Doctor Who’s Bi-Generation: One Classic Doctor Shares His Honest Thoughts On The New Phenomenon

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison opens up about his feelings on Doctor Who‘s 60th-anniversary bi-generation twist and its wider implications for past incarnations of the Doctor. Davison took on the role of the Time Lord’s fifth incarnation following Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor in 1982’s “Castrovalva” and helmed the TARDIS until 1984’s “The Caves of Androzani.” He would reprise his role in the modern series with the 2007 Children in Need short “Time Crash,” before returning as a Guardian of the Edge in 2022’s “The Power of the Doctor” and as the Fifth Doctor in spin-off Tales of the TARDIS.

With Doctor Who‘s 60th-anniversary’s conclusion bringing a major twist with David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa’s bi-generation, Davison opened up to The Mirror about his thoughts. While the actor admitted the moment was interesting despite not quite understanding it, he acknowledged how it provided current showrunner Russell T Davies a method of revisiting former Doctors. He was also aware of how controversial it was to some audiences due to it potentially lessening other incarnations’ departures. Check out Davidson’s full response below:

“The whole bi-generation thing is an interesting concept .. The thing is I don’t really quite understand it. I was a huge fan of Doctor Who but I’m not as mad a fan as David Tennant. And the bi-generation basically apparently means that my doctor still exists so I can be brought back at any point, even with my older self to do a new story. I think that was the intention. Russell T Davies caught the ire of a few of the fans because of this very fact that it suddenly meant that no Doctor actually ever regenerated. There was always just another one, growing out of one.”

Doctor Who‘s Bi-Regeneration Is Still A Mystery

There Are Only Implications About Doctor Who’s Bi-Generation.

There are still many unanswered questions about Doctor Who‘s first bi-generation as to how the near-impossible myth could have wider implications for the Doctor. While season 4’s Metacrisis event produced a similar second part-human Tenth Doctor from an unpredictable set of variables that would age like a regular human, it is unknown what will happen to Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor following his retirement. Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor stated he’d have a chance to recover from several lifetimes worth of trauma, but it is unknown whether the Fourteenth Doctor will merge once more with his following incarnation once his life ends.

Furthermore, comments made by Davies during an audio commentary for “The Giggle” suggest that the change wasn’t limited to the Fourteenth Doctor and that the bi-generation had further ripples reaching back to his earliest incarnations. In Davies’ eyes, each regeneration seen in Doctor Who‘s history was now a bi-generation, with two Doctors emerging from the experience, setting off on diverging adventures. While it’s not explicitly canon, Tales of the TARDIS saw Sylvester McCoy’s Eighth Doctor hint at timelines where regeneration took a different path, potentially slyly hinting towards the later reveal and the potential it could hold.

With Gatwa’s Doctor Who season 14 acting as a fresh entry point for the series, it is unlikely that answers about the bi-generation’s wider implications will come anytime soon. Despite this, Davison’s comment not only allows another Doctor to respond to the twist, but also highlights that he is aware of the potential the decision may hold. With Davies having big ambitions for Doctor Who‘s future, perhaps there is room in the universe for a past Doctor to make more trips.

Source: The Mirror