10 Doctor Who Episodes With Disturbing Implications

6. The Metacrisis Doctor's Swift Death (Journey's End)

Doctor Who Journey's End David Tennant Metacrisis Doctor
BBC Studios

The Metacrisis Doctor was an identical copy of the Tenth Doctor, only with a few key differences: he aged like a normal human, only had one heart, and couldn't regenerate.

During the conclusion of Journey's End, this substitute Doctor was left on a parallel Earth with Rose Tyler, and - as revealed in a deleted scene - a chunk of TARDIS, which, given enough time, will eventually grow into a full-sized TARDIS all on its own.

This was the last time we saw Rose and the Metacrisis Doctor, but the fact that they have a TARDIS strongly hints that they'll jet off for a series of adventures in time and space, protecting their version of Earth just as the real Doctor protects his.

Sounds quite positive, but what happens next might be significantly more downbeat. Remember how we mentioned that the Metacrisis Doctor can't regenerate? Yeah, that's a recipe for disaster.

If he's travelling the universe like his prime Earth counterpart, he's going to get into a few scrapes. But when he's shot by a Dalek or a Cyberman, he won't respawn with a new face and start over - he'll just be dead. And let's face it, since this Doctor is much more reckless than the real one... that's bound to happen sooner rather than later.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!