Doctor Who's Metacrisis Mistake 

No, this video isn't about THAT line www.patreon.com/harbowholmes

There actually WAS a simple solution to this that they could've easily thrown in with no effort: instead of 15's "prize" for beating the Toymaker being a second TARDIS, it could've been to free Donna and Rose from the meta crisis! That way there would've been an actual reason for this being a trilogy! PROBLEM SOLVED!

Random thought, what if the Doctor absorbed the metacrisis energy to save Donna - similar to Series 1 I guess - but by absorbing another Timelord mind then causes the Bi-Generation. Not enough to fully kill 14, but 1 timelord can’t have 2 minds, hence the Bi-Generation. Would make the Bi-generation less of the random gimmick that it was, and an interesting way to resolve the metacrisis which should have been the story arc for the 3 specials

I think the main problem is that RTD clearly wanted to quickly get it out of the way to get the old Doctor/Donna relationship back, so he could keep pretending it was the glory days of 2009 again. The core flaw of the 60th anniversary specials is how they desperately pander to nostalgia to try and win back old fans.

The "male-presenting timelord" line was pure rubbish, considering 14's last incarnation was a female-presenting timelord.

I didn't like the resolution. The line about male-presenting Time Lord not knowing about letting go when he had a previous incarnation (Twelfth Doctor) whose famous last words were "Doctor, I let you go." I agree that there really wasn't much lead up to the reveal about Rose having meta-crisis energy.

Tbh I feel like if they wanted to tie in to the letting go theme Donna could’ve been like “Unlike you I’ve spent all this time learning to settle down and let go” which wouldn’t have come to Donna’s mind in s4 because she was equally obsessed with adventure as the doctor at the time

I think the later bigeneration was a similar issue: he wanted to give the 10th/14th Doctor a “happy ending” so much that he skipped the rules of proper dramatic beats.

honestly having Dona finally die after getting 14 more years would not have been so bad. Or maybe the doctor sacrifices himself to save her, causing them both to regenerate

One of the biggest issues with the RTD era is his tendency to not consider the larger ramifications of the Scifi concepts he introduces. For example, in School Reunion the Z-List villains the Krillitane are within a stone's throw of deciphering the algorithm of the universe, which would give them complete control of time and space. That's absurdly powerful and can be easily discovered with the help of a few mentally enhanced children, yet never gets brought up again. Does it service the character plot? I guess, but RTD definitely didn't need to introduce universally high stakes to explore of The Doctor's relationship with his current and former companions. In the 60th anniversary specials it's clear not much has changed, RTD still prioritizes hitting character beats over making his Scifi ideas airtight. I enjoyed them for what they were, but I am concerned for his upcoming seasons. I hope the other writers can reign in RTD's worst tendencies and help fill in for his weak areas.

13:25 Just throwing it out there (and this is nothing but silly fan fic) Imagine if The Doctor had actually figured out how to remove the Metacrisis during his 11th incarnation. You have a scene during the climax where the ship is about to self destuct where we flash back to Doctors 11,12, and 13 coming back to erase it at various points in time. Each time they arrive to find Donna, Shaun and Rose at various happy points in their lives and naturally realises that she would've been happier without The Doctor. Showing that they have in fact pogressed and can "let her go" So the only bring back the Metacrisis as a last resort.

What's funny is that, by bringing back the Toymaker, all RTD had to do was _not_ explain why Donna survived and have the Toymaker later reveal that _he_ was responsible for it. By making it the Toymaker's fault, not only would it have lent some mystery to how it was resolved and help tie The Star Beast to the other two episodes, but it would've also been a satisfying conclusion for the audience.

I agree that it was lazy storytelling. But it seems dishonest to me to wholly ignore Rose's statement since it was not only polarizing and unnecessary, it also seems very out of character from the otherwise kind and supportive Rose. It was very antagonistic for no reason. And they both got the Doctor's memories, so they both know he was a woman like a day ago, so it doesn't even work logically. It's just terrible on every level.

The metacrisis, the bigeneration, the “Fresh start, happy ending for The Doctor” was just something that was done so Russell wouldn’t have to put down his favourite toy. I mean we see that 15 EVEN AFTER the whole “fresh slate” break is still haunted by The Timeless Child stuff. Wish David’s Doctor didn’t get that special treatment…

Okay, Im no writer, but im gonna put on my fan fic head on for a second. The first problem with all these specials to me is they lacked some type of continuous story. And this comes to my second point, Im all for Donna getting her memories back, but it needs to have stakes and needs to have a powerful justification. So, heres my pitch of what RTD could have done, the story would have had Donna sacrifice herself like in the Star Beast to save her daughter and London, but it turns out her death due to the metacrisis was actually part of a big game of the Toymaker, and to save Donna, The Doctor would have to play a game with the Toymaker, and his prize would be to save Donna. The Toymaker can do anything being a celestial god, so it wouldnt be too hard to believe that he could bring Donna back. Its a rough fan fic, but it would connect each story and have Donna saved in a logical, believable and plausible way.

Do you think the ending to series 1 with Eccelston might have actually been because Eccelston left? Could RTD's original intent have been for the 9th doctor to absorb and then 'let it go'. Honestly it would fit into his writing style more 😂. Maybe we should thank Eccelston for that series 1 ending having actual consequences.

My idea. Sorry for the paragraph: Considering how ridiculous the whole the meta crisis resolution and Bi-Regeneration seemed, I really don't get why the meta-crisis couldn't have been the reason FOR the Bi-Regeneration. The Meta-Crisis not killing Donna straight away because some of it has been passed down to Rose isn't an awful idea and makes sense somewhat from a reproductive standpoint. But like you said it would've worked for it to stay lingering over them both. Maybe even a better reason for why the Doctor figures out the Not Thing in 'Wild Blue Yonder' isn't the real Donna, because the meta-crisis is so powerful it can't replicate it. Then in 'The Giggle' the Doctor tells Donna he doesn't know if he could save her this time and she says maybe this time she'll save him. They could've run with that. After the Toymaker shoots 14 as he regenerates it could be as Donna is finally beginning to burn up. She hugs him and the physical touch as he's regenerating, like with the hand in 'Journey's End', could cause the Doctor to take in the Meta-crisis energy and leave him with 2 Timelord brains in his head which is too much for even him. But because he can regenerate it causes the rare Bi-regeneration. Donna is saved as a result with her memories and 15 comes in and plays the Toymaker at the final game 1 v 1. This also solidifies Donna's importance as the most important women in all of creation and why they always met each other as "Destiny". 14 could finally retire as he did with his best friend and 15 could go off in the TARDIS. Equally for a less convoluted solution 15's prize for winning could've just been for meta-crisis to be fixed and Donna live with her memories. But I prefer the first idea.

The Doctor has a horrifying inability to think outside the box to solve problems with companions. To me, at some point the Doctor will slap their foreheads and realize that Bill and Heather could easily locate and crack open the Quantum Shade freeing Clara's soul.

My head canon is that the original plot was: Donna's memories get restored during The Star Beast, being a sort of "ticking clock" on both Donna and Rose during the entire trilogy, so when they come across the Toymaker, he makes the Doctor regenerate into 15 (the usual way) and once he gets defeated, the prize claimed is for Donna and Rose to be saved

It’s really interesting to compare these specials to S8, 9 and 10. Moffat has some undeniable flaws in his writing and made some big mistakes with consequences lacking emotional weight (Amy loosing Melody/Doctor ‘dying’) and finales that were confusing and overly complex. The show saw real criticism for this and its reputation suffered, and Moffat responded. Danny’s/Clara’s deaths were given so much emotional and narrative consequence. The finales tied up the emotional themes of the series while providing a more straight forward spectacle. He really learned from the mistakes me made. RTDs era had the similar mix of great and mixed stories all of Moffat’s run had. But personally I remember sitting in disbelief and dejection as the Master’s return story which had been built up majestically tumbled apart into garbage hand waving. The same for the end of Journey’s end. By Last of the Time Lords I was ready to give up on the show, only to be won back by Matt Smith. But the general audience loved RTD through the run, and I feel he never really had to grapple with the real criticisms of his storytelling. The fact that the specials exhibit the exact same issues (and strengths!) and I really worry that a general audience may not be as forgiving when genre telly has changed so much in the meantime.

The thing is the lack of seeding of clues suggests to me that RTD only writes one draft, because I accept that when one starts a story one doesn't necessarily know what the ending will be, but on a second draft you would know where it is supposed to be heading; you would know what information you have to sprinkle into the dialogue, what contradictions you need to erradicate et cetera. So the only way I think this step manages to get avoided is he never looks at a script after he has finished writing it. The lack of a craftsman's obsessiveness confuses me. It just seems to me he has more confidence than talent. Plus, they could have turned solving the metacrisis into the driving force of the trilogy. For example if the reason the Doctor takes Donna to the edge of the universe is not by accident because Donna spilled her coffee, but because the lower rate of entropy on the furthest ripples of the big bang also slows down the deterioration to Donna's mind, giving him time to come up with a solution [full disclosure: technobabble bs, by the way, but it does come across as vaguely credible, right? It's good enough for Doctor Who!]. And maybe he does find a solution on that distant spaceship, but it is that, and not the salt-thing that causes this doorway between dimensions to open allowing the Toymaker to cross between the planes of existence. Then that would be a proper trilogy rather than just three random episodes strung together.

I am so glad that RTDs problem with endings is something that someone else has noticed and not just me being overly nit picky about a family TV show. I'm not a big fan of RTDs writing and I always seem to prefer the episodes where he is the show runner and he lets other folks write the actual episode, just focusing on overarching plots. And I agree, Donna shouldn't have been brought back as it does completely cheapen the whole arc. And also, such a wasted opportunity for an interesting story. The second "special" just felt like filler.

I like the idea of the Meta Crisis energy being split between Donna and Rose, but HATED the "just let it go" statement. One of two things could have happened. 1. The Meta Crisis energy still needs to be released. The Doctor now has a solution to remove the energy or knows where to go. It could be Galifrey (although the timelords are gone, the lab equipment might not all be destroyed) or one of the other places the Doctor went to during 11, 12, or 13's run (on screen or off screen). It could be the stuff of the next two episodes. Then at the end 15 splits from 14 and Donna and 14 still settle down with her family. 2. By splitting the Meta Crisis energy between two humans (two hearts), Donna and Rose are fine. Donna and 14 are involved in the other two stories, and when 15 splits from 14, 14 and Donna still settle down with her family.

If Donna could have just released the Doctor-Donna WHY DID SHE NOT DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Your idea about the metacrisis being a ticking time bomb through the trilogy of specials is good. Donna even has a line in The Giggle. When she's figuring out the giggle and music, she says "I know I've only got minutes to live." That line always stood out as she wasn't under any immediate threat to her life.

For me the problem is the missed potential that getting rid of it in episode 1 was. Even if we kept the plot mostly the same I think that the metacrisis being resolved in ep2 and that causing the Toymaker to be able to enter reality would've been more interesting. Have the salt game (still not sure how that allowed the Toymaker into reality) combined with the energy of the metacrisis be what let the Toymaker in

I kept thinking what if Donna ended up giving the energy back to the Doctor in the 3rd special as a way to help kick start his regeneration. That way it saves her as well as helps out the Doctor.

15:54 I can actually think of atleast two ways for it to have worked. 1 where she gets rid of it in the first special and the other being how she gets rid of it in the third. First one could have been that the doctor found a way to distribute said energy back against his own time stream. specifically in between the David tennant incarnations and that it was like a circuit board needing to be completed. Thus the need for their old face needing to return to complete the action. Two. The doctor found away to recombine the meta crisis back into himself similar to how he took the heart of the tardis energy back except without the kissing. This could have also be the reason the doctor bi-regeneratead as the energy having been gone so long and even passed down could have put an unforeseen fold into the doctor's thought of solution.

Just imagine if after defeating the Toymaker the Doctor has to choose his Prize and chooses to save Donna with the 15th Doctor choosing to banish the Toymaker from Earth. The consiquence being the 14th doesn't have a 2nd Tardis happier to give up his old life to stay with his friend

The idea of the MetaCrisis being split between Rose and her mother Donna was a smart work around to the problem of Donna dying if she remembered, but “Let it go” really just felt a bit lazy. I feel like there was a bunch of different ways they could have resolved the Doctor-Donna thing.. but all things considered, I still enjoyed the episode overall.

When I saw Donna and Rose "let it go" at the end of The Star Beast, I was confused. In Journey's End, it was said that Donna had to forget about the Doctor to survive, but then she and Rose were able to remember the Doctor without dieing.

What if Donna thought of a way to discharge the regeneration energy into The Tardis, triggering the wild adventure rather than the coffee? Rose could be there too but still in the Tardis when it flies off in WBY

I actually thought splitting the energy because Donna had a child was a clever idea. The "just let it go" thing with the random misandry... not so much.

I think that they could try to extend this storyline until The Giggle, then 14th sacrifice his regeneration to save his best friend

If the theme is "let it go", Donna could well have done all that, saved the day, and then died, we're going into a whole new era, time to let companions from RTD1 go too

the inclusion of the Meta-Crisis in the Star Beast felt like a prime case of Deus ex machina

This whole episode was an insult to the audience, it was what made me decide once and for all that the show is dead and it's never coming back. What an absolutely detestable, vomit inducing piece of shit

This video is spot on! Series 4 was my favourite series, so this resolution was almost insulting. I didn’t have an issue with the metacrises being passed down to Rose, that made sense, but the what follows and how it’s executed was poor. I now can’t rewatch my favourite series and enjoy that tragic ending which showcased some excellent acting, writing, directing and score without thinking about how it gets undone so messily in the 60th

7:14 I think you misunderstood that scene. Here RTD criticised the Moffat's love for bittersweet endings, as Ponds, Clara and Bill are only "technically" not dead. But IMO Davies got quite the opposite problem: obsession with "happily-ever-afters" and he wasn't quite happy that 10th and Donna didn't got theirs at the end of his run.

2 points: 1. What was the plan before Ecclestone was let go? Would the bad wolf time vortex have been hand waved away without any consequences like in the star beast? 2. I agree they should have kept the metacrisis going throughout the 3 specials. The doctor could have reabsorbed the metacrisis to save donna which could have triggered the bigeneration. They could have had Donna work out this solution using the doctor's memories. That would have been way more naratively satisfying and it would have been a nice call back to parting of the ways.

I was so excited for the 60th. Couldn’t believe how disappointing it was. Wild Blue Yonder was decent but the others were terrible in my opinion. Totally not worth bringing back Tennant and Tate and ruining Donna’s perfect ending. It was always going to be difficult to do justice to bringing back Donna, and really it probably should never have happened, shame they didn’t even try.

I agree with your closing remarks about the 60th specials. - It stunned me that the meta crisis wasn’t a 3 episode long arc too due to how the marketing made it seem - I was disappointed that there wasn’t a proper explanation for why the face of the 10th returned (along with the clothes changing) - I was also disappointed that the Toymaker didn’t have at least a 2 part episode due to how heavily he was featured in the marketing (especially with how quickly the 2nd & 3rd games between the Doctor & Toymaker were played) The specials were still enjoyable but I’d probably only go back to watch the 2nd episode again

A cynic might argue the ending of The Star Beast had indeed been pre-determined as a means of belittling the male Doctor. How could *he* ever understand the marvels of Woman Magic? Never mind that the Doctor always retains the memories and experiences of previous incarnations, female ones included. Overall it was a poor resolution to a fair to good episode but not one worthy of the billing as a "60th Anniversary Special."

No. You said it yourself, not everyone gets a happy ending, and that was what was GOOD about how Donna's story had ended. Well, not everyone gets a massive dramatic ending, either. Donna just letting go of the metacrisis energy is not bad because YOU wanted a big dramatic twist. The problem isnt the story, it's the reader.

So I think having the Metacrisis slowed because part of it being passed down to Rose would have been great, then having Rose go with The Doctor and Donna while now questioning if her being Trans was due to the Metacrisis energy or truly herself would leave room for development. In Wild Blue Yonder those aliens not being able to copy Rose at all removing that doubt show that the energy doesn't change who you are and both The Doctor and Donna knowing this, but also realing as a young person Rose needed to be able to come to that herself. I know if I suddenly found out there was thus alien energy that had been manifesting itself out of my subconscious my entire life I would certainly question how much of me was actually me and feel like a storyline like that would be a good one for any young person to see. Then finally in The giggle Rose being there to see the human costs of The Doctors life, both in how dangerous it can be staying with him and dangers that find him and come looking for him would have been great. In the climax of the special when the Toymaker has hit The Doctor with the UNIT weapon, the regeneration is unstable prompting Donna and Rose to try funneling the Metacrisis energy into The Doctor causing the bigeneration, and the special could continue on as it did. I feel that could have given the three specials a more consistent overall story arc, Rose could have been a proper companion with real development, and not feel lazy at all in wrapping up Donna's story.

It could easily have been that the reward for beating the toymaker was to cure donna from the metacrisis, or even more dramatic, have it be a choice between saving Donna and banishing the toymaker, and donna makes the choice to sacrifice herself in order to do the right thing

I touched upon this in my own review but you explained it an awful lot better than I did. The only thing I'd add is that episode rather irritatingly implies that Donna could have just 'let the metacrisis go' in Journey's End, and the only reason the Doctor erased her memories instead was - due to sexism - he didn't think letting it go was an option. That's at least part of why the "male-presenting time lord" line wound me up so much. Although, to be fair, listening to women had not been invented in 2008, so it was an easy mistake for the Doctor to make.

What got me is the fact that Donna was a woman the whole time, she could have said to 10, it's ok, you don't need to wipe my mind, I'm a woman I can just 'let it go'. Or even 13, as a woman, could have realised that was the solution, flown the tardis straight to Donna and fixed it! I can't describe how angry I was when they said the whole 'Male Presenting ' thing. It was so disrespectful to, not just The Doctor, but David Tennant too. All this, men are weak and stupid, women are the ones to save the day bs is driving me mad. They need to stop the whole Girl Boss trope right now. (FYI, I am a woman).

I still think Ruby is gonna be the daughter of Rose and the original meta crisis doctor that they made a point to say only had one heart and was human… And I think it’s gonna be like either their dimension is dangerous or someone’s after her or something like that, or maybe that she NEEDS to be in a dif dimension bc her father is barely a real person… so that is why they need to put her in roses original timeline before she ever met the doctor (which she would’ve met the doctor a year later almost to the day of ruby’s being found)… It just fits too perfectly… She even looks like she could be their daughter lol They even had a walk around the tardis, the way rose did when she first saw it…

i love and respect all non binary and trans people, but the lines "binary" "non-binary" was so damn funny to me lmao

The one thing I really didn’t like was how careless and silly the Doctor was being about his identity. I understand he sort of HAD to but he was being real alien like before all the action: mentioning having 2 hearts, letting Donna see the sonic screwdriver and not remembering his cover up (being a friend of Neyrs)

RTD saw Moffat undercutting tragic companion endings and took notes

They could have had the Meta Crisis looming in the background and then had it have something to do with the Doctors bigeneration. They easily could have the exact same regeneration scene where Donna holds the Doctors hand, only have Rose there instead of Mel. As the Doctor regenerates, it triggers the Meta Crisis energy to keave both their bodies and forces the Doctor to split. This solves two issues. One, why the Doctor bigenerates and Two, gets rid of the meta crais in a way that the Doctor wouldnt have known about before. The only issue is that it would mean having The Doctor Donna around during the other 2 specials which would change how they played out. However, we could have the Doctor apply a surpressor of some kind while he tries tomfind a solution. Its all made up science anyway, they could literally do anything they want.

Sure, the male-presenting Time Lord thing is silly given that he was literally a woman a matter of hours ago, but the real problem I have with it is that it is furthering a very harmful stereotype about men not being able to express or let go of emotions. The fact is that there are a lot of men and boys who struggle with that, they need to be told it’s ok, that letting things go can be difficult but it is possible to move on. This episode seemed to be saying ‘letting things go is super easy for us, shame you can’t, sucks to be you, haha’ which is such a toxic message. On the other hand, having the Doctor struggling to accept he needs to seek help and take time out to deal with stuff at the end of The Giggle was so healthy, a great message, it was just such a shame that in this context that seems to be painted as failure. Maybe if RTD wanted them to just let it go he could have had Donna begging to keep the Time Lord knowledge while The Doctor and Rose convince her to let it go (The Doctor having subconsciously figured out some way in the mean time to let go of the Time Lord bit keeping her memories of him, or whatever technobabble is needed). This would have wonderfully mirrored the ending of The Giggle where Donna and 15 are convincing 14 to let go of being The Doctor for a bit. It would also have made the letting it go feel earned.

Not to mention that the second episode (despite it being so focused on 14 and Donna in a bottle-ish episode, and the monsters are literally replicating them) gives Donna almost nothing of substance to do, and she's near-sidelined in the third episode. Action and consequence is an issue across the board, what used to compensate for the deus ex machines were genuinely built personal relationships. I still can't believe how much the second episode DOESNT build on how Donna and 14's new relationship only for the third ep to handwave that they're that close still and spend indeterminate amount of time together as 14 never let's the tardis go and never dies. When its all said and done, a bunch of stuff happened but there was no sacrifice or genuine difficulty.

Its funny that Davies calls out Moffats companions for having some way of surviving, when his companions have the same thing, if not worse, at least Moffats companions do die in a way where the doctor truely suffers, whereas you have Davies' companions: Rose: not only does she have no reprecussions for the Badwolf incident, but also gets saved last minute by her dad (which is fine on its own), and then later finds another way back AND gets her own doctor to love. Martha: just randomly gets over the doctor and moves on (and dont get me started on TLOTTL) And now what happened with Donna

Perhaps an alternate and more earned explanation to curing the metacrisis could be that over the past 1000+ years of the doctors life, they managed to think of a way to cure it as it was always a lingering guilt they felt. Similair to the 'same software different case' scene in the 50th, or in Spiderman NWH where tobey had a long time to think of a cure for green goblin.

14:30 The changing of clothes thing... I just watched The Space Museum for the first time this week. They begin the episode frozen in the same costumes they were wearing in The Crusades and then a while later unfreeze but now in the costumes that they usually wear. Ian and Barbara notice and seek an explanation, but The Doctor doesn't seem to care and admonishes them for fussing about it, even though it does seem to be symptomatic of a timeslip that means they are experiencing events that haven't happened yet. The Doctor's apparent (or performative) lack of curiosity suggests to me that he doesn't want to admit that the TARDIS has done something he doesn't yet understand, and he waves it away with "all this fussing about a change of clothes. Why that is in the past now!" That needs to be sampled as a soundbite regarding this issue! Just for the comic value.

Completely agree, except, I like the idea the meta crisis can be diluted through a bloodline, and there is a precedent. Have the meta crisis be a thing throughout the specials then have cues like have the captain of the ship in the wild blue yonder be a descendent of Donna and give her the idea of finding other ancestors. Then when the toymaker talks about the jigsaw of the Doctor's life another cue to use the TARDIS to pinpoint Donna's ancestral line and seed the meta crisis through it. The DoctorDonna side though corrupts the telepathic circuits and causes the Doctor to cross and collide with his own incarnations pitting them at different times against the Toymaker United and thrashing him at his own games. The collisions though weaken The Doctor and the nexus of his 10th and 14th incarnations stretch the blinovitch limitation to breaking point resulting in the 15th Doctor being wrenched from his future regeneration backwards to meet the fourteenth and slow him down figuratively and physically as the TARDIS careers out of control. The Tardises split and they find themselves side by side facing the toymaker. Best of 15? They day. The game? SNAP! the reality smashing nature of these two incarnations banishes the toymaker whence he came. 15 says goodbye to his past and says, hey the universe, I got it. Why not put your feet up for a bit. We deserve it. And off he goes into adventures in time and space

So now that the Metacrisis energy is expelled. It is now free to roam everywhere. That means, in some future storyline, the Metacrisis energy, could turn up again, in some random way. Say one of the Doctor's foes gets a dose, or he/she meets a random person, who has these special abilities that are just unexplainable... Until Toward the end of this future storyline, the Doctor finds out it has all got to do with the 10th Doctor's Metacrisis Energy... Now that would make a fantastic story, but again though the end of which, could seem somewhat disappointing, as the story plot could just centre around this Metacrisis Energy, and it could go anywhere infect anyone, and dissipate again...until it turns up again later...who knows how, or where.

I like your idea of the metacrisis' "return" looming over all three specials. And maybe the solution to it being that after The Toymaker is defeated,Tennant has to reabsorb the extra regeneration energy (the regen energy itself could, maybe, have something to do with The Toymaker's defeat, although I'm not convinced about that...), which actually _causes_ the bigeneration I can't be the first to suggest that, can I? If I am, I suspect it means that it's a rubbish idea - LOL...

14:00 Oh yes and thanks for reminding me how frustrating it was to wait through all three specials for RTD to address these elephants in the room regarding the clothes change and face etc only for it to amount to nothing. So we're stuck with his real world explanation but never get an in-universe one. Double frustrating when its staring us in the face as to an obvious option - to make the Toymaker a trilogy (where he maybe doesn't appear but his influences are felt) - that his presence disrupted the usual flow of a regeneration and that he somehow engineered it that 14 would have 10s face and arrange for him to meet Donna as part of some grander game to torment and test the Doctor - Donna would get her memories back but if the Doctor lost she would burn and die, if he wins, she lives! I'm not a writer but even I can see the obvious narrative tool to use; use the powers of the Toymaker to link the three episodes together and have it explain the unexplained. Tut tut Russell. 🙄🙄

I love the part about Rose inheriting the Metacrisis. It provides a neat solution that doesn't squander the ending of Journeys End, because it literally wouldn’t have been possible back then.

I do wonder if they had to significantly reconfigure the story of the three specials on short notice with Bernard Cribbins’s passing. If so, that could explain why a lot of The Star Beast doesn’t quite feel like it works together.

I think if they had it be that the doctor had been thinking about how to fix it for years but it was too dangerous to even try but now she has a kid and it's passed down it'd allow the doctor with the help of Donna and Rose enough time to fix it. I know it's flimsy but still better I think

On the contrary, I want MORE 10th doctors! 3 isn't enough! But on a serious note: RTD has never been able to make good resolutions to cliffhangers. Like ever. They are always resolved in a few seconds after being hyped up for a long time. RTD has ALWAYS been terrible at ending stories. Rose was trapped in an alternate dimension.. until she wasn't. The Doctor was trapped at the end of the universe, until he wasn't. I'd also argue that this was resolved somewhat decently. Since the metacrisis was CAUSED by a type of merging of time lord and human DNA which made a new 10th doctor. So further procreation would cause it to be even more diluted. Ironically the metacrisis resolution was one of the only things that was resolved OK I thought.

The solution needed to happen, the form it took wasn't great but it'll do. That said, I wasn't a fan of the first and third special all that much. Felt a bit too try-hard but also kinda bland somehow? The show has and will continue to change, but from what I've seen, I'm not feeling any kind of return to RTD era feels despite him showrunning again. I think, though it pains me to say this, that all these years post Tennant liking the show less and less as it went along, its just, not for me anymore. I didn't even watch the new Doctor, I just, wasn't feeling it. I didn't even watch more than like 2 Chibnall episodes. Complaining about DW is a whole industry online and I get people have a vested interested in summoning things to say and people arguing but for me, I'm just gona move-on with my life. Nothing needs saying. Chibnall was terrible, Moffat just got worse as it went, RTD will be peak DW for me, and that'll be that. There's just... other shows, other things to care about.

I've personally had to decide the clothes changing was also the Toymaker's doing, in order to maintain my sanity 😫😫

I hope it doesn't make me one of those fake fans but I still absolutely love the specials. It has a few eye rolling moments but I have a blast with them. Like I do with everything to do with Doctor Who. And if I get hate for this, I humbly apologize. But I do understand your reasons for being dissatisfied with it. I personally felt the same with Avengers Endgame a few months after it came out but I just don't get the same insulted feeling with this new RTD era of Doctor Who.

I like that Donna's daughter Rose is a part of the Metacrisis solution. Actually, I kinda love that part. But, just letting go of the Metacrisis? That's was a bit too easy, for me. Don't get me wrong. I wanted Donna back, desperately. But again, it's way too easy. I would have prefered the Doctor to find another way to save Donna. Maybe 12 stealing something in Gallifrey during the Heaven Sent/Hell Bent debacle, maybe subconsciously, like with his 12th face, thinking of Donna as he does so. Or, even better, getting the pieces of the puzzle during her time trapped in the Matrix as Thirteen and taking something with her as she leaves Gallifrey, not really knowing why, just that it's somehow important. Then, Thirteen regenerates into Fourteen and with the new/old face, memories of Donna, of course never quite buried, rise to the surface and he feels the timelines revolving around her again, drawing him back to her. Of course, he's terrified of harming her by letting her remember... so he instead puzzles over the - previously avoided - Matrix memories...and notices something. (Maybe Tecteun's methods to extract the Regeneration Energy from his child self?) Suddenly full of hope, he gets to work, but resolves to not do it unless Donna actually begins to remember since it's dangerous. Then, he meets Donna again and her daughter. Immediately, he notices that Rose is different and realizes eventually that she shares the metacris with Donna and that that makes things more feasible. He decides to involve Wilf and Shaun, even Sylvia...and of course Donna then hears something she shouldn't and, realizing it's all about her and Rose, she demands to sit in on the planning session and actually gices the Doctor the final clue to pull it off. It's still dangerous and she almost dies in the end, but she survives. As does Rose. I like how you said the Metacrisis and saving Donna should have been handled (well, the part where you described how Donna gaining her memories back AND living could have been handled). ...as a side note... as much as I loved Clara and sobbed at her death, her ending up with her own Tardis and Ashildr/Me in her last seconds before death really did cheapen her end for me. I would have preferred Twelve and Clara realizing she needed to go back (maybe because her body started breaking down), hugging it out and Clara asking him to be there in the end. It would have made Clara's death even more impactful in the end, because the episode would have teased the possibility that Clara might live after all and continue travelling with the Doctor. Whereas Donna gaining her memories back and living doesn't cheapen the years of suffering after her end in Journey's End. And, Donna's end wasn't a full death, so there was always the option of what if there was a way to extract the Metacrisis from Donna and let her remember? Clara's death was a full death.

14:42 Eccleston only decided to leave the show so soon because his relationship with the production broke down while filming the opening episodes. So the original script of Parting of the Ways would have ended with the Doctor expelling the energy and going on more adventures like nothing happened.

One thing I think RTD and Moffat both did a lot was to give their companions bittersweet (if not outright bitter) endings. I don’t mind this point even though it was kinda poorly executed because it allows Donna to continue living happily ever after. I want them to start bringing back companions who go out on their own terms without some horrific tragedy befalling them.

I'm actually in the first camp, tragic though it was, I always liked the dramatic ending we had for Donna - maybe its my age but I prefer the emotional drama of that as opposed to a saccharine happy ending. But it was inevitable that RTD was going to undo it in the specials but it wasn't particularly satisfying in its execution. I actually thought the idea of sharing it with her offspring and therefore preventing her death was a clever idea but its all down hill from there. There are numerous suggestions in this comments section alone as to how it could have been done vastly better than 'oh well let it go' - cue a musical number from an icy Disney film 😜. At the every least, if RTD had spread it across the three specials it may have been more impactful and a way to link the 3 together more coherently. After all the hype of how dangerous it was for Donna to remember the Doctor and her adventures with him, only to spend 50 minutes completely surrounded by it and literally face to face with him, was such a let down to the stakes.

you know, I understand why it was the storyline rtd went with because I remember hearing tennant and tate asked to return, but it's just an unsatisfying and unnecessary resolution. in journey's end, donna's story is resolved in a way that was absolutely perfect for the character, and we even got an epilogue of sorts in the end of time. I feel like the dissatisfaction comes from a failure to understand that the emotional impact of donna's story comes from the tragedy that she can't remember her travels, and that if what happened simply hadn't, the story would lose its impact. however, in order to facilitate the story rtd decided to go with for the trilogy, we essentially get something that could've happened fifteen years prior which is deeply unsatisfying on a character growth level, both in terms of it happening then and now since it is poor writing, handwavy, and unsatisfying storytelling. and then we reach the actual 'letting go'. I feel like if you're going to reference events that have been shown in the show or in prominent extended media, you need to have actually engaged with the stories where those events happened. and I don't think rtd did that for thirteen, or worse, decided to ignore one of thirteen's defining character traits to essentially virtue signal at the audience, which whether or not it was done for the right reasons is simply poor writing and disrespectful towards an entire era. thirteen would not let go! it's not even that dr who was a male-presenting time lord as tenthree/fourteen, it's the assumption that because thirteen was female-presenting she would've had the emotional capacity to understand how to let it go. this isn't even getting into how, yeah, it IS incredibly lazy and a wasted opportunity to create a proper driving thread throughout the trilogy and I agree that it's basically a continuation of the moffat-era reluctance to show consequences or permanently killing off a character, so it's baffling. and I can't help but bring up how rtd used 'dr who settles down with a companion into Normal Life and lives happy domestic bliss with his own tardis' as a reward again, and I'm annoyed so much by that fact that I will make my own video discussing why it sucks for various reasons. but yeah, it's poor writing and poor storytelling that undoes an already emotionally impactful and iconic companion departure in exchange for weak, flimsy, and frankly boring and stock-standard feel-good happily ever after.

For me it frustrated me because of how everything just kept getting worse. I fully expected Toymaker to be behind it all. Why did we get a previous Doctor Back and Dona running into him? Because Toymaker forced it to happen. Why was he doing this? Because he was still annoyed at losing not to the Doctor, but one of his companions when he had beat the doctor. (Forgot if it was an episode, drama, or book.) So he took the doctor and placed Dona there to force her to get her memories back for the rematch to habe the 'best companion' someone with time lord knowledge with the doctor for a proper round 2. Instead we got let it go, Newton learning about gravity because a bucket of chicken hit his head, and BBC contract split off Disney Doctor. Yes... The Doctor split regeneration is because the BBC promised every doctor who series to be put onto Disney Plus in their contract... And made the split regeneration to have the 'Disney Doctor' and let those episodes (and future made ones) onto Disney Plus and leave the 1-13 doctors on BBC streaming services. They were crash grab episodes. That is what annoys me more than anything else. Seriously we could habe had a three parter like how the 10th doctor fought the master in his special with that great ending... And instead... We got this. It wasn't setting to high expectations... It was listening to basic story structure that. Episode 1 the problem. Episode 2 something. Episode 3 ending and solution. Yet they screwed that formula up.

I stand by my statement that Donna and her having a child should have been a better solution to the meta crisis. Like have Donna and her child do some science stuff to adjust their DNA to give Donna enought human DNA back to not die and maby give her child most of the timelord DNA. Or the other way around where Donna becomes full time lord and her child becomes full human with the worry being that the timelord brain could have killed her child so she sacrificed herself to save her child while thinking that going full time lord would kill her but it stabilised her

Yeah, honestly I was really really excited for RTD to come back, I thought Doctor Who was back. And it kinda is, but something is just off. It feels like someone trying to mimic the RTD1 era. Like someone has come in and said "Yeah, I can fo that" but didn't fully understand what Russell did back then to make it so great. Except it is Russell doing it. 😅😔

Since his return, RTD just seems to be lazy, like he doesn't have the same passion he did in his first run. That makes me feel really sad. If he didn't have the same drive and energy he did before, he shouldn't have returned. Without a showrunner with excitement, drive and energy, it'll be like having a showrunner who wants to try to write everything himself but without the skill to back it up.

The obsession with “nobody dies” that DW (Rose Tyler was the worst example of this until Donna) ruins companion exits. When you remove the stakes for someone leaving, you remove all drama and so interest. If a show has a history of bringing companions back, fans will end up always thinking “nah… they aren’t really dead, so who cares” IMHO both Rose and Donna were ruined by their returns which is really sad.

What I'm realising is that there was actually a really interesting alternative that they could have used: that being bringing the metacrisis Doctor back. They'd have to explain how he'd come back from another universe and either bring Rose back or explain why he's back without her, but this would effectively have avoided three major controversies. Instead of the Doctor regenerating back into an old face, he could have gone straight to Gatwa, the metacrisis from Donna could finally be complete by putting all the timelord energy back into the metacrisis Doctor making him a full timelord, and we wouldn't have needed to invent bigeneration to explain there being two Doctors again. Only real issue then being that it rips away Rose's happy ending to do the same thing with Donna, but maybe Rose passed away or their relationship didn't work out long term or something.

I think the DrDonna will return as intended from the boss, paring them in the first place, hence the BiGeneration. This leads 15 to have amnesia, forced to become the timeless child

Literally the ONE thing I saw everyone saying when Catherine and David were announced to come back was “they need to handle it right.” And yet when they give the most rubbish, contrived and convenient resolution to an VERY impactful character beat. Everyone just went… “Oh my god that’s amazing! So perfect! Holy shit!” From the second I saw the reaction to Star Beast. It just turned me off. Cause it sort of feels like the fans just enjoy the quality of the show no matter how bad or good. I just feel bad for Chibnall. That’s all I’m gonna say.

One thing that certainly confuses me is that Rose supposedly just knows how to “let go” of the metacrisis because of being female and all, but since Rose isn’t actually female, how is that possible? Seriously, does just looking like a woman give you “female intuition”? I’m pretty sure things don’t work like that but whatever; this just seems like RTD sacrificing story over Message.

probably the worst ending to a new who episode, only surpassed by name of the doctor, which literally didn't have one 💀. the ending and the dialogue are just... it's not even funny bad like fear her or eve of the daleks, it just hurts

As Harbo reflected on in his video essay about TV shows sabotaging themselves, it is a shame that writers have to alter their planned perfect endings when asked to write for another series, as requested by the distributors to rake in the money and ratings, but it's also a shame the time and effort isn't given to a writer to create a suitable comeback to that ending that will satisfy most people to allow the story to continue.

8:31 Excuse me? It was mentioned in the very next special because the No-Thing version of Donna had access to those memories & used them to thoroughly emotionally torture Fourteen. Also, Fourteen brought this up to Donna later, asking if she truly can't remember any of it.

If you're going to wrap it up quickly and complete the full circle without the awful 'let it go' plot, Donna , in saving the Doctor could have lost a hand... see where I'm going already... and when Rose is revealed to have shared the Metacrisis energy and Donna is alive they could put the Metacrisis energy into the chopped off hand. So Donna survives, memories intact and a hand in a jar... cue Big Finish and fan fiction!

I just cant get over the whole Davros not being in a "wheelchair" because it might be offensive. The character was literally thousands of years old, even getting to the point of growing Daleks off his own flesh. I think everyone viewed it as a life support machine keeping a literal corpse alive. The problem is that (*rolls eyes* another one saying it) Woke writing is inherently just lazy, it just feels like it has to pander and artificially insert characters of various backgrounds rather than naturally introduce them. The Davros changes, the metacrisis resolution and the doctor implying he's gay (which Tennants version of the doctor spent the remainder of his run being sad about losing rose. 11 and 12 with River Song, and 13 the hints of the romance with Yaz). Alot of things just seem to come out of nowhere, which are affecting the show. For Sci-fi to work it needs to have ground rules or it just becomes Fantasy, Dr Who has always had a lot of "Timey Wimey" for some events or a retcon. But it feels like the show is breaking too many rules without establishing how or why. Im sure if Russel T Davis were to apply his writing as it is now to a fantasy show then it would be a hit and things would be more accepted, but the way it stands - and the fact they have said they want to lean into fantasy more. I feel like the show is going to falter and slowly lose relevance.

I honestly forgot when in the episode Rose called him male-presenting. Or exactly what she was responding to. Or 14’s reaction. Or line delivery. I just know it lives rent free in all my fellow male-presenting peep’s heads. And that makes me happy.

Modern Who companions all seem to have to go out with some kind of BANG. Classic Doctor Who would've drop off Sarah Jane at the wrong bus stop or Harry would say "No thanks, Doctor, I'm going to stay where I am." It might feel good for an exiting character to have a whopper of an episode, but you see how far they have to go to untangle the mess if they want to bring back a character. Maybe the next companion(s) should vote for getting dropped off at the bus station....

he couldnt have 'wiped' her mind , if he had, theres no way she couldve remembered anything at any time, or passed anything on to rose...it wasnt a 'wipe. but some sort of memory block/lock .....

There should've been long-term consequences, and I think a potentially good one would've been for Rose Temple-Noble to regenerate and become the new hybrid/Doctor-Donna, and then deal with the consequences of that. She's already had the experience of being "in the wrong body," but now she's "the wrong species." Also would've been interesting if Rose had regenerated into a totally androgynous form, neither male nor female, to really play on the gender dynamic. Anyway, a good consequence after that would've seen Rose basically being unable to remain on Earth as an ordinary teen and being forced to adopt a new life as the Doctor's companion.

They didn't even have to do all that. They could literally have just brushed it off as her body slowly adapting to the metacrysis energy seeping out of her memories. Sure that would still be a bit lazy, but it would have been a lot less contrived.

A solution to this could have been that a new big bad stole the meta crisis from Donna, in order to become smart enough to challenge the Doctor, and to attempt to steal all of the Doctor’s regenerations. If he succeeded the villain wouldn’t face any ill effects.

Yes the biggest problem with it is not the message part of the end, but death of Eccelston's Doctor. It just makes everything RTD done before seem meaningless. Because its about what have you given me lately. With the Metacrisis new ending it makes all his writing have a bad aftertaste even when watching his first Era of of being Showrunner. It is said really. Though many people will focus on the male presenting timelord line, but they would agree the its lazy writing cause of how the Eccelston Doctor's exit. The clothes thing is also lazy writing which they would also agree on. What I love about watching your videos on Doctor Who is you always put things in the most logical and unbiased viewpoint. Its very direct and concise with no added words or sentences to takeaway from the point you are making.

Does anyone else find it weird that there are now two Roses living with two David Tennant Doctor’s?

off the star beast could have ended an "I don't wana go..." and then no not yet. And at the end when 14 get shoot then it could say to Donna I can't I'm too tired... Donna then hugs him and transfers the energy left in her. Which then could cause the bigeneration if it must. Rose should have escaped with the family...

I have an armchair psychologist theory about RTD that he has internalised a lot of negative messaging about nerds and part of that is the nerd-shaming slogans of "get a life" and "it's not real you know" and even "oh you can accept crazy thing A but not crazy thing B?!?"; in Doctor Who's case it will be "oh you can accept that a police box can be bigger on the inside than the outside and travel in time and space but you can't accept that everyone speaks English in feudal Japan?!?" and these are all anti-intellectual put downs used to deter, via shaming, sense making questions about the narratival structure of the fiction. And if anyone absolutely should be asking sense making questions about the fiction it should be the bl00dy writer!!! That is a major part of a writer's job! I know the telepathic circuits of the TARDIS do not get mentioned until Masque of Mandragora, but I bet Louis Marks had been thinking about that since he first saw Marco Polo and must have asked himself "how come they all speak English then?" Plot wrinkles only get ironed out because someone is prepared to ask "that doesn't make much sense; how can that be?" But if you absorb the social message that asking questions is "sad" and that people who aren't bothered are more cool then there is no process of reflective practice and refining of plot. Great storytellers, by that definition, are not "cool".

I am a HUGE Doctor/Donna fan and I was ALL FOR her coming back and RTD finding a way to save her. I love that the Metacrisis passed down to her children. That is perfect. Let it go? That's Elsa's line, not yours.

Ngl I love happy convenient endings these days. I feel since game of thrones the majority of people expect every single ending to be totally tragic and make them depressed for a week but the nice simple deux ex machina endings are just feel good :)