Doctor Who: Do We Really Need An Explanation for the Twelfth Doctor’s Face?

Why this face? (Credit: BBC)

Nearly since the moment Peter Capaldi was announced as the Twelfth Doctor and Whovians noted that he also played Lucius Caecilius in the episode ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ and John Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth, there has been discussion on how it would be explained that the Doctor now looks exactly like two people previously featured on the show.

Or if it would be addressed at all.

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Both Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi have since hinted that they would, indeed, be exploring why and how the Doctor came to have the face of someone else, especially one so familiar to the Doctor as Caecilius. And now the recent pictures surfacing across social media of David Tennant and Russell T. Davies in Cardiff have Whovians whipped into a frenzied froth of rabid speculation. Along with the photo of the Series 9, Episode 12 script, which some are saying provides further clues that Tennant will be back as Ten later in the series, and which is thus presumed to be the episode in which this “Origin of Face” is explored, the fan guess-work on this subject has near reached critical mass.

But.

Here is my question for the Whovian masses: Why do we feel we need to have the Twelfth Doctor’s face explained?

For me personally, I have no burning need to know why the Doctor looks like Caecilius and Frobisher, I already know. Because they are both played by the same actor. It’s not like this is the first time this has happened on Doctor Who or Torchwood. Seems like it’s almost the norm, at this point. Seems like we should be good and used to it by now, right?

The brief line by Capaldi in ‘Deep Breath’ where he questions “why this face?” was the lantern for all of us. It was everyone on Doctor Who showing us that they, too, know the Twelfth Doctor looks just like Caecilius and Frobisher. It’s kind of weird, sure, but hey, get over it.

This kind of quick and simple, passing remark worked perfectly well for the other times Doctor Who took a small-part actor or actress and turned them into a much-bigger-part.

Two Gwens! (Credit: BBC)

Take Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) from Doctor Who and Torchwood, for instance, whose original appearance was as Gwyneth in ‘The Unquiet Dead’ (Doctor Who). And let’s not forget Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones, who wasn’t originally Martha at all but Adeola Oshodi in ‘Rise of the Cybermen‘/’The Age of Steel‘. Freema’s reappearance was even more significant than Eve Myles’, because she didn’t have most of her new character’s screen time on a different show. Freema appeared on Doctor Who briefly, and then returned in a big way later, on the same show.

As a companion!

The most important character next to the Doctor himself.

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Next: PAGE 2: 'Spatial Genetic Multiplicity'

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Martha and Gwen… or is it Adeola and Gwyneth? (Credit: BBC)

And, just like in ‘Deep Breath’, both Gwen and Martha’s previous look-alikes were mentioned and explained within the show in a brief, almost off-hand comment. “Spatial genetic multiplicity” was cited for Gwen and Gwyneth’s resemblance, which is, as Russell T. Davies put it, “… not familial as we understand it. There’s no blood tie. Spatial genetic multiplicity means an echo and repetition of physical traits across a time rift.” And Martha and Adeola were cousins, turns out. (Identical cousins? Er … just go with it!)

Two Marthas! credit: BBC

No one batted an eye at these explanations. They worked.

Naturally, when the Doctor showed up with someone else’s face, I assumed (as I thought most other Whovians would) that the same spatial genetic multiplicity applied even to Time Lords. And why wouldn’t it? Having multiple regenerations means the Time Lords need a lot of faces. And as they are otherwise relatively similar to humans (aside from the double hearts, too, of course), I don’t think they’d be immune to this phenomenon.

So for me, at least, I don’t feel I need an explanation of the Twelfth Doctor’s face because it’s already been explained. I fear that taking the explanation any further will just turn it into something ridiculous. When the intrepid crew of the USS Enterprise “reverse the polarity of the deflector dish” and then manage to accomplish whatever impossible goal they were trying to accomplish, we don’t ask for a deeper explanation because explaining it further would just make it obvious that “reversing the polarity of the deflector dish” is just mumbo-jumbo to begin with.

Just as “spatial genetic multiplicity” isn’t really a thing, and “identical cousins” aren’t really a thing. But they work for now because we aren’t going any deeper into it.

We can accept it at surface level, but expanding upon it will likely only lead to disaster.

Likely. But… maybe I’m completely wrong. The bright side here is the involvement of Russell T. Davies and the fact that apparently RTD has had a plan for the multiple faces of Peter Capaldi for quite some time now. This is the shining light of hope in this whole discussion, because when writers plot plots for extended lengths of time, they tend to come together in a much more coherent and believable manner than when they are devised at the last minute and scraped together from spare parts.

And then, well, there’s David Tennant. If the explanation of Twelve’s appearance brings the Tenth Doctor back, however briefly … I can’t argue against that!

Next: Second All-New Doctor Who Series 9 Trailer Released!