Doctor Who--The "Death" of the Tenth Doctor

[Kane Knight]

This isn't really about the merit of Dave Tennant or Matt Smith, or even so much about the plot of the specials that led up to the Doctor regenerating from his tenth to his eleventh incarnation. Tennant and Smith are both great in the role of the Doctor.

So...What am I on about?

Most of this does come from the specials, though I suppose the first hints of it come from the "Regeneration" in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, where the Doctor deliberately halts his Regeneration and comments that he doesn't want to change. Through the specials between series 4 and 5, however, the Doctor is warned of his upcoming death, and it's established that he is scared of it. The guy who's died like 9 times before. Oh, and can regenerate. But he's really scared of dying.

The End of Time goes so far as to have him lament that another man will walk away from it. Let's ignore the fact that Matt Smith's Doctor isn't all that different (A slightly nerdier but ultimately similar character) and that this doesn't seem to be a problem for the Doctor prior.

Anyway, two things that really bug me (relatively) about this: His "sacrifice" speech before he saves Donna's grandfather comes off as largely whiney. Then, of course, his final words are "I don't want to go."

The Ninth Doctor died with a smile. The Eleventh Doctor faces his "Death" with dignity. The Tenth is a whiney bitch. And he's faced dozens of situations before with a very real chance he'd die. Including one where he technically did.

This whole thing seems largely out of character for the Doctor, and I'm sure it's just an earmark of Russel Davies' run on the show (where he seems to have no problem rewriting the characters to fit a desire scenario).

I found myself torn on The End of Time; on the one hand, it had some great moments. On the other, the Doctor suddenly being scared of death (though perhaps not so suddenly) soured the tone for me greatly. I even think that scene with Wilfred Mott could have been outright epic without the whininess. And while his Regeneration was heartstring-pulling, I can't help but think they could have done it more organically, and made it flow to Smith's Doctor better.

I read someone earlier commenting that it kind of biased the fanbase against Smith, but for me it more tainted the tenth than the eleventh. Which is a shame, because Tennant was awesome and his Doctor should have gotten a better sendoff.

Thoughts? I've probably put too much thought into this, but I had over a week in a hospital bed with little to do but watch TV and think.

And again, this ain't about how it sucks Tennant left when he did. I've loved Smith's run so far.