WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Doctor Who – “The Star Beast.”
The resolution to Doctor Who‘s metacrisis subtly teases a potential Disney+ spinoff for David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor. In “The Star Beast”, the first of three Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials, writer and showrunner Russell T Davies restored the memories of Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) while also saving her life. Donna’s daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney) was the key to solving the issue, as she had inherited half of her mother’s Time Lord mind. Splitting the metacrisis in two therefore weakened its power and allowed mother and daughter to breezily “let it go“, much to the delight of a surprised Fourteenth Doctor.
The Doctor had long believed there was no solution to Donna’s metacrisis, ever since he accidentally caused it by splitting himself in two. When he was shot by a Dalek, he passed his regeneration energy into his “spare” hand in “Journey’s End.” Thanks to Donna and a plot by the Daleks to melt the TARDIS, the hand ended up growing a completely new Doctor. What happened to the so-called Metacrisis Doctor after Donna and Rose dispersed their Time Lord powers is, for now, a big Doctor Who question. However, Donna and Rose’s solution to the metacrisis could have intriguing ramifications for David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor in the remaining specials.
Doctor Who Secretly Set Up Donna Noble’s Daughter As A Trans Character 15 Years Ago
Though it took 15 years to come to fruition, Doctor Who secretly set up Donna Noble’s daughter, Rose, as a trans character in Doctor Who season 4.
Donna & Rose’s Metacrisis Split Teases The Doctor Splitting In Two
In Doctor Who season 4, episode 13, “Journey’s End”, Donna interacted with both Time Lord regeneration energy and the Doctor’s DNA inside a melting TARDIS. This spawned a half-human clone of the Tenth Doctor, effectively splitting the Time Lord in two. Returning to this storyline for Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary, and dividing the metacrisis between Donna and Rose feels like a way to call back to the Doctor being split in two during “Journey’s End.” Reminding viewers of this fact could be a tease that the Fourteenth Doctor is about to do the same thing again, creating a brand-new and separate incarnation in the form of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, as some form of successor.
At the end of “The Star Beast”, when Donna and the Doctor are touring the brand-new TARDIS, she tries to convince him to stick around and live a normal life. Effectively, Donna is suggesting that the Fourteenth Doctor also “let it go” when it comes to his life of travel and adventure. RTD’s original decision to pair Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) with an inferior Tenth Doctor replacement was controversial. Now that he’s fixed Donna’s tragic and equally controversial fate, RTD could be looking to fix David Tennant’s ending by finally giving his Doctor a chance to split off and live a normal life with the Noble family.
How Doctor Who Already Set Up The Doctor’s Regeneration Split
Given that the Tenth Doctor already did it in “Journey’s End”, David Tennant’s Doctor splitting himself into a completely new incarnation is the most obvious way for the Fourteenth Doctor to regenerate. David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor is certainly an anomaly, but Tennant has always been anomalous when it comes to regeneration. As well as playing the Tenth and Metacrisis Doctors, Steven Moffat confirmed that David Tennant regenerated in “Journey’s End”, meaning that Tennant has technically been the Tenth, Eleventh, Metacrisis and Fourteenth Doctors in Doctor Who. The numbering of the Doctor’s incarnations has become increasingly confusing since the introduction of John Hurt’s War Doctor and Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor.
Therefore, the return of David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor could be a way for RTD to quietly set aside the past. If the Doctor was to somehow “bi-regenerate” or split his mind across two bodies like Donna and Rose, then it would neatly separate Doctor Who‘s first 60 years from its next. It would allow Ncuti Gatwa to leave in the TARDIS, free from the shackles of the past, leaving behind David Tennant’s fourteenth and final incarnation of the original cycle. Leaving David Tennant behind, however, does create the very real possibility of future adventures for the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble on Disney+.
Doctor Who Confirms Major Change To 60-Year Tradition After Disney Deal (& It’s Great)
After making a deal with Disney, Doctor Who’s 60th-anniversary special confirms a major change to tradition that will positively impact the series.
Why A David Tennant Doctor Who Spinoff Wouldn’t Work
Although nothing has been officially announced, it’s expected that Disney+ will feature a number of Doctor Who spinoffs. Given the increased interest in the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate, the prospect of another event series with the Doctor and Donna has surely crossed the minds of those at Disney, the BBC, and Bad Wolf Productions. However, it would be a terrible idea to bring back David Tennant after this last hurrah in Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary special. If the Fourteenth Doctor splits himself in two and decides to stay behind on Earth, that should be the end of his story.
Such an ending would neatly resolve the David Tennant Doctor’s desire to live an everyday human life, something that defined many of his best episodes. Returning to him for more adventures in the TARDIS would undermine the character’s ending. Worse still, a David Tennant spinoff on Disney+ would undermine Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, by putting the focus back on the most popular and populist version of the character. Hopefully, Donna Noble was right when she said that the Tenth Doctor’s face came back to say goodbye, and that he’s saying a final farewell to Doctor Who before it embarks on an exciting new future with Ncuti Gatwa.
Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary specials continue Saturdays on BBC1 and Disney+.
