I love how the Doctor was written in Series 1, makes Eccleston so much more alien but RTD creates so much sympathy for him at the same time.

I respectfully disagree about 10's farewell speech undoing his growth from The Waters of Mars. When he pleaded, "There's still so much more I can do!" I always had the sense that statement was someone who has seen the error of their ways and is now lamenting the fact that they don't have more time to live the new life they've discovered.

I love the doctors ruthless streak from 9-12. I don't understand why people want a character with an absolutely flawless character, because that's not interesting. The Doctor is meant to be a normal person (in relation to his species), who had been corrupted by his burden, guilt and anger, in my opinion.

Here is the thing: Moffat was the one who kept saying: “I'm just an idiot in with a box.” so for all of the seriousness of Capaldi and Smith, it was balanced with him being funny and silly. And 11 told Amy that he's just an idot with a box: and 12 told the Master: he's an idiot with a box.

To he fair, the idea of the Doctor having a darker, more godlike edge to him wasnt created by Davies... Colin Baker faced the Valeyard (literally the dark version of the Doctor made manifest), and many fans clamoir for that character to return. Similarly, Sylvester McCoy's generation had an increasing air of mystery about him, as it was hunted that ge was more rhan just a random Time Lord running from Gallifrey. Heck, look at Genesis of the Daleks, and Tom Baker questioning if he has the right to commit genocide on a species that hasnt even been born tet - how much more godlike power can you give someone? So while Davies brought those elements to the fore, they were already present in the classic series, reqdy to be mined.

for me the way the doctor kept almost relapsing into their own pain and god complex felt very real and authentic. Because he never truly faced his trauma unless he was forced to. And even THEN he'd still just kinda bury it and run off. And its really the same in real life, because you can have all the breakthroughs you want and you can have every intention to change and be better, but if you don't actually do the work and allow yourself to face you trauma and your pain and your issues then you can never truly grow and become different. And the Doctors we see from 9-13 are all Doctors who don't really take the time to do the proper work. They all hand wave it as "what you do in your regeneration is none of my business" in the same kind of Trill "past lives hold no consequence on the presence" kind of way. And it always felt to me that the Doctor was very much just kind of saying "I'll regenerate, and it'll be a new me, and then i won't have to worry about this pain and trauma anymore." But as has been said, in the core they're the same person, and as such that's very much not how it works. And i feel like 15 in the giggle very much hit the nail on the head that they can't keep going forward the way they have been. They've been trying to do things backwards, and it doesn't work that way. And so i feel like what we're getting with 15 (and what i hope we get), is less of a Doctor who is just all better now, but is actually doing the work on themself and working towards actually being better.

Matt Smith's Doctor is brilliant.

This isn't just a New Who thing, you've got McCoy saying he's "Far more than just another timelord" and that whole Cartmel Master Plan thing. Plus, Genesis of the Daleks and the entirety of Gallifrey relying on the Doctor to eliminate the Daleks actually causing the spark for the Last Great Time War. In addition, the Doctor really being the first of the Timelords to cross paths with the billion star destroying force that is the daleks in his first incarnation in the serial of the same name. Or even Omega, another God-like being relying on him specifically in the Three Doctors to take his place or the rest of the Timelords relying on the Doctor in the same story to stop Omega.

Ellie, just a reminder that the next Doctor story following "Waters of Mars" is "The Wedding of Sarah Jane." Not only is he still exhibiting some of that god-like quality, he actually passes powers to Clyde who himself states, "I alone can stop the Trickster." Those powers that Clyde possess, will be used again in the 4th season of SJA.

I kinda saw tennets dr differently, his god complex was a trauma response…(the man who regrets and the man who regrets) it manifested as a sense of entitlement however I saw it as a grounding thing. The time war ungrounded him, so he became more attached to his present form than previous versions since an ungrounded person loses the capacity to adapt. When 12 stated he didn’t want to change anymore….to me that was him at the end of his rope with change….the ungrounded self hitting rock bottom…then he changed into a women….stereotypical women are known as better adaptors. It tracked….then 10 returns…(9 had survived the war but he seemed more detached from the trauma and had not experienced changing yet so 10 is really the first u grounded dr) ….and as 10 returns he takes time to reground. He wasn’t entitled as much as he was trying to control time because he couldn’t control himself. And now with this regeneration he’s finally moved beyond that. I will miss the bruting though lol

Here’s the thing about the doctor just like you talked about referencing in the pandorica opens , he is essentially an ageless shapeshifter and a time traveler meaning he can be anywhere at any time that has defeated and controlled some of the most powerful forces in the galaxy burned through the universe and time influencing or being part of major events in it and earth he essentially is like a god and I think that’s why his darker side is well played and this isn’t that new the classic doctors while not being the main plot had their dark moments moments of power , cold calculation, power indulgence it’s the fact that the doctor try’s to be a good person and do good but has ineverntently become god like and feared across the cosmos and it’s deserved I think it’s the best part of the doctors character, just like the dreamlord the darker reflection of the doctor and he’s been set on this path by the classic series way before the timewar in the prophecy of the valeyard

I personally love the darker, angsty versions of the Doctor lol.. But fun, lighthearted Doctor is great too. Tbh the best Doctors imo (e.g. 12 or 9) have been some combo of both, either going back and forth, or masking their pain via comedy - And I'm hoping 15 still might be a version of that as well. I mean, as we've seen on the Church on Ruby Road, he isn't completely unburdened or unaffected by his past (not just because of the "foundling" line, but also the entire "maybe I'm the problem" sentiment near the end of the episode). At the end of the day, timeless child or not, being the Doctor takes a certain toll - He cares so deeply and tries his best to help, but he can't save everyone. That has always been an integral part of the character imo, and I truly hope RTD understands and agrees enough to never change it completely. The Doctor can still flounder about the universe helping where he can, he can still be lighthearted most of the time and have his fun, but I personally think that he can never be truly and completely unburdened, just by the simple fact of who he is.

I feel that Capaldi's Doctor doesn't get enough credit, in The grand scheme of the current run of the show. Smith's Doctor was ready to die, thinking that he was the last of his regenerations; but then was granted a new one. Now, take that, plus add on the fact that he finds his face familiar, but cannot remember it until "Deep Breath" when the Doctor finds out he chose his face because of his saving of Cascillius by 10; and then compounding on this, he remembers how he chose this face, because it reminded him that he was The Doctor, and he can always save people.

I personally like the Doctor being this semi-mythological being. Like Capaldi's Era was definitely a darker take on the Doctor, but he also got to play into that by being the most guilt-striken version of the Doctor. He understood the weight of his decisions in a way that no other Doctor did. It also just makes sense that he would develop this godlike ego with as long as he has lived and the abilities he has thanks to his intelligence and access to advanced Gallofreyan technology. I do agree that the timeless child should have been the Master though. That would have been a more satisfying twist in my opinion. Plus the Doctor does get ego checked plenty. I think the 60th anniversary special with the Toymaker illustrates that well when he's putting on the puppet show and telling Donna about all the times the Doctor has failed to save those he cared about since he parted ways with Donna. It's just a recap of the Doctor's greatest failures and all the Doctor can say is that they didn't technically die, and in the end when the Toymaker brings up half the universe being destroyed the Doctor can't offer a silver lining because as far as we know Jodie Whitaker's Doctor didn't find a way to reverse what happened. I'm looking forward to Ncuti's run. I enjoyed the Christmas special, but I hope they try to strike a balance between lighthearted and whimsical adventures and more lore heavy serious ones. Like just because Ncuti's Doctor said that the past Doctor's helped him process his pain and trauma doesn't mean he shouldn't have to face the skeletons in his closet.

To me not wanting to die isn’t a god complex. Also the 10th Doctor’s regeneration is essentially what fans think about when the Doctor regenerates as no matter how poetic you put it that incarnation is essentially dead. Except in very unique situations you’re unlikely to ever see them again and I’d consider it a form of death if your appearance & personality all change. The Doctor didn’t die “but” that specific Doctor did. Now I do think some of it was played out like having multiple specials that’s all about the Doctor running from his death/regeneration felt like a bit much and you could argue they brought it back with the recent specials considering they found an excuse to keep the 14th Doctor alive. I like the edginess of David Tennant, Matt Smith, and especially Peter Capaldi though in the latter I think the whole hybrid thing where the Time Lord’s feared him was too far.

I think that the 10th doctor was just a really guilty boy. Rose was like the catalyst for that whole characterization, and by the end of the fourth series, he seemed really guilty with everything that he had a hand in. I kind of read his panic attack at the end of waters of Mars as a realization that maybe he can’t get away from his mistakes. And then his “i could be so much more” tantrum as an extension of that. This is a man who had so much potential to be the best guy, but he could only be the Doctor’s expression of grief. This is now kinda canon bc of the 60th specials

I really don't understand how the Timeless Child arc gives the Doctor a godlike status. To me, it's always been that it explained the timelords' fear for the Doctor, as The Doctor is not really one of them and is basically a stranger, and they want to keep the Doctor's origins hidden from them, going as far as giving them a whole new regen cycle at the end of 11th run, or try to trap them at the end of series 9 (I feel like so much makes sense in new who once you watch it with the Timeless Child idea in mind). I felt that it finally broke the god complex idea to give a new mystery to the show and add to the Doctor's uniqueness (and loneliness) even among their own. And I don't mean uniqueness as in being superior or godlike, but rather feeling and like an outsider, which is, to me, one of the Doctor's defining traits.

I don't really know if RTD will really fix this trope. I believe he only sort of rebooted the character for new audiences but I'm pretty sure he'll just give 15 his own trauma that will linger with him and we saw glimpses of it in The Church on Ruby Road, if anything, The Church on Ruby Road is more of an example that 15 will still be plagued with that darkness. "Maybe I am the bad luck" - 15 to Mrs. Flood, then proceeds in living by himself in the TARDIS. Now granted he backtracked a bit and did not leave and waited for Ruby, but for me it seemed a big deal when 15 was supposed to be a reset of trauma. I guess we will see after Season 1 when we'll get a better glimpse of 15 and the overall direction the show will head to, but for now I think it's far from being confirmed that RTD is fixing this trope.

You might want to add another thought, the master and the doctor grew up together. The doctor and master both have a lot in common and have a lot of similarities

The Waters of Mars showed the Doctor just how far from a god he was. Cheers....

I loved seeing 15 just vibing in the club by himself in the Christmas special. Not something most other Doctors would do. I'm looking forward to his new approach to the character 😎

Wow! You have given the best breakdown of "who" the Doctor is in my more than 50 years of watching Doctor Who.

one thing doctor who does that i love is take advantage of its history. Its one thing to give us a character and say they've done so many amazing things, but to instead show us all of those adventures and the legacy they've constructed around this character and, the most important part, to have other people acknowledge and fear those triumps is honestly one of my favorite things about the show.

I am hoping for and looking forward to a return to kind of the Troughton and Davison paradigm: the Doctor is a Cosmic Littlest Hobo who just wants to make friends and go on silly adventures with them, but keeps getting yanked into life or death schemes for the fate of the universe. Because I think, at the character's core, that's who they are. Whether the Doctor is "important" or not is fundamentally unimportant. They just love the universe and they like showing it off to their friends.

The lonely god angle is a big part of why I skipped over the entire Moffat era on my rewatch before the 60th anniversary. I don't outright hate it and I'll get to rewatching that era eventually, but after watching the church on Ruby road the TARDIS took me back to 1970 and now I'm binging Pertwee.

I feel like the Doctor has always been a symbol of hope, even amidst the darkness, both within the show and for viewers. But at this point in the global culture and atmosphere? We have enough darkness. It's time for a Doctor who has done the work to be mentally healthier (even if the timeline and mechanics are a bit wibbly wobbly on how that happened with the bigeneration)

Congratulations Ellie, brilliant round-up! You really have given us all heaps to think about!

While i enjoyed the "lonely god" aspect of NuWho, it did feel like it outstayed it's welcome a bit, so I'm looking forward to seeing what new direction the Doctor is going!

Your analysis of the changes in the Doctor's character, motivations, and influence upon the Universe as a whole over the last 13 or so Seasons is pretty spot on, but I think you're falling into the trap of only considering things since 2005 onwards. The perception of the Doctor has continually changed over the course of the first 8 Doctors, both by his companions and by external forces. The 1st Doctor initially stated himself to be an exile from his home planet who could not go back. Over the next 3 years he began to be portrayed as a well-meaning righter of wrongs and saver of civilisations, so arguably the mythology of this powerful unique being was already there, if not stated obviously. But we already saw that the Daleks saw him as a legendary enemy who continually defeated them over hundreds if not thousands of years - "The Chase" is entirely predicated on them single-handedly chasing him through Time and Space. Then the 2nd Doctor is shown as a cosmic wanderer, but still being feared as a legend by returning enemies, such as the Cybermen and the Great Intelligence, and by his final story ("The War Games") we see that again he is unusal among his people by wishing to fight evil rather than observe. By the time of the 3rd Doctor he now has importance to the Time Lords as a weapon of Justice, as well as being vital to the survival of the Earth that he is exiled to. The 4th Doctor finally shakes this off and returns to the Lonely Wanderer trope, as you can see from the number of times he demonstrates that he is special among Time Lords (remember the "I walk in eternity" speech to Sarah Jane?), and in his final story ("Logopolis") he essentially rescues the entire Universe. The 5th and 6th Doctors return him to the casual wanderer trope , although the 7th adds to this a very strong Messiah complex, and by the time of the 7th Doctor he is shown to be an arch-manipulator, with a mysterious past, who is (as he claims) "much more than a Time Lord". He has one of the Time Lords' most powerful weapons - the Hand of Omega - with which he destroys the entire planet of Skaro. If that isn't genocide, then I don't know what is! The 8th Doctor? Well, what little we see of him on-screen does show him as being freed from the burden of his legend and (apart from saving the entire Universe from being destroyed once again) flies off as an anonymous traveller enjoying his wanderings for their own sake. So the Doctor has often been portrayed as special, unusual, with a growing mythological reputation in his or her wake. This is in no way unique to the new series, and is probably necessary to shake up the show every now and then and stop it becoming stale. If the character, reputation, and motivations of the Doctor had stayed the same over the first 16 years, I very much doubt we would have got 16 years, and we certainly wouldn't have got the next 18 without the continual changes that you have highlighted. So although the Doctor has been the anonymous wanderer many times in the past, he/she has also been much more, many times.

The Doctor has always reminded me of Gildo'rs warning in The Lord of the Rings: "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." The Doctor is very much a wizard in the mold of Gandalf of Dumbledore, kind and protective, but not someone to be taken lightly or messed with. I did enjoy the "Lonely God" aspect of the Doctor; my main issue with Moffat's run was that he was playing with all of these big ideas and cool concepts, but the execution tended to be sloppy and incoherent. Moffat's sensibilities seem to be better suited to stand-alone episodes like "The Girl in the Fireplace" and "Blink" than showrunning. But the great thing about the Doctor is that the character is easily redefined, so when the PTSD and Lonely God aspects of the character have run their course, the Doctor regenerates and can start anew as a whole new person with their own unique personality. There's no need for gimmicks like bigeneration or regenerating back into David Tennant to accomplish that -- it's literally part of the character's mandate.

Oof... I wish I could discuss this with you 1 on 1. The 4th Doctor was my first. And they've always been a larger-than-life character. It always backfires on them though, at some point. And their companions seem to be able to bring him back from the brink, as long as they're around. Alone, they seem to do something that shows them how wrong they are. The "Madman with a box" persona is always there, it just seems when they are faced with an event that they deem consequential, they try to overcompensate for the loss they see coming. The progression since the 2005 reboot of the weight of their loss (Galifrey) is such a burden, it always drives them to impact "fixed points", even though they know it's wrong. And while it's so controversial to say that you liked the Jodi Whitaker era on the show, it gave me personally so much perspective on why the Doctor is the way they are. And knowing the memories of their actual origins lays in the heart of the TARDIS, and that they are the reason the Galifreyans even exist, that weight will always be there. And it perfectly explains why the other Time Lords fear them. The 15th Doctor showed that in the Christmas Special, and we haven't even seen the 1st episode of the new era, so while what's been leaked shows him been lighter & much more carefree, I wonder how long that will last. They may have "Disney-fied" this out of the series, but we'll just have to wait & see.

To be fair, the Doctor always drops in on Gallifrey, saves the day and leaves it in disarray. Fourth Doctor, Fifth Doctor, even Sixth sort of.

What I hated most about this trope after the RTD era was how important the doctor became, and how much emphasis was placed on his importance - RTD's finales were typically dalek invasions or schemes, but Moffat's first finale is the end of the universe, with the doctor at the centre of a rebooted universe, his second is the exact same concept around breaking a fixed point. Then the finales were about how important Clara was, and then the timeless child made the doctor even more mythical - I love that they're bringing it back from that, and closer to the doctor's role in the classic era

i hope they keep those "im the doctor, ive dealt with worse than you so just give up" moments

I think lonely god is the core of the doctor character - recently watching confidential there are countless clips of RTD mentioning how important this is to the character

Whenever anybody says "we can all agree", it's likely they are wrong. Doctor Who isn't Doctor Who without episodes like Love and Monsters. It was fantastic, up to, and including the ending. We need more episodes that make us ask "WTF did I just watch?" Not all the time, but definitely more than we've had lately.

Don't forget about how Jack Harkness spent years waiting for the Doctor on Earth, convinced they were the only person who could help him or explain what was wrong with him. That's part of why I love Torchwood so much, the whole series is an exploration into Jack figuring out that the Doctor's not this deific figure and that he'll have to solve things himself, not wait for an intervention.

They do tend to overplay the Doctor's deaths/regenrations, kinda forgetting that he's not actually dying. - The Daleks do refer to the Doctor as the oncoming storm.

I hear you and love this take. He definitely has had a God complex, however, I had seen growth from one doctor to the next. The power 11-12 show is the result of having lived so long. However, any darkness I’ve observed was usually tied to the loss of his companions. The first ones he meets upon changing his face. There is an extra strong bond between him and them. After he looses them you see his grief and him lash out. 10 wasn’t the same, becoming 11 fave him a new start and freshness as though most of that grief was shaken off. 11 lost a lot; ame, Rory and river. 12 lost river too and Clara. His forgetting though allowed him to move on and I love his character so much more after his forgetting. Also, I loved 11 because he felt neurodivergent. He was fun, playful, into things, a bit of a clown.

I'm willing to give Gatwa a chance (like I did for Jodi), but 9,10, 11, and 12 were all fantastic, and are my ideal Doctors.

When it comes to the Tenth Doctor, I think the problem set in with the cheated regeneration in Journey's End. It was seemed to be a cheat too far. It went against the idea of regeneration, and of the Doctor being a whole. That is where he became "Time Lord Victorious" for me.

While Capaldi definitely had the angst, I don't feel like it was a continuation of the god thing. To me, it's recently felt as though the Moffat era was all about walking that stuff back, with the Smith era having the Doctor realize he's got too big & stepping back into shadows, erasing records of himself, and Capaldi's Doctor being the one who's aiming to really try and do better ("I've made many mistakes..." etc). Just look at the moniker Moffat gave the Doctor compared to the one RTD gave him: a mad MAN in a box, as opposed to the mighty and mythological sounding Last of the Time Lords. I see Capaldi's angst as coming from the pressure he puts on himself to be better, and also the 1000-odd years of war trauma he's fresh from on Trenzalore. Speaking of, I've never seen TTOTD as undoing the Doctor's character development in TDOTD. Even with Gallifrey saved, the Doctor still has a lot of baggage, ranging from other things in the Time War and the situation he was stuck in on Trenzalore to all the other things his various incarnations have been through. So it seems naive to me to expect the character to be totally healed of all trauma after only seeing them resolve one bit of it - the rest still hasn't been dealt with yet (case in point: the Zygon Inversion speech).

I personally like that the doctor is sarcastic, is 10 steps ahead of their enemy, shows that dark past... pretty much what David and Matt did with Doctor Who

Sylvester McCoy's doctor was meant to be god like, JNT's story was developing towards this goal before it got axed. Had it carried on this is esactly how it would have gone. He was a seriously dark doctor. Basically, when it came back in 2005, it wasn't a new idea.

"Divisive" I just want a good show. Never missed a ep.

I absolutely loved his portrayal in old and new Dr who alike...

I like there to be a little bit of angst and darkness, but I don't want to be fundamentally challenged as to whether the Doctor is considered to be a good character. I think the show has sometimes come too close to that in particular moments - although it's also true to say that it never really supported that with the tone of a whole episode of story arc. So it seems like the moments of angst were just being used as an emotional hook. Net, perhaps I'm concluding that the show ended up doing exactly what I said I wanted in my first sentence. As regards the lonely god syndrome, I think you've got it exactly right Ellie; it has become excessive, and I think it's an aspect of the more general problem of continual stakes raising. Very hard for a show like DW to avoid that! I think you missed (or omitted) one thing about that complex being passed from 10 to 11: that moment in Silence in the Library where River says something to the effect of her doctor (11) being way more powerful than 10. One might even argue that that comment spurred 10 on to exert himself more dramatically. Anyway, very interesting video, thank you!

I still reckon the TARDIS should have been the timeless child. We know the TARDIS is a living being but it would be an interesting spin if it turned out the Time lords had actually hidden their enslavement of another species.

Personally I think a fun way to view 10’s anger and resentment of regeneration, is that he’s tired, he’s lived so long, and is tired of having to go through the same process 11 times already. He’s finally found a body that feels like him, and he’s gonna lose it all, and have to change again. Subsequently, 11 has just come to terms with it. He’s all, “ok it is what it is, I’ll live with it and have as much fun as I can” 8:30

I get that our new doctor has done away with some of the emotional baggage of the past, the vibes are good and I’m glad we are injecting fun again, but if they wanted to move The Doctor away from lonely god status they shouldn’t have kept the Chibnall recon which makes The Doctor literally a lonely god by being the progenitor of the time lords and the regeneration ability and with an unknown cosmic origin that makes him alone in the universe with practical immortality.. it’s giving “I’m not like the other girls” sure sis 💁‍♀️✨

The best way to handle the Timeless Child backstory is to say that the Doctor and Master both bigenerated from the TC at some point. But that would “let the haters win,” so I don’t see a showrunner allowing it anytime soon.

One point that I think might be glossed over is that in the 60th Anniversary special 14 was called out by the Toymaker as he went through each of the companions that met a dark untimely end. Also, I would like to point out that the doctor was not the only being cast as a God... Ashildr (me) was portrayed as the last witness to the end of the universe as she was an 'ultimate' God?

I love the god complex trope for the Doctor. I love the idea of this powerful, dark, tortured soul who still has faith in humanity, who still finds good in people, who saves countless lives and planets. Who is hurting but still loves with their whole heart. Like Xena said you can't have the light side without the dark side because then they're not the whole person. If a character is too happy and too good and too heroic they're unrelatable. Dark and tragic is more relatable than happy-go-lucky.

When 10 regenerated, the disappointment the Doctor felt to be leaving was RTD's! It was so strong, he came back!

One of the main complaints I've heard about the Timeless Child is that it changes the Doctor from "just passing through, helping," an ordinary guy who chose to travel and do good where he could despite being just an ordinary person. And yet those same people almost universally cite Tennant as their favorite new Doctor and Smith as coming in second. It's like they completely missed the whole Lonely God theme!

I really appreciate and enjoy the darker side of the Dr as open the door to what that level of loss tragedy and left alone with your own thoughts and torment. Explored it well and agreed that after time and thought provoking by others and change in oneself would give a more uplifting sense of life

The seventh Doctor was dark too. He also had things that he kept hidden: which would have come out if the show hadn't been cancelled.

The Lonely God thing was interesting to a point but it's good to change. I saw it as a reaction to the Time War and as a depiction of grief - it's not quite the famous 5 stages of grief but it's an interesting thing - Eccleston is almost in denial. There is a sadness and a darkness there but he only really examines it when it's bought up but there is a desire to fit in. As we move into Tennant it feels like this is the Doctor that most wants to fit in, in some ways he is the most human but as he continues to process the pain of the Time War on top of other pain he experiences in this incarnation, it's a good internal conflict between what he wants to be (good, kind, human) and what he is (alien, powerful, angry), some of what he does in The Waters of Mars or Runaway Bride for example are things The Doctor was always capable of in any incarnation but he's been pushed so far now. He's also very suicidal (in Evolution of the Daleks, he literally begs to be killed) which feels like a very survivors guilt thing. Which Waters of Mars washes away and then End of Time reminds him of why he did what he did (perhaps equally treating it as death allowed the Doctor to make a fresh start, he convinces himself he's been punished for surviving). Then into Smith you have a character that is starting to feel the joy of who he is and of being a Time Lord again. I think Smith's Doctor starts to become a little less human again and revel in the joys of his alienness. But still aware of his power and perhaps more willing to use it, but less so in anger. Into Capaldi you have a full blown alien Doctor again. He almost now has a saviour complex. He knows he saved not killed the Time Lords and now nothing will hold him back. He's the Time Lord Victorious but in a very different way. He doesn't act out of anger but in a renewed confidence of knowing he is right but that leads him to be much more flippant and he doesn't necessarily feel the need to bring others up to his level. While 9 and 10 were grounded by their companions, in some way wanting to have what they had, Capaldi revels in his god like status. And then Jodie. I think actually I would disagree a bit with the video. I think if you ignore the Timeless Child arc, she is written much more as just some person having fun adventures like the classic era ones. It's actually why I found the Timeless Child kind of jarring because through Season 11, and the season 12 episodes before the end, she is very much written and played as just a regular but awesome person in a similar way to the classic era Doctors. There isn't really any lonely god stuff, until suddenly she's literally God. And the fact that that carried over into her final season and specials I think clashed with how she initially played the role and the rebooted tone that Chibnall set in Season 11. I think it remains to be seen how things go with Ncuti, I think the time is right to move away from the God stuff. But I also think writers have more impact than actors on that and we have seen from Russell T Davies before - and not just in Doctor Who - his love of the huge and world-shaping stories and deep dives into his characters. There could be more God stuff to come, but the show always moves it on, so one way or another, I think it'll be a lot of fun.

So happy you're all feeling much better Ellie! 😊

Tom Baker was my first Doctor when I was in my early 20s. I've enjoyed all the versions of the Doctor I've seen and expect to enjoy the next -- Doctor Who is simply the kind of television programming I like. Being the smartest person in the room can make a person feel god-like, and being totally detached from others perverts one into arrogance and selfishness. The more attached to their companions they become, the better the person the Doctor's going to be?

Actually I think the godlike status was starting to be seen with Sylvester McCoy by season 25 introducing the idea that the Doctor was more powerful and mysterious than we might have thought.

I had gotten turned off by the direction the show was taking somewhere during Matt Smith's run. This video and your insight have made me want to see the newest incarnation of The Doctor. Thank you so very much for sharing this with us. I've been a fan of The Doctor since the Tom Baker days, and I now feel I understand why the story went the way it did, and I'm ready to enjoy it again.

I love the god complex ideas. I love when the Doctor goes dark. I love that the Doctor kinda hit rock bottom, as far as being dark goes, while still being a child friendly hero. I love the idea that 14 took the time to stop and work on healing himself. Considering the world as it is, it’s really nice to have a family show go dark and then go to therapy and get healed. It’s nice that we’re going to have that hope given to us in a world where so much seems hopeless.

I also thought David Tennants extra dramatic regeneration was portraying his actual emotional feelings about the end of his role but maybe that’s just me

my headcanon for why Ecclestons Doctor was such a vindictive rage filled Doctor is because he'd just come out of being The War Doctor and dealing with the Time War.

I've only seen a handful of Classic Who but I think that 9-14 were logical evolutions of the Doctor. Eleven was my favorite and the mix of his childlike exuberance and his darker side kept me fascinated throughout. I think Twelve and Thirteen questioned what they had become which makes Fourteen and Fifteen the best answer to what the Doctor had become.

Love the idea that RTD had a vision of the new doctor who in the image of the Craig Casino Royale - time travel right there in the pitch!

An interesting theme in not just Dr Who but other Sci-fi series, is the nature of immortals and the question of what immense longevity does to the being who endures it. The consensus is almost universally damning. What saves the Doctor are his companions. Whoever the doctor was, is and will be dark or light, the corrosive effect of immortality always needs to be held in check.

This has to be one of your best analysis of the show. I remember seeing the beginning of "The Star Beast" with 14 standing amongst the stars and thinking, "The Doctor is Space Christ!". You should be teaching a Doctor Who course at a major university or writing a book about the show.

I actually liked the timeless child story. It was assumed that the Doctor came out of the portal where she was found, but that was never confirmed. I like to think that like River Song the Doctor too was conceived in the time vortex. He probably came from an advanced civilization older than the Time Lords which had developed time traveling technology. If River didn't sacrifice herself she conceivably would have had limitless regenerations, just like the Doctor.

I actually kind of feel like the early iteration of Matt Smith's doctor, when he first shows up is sort of moving away from that lonely God troop, too. Of course, it doesn't last for long, eventually it dives back into that whole vibe. But early on, I feel like Matt Smith's doctor is sort of Characterized as being a lot more flawed, a lot more like a child, playing with toys, less of a lonely God, and more of a lonely child. I liked that a lot.

First and foremost I like the format of the video. It makes it feel almost like you are having a debate amongst friends. It would be nice to see it followed up with a noticeable amount of feedback to the comments people post. As for the video, I watched the doctor when it used to Air on PBS. I came back for Eccleston, lost interest and got busy during Tenant and smith. Ive always felt the best doctor is old, cantankerous doctor. So was fully on board with Capaldi but havent been back since. So this video is making me considering going back and watching at least Eccleston back up to Capaldi because I am still in the camp that the regeneration rule should have never been broken past Capaldi. Much rather wished they would go back to the start and reboot each of the doctors. Doing whole new adventures we didnt see in the first run as well as "alternate" spins of some of the best of the historic episodes. That would have been a logical conclusion to the character, As time grows on the character becomes darker and darker till that lack of hope is ultimately what snuffs that ember out. To that end Capaldis run feels perfect for saying.. I am the lonely God at the end of my rope. I submit myself to oblivion, never to return. Ultimately being hope what allows for the power of regeneration in the first place. Only to have the reboot begin. Maybe even mixing it up in advance by rebooting them out of order, though that instantly muddies the concept of the doctor, which could even be a good thing as it makes it impossible to really understand where one doctor ends and the other begins. Then you can do a LOT of interesting stuff because you are treating the doctor like a template and as we know from recasts new actors bring unique spins to classic characters. So imagine a reboot of Smith and it be a kind of child like and a little deranged take on the character. Im thinking similar to Walter Bishop (John Nobel)from Fringe, Or a more dismissive version of Baker. It further fleshes out each doctor more. In fact it can seriously help redeem lesser liked doctors. (or maybe even reinforce it) In fact it should probably START with McGanns doctor because of how little of it we got. Maybe I just want a different show :D

Glad to see you feeling better

This is how I put it: He left his trauma at Donna's house.

that’s the greatest strength of any good fiction, dark contrasted against light, how else could they hold our interest over decades of content Good video as always

I agree with most of Ellie’s thoughts but I think each Doctor does get a personal attachment to their current persona. And while the Doctor retains his morals, drives and memories between incarnations, he does change personality (sometimes radically). So I don’t think it unfair to say 10 wanted to do more time to do more good for the universe as he was, especially as far he knew, he had a limited number of regenerations and was near his limit. And finally, bear in mind that although 10 could remember all his previous good deeds and and adventures, that incarnation would never remember the 11th’s exploits, all those memories would belong to Matt Smith’s Doctor.

Thank you for this brilliant segment! You're right! That stunning exuberantly life-affirming scene of Gatwa joyously dancing in the club sets the scene! That was gatwa taking full and undisputable possession of the character! I love this new direction! Nonetheless, I loved every iteration of the Doctor!!!!!!

I began watching Doctor Who because my dad watched it with my grandfather, so my dad wanted to watch it with my siblings and I. I dove head first into it, and since I was so young, all of the god stuff went over my head. It made my dad stop watching and changed Doctor Who for me forever. Suddenly, instead of a bonding thing, it became an argument, and it makes that era of Doctor Who kind of hard to watch now

The god figure thing started with the Cartmel Masterplan and the 7th but RTD ported it over. S26 left unanswered questions.

20:20 Such an iconic line for Ellie at this point

I would argue that 12 is only super dark in the first season, once he has his 'I am an idiot' revelation in the finale, he comes out of a lot of that. You see some of it with Davros in the opener of the next season, but he spends much of the next two seasons being more of a 'punk' where he could still be rude and abrasive, but ultimately much kinder and trying to help people, even in small ways, and particularly trying to SAVE people from the same kind of darkness that he dealt with for a long time.

Agree with Ellie, I hope that as we at some point do explore the Timeless Child situation, we end up discovering that it's the Master and NOT the Doctor. Would be an excellent way to reintroduce the Master for any new viewers through DIsney+.

When you say in the Waters of Mars he realized that he'd gone to far, he just fled his mistakes and responsibilities, to me, the Time Lord Victorious stayed with him until the finale of series 9. When 10 regenerated into 11, he felt more happy, whimsicle, but it's just an illusion, having that cute Matt Smith silly face is just on the surface, subconsciously it was perhaps a way for him to push the darkness inside so he could not see it when he looks at a mirror, but episodes like The Beast Below, the series 5 finale, A Good Man Goes to War and seeing how many people want to see him gone for "the sake of the universe" shows how powerful and scary he still is. Then 12 appeared, and it stripped away his funny gimmics making Clara among others realize who he truly is, without "make up" an alien trying to be a good man with great difficulties, this is where the Doctor seems to be at his darkest but honestly he's just the most himself he's ever been in centuries. Until Clara died and he messed up again, just like he did during the series 4 specials, the Time Lord Victorious rising to the surface again, then he had to let Clara go. This is where he started to calm down. Facing his mistakes and started to be a better Doctor. River came along and he decided to stay with her for her final years, not running away, accepting to say her goodbye for a final time, making him accepting the idea of death, grief and his companions leaving one way or another. It's still painful, but he knows how to deal with it now.Then series 10 came and he became the best Doctor he could ever be, Wise, kind, funny but mature, never cruel or cowardly :) despite many difficulties, risking Bill's life and having his old enemies rising against him. And then came the 13th and 14th Doctor, and they retconned this huge character growth and they thought just name-dropping a few characters was good enough pretending they're not ignoring series 5 to 10 and that only 14 is starting to take his time to heal and calm down, and talk to his companions, as if 12 didn't do all of this before ^^

Thumbnail really made me think this was gonna go a different direction. Proud of ya for not going that route.

It's entertaining, the Fifteenth Doctor has a very similar energy that originally Eight had in the TV movie. He's got a similar lightness, whimsy, and joie de vivre that we saw from Eight that was a refreshing shift after the brashness and curmudgeonliness of Six, and darkness and manipulation of Seven. In some ways, this is an exploration of what Eight would have been like without the Time War.

When I first watched Doctor Who, I LOVED the lonely god thing, but over time and many rewatches, I’m not a big fan of it anymore (I can excuse when 9 was doing it because he just came away from the Time War, and 12 felt justified during series 9 & 10) But I can’t help but think back to the end of series 6 when The Doctor himself said that he was getting too loud. He shouldn’t be the most feared being in the universe especially because his actions should be for the greater good, and if he’s making wayyy more enemies than friends, then he’s not doing a good job being The Doctor

I do love the show and as for the timeless child story, I would have had it that BOTH the Doctor and the Master were found and raised as timeless children. That way they would be true siblings with real sibling rivalry throughout time and space and also the secret that the Face of Bo said to the 10th doctor that he wasn't alone would still ring true.

Speaking as partway through the new season, I've noticed a really interesting trend of 15 really suppressing and brushing aside trauma anytime it's mentioned with a big grin on his face. It felt really out of place the first or second time and now that it's repeatedly happening I'm starting to see that theme and I'm wondering how they're going to play it out later in the season....

I really love how passionate you are about this and I really really need your voice as my alarm clock. Cheers from Argentina, Ellie.

It wasn't just the sense of entitlement, the 10th Doctor also said that he thought the radiation would kill him before he could regenerate. So, he did believe it was going to be a death.

3:15 The Doctor wasn't aware he (or rather his name) became a feared monster. There's very very few times when the Doctor was alone, as he's always had some supporting character even if it was just a one-off for one episode. Heck there was a time when his companion was himself, when the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) met the first Doctor (David Bradley) just before they both regenerated.

As an ageing fan, the Cartmel Masterplan idea of tying the Doctor to the immortal God idea (hello Dr Manhattan) was both a valuable asset in re-establishing it and simultaneously something that now doesn't have to happen. And I also think it's generational. The ability to just rewatch the classic run, almost at will, reveals someone who is just kicking around the universe and doing his bit out of a central moral core. That's what it was growing up. And I suspect, if there was a genuine reboot now, is where it would be directed.

My favorite parts of Doctor Who are the humor and adventures with companions, so I think the next era will be great. I also really liked the fun energy of the 10th Doctor for the first part of his time. I love David Tennant's acting, so I will happily rewatch all of his episodes while I wait for the new season in May.

strange that the Dr was never a lonely GOD from 1963-1987 only when the showrunner victorious turned up

Doctor and Master are the two halves of a split regeneration . One wants to rule the universe the other wants to save it . They were childhood friends , need I say more?

You see the dark side of the doctor in the 1st episode of the 10th, when he intentional kills the sycorax saying "No 2nd chances, I'm that kind of doctor". Then there is the threat to the MP where he says "Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones, because I am a completely new man" but the darker part of this is the look on his face, when he sees it as worked. He is all smiles and happiest at the Christmas dinner, but when he catches the news on the TV, that flash of darkness is very chilling, in both it's intensity, and how quickly he can switch

Quote from the Doctor "I know so much about myself, sometimes I have gone to far, by doing what I think is the right thing to do at the time that I am doing it. Then in less than a micro second in the life of the universe the old times are gone forever. I see the difference in the flow of time and I try my best not to cry. Most days I get it right and the tears are joyful. I have to hold on to those days and not overwrite them with newer days because some times I'm not right and even my own past go's a bit wrong. I once thought that a time lord lived too long, but I'm even worse I don't even remember a lot of my past and it's starting to unravel the history I remember so well from living through it. I think I need to remember and go back. Things need to be fixed. Things I don't remember how they went right or wrong last time."

Any large scale creative decision is bound to be divisive, but in the end the deciding factor will be if the quality of writing reflects the change in a way that is good for the show. They made it clear in The Giggle that Ncuti's version was free of all the emotional baggage, even if David's version was still working through the issues in real time. That's fine, it's a show about a time traveling alien, we can expect effect to precede cause. As long as the writers don't go too far in displaying this change, eg having the Doctor outright blurt out he's the happy Doctor, or anything similar, it should be fine. I think the berst way to show it would be in the decisions the Doctor makes and his motivations for making them. It's a subtle line to walk, and I guess we just have to have faith that the people working under Russell are skillful enough to not fall off the line.

I have seen classic Doctor Who recently and the Valeyard said that he was the negative parts of the Doctor that he had expelled. 17:19 The Doctor's negative parts are separated as the 14th Doctor...

I do hope they keep him scaring away the enemies, just from his rep, every now and then. Those have always been some of my favorite moments. I makes sense that he would have this rep with everything he has done.