#tpotd

1. David Tennant is the Fourteenth Doctor because the Jodie Whittaker's Doctor regenerated into him.

2. Ncuti Gatwa is the Fourteenth Doctor because Ten3 does not count.

3. Sacha Dhawan is the Fourteenth Doctor because Jodie Whittaker's doctor regenerated into him.

4. Jodie Whittaker is the Fourteenth Doctor due to the existence of the War Doctor.

5. Peter Capaldi is the Fourteenth Doctor due to the existence of the War Doctor and the time David Tennant regenerated into himself.

6. Matt Smith is the Fourteenth Doctor due to the existence of the War Doctor, and the time David Tennant regenerated into himself, and Jo Martin’s Doctor.

7. David Tennant is the Fourteenth Doctor due to the existence of the War Doctor, and the fact that he regenerated into himself, and Jo Martin's Doctor, and the existence of TenToo.

8. TenToo is the Fourteenth Doctor for the above reasons.

9. Donna Noble is the Fourteenth Doctor for the above above reasons.

10. Both David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa's Doctors' true numbers are unknowable due to the existence of The Timeless Child.

11. Both David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa's Doctors' true numbers are unknowable due to the existence of The Timeless Child, and the uncountable amount of times The Twelfth Doctor died and was reborn in Heaven Sent.

12. Both David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa's Doctors' true numbers are unknowable due to the existence of The Timeless Child, and the uncountable amount of times The Twelfth Doctor died and was reborn in Heaven Sent, and all Doctors seen in noncanon materials are actually canon (Peter Cushing films, Scream of the Shalka, Curse of the Fatal Death, etc...)

13. Both David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa's Doctors' true numbers are unknowable for all of the above reasons and also because pseudo-Doctors such as The Valeyard and The Dream Lord are also The Doctor.

14. The above is true, but The Doctor is simply a title, and anyone who claims to be The Doctor is also The Doctor. Jackson Lake is The Doctor. Clara is The Doctor. Missy is The Doctor. Graham is The Doctor. Every actor who has played The Doctor are also The Doctor.

15. The above is true, but due to The Egg Theory everyone else is also The Doctor. We are all The Doctor.

16. None of the above is true because no Doctor after the Revival is canon.

17. None of the above is true because no Doctor after the First Doctor is canon.

18. None of the above is true because there is no Fourteenth Doctor. The number was skipped for some reason.

19. The numbering system is flawed and useless to current canon, and we should switch to identifying Doctors by their actors, as we do with The Master. (Example: Hartnell!Doctor)

20. The above is not true because we would still need to find a way to differentiate the 3 - 4 Doctors played by David Tennant.

one last sunrise 🌅

I was wondering if it was a poetry reference, because 13 has had a few of those before. It turns out it's from an interview of the writer Dennis Potter, while he was dying of cancer, describing how much more strongly he felt connected to the present

"and looking at it, instead of saying "Oh that's nice blossom" ... last week looking at it through the window when I'm writing, I see it is the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that there ever could be, and I can see it."

I just read the whole interview and god, what a thing to connect to thirteen in her last moments, what a thing for her to think of. It really ties into her desire to live in the now and not the past or future, her request to yaz, "can't we just live in the present" . It is just making me bawl my eyes out now thinking about the doctor thinking about this particular interview when regenerating, because she doesn't get a future, or really a past, she only has her now as herself, her past and future belong to someone else. Here's another bit from the interview that is making me go insane

"And we forget or tend to forget that life can only be defined in the present tense; it is is, and it is now only. I mean, as much as we would like to call back yesterday and indeed yearn to, and ache to sometimes, we can't. It's in us, but we can't actually; it's not there in front of us. However predictable tomorrow is, and unfortunately for most people, most of the time, it's too predictable, they're locked into whatever situation they're locked into ... Even so, no matter how predictable it is, there's the element of the unpredictable, of the you don't know. The only thing you know for sure is the present tense, and that nowness becomes so vivid that, almost in a perverse sort of way, I'm almost serene. You know, I can celebrate life."

Of course she went into it smiling and joking, it's now!! Her life!! She's celebrating!!

"But the nowness of everything is absolutely wondrous, and if people could see that, you know. There's no way of telling you; you have to experience it, but the glory of it, if you like, the comfort of it, the reassurance ... not that I'm interested in reassuring people - bugger that. The fact is, if you see the present tense, boy do you see it! And boy can you celebrate it"