The Tenth Doctor
Portrayed by: David Tennant
Years active: 2005 – 2010
Series: Two, Three, Four, 2009 Specials
Companions: Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness, Mickey Smith, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott, Astrid Peth, Jackson Lake, Christina de Souza, Adelaide Brooke
The Tenth Doctor also suffered a traumatic regeneration and took hours to recover. When he finally did, he stopped the Sycorax from taking over the Earth.
Resuming his travels with Rose Tyler, the Doctor met many strange planets and many enemies, including cybermen from the paralell Earth. He also met the legendary Cult of Skaro, a secret race of Dalek's who went through the void with the Genesis Ark, which entombed millions of Daleks. The Doctor stopped the Daleks and the Cybermen in Doomsday, but lost Rose at the same time.
The Tenth Doctor has a lot of sense, and a lot of power. He brought down the English government with only six words, "Don't you think she looks tired?" in the Christmas Invasion after seeing off the Sycorax.
A fool by no means this incarnation of the Doctor is very light hearted and easy going, yet always there to save the day. However he does need to get to grips with human traits, for example in Tooth and Claw we see him being rude and Rose telling him of this.
He is much more friendly towards humans than the Ninth Doctor, and gets on much better with Rose's family and friends than his predecessor.
During the course of the third and fourth series, we learn more about this Doctor's personality. In the fourth series episode, The Doctor's Daughter, we see the Doctor get very mad, when General Cobb shot his daughter, he puts the gun to Cobb's head, but he does not pull the trigger saying that he "never would."
He is still caring, and oh so very brave. In the third series episode Smith and Jones, we see him risk his life for the Plasmavore to suck his blood so she will be found by the Judoon. But because he has two hearts, he is able to survive. We also see bravery in two vivid moments in the fourth series, in episodes five and nine (The Poison Sky and Forest of the Dead respectively). In the Poison Sky, he sends himself onto the Sontaran ship, to offer them the choice of leaving alive, or he would kill them, but he would also die in the process. He is saved by Luke Rattigan, who is equally brave in that moment, when he gives his life to save the Doctor and Earth. In the Forest of the Dead, the Doctor risks his life once again to pull everyone out of the hard-drive and save them from the Vashta Nerada, but he is again saved by Professor River Song, who gives her life to do his job.
In the episode The Stolen Earth (series 4, episode 12) we see the Doctor get hit by an extermination blast from a Dalek. He is the first Doctor to be hit by such a blast, and this sparked a regeneration cliff-hanger for the end of episode 12. In episode 13, Journey’s End, we see the Doctor escape regeneration by healing and then transferring what was left of the energy into his severed hand. It is unsure whether this counts as one of the 12 regeneration allowances or not, but time will tell.
We see another side to the Doctor in Journey’s End that we don’t see very often, and that’s thanks to Davros who revealed to the Doctor what he really does. The Doctor envisages flashbacks of all the people who have died protecting him, or fighting for him, such as Astrid Peth, Jenny, Luke Rattigan, Lynda Moss and the stewardess from Midnight, which fills him with regret. But he doesn’t let this hinder his actions, and he puts on his brave face to save the world again.
After the end of Journey’s End, the Doctor travelled alone for some time, having lost Donna, and made companions on an episode by episode basis. In his travels before his final day he was joined by Jackson Lake (The Next Doctor), Lady Christina de Souza (Planet of the Dead), Adelaide Brooke (The Waters of Mars) and Wilfred Mott, Donna’s grandfather (The End of Time).
Throughout the 2009 specials it was told that the Doctor would be killed by the man who knocked four times. This looked to be the Master, when he kept rapping out the sound of drums which has a 4 beat knock to it, although this proved untrue in the end of the second part of The End of Time. During this two part end story for the Tenth Doctor, we saw him commit genocide on his own race, the Time-Lords. But despite battle with such beings, he won unscathed, on his knees. Until Wilfred starts knocking on the door, in a 4 beat knock, asking to be let out of the cubicle he’s in, as it’s filling up with radiation. At this point we see the Doctor really struggle to make a decision on who to save, Wilfred, or himself. He goes on about how much more he could do, how much longer he could have, how much he’d lose by saving one more human. But this is the Tenth Doctor, who would always save his companions first and himself second, and does not allow Wilfred to perish. Instead he releases Wilfred, and enters the radiation chamber himself, which engulfs him.
From this moment on, the Tenth Doctor is destined to regenerate, but he gets one last treat, to go back and visit all of his companions before he dies. Some he speaks to, some he merely stands and walks away. He visits Martha Jones and Mickey Smith, who are married and saves them from a Sontaran attack. He then prevents Luke Smith from being run over by a car. Luke then points the Doctor out to Sarah Jane Smith and the two silently say goodbye. The Doctor then moves onto an extraterrestrial bar where he has a note passed to Captain Jack Harkness, encouraging him to speak with Midshipman Alonso Frame (from Voyage of the Damned). Then he moves onto a book signing by Verity Newman, the great-granddaughter of Joan Redfern, who has published a book called ‘A Journal of Impossible Things’ based on Joan’s diaries. The Doctor then attends Donna’s wedding and gives Wilfred a winning lottery ticket as her wedding present. Finally the Doctor goes to see Rose Tyler, on New Year’s Day 2005, the year she met the Ninth Doctor. Rose doesn’t know who he is, but he tells her that she will have “a great year.”
The Doctor then stumbles back to his TARDIS and Ood Sigma appears telling him the universe will sing him to sleep. The Doctor remarks that “this song is ending, but the story never ends” before getting into the TARDIS and flying away. He doesn’t want to, but he completes his regeneration process in a violent manner, destroying the TARDIS in the process. The last words the Tenth Doctor said at the end of his life, were “I don’t want to go.” A sentiment matched by many fans of Doctor Who.
And so, on the 1st January 2010, the brilliant, witty and brave Tenth Doctor, regenerated, leaving behind a very large pair of shoes to fill.
Farewell Doctor. Farewell David Tennant.