This story blurred the line between fiction and metafiction so much that I almost felt like a character in the story myself.

On the one hand, it's impossible for me to read David Tennant's line of "You were my Doctor" to Peter Davison as anything other than a touching tribute from one actor to the other actor whom he grew up watching, but on the other, Tennant's explanation of why the Doctor has gotten younger as he's gotten older was not only a wonderfully poetic way of describing the character's arc, but also profound in how true it is in our real lives, as well.

A while ago, one of the posters on doctorwho asked why, in multi-Doctor stories, the newer incarnations of the Doctor so often seem to defer to their earlier incarnations. Yes, the metafictional reason is because the newer, younger actors are successors in the role, showing respect to their older predecessors, but in fictional terms, this seems not to make much sense, because within the reality of those stories, the more current incarnations of the Doctor actually have more seniority, and not less.

After having seen this mini-episode, I think the above interpretation might be a bit misplaced, because within the fictional reality of the stories, I no longer believe it's deference that the more current incarnations of the Doctor are showing to those who came before them, but rather, it's the need to prove to their "younger" selves that they've lived up to the aspirations they had for themselves in the future.

It'd be like meeting yourself as a child or an adolescent, and desperately wanting to prove to yourself that you grew up to be the sort of adult you had hoped you'd become.

It was great to see Davison again. Even though he wasn't "my" Doctor the way he was Tennant's (again, that would be Tom Baker), I was still fond of him for all the same reasons that Tennant expressed onscreen, and Tennant's admission of the character traits he picked up from Davison gave their scene together a beautiful sense of continuity and legacy.

I always loved that about the multi-Doctor stories - not just the passing of the torch, with the predecessors bestowing their blessings upon their successors, but also the veneration of that which had gone before, like a kooky metafictional twist on ancestor worship.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I seem to have something in my eye ...

P.S. A semi-related metafictional tangent on another multi-Doctor pairing, inspired by neadods:

Looking at it in a modern context, several regenerations later, there's actually a great explanation for the mutual antagonism between Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee's Doctors - Troughton's Doctor is obviously the Child!Doctor of the two, who's all about unashamed play, whereas Pertwee's Doctor is the Teen!Doctor of the two, doing everything he can to be cool and sophisticated, right down to getting all the trendiest gadgets, dressing in all the latest fashions (for that era, anyway), hooking up with all the prettiest girls and yearning desperately to get the hell out from under his (UNIT) "family's" supervision.

And so, Child!Doctor sees Teen!Doctor as a bit of a poser (as all teens are to an extent), while Teen!Doctor is embarrassed of how silly and unhip Child!Doctor is (which all young children are to a degree).

Cross-posted to doctorwho. Thank you, who_daily, for making me your Editor's Choice for Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007!