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Why would the Doctor be so sad when he was about to regenerate?


The 10th Doctor, when he was about to die/regenerate in the episode The End of Time, was very sad and visited most of his companions secretly. Doesn't he have all the memory of the previous incarnations?


Even if regeneration is painful, the pain will be gone afterwards and then all is fine. Why was he so sad that he needed to visit his companions?



Answer



The visits are mentioned again in the Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor (featuring the 11th Doctor as a special guest). The Doctor says to Jo (a companion of the 3rd Doctor, also making a special guest appearance):



JO: So you've been watching me? All this time?


DOCTOR: No. Because you're right. I don't look back. I can't. But the last time I was dying I looked back on all of you. Every single one. And I was so proud.




The Doctor isn't sad because he won't remember his companions, he's sad because he believes he won't see them again. The 10th Doctor was fairly unusual in that he interacted with previous companions quite regularly (even ones like Sarah Jane, from incarnations long ago). Most of the time when a companion leaves, the Doctor never sees them again (there's some discussion of this in School Reunion, when the 10th Doctor meets up with Sarah Jane).


It's natural for someone to be sad when they're farewelling a close friend - people cry at airports when friends leave for a few weeks! Even if no-one's dying, when the separation is likely to be permanent, it's painful and sad.


It's not clear exactly why the Doctor doesn't look back (especially since recent Doctors have cellphones that can call Earth), but there's probably a wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey reason. Perhaps it's just how you deal with living hundreds of years longer than most of your friends (even the Time Lord ones like Ramona) and spend only a small part of that time in the same time period as they live.


Out-of-universe, the end of the 10th Doctor also marked the change from Russell T. Davies to Steven Moffat as producer (and most common writer). Unlike the change from the 9th to 10th Doctors, the change from 10th to 11th essentially closed off most previous story lines (with the notable exception of River Song and the Weeping Angels, who Moffat introduced). For the audience, it is unlikely (but never impossible in Doctor Who!) that we'll see these characters or the 10th Doctor again, so the sadness (and 10's final "I don't want to go") is ours.


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