David Tennant Leaving Doctor Who

Dud you all hear the news about David Tennant Doctor Who? I saw it in an article from Newsmax.com that he will appear in a Christmas Special
and four hour long episodes to be aired in 2009 and early 2010 but he is quoted as saying "that when the series returns for a full season in 2010,
it' won't be with me". So sometime in 2010 he will regenerate into the 11th Doctor. I am kind of curious about what happens when they reach the 13th and final Doctor Who. He won't be able to regenerate anymore after that. So if and when the 13th and final Doctor dies would that be the end of the Doctor Who series? I had always thought that when the Doctor reaches his 13th and final life and is unable to regenerate anymore the TimeLords would've granted him a second set of 13 lives because of his ongoing fight against Evil in the Universe and throughout the Galaxies.
Because they need the Doctor to fight the injustice on Planets everywhere. Without the Doctor the Daleks, the Master, the Sonatarans, the Silurians, and all the other Evil Villains out there will not have to worry about battling the Doctor anymore. Besides that would be a very sad day indeed if the BBC decides to kill off the Doctor permanently after his 13th and final life is over. I wonder if the BBC has bothered to give this problem any thoughts about what they plan to do when the time comes.

Beatles1964

I wonder who will be chosen to be the next Doctor Who in 2010 when David Tennant leaves.

Beatles1964

I've seen a lot of buzz around Paterson Joseph, who played Rodrick in the Season 1 finale, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways. Also David Morrissey and John Simm (not sure how they'd manage to get around the part about Simm already having played The Master, but hey).

Right now the oddsmakers at Paddy Power are giving 3-1 for Joseph, 5-1 for Morrissey and 8-1 for Simm.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3282197/Favourites-for-...

well the Christmas Special featuring David Morrissey is called "The Next Doctor" - it might be interesting for the Doctor to meet a future self before he regenerates... (but its probably unlikely - and I still want Stephen Fry to be the next Doctor!)

as for the 13 regenerations bit, The Master used his up long ago but he managed - maybe 13 lives was a self-imposed limit and with no Gallifrey and no Time Lord hierarchy there's nothing to stop him continuing.

or Jenny could start calling herself "The Doctor" - she presumably has a full set of 12 regenerations available...

Hey freelunch I never knew that it was only a self-imposed limit and not some kind of Gallifreyan Law. Well, if the the 13 lives of Time Lords is only self-imposed then they are really Immortals. You see the rule of 13 Time Lord lives always had me worried what would happen when The Doctor reached his 13th and final life. No I don't have to worry any longer.

Beatles1964

beatles1964, its just a theory that the regeneration limit might have been self-imposed - immortality is probably a dangerous (and tiring) thing after all - have you ever noticed how even "good" Time Lords end up corrupted sooner or later (Borusa, Romana (in books), Omega & Rassilon (in audio dramas) to name but four)

if they make it through another three Doctors in this run of the show (each with around three years in the role) then I'll be very happy - nothing can last forever (and stay good) after all.

I still have hundreds of Doctor Who novels to read for the first time, so I'm personally in no danger of runing out of new adventures to enjoy anytime soon :)

#4

Although Paddy Power have Joseph as favourite all the others have Morrissey as favourite. Not that newspapers or bookies have a particularly strong record on predicting these things.

Morrissey is alright (from the stills I have seen of the Christmas story) and he is a few years older than Tennant as well. But I have a sneaky suspicion that this is another example of RTD having a bit of fun with the fans (just like The Doctor's Daughter wasn't really his daughter in these sense that people had thought before that episode).

freelunch why do you think The Doctor would be corrupted if he decided to become Immortal? The Master was always an Evil Time Lord to begin with. I wasn't aware that Romana became an Evil Time Lord. I have probably around 70 0r more Doctor Who Books myself at home and I still haven't gotten around to begin reading any of them yet. I know that President Borusa craved Immortality in The Five Doctors episode where they all met with the on Gallifrey in The Death Zone with the exception of Doctor Who number four Tom Baker.
Anyway, I don't see why The Doctor would have to turn Evil. I can't imagine The Doctor ever becoming Evil. he fights Evil wherever he finds it,he doesn't become Evil itself.
I don't think there is an Evil bone in his body. Wouldn't you want to be Immortal if you knew you had the opportunity?
And it was within your own power to achieve Immortality?

If you don't have to adhere to the self-imposed limit of 13 Time Lord lives I see no reason why you would even want to do it if it wasn't the law and manatory. I know I wouldn't want to have to die after I go to my 13th Time Lord life. I would rather go on for all Eternity especially if you are The Doctor. There is way too many Planets and Galaxies he had never even visited before and Evil out there to fight as well.

Beatles1964

freelunch why do you think The Doctor would be corrupted if he decided to become Immortal? The Master was always an Evil Time Lord to begin with. I wasn't aware that Romana became an Evil Time Lord. I have probably around 70 0r more Doctor Who Books myself at home and I still haven't gotten around to begin reading any of them yet. I know that President Borusa craved Immortality in The Five Doctors episode where they all met with the on Gallifrey in The Death Zone with the exception of Doctor Who number four Tom Baker.

Anyway, I don't see why The Doctor would have to turn Evil. I can't imagine The Doctor ever becoming Evil. he fights Evil wherever he finds it,he doesn't become Evil itself.
I don't think there is an Evil bone in his body. Wouldn't you want to be Immortal if you knew you had the opportunity?
And it was within your own power to achieve Immortality?

If you don't have to adhere to the self-imposed limit of 13 Time Lord lives I see no reason why you would even want to do it if it wasn't the law and manatory. I know I wouldn't want to have to die after I go to my 13th Time Lord life. I would rather go on for all Eternity especially if you are The Doctor. There is way too many Planets and Galaxies he had never even visited before and Evil out there to fight as well.

Beatles1964

I was commenting on the possible reason why a society would impose a limit on an individuals ability to regenerate - "if power corrupts, then absolute power corrupts absolutely" as the saying goes...

Yea, I've heard that old saying many times before and I don't think that really appllies to The Doctor. But if somone like The Doctor has done only great things I see no reason why he should even have to bother with the self-imposed limit of 13 lives. The Time-Lords are such an advanced people and civilization with technology far superior too everyone else's if you are doing great things to help advance to advance the boundaries of Science or pushing the envelope with everything you do why even bother with the thinking that you are coming up to your 13th and final life when you can go on forever if you chose too.

The Universe and other Galaxies as well would be the worse off if The Doctor is killed off after his 13th life. I would rather just see The Doctor go on forever one regeneration after another. And besides The Master wouldn't volunteeringly give up any of his lives so I see no reason why The Doctor should either. The Master has been trying to get rid of The Doctor for years and years. It would only make him happy to see The Doctor die after his 13th life

Beatles1964

Well, clearly a self-imposed limit isn't going to work on the corruptible individual, if they can personally decide to just ignore the limit. Because, being corruptible, the first thing they'll do is override it, and keep regenerating.

I think Freelunch was implying that the limit might be imposed at the cultural level, by Galifreyan society on all the Time Lords. While the Doctor can now ignore the limit without being penalised by the rest of the Time Lords, there are still the technical requirements: the Master's attempts to bypass the 13 incarnation limit indicate that it's something that cannot be simply achieved, at least without the resources Gallifrey had to offer. And the Doctor no longer has access to those either. (Although that doesn't preclude them being available from some other source, albeit not easily.)

There must be a way The Doctor could actually bypass the Galifreyan 13 lives limit by using the vast resources of his TARDIS which of course also means The Master would be able to do to the exact same thing too. There is always The Elixir of Life that is guarded by The Sisterhood. They could give The Doctor some of their Elixir since they are partners with Galifrey.

Beatles1964

The next Doctor (in series 5) Is going to be Matt Smith, he is largly unknown (well untill now) and is 26.
There is also going to be 4 or 5 specials in 2009 and series 5 is coming out in 2010, David Tennant is going to be in the specials. Im not sure for the rest of the world, but thats what it is in Australia :D