Clive Finch. (PROSE: Rose [+]Loading...{"ed":"2023 Illustrated Edition","1":"Rose (novelisation)"})
Other realities
In the Daft Dimension, the Fourteenth Doctor, referred to as an "old Doctor", was mentioned in announcements about Doctor Who. (COMIC: The Daft Dimension 579 [+]Loading...["The Daft Dimension (DWM 579 comic story)"]) He later met his tenth incarnation at a birthday party. (COMIC: The Daft Dimension 597 [+]Loading...["The Daft Dimension (DWM 597 comic story)"])
Psychological profile
Personality
While he was initially surprised to have the same appearance as the Tenth Doctor, (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]) the Fourteenth Doctor quickly adapted to having his old body, immediately looking to "respond to calls" of adventure. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) When questioned by Donna Noble about having his old face again, the Doctor admitted that he didn't know, but he was stuck with it now. In turn, Donna suggested that there must be a reason that it came back given the Doctor's life. One possible reason that Donna suggested was that it was "to say goodbye" and that the Doctor had been given a second chance to do things differently. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) Donna later believed that the Doctor's emotional exhaustion had subconsciously triggered his regeneration back into his old face so that the Doctor would find Donna and come home to live the one adventure he'd never had: a normal life. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
The Fourteenth Doctor opened his arms up to friendships of all sorts, (TV: Destination: Skaro [+]Loading...["Destination: Skaro (TV story)"]) offering a greeting as a show of friendliness, (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) as he moved to help all those he found in trouble. (PROSE: Under Control [+]Loading...["Under Control (short story)"]) He was also far more open about his feelings, stating that he platonically loved Donna Noble and later confessing to her that he was glad to have her back, as it "killed [him]" to have to wipe her memory. While confronted with the knowledge of what he assumed to be Wilfred Mott's passing, the Doctor reaffirmed that he "loved that man" and apologized for the Noble family's loss. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) When he saw Wilf again, he was overjoyed and hugged him, affectionately greeting him as "old soldier" and later calling Wilf "Grandad." (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"], The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
The Doctor had a tendency to crack jokes during intense situations, but underlining his initial blasé attitude to threats was a righteous fury that made him very dangerous when properly provoked. Despite being strongly pacifistic, he once implied he would deem violence "fit and proper" in a given circumstance. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) He threatened to eradicate the Daleks after he thought they had destroyed Earth to prove a point, and taunted the Golden Emperor's ability to escape destruction due to its large casing preventing it from entering the TARDIS. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"])
However, the Fourteenth Doctor did possess some qualities his tenth incarnation did not. Some qualities, such as his vanity and ego, were simply lessened in this incarnation, (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) others were completely different. He was far more open about his feelings and much more vulnerable, stating that he platonically loved Donna Noble and had been heartbroken after being forced to wipe her memory. He was also anguished when he thought he had lost both Donna and Wilf, but was later elated to discover they were alive and well. Donna later encouraged the Doctor to visit her family from time to time, and maybe even make some friends, which the Doctor admitted he'd consider. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) He was also more willing to show more intimate signs of affection to his loved ones, such as gently kissing Donna on the hand, and later on the top of her head, to comfort her when she was afraid. He was similarly quicker to express annoyance, such as when he engaged in argument when Donna snapped at him over the situation in the ship at the edge of creation. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) Though the Doctor still retained his respect for the human race, he shared the opinions of his previous incarnations and also believed that the human race could be as vicious as well as amazing. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
The Fourteenth Doctor was also outwardly emotional and expressive of his feelings, frequently stating that he loved Wilf, (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"], Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) Donna and even Sarah-Jane Smith and Rose Tyler. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) He would also outwardly cry, notably becoming distressed upon thinking Wilfred Mott had passed away, realising the only way to defeat the Meep would be to sacrifice Donna, (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) mourning the deaths of many people the Toymaker had killed and also grew emotional when believing he might have to give up the TARDIS and retire so the Fifteenth Doctor could leave Earth. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) Contrarily, he would have explosive and violent outbursts on occasion, screaming when deciding to restore Donna's memories (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) and screaming and striking a wall with his hands and feet in rage after being emotionally manipulated by Donna's not-thing counterpart. {TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"])
When he set himself up with a difficult task, he would look to find ways of making his mission easier on himself, though he was unafraid to do things "the hard way" when dealing with uncooperative people, though he would prefer to "chat" to solve an issue. He was quick to act when it came to saving people, hastily using himself as bait to draw the Daleks away from the crowd at Wembley Stadium, but could forget vital information when in the heat of the moment. While he would not be intentionally offensive, he was unafraid to use risqué humour. He would also leave people whom were in the midst of a breakdown to focus on dealing with larger and more immediate threats. He still held some of the vanity of his tenth incarnation, asking for an applause from the audience at the Dalek Dome when they mistook his defeat of the Simulacra Daleks for a rehearsed performance. He also rudely rebuffed the Dalek Dome staff when they refused his instructions to close the show down, and returned smugly when he thought they had called him back. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) He also implied that he would deem violence "fit and proper" in a given circumstance, although he was still strongly pacifistic. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"])
He loved caves (PROSE: Under Control [+]Loading...{"page":"48","1":"Under Control (short story)"}), time travel. (TV: Doctor Who: The Bedtime Story [+]Loading...{"timestamp":"00:00:52","1":"Doctor Who: The Bedtime Story (TV story)"}) and moles. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Continuing the blasé attitude his tenth incarnation showed towards them, the Fourteenth Doctor called the Daleks "nasty children in metal suits", and elevated himself as a "grown-up" in comparison to them. He tried to belittle the Supreme Dalek by calling it "Di Ross", and then took joy in its inability to shoot him. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"])
The Fourteenth Doctor retained the Tenth Doctor's fondness for Donna Noble and was anguished at the thought of his presence in her life causing the DoctorDonna to return and kill her. The Doctor only reluctantly restored Donna's memories when there was no other choice with clear reluctance and anguish, although he was elated when Donna survived due to part of the metacrisis having been passed down to her daughter. Donna later encouraged the Doctor to stick around more and spend time with her family, to try something new and have some friends, which the Doctor suggested that he might try. The Doctor also admitted that he remembered every second with Donna and that losing her had killed him. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"])
To his own surprise, the Doctor's romantic inclinations appeared to be not entirely heterosexual, happily agreeing with Donna's assertion that Isaac Newton was "hot". Donna jokingly described this inclination as never being "that far from the surface". (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"])
He retained the identity crisis his predecessor had developed over the revelations of the Timeless Child, agreeing with the Not-thing imitating Donna's assertion that he didn't know where he was from, also admitting to intense guilt over the the Flux. Though he didn't explicitly inform Donna of these events, he stated that it would be a million years before he would feel better about it all. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) He was also visibly disturbed when the Toymaker claimed to have remade his past into a "jigsaw puzzle". (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) The Doctor was also shown to retain some of the self loathing that the Eleventh Doctor had shown, as he lambasted himself for his arrogance when confronted with the Toymaker once again. This incarnation was also shown to miss the companions of his previous incarnations that had passed, as he remembered the circumstances that had led to the losses of Amy Pond, Clara Oswald and Bill Potts and was shown to be on the verge of losing his composure when the Toymaker taunted him with their deaths as well as the Flux. He was also visibly saddened when the deaths of Adric and Sarah Jane Smith were brought up. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Concerning regeneration, the Fourteenth Doctor was initially confused by the process, particularly why his body would regenerate him into a body near identical to his tenth incarnation. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) Although, compared to the Tenth Doctor's fear of regeneration and sadness when regenerating, the Fourteenth Doctor was far more accepting of it. Though he was still saddened, he reassured Donna and Mel that it wasn't death, and he accepted his regeneration with the words that "it's time." (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
After the Doctor's bi-generation, the Fifteenth Doctor revealed that the Doctor was emotionally exhausted by everything that they had been through during their lives and everyone that they had lost along the way which the Doctor had never stopped to deal with, starting with the traumas that the Toymaker had inflicted upon them. At the suggestion of Donna and the Fifteenth Doctor, the Fourteenth Doctor decided to go into rehab on Earth to have the adventure of living a normal life for once, the one adventure he had never had, although the Doctor would still take his adopted family on short trips in his TARDIS. The Doctor later admitted to Donna that he had never been so happy in his life. He had an excellent relationship with his successor, joking with him and hugging each other joyously soon after their bi-generation. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Habits and quirks
The Fourteenth Doctor often explained his jokes and wordplay, and made a habit of assigning cheeky nicknames to others, (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) including robots. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) He also liked to act, at one point pulling out a barrister's wig to conduct a mock trial against the Meep. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"])
The Fourteenth Doctor took on numerous traits of his tenth incarnation, including speaking in the same accent and loudly proclaiming "What!?" repeatedly when vexed by a situation. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"], The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) He also shared his tenth incarnation's love for the phrase "Allons-y," saying it when heading towards dangerous situations (TV: The Star Beast [+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"]) and even chose to say it right before his bi-generation. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Skills
The Doctor had the agility to outrun pursing Daleks while simultaneously avoiding their gunstick fire (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) and was fast enough that he could catch up to his not-thing counterpart despite him having a head start. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"]) He also possessed the swordsmanship skills needed to fight off the Queen of the Sycorax. (COMIC: Into Control [+]Loading...["Into Control (comic story)"]) He was also particularly skilful in a game of catch, using quick reflexes to defeat the Toymaker at the game despite the Toymaker trying to catch him off guard. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"]) He was quick with calculations, able to determine the distance between the edge of the universe and Earth by looking out into space. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"])
He could determine the date by smelling the air, (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) and focus all his senses to pinpoint the origin of a sound. (PROSE: Under Control [+]Loading...["Under Control (short story)"]) He could also analyse blood by taste, (COMIC: Into Control [+]Loading...["Into Control (comic story)"]) and the circuits on a spaceship. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Without the aid of the TARDIS's translation circuit, the Doctor could speak German. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) The Doctor later confirmed that he could speak over 57 billion languages without the TARDIS translation circuit. His language skills were so good that, even without the translation circuits, he could translate the language used at the edge of the universe by simply having access to the symbols that represented the language's version of the numbers one to ten. (TV: Wild Blue Yonder [+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"])
Appearance
The Fourteenth Doctor greatly resembled a slightly older version of his tenth incarnation, sharing his tall, slim frame, finely boned hands and face, and large, dark brown eyes, as well as his thick brown hair with sideburns, though with a slight copper tinge. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]) He instantly recognised the similarity from running his tongue over his teeth (PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor 2024 [+]Loading...{"page":"6","1":"A Letter from the Doctor (DWAN 2024 short story)"}) and by the familiar feeling of his face, which also had a five-o'clock shadow of stubble. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"])
His kidneys remained their normal blue colour, (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"]) but he had distinct braincells (PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor 2024 [+]Loading...{"page":"6","1":"A Letter from the Doctor (DWAN 2024 short story)"}) and blood to his other incarnations. (COMIC: Into Control [+]Loading...{"page":"52","1":"Into Control (comic story)"})
Although initially in denial about returning to an old body, (PROSE: "Heroes of Time" [+]Part of Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse, Loading...{"namedpart":"Heroes of Time","1":"Whotopia: The Ultimate Guide to the Whoniverse (reference book)"}) the Fourteenth Doctor was pleased to have regained the hands he "hadn't realised he had missed", familiar face, "fantastic" hair, "slightly quizzical left eyebrow", and "brilliant grin" by the time he wrote about himself in a letter. (PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor 2024 [+]Loading...{"page":"6","1":"A Letter from the Doctor (DWAN 2024 short story)"})
Clothing
Main attires
As his clothes manifested with him from his predecessor's regeneration, the Fourteenth Doctor emerged wearing a navy blue trenchcoat over a white button-up shirt, with a grey knitted tie, a brown and turquoise checkered-tartan waistcoat with lapels along with a pair of matching trousers , and papyrus colored Converse shoes. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"]) He also owned a pair of tortoise shell glasses. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"])
After bi-generating, half of his clothes were taken by the Fifteenth Doctor, leaving him with his undershirt, waistcoat, and trousers but without his shoes, tie, socks or underwear. He was later shown to have replaced his shirt and shoes, though he kept his shirt unbuttoned. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes
Casting
- Having previously portrayed the Tenth Doctor prior to his tenure as the fourteenth incarnation, David Tennant holds the distinction of being the first actor to have portrayed two different numbered incarnations of the Doctor in a mainline story of Doctor Who without needing to fill in for an actor playing the new incarnation. Previously, Tom Baker and Colin Baker portrayed the Curator after playing the Fourth and Sixth Doctors respectively and Richard E Grant played both the Tenth Doctor in The Curse of Fatal Death and the Ninth Doctor in Scream of the Shalka.
- Three actors have also portrayed multiple incarnation of the Doctor to fill in for another actor not being present. Trevor Martin first played the third and fourth incarnations of the Doctor in the stage play Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday. Sylvester McCoy then portrayed the Sixth Doctor during his regeneration scene in Time and the Rani in addition to his main role as the Seventh Doctor, while Paul McGann briefly acting as a body double for John Hurt's War Doctor in the closing moments of The Night of the Doctor after the regeneration of his Doctor.
- The idea of the Doctor regenerating into a prior incarnation's likeness was previously proposed by series creator Sydney Newman during a 1986 meeting with BBC One controller Michael Grade, who asked Newman for ways to reformat the program after Colin Baker was dismissed from the role of the Sixth Doctor. According to the 1996 book Doctor Who – The Eighties, Newman specifically envisioned Patrick Troughton, who previously played the Second Doctor, portraying the Seventh Doctor for a single season before regenerating into a female eighth incarnation.
- When Ncuti Gatwa was announced to play the Doctor, it was assumed he would be playing the Fourteenth Doctor. However David Tennant instead played him and Ncuti Gatwa played the Fifteenth Doctor.
Regeneration
- The Fourteenth Doctor is the first incarnation since the Second Doctor to emerge from their regeneration with a new outfit. This deviation from the usual norm of the newly-regenerated Doctor still donning the clothes worn by their predecessor led to some confusion among viewers until Russell T Davies clarified that "[he] was very certain that [he] didn't want David [Tennant] to appear in Jodie [Whittaker]'s costume", explaining that his reason for the Doctor's clothes changing during regeneration was to avoid stereotyping "the notion of men dressing in 'women's clothes', [and] the notion of drag", describing it as a "very delicate" matter, expressing that "it has to be done with immense thought and respect", and that the media would make it "look like mockery" of that culture, especially as David Tennant is taller than Jodie Whittaker.[1]
- The Fourteenth Doctor is the first Doctor to have their immediate post-regeneration story be depicted in a medium other than television, in the form of the Doctor Who Magazine comic story, Liberation of the Daleks.
In popular culture
- Following the post-regeneration scene in The Power of the Doctor, the Fourteenth Doctor appeared as a character-skin in the free multiplayer battle royale video game Fall Guys, released on 1 November 2022.
- Tennant portrayed a Doctor in the Fourteenth Doctor's clothing in the Red Nose Day sketch Comic Relief 2023, which saw Lenny Henry suddenly burst into a full on regeneration from stomach pains while preparing to host the Comic Relief live-show, and transform into Tennant, in a partial re-enactment of his scene in The Power of the Doctor, who runs off when he notices he has to host the show. However, Henry being listed as playing the 9.5th Doctor brings ambiguity on whether Tennant was meant to be playing the Fourteenth Doctor or his previous Tenth Doctor character.
Merchandise
- Character Options released a 5" scale action figure bundled with a Thirteenth Doctor figure in The Regeneration Set.
- Titan Merchandise released merchandise of the Fourteenth Doctor in several ranges:
- They released collectable figurines in the TITANS and Kawaii TITANS ranges.
- They released a t-shirt, sweatshirt, cup and coaster in the Diamond Collection range.
- They released several t-shirts, sweatshirts, cups and coasters for MCM Comic Con 2023 which utilised both promotional pictures and new graphics.
- They released a t-shirt and sweatshirt designed by Kelly Yates for SDCC 2023.
- All the merchandise produced for the conventions was later sold by Forbidden Planet.
- Build-A-Bear Workshop released a Diamond Anniversary Fourteenth Doctor bear.
- Star Cutouts sold various cardcardboard standees of the Fourteenth Doctor.
- The Fourteenth Doctor received a card in the Secret Lair x Doctor Who: Regeneration set of Magic the Gathering's Universes Beyond: Doctor Who expansion.
Other matters
- The Fourteenth Doctor's numbered designation was officially confirmed by Russell T Davies in an article posted to the official Doctor Who website following the broadcast of The Power of the Doctor.[2]
Footnotes
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