David Tennant is the Fourteenth Doctor: Thoughts and Theories Part 3

Oh yes!  This is it!  I figured it out!  I FIGURED OUT HOW DONNA CAN RETURN and GET HER MEMORIES BACK with DOCTOR WHO’s 60^th ANNIVERSARY!!!  Well, I say “figured it out” but it’s more like I figured out a way it could work.  But it does!  It works!  And to be honest, what I really (really) want out of Doctor Who’s trilogy of 60^th anniversary specials is for Donna to get her happily ever after.  I want Donna’s memories of her time with the Doctor restored!  And, you know, I’d like for her not to die as a result.  So how can this happen?  Well, Russell T Davies enthusiastically encouraged our theorizing when he said, “If you thought the appearance of David Tennant was a shock, we’ve got plenty more surprises on the way!  The path to Ncuti’s Fifteenth Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun!  And how is it connected to the return of the wonderful Donna Noble?  How, what, why?  We’re giving you a year to speculate, and then all hell lets loose!”[1]  Buckle up, dear reader, the stops on our speculation tour today include “Journey’s End” (S4E13), the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie, and the Timeless Child.  Allons-y!

David Tennant is the Fourteenth Doctor: Thoughts and Theories Part 1

When Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor regenerated I had no idea what would happen next.  I knew Ncuti Gatwa was cast as the next Doctor.  But I also knew David Tennant and Catherine Tate were returning for a trilogy of specials for Doctor Who’s 60^th Anniversary next November.  Whose face would I see when the regeneration energy faded??  In all my time watching Doctor Who, there’s never been a regeneration mystery like this!  Jodie Whittaker smiled into the rising sun, arms wide…and then there was David Tennant!  The announcement posted on the BBC’s Doctor Who site immediately after the episode aired made if official-official, “As Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor regenerated on Sunday 23rd October, it was none other than David Tennant who appeared as the Fourteenth Doctor.”  They included a statement from Russell T Davies as well, “If you thought the appearance of David Tennant was a shock, we’ve got plenty more surprises on the way!  The path to Ncuti’s Fifteenth Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun!  And how is it connected to the return of the wonderful Donna Noble?  How, what, why?  We’re giving you a year to speculate, and then all hell lets loose!”[1]

So, David Tennant is the Fourteenth Doctor.  Ncuti Gatwa is the Fifteenth Doctor.  And Russell T Davies has invited us to a year of speculation (hence my “Part 1”).  How fun :D.  Let’s get started!