Admittedly, I was probably a bit too hyperbolic with how I phrased it, of course they haven’t brought it up that much. And it probably seemed more than it actually was due to how freshly it was brought up in the latest Episode, but again I rather they wouldn’t touch it at all now, but that’s just a me-thing.
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I actually think that they might have made too little of it. It is supposed to be a myth; treat it like that.
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Yeah, it would have been more meaningful and impactful that the same face that uttered the words “I don’t want to go” said goodbye one last time by saying “I’ve got to go” or something similar. It would have shown growth and maturity instead of 10’s petty tantrum.
It would have been amazing to have Ncuti beat up the Toymaker on it’s own and then immediately turn back to Donna and said “Now everyone’s safe, we need to have a chat” and then show him ACTUALLY going to therapy (maybe someone from UNIT), talking to Donna about everything that happend after she left, opening up.
That would’ve made 15 distinctly unique to previous Doctors, the fact that he was able to actually open up instead of keeping everything to themselves all the time.
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I love how this is at least the third time the Tennant Doctor has stepped on the Sixth Doctor’s toes.
– Six technically should have bigenerated since he was never actually shown regenerating on screen, but I know if they keep this bigeneration myth going, they’ll never bring that up
– Claiming to be 900 years old even though Six was that age
– Overwriting the Darwin/Galapagos Islands audio Six has with that new Tenth Doctor book
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I dislike it because I love both 14 and 15. I think the whole bigeneration kinda ruined what would’ve been such a good sendoff for 14 and intro to 15. Like they set up such an emotional moment with 14 accepting his regeneration and having his companions by his side, and set up a wonderful opportunity for 15 to pop in and save the day as our introduction to him.
Instead, the emotional moment vanished in a feeling of pure “wtf?!” and just left me confused for the rest of the episode. And as a few other people pointed out, it left far too many questions open about exactly how it works and what it means to have two Doctors existing simultaneously. Definitely wish they’d just done a normal regeneration.
That said, I’m not too bothered by it as long as it stays as a one-time thing. (Especially since it’s easy enough to write it off as a weird thing that happened purely due to the Toymaker messing with reality. No idea if that was what RTD intended, but it’s my headcanon at least.) I wasn’t worried until I saw that clip of RTD saying that he thinks of it as retroactively applying to all previous regenerations too. It seemed like just a joke at the time, but I can only hope he doesn’t try to make that canon; it would ruin the emotional impact of the previous Doctors’ death scenes.
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Exactly my problem. It gets brought up and then nothing. I’d like if they either explore it or drop it. Now it only feels like they are keeping a vague promise to explore it, maybe in the future, but no guarantee or anything. And I really don’t wannt to get my hopes up for it
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That is exactly what happened before the Bigeneration, which made it even more effectful!
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I am also not a fan of Bigeneration. I found it to be a bit cheap, a way for RTD to keep Tennant in reserve in case he thinks he needs to bring in an audience again. I think Tennant is a great actor but his time is over and I think it’s kind of invalidating to every other Doctor that he gets a cop out way to stick around (and it definitely shows RTD preferential treatment). I also agree with the idea that Bigeneration softened the impact of Fifteen’s first appearance. Basically what everyone else has said, but I would have preferred Fourteen be at peace with regeneration and changing.
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I think this poll needs an option like: “I like it as a one-time thing, but not a continuing thing”. Because that’s how I feel. It was a fun take on regeneration and made for an exciting ending to The Giggle. But then (Lux spoilers) Fifteen talked about bigeneration healing him m, instead of regeneration and I groaned. That made me think this is what RTD wants to do going forward, and that’s when I begin disliking it.
However, I do like the idea that the one-time bigeneration affected every previous regeneration so that the past incarnations continued to live their lives - makes a great explanation for why they look and sound older in multi-Doctor stories, at least in future ones.
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Yes I agree
No I don’t think so. I just think Fifteen will refer to it has his bigeneration instead of his regeneration, because that’s what it was.
I thought the bigeneration was a brilliant scene, made me smile so much and was a great twist on something we all knew was coming.
I don’t think it should be used again though, unless there’s another clever reason for it.
But I 100% think RTD did it as a one-off thing for the 60th special and to give proper closure to Tennant’s Doctor. I think the whole anniversary would have been way worse without that end scene in the garden where Fourteen was finally happy. That was such a great moment (and it was also closure for Donna).
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Come to think of it, this is probably right!
Agree 100%! This was such a heartfelt scene, and it was wonderful to see a properly happy and carefree Doctor for once!
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I’m pretty ambivalent towards it, provided it remains a one-time thing. On the one hand, it was exciting to get a bit of a different spin on regeneration for the 60th, and in theory you could use it as a vehicle for some interesting character exploration of the Doctor/introduction of some new time lord lore. On the other hand, it is rather frustratingly ambiguous (Can 14 regenerate? Does 15 have 14’s memories? Is 15 actually healed or is he just pretending to be for 14’s sake?) and I really dislike the fact it leaves another Tennant floating around - I think there is already a bit of a perception among the general public of him as the “default” new who Doctor, which bigeneration can only make more pronounced.
Ironically, the thing I most like about it is the idea that it retroactively creates alternate timelines in which the earlier Doctors didn’t regenerate - I think it is a smart way to explain why any returning actors look different (which I have always got the sense is the main reason the surviving classic Doctors haven’t really been invited back).
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Echoing most people here, I’m fine with it being used for 14/15. The emotional beat worked, even though it was just not explained nearly well enough (what happens to 14 when he “dies”, is it a timeloop situation, etc etc).
I absolutely do not like the retroactive bigeneration idea, though. I’ve said it before, but it just cheapens the Doctor’s previous deaths. You’re telling me he goes ‘a tear, Sarah Jane?’ and then what, gets up, shakes hands with Tom Baker, and keeps working for UNIT? He goes ‘physician heal thyself’, pats War on the back and goes away whistling and skipping? I really don’t get how that’s supposed to work at all, and it just annoys me. If that’s not what RTD meant, what did he mean? I don’t think we need an explanation for why the Doctor looks older when we see their old incarnations. Just say ‘time dilation’ or whatever, it’s really not that big of a deal for me. It’s not like we’re meeting old Doctors all the time anyway, is it?
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The way I imagine it is a kind of quantum version of what we see on screen. Instead of one incarnation popping out of the other, a new timeline pops out of the original - so, for example, instead of 10 popping out of 9, we get a new timeline where 9 regenerates and then wakes up looking the same afterwards (which exists in parallel to our timeline, where 9 becomes 10). That means all the previous regenerations still happened, there are now just timelines out there where the previous Doctor still exists afterwards.
The above is pretty much entirely my head canon though - I don’t expect this to ever be elaborated on or revisited on screen. I think it was mostly raised as a behind the scenes explanation for any future multi-Doctor stories.
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I do get that Thinking behind it, but then again I can’t see Russel really wanting to delve into its Myth Status, it was probably mainly said to explain why this happened here (and probably(?)) Why it won’t happen again. I mean, the Meta Crisis was a similar Situation, but that was (I think?) brought up even less than the Bigeneration.
Oh heavily agreed, but then again I feel like if anything RTD was joking with this Comment and especially since we haven’t had anything that particular confirms this Idea, I will shrug it off as a Joke for now. (And I do really hope he was joking, because frankly I feel like we have already other Possibilities to have older Doctors appear again, who have visibly aged (Curator, Guardians of the Edge, that one Explanation from Timecrash etc etc.)
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I felt like just an excuse for RTD to keep David Tennant on the screen more.
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I like as a one time thing. It’s good in the 60th Anniversary but I hate that it also applies to the other Doctors as said by RTD. I have my thoughts on having the 14th Doctor in a place where he could appear at any moment but I don’t want to get into that
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I’m not bothered by it and can only think about what forums would have been like when the Doctor regenerated for the first time if they had existed back then. It’s just a narrative choice which is there because RTD thought it was a good idea. I’m not sure I want it back (and I think his off the cuff comment about it travelling back down the Doctor’s timeline was nonsense) but the reference in Lux didn’t bother me any more than the re-growing hand in Chrismas Invasion or the macguffin coming back to be used in Journey’s End. Don’t see how it’s any different to that.
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I don’t like that idea of using Fourteen in opposition to Ten (he accepting regeneration willing this time around) because for me that would make the specials even more about the Tennant era than they already are. Everything that happened to the Doctor character wise at least feel like a response to everything that happened since, and a fair progression for them.
That being said, I do think the Doctor being depressed and Fourteenth’s regeneration feeling like giving up in oposition to Tenth’s hubris would be interesting and actually fix the problems I have with Fifteenth’s current arc, but I don’t think New Who would ever go that dark and I’m not sure it would be the best idea to do so in TV anyway. Because of the “for all the family” audience.
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I’m unsure if I should put a trigger warning here, even if I worded it the mildest way I could. If so feel free to tell me and I’ll edit it with a TW and mark the text as spoiler.
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