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Jenny (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
Jenny, portrayed by Georgia Moffett
, is a fictional character
in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who
. She first appeared in the episode "The Doctor's Daughter
", originally broadcast 10 May 2008. Jenny is the daughter of the tenth incarnation
of series protagonist the Doctor
(David Tennant
), a product of altered DNA extracted from a tissue sample from his hand. Jenny was introduced by writer Stephen Greenhorn
.
Moffett herself is the real-life daughter of the actor Peter Davison
who portrayed the Doctor's fifth incarnation
from 1981 to 1984. She was cast as Jenny after auditioning for a more minor part in the episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp
", and impressing the series producers. Following the broadcast of "The Doctor's Daughter", the character was generally well-received by reviewers, with many speculating that Jenny will either return to Doctor Who, or be granted her own spin-off
show in the future – something which Moffett has also expressed an interest in.
is drawn to the planet Messaline, his DNA
is used by warring human soldiers on the planet in a Progenation Machine, a device that instantly creates a fully grown and educated new person, and the Doctor recognises her as his "daughter". Born a fighter, with combat skills and tactics automatically programmed, she is initially ideologically at odds with the Doctor's pacifism, but after learning she has two hearts and is connected to the near-extinct race of Time Lord
s, she begins to pattern her behaviour on that of her father.
Named "Jenny" by the Doctor's companion
Donna
(Catherine Tate
) as she is a "generated anomaly", she is initially received with ambivalence by the Doctor, whom she reminds of the loss of his previous family. He eventually warms to her, however, and welcomes her aboard his crew as a companion. Just as peace appears to have been restored between the planet's warring factions, Jenny is shot and apparently killed. The Doctor cradles her dying form in his arms, and is visibly distraught when she does not revive or regenerate
from the wound. In the episode's closing scenes after the Doctor leaves, Jenny revives, takes a small spaceship, and takes off into the unknown to become an explorer like her father.
In the accompanying Doctor Who Confidential
episode, David Tennant
(who portrays the Doctor
) refers to her as "another member of that race, or something closely akin to it." In the episode itself the Doctor says to Jenny, "You're an echo, that's all. A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, shared history, shared suffering", but later accepts her as his daughter, saying "You're going to be more than great; you're going to be amazing". Jenny's 'death' is shown during "Journey's End
" when the Doctor recalls those who have died while helping him, as he did not know she revived.
that the Doctor
once had a family—his first incarnation
having travelled with his granddaughter, Susan
—this fact has been seldom referenced in the show. As executive producer Russell T Davies stated, when discussing the creation of Jenny as the Doctor's newest family member: "In the current series once or twice we've had fleeting little mentions, he said to Rose in the TARDIS
in "Fear Her
" that he'd been a father once. And now obviously this story, it's not a natural, biological daughter, you could argue, but this really brings him face to face with fatherhood."
Regarding the creation of the character Jenny, series producer Phil Collinson
explained, "It came out of a desire to keep pushing David
, and keep taking him in new directions, and keep challenging him, really. To suddenly find himself with a member of family is kind of one of the biggest challenges you could give him, so I'm chuffed we did it." Tennant has agreed that giving the character a daughter was "an interesting, emotional, dramatic place for the character to go," while the episode's writer, Stephen Greenhorn
, has spoken of the manner in which creating Jenny allowed the show to broach "aspects of the Doctor's past life that we don't often get to discuss, about his previous family that he had and lost in the Time War
." Steven Moffat
suggested that the character lives in the episode's conclusion.
Before being cast as Jenny, Georgia Moffett
had previously auditioned for a smaller role in Doctor Who episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp
". Phil Collinson revealed that: "As soon as we saw her, we realised there was a much bigger and better part later on in the series... so Georgia kindly waited until the time was right." Coverage of her casting focused on the fact that Moffett is the daughter of Peter Davison
, who played the Doctor's fifth incarnation
—as the Radio Times
stated: "a Doctor's daughter is playing the Doctor's Daughter". Moffett has described how, after Davison filmed the 2007 Children in Need
segment "Time Crash
", in which the Fifth Doctor briefly returned to meet the Tenth Doctor
, her father called her to inform her: "Right, now it's your go." Discussing Moffett's casting as Jenny, both actors relayed their amusement at the character's first line being "Hello, Dad," with Davison describing his own daughter playing the Doctor's daughter as "kind of surreal". He has denied that there was any nepotism
involved in the casting process, explaining, "She got it off her own bat. I would love to get another part in Doctor Who, I'm certainly not going to get her one first." Moffett has praised her character and the episode in which she appeared, asserting that: "If I'd had to write my ideal part in an episode of Doctor Who it would have been that script." She has also expressed a desire to return to the role, calling on the show's producers to "Bring Jenny back. Please!"
", the character of Jenny undergoes marked change. Moffett explained: "She starts off not being particularly likeable but by the end she's learned a lot from her experiences and from The Doctor. She becomes something that he's very proud of." Initially, Jenny is portrayed as an "action hero" character, described by series producer Phil Collinson
as: "a warrior. [...] She's born to fight. She's born to use weapons, she's born to karate chop and kick her feet", and by episode writer Stephen Greenhorn
as: "a kind of manufactured soldier, with a kinda pre-programming towards aggression and war." Shortly after her creation within the episode, the character explains that she was born knowing just "How to fight, and how to die."
Learning from the Doctor, Jenny begins to adapt her ideology. Moffett explained that her character: "begins to become much more like the Doctor, and much more like a Time Lady," describing the episode as "a journey," over the course of which Jenny learns to use her fighting skills "in the right way," developing morals as she grows on a personal level. Executive producer Russell T Davies has discussed the Doctor's
initial reluctance to accept Jenny as his daughter, explaining, "It's awful for him in that this daughter is everything he wouldn't be; she's a soldier, she's got military protocols downloaded into her brain, she can fight, and she wants to fight, that's the important thing, that she thinks killing is fine." Greenhorn asserts that as the character develops, "You can see the Doctorishness in her. And you can see that actually, the reason he would warm to that is because he begins to recognise there are elements in her that are strong in him as well." Concluding the character's development over the course of the episode, Moffett surmised, "By the end of it, they've both realised that they want to be a little bit more like the other one, and admire that in each other."
Lizo Mzimba
opines that Moffett's appearance as Jenny is "superb", while Doctor Who producer Phil Collinson
has hailed the introduction of Jenny as the Doctor's daughter: "One of the best pre-title sequences we've ever had." Despite reviewing the episode "The Doctor's Daughter" poorly as a whole, Digital Spy
Ben Rawson-Jones argues that Jenny "deserved a stronger narrative context for her debut", and that Georgia Moffett portrayed the character with "the right spirit, arrogance and compassion that befits a sprog of the Time Lord."
Ian Berriman, writing for SFX
, is somewhat more critical of the character, stating: "we're not given much time to get to know Jenny (and you always suspect she's a redshirt
), so her "death" is not as affecting as it could have been." The Stage
Mark Wright is similarly critical of the character and her conception, writing: "I'll admit to feeling cheated that she isn't the real thing and it's a bit of techno-gubbins malarkey to give the Doctor something to emote against. I don't quite buy the bond that springs up between the Doctor and Georgia Moffett's Jenny (a name she is given rather quickly). She is a genetically engineered soldier with military tactics and skills programmed in, and knows what to do with a gun, much to the Doctor's horror. But why does he care, she isn't really his daughter?"
Anderson, Berriman, Wright, and The Times
Andrew Billen all speculate that the character is likely to return to the series in the future, with Anderson assessing that the episode's ending left "vast scope" for the return of the character in her own spin-off
: "Moffett herself has the obvious credentials due to her real-life dad, and she's certainly young, attractive and athletic enough to cross quite a few barriers in viewer demographics." Billen adds: "If Jenny [...] does not spin off into, at least, her own comic books, I shall be surprised."
Georges Jeanty, artist of the comic series Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
, felt that the character of Jenny was clearly an homage to Joss Whedon
's influential character Buffy Summers
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
), from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Jeanty returned the favour by modelling Buffy's outfit in Season Eight #32 after Jenny's outfit in "The Doctor's Daughter".
Georgia Moffett
Georgia Elizabeth Moffett is a British actress. Moffett was born in West London, the daughter of actors Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson....
, is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. She first appeared in the episode "The Doctor's Daughter
The Doctor's Daughter
"The Doctor's Daughter" is the sixth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 10 May 2008.- Synopsis :...
", originally broadcast 10 May 2008. Jenny is the daughter of the tenth incarnation
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
of series protagonist the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
(David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
), a product of altered DNA extracted from a tissue sample from his hand. Jenny was introduced by writer Stephen Greenhorn
Stephen Greenhorn
Stephen Greenhorn is a Scottish playwright, television writer and novelist.He is the creator of the BBC Scotland soap opera River City....
.
Moffett herself is the real-life daughter of the actor Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
who portrayed the Doctor's fifth incarnation
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
from 1981 to 1984. She was cast as Jenny after auditioning for a more minor part in the episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp
The Unicorn and the Wasp
"The Unicorn and the Wasp" is the 7th episode in the revised fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was aired by BBC One on 17 May 2008 at 19:00. Perhaps due to its later broadcast, it received an overnight audience rating of 7.7 million, making it the...
", and impressing the series producers. Following the broadcast of "The Doctor's Daughter", the character was generally well-received by reviewers, with many speculating that Jenny will either return to Doctor Who, or be granted her own spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
show in the future – something which Moffett has also expressed an interest in.
Appearance
When the Doctor's time travelling TARDISTARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
is drawn to the planet Messaline, his DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
is used by warring human soldiers on the planet in a Progenation Machine, a device that instantly creates a fully grown and educated new person, and the Doctor recognises her as his "daughter". Born a fighter, with combat skills and tactics automatically programmed, she is initially ideologically at odds with the Doctor's pacifism, but after learning she has two hearts and is connected to the near-extinct race of Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
s, she begins to pattern her behaviour on that of her father.
Named "Jenny" by the Doctor's companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
Donna
Donna Noble
Donna Noble is a fictional character played by Catherine Tate in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A secretary from Chiswick, London, she is a companion of the Tenth Doctor, appearing in one scene at the end of the final episode of the 2006 series,...
(Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate
Catherine Tate is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and four BAFTA Awards...
) as she is a "generated anomaly", she is initially received with ambivalence by the Doctor, whom she reminds of the loss of his previous family. He eventually warms to her, however, and welcomes her aboard his crew as a companion. Just as peace appears to have been restored between the planet's warring factions, Jenny is shot and apparently killed. The Doctor cradles her dying form in his arms, and is visibly distraught when she does not revive or regenerate
Regeneration (Doctor Who)
Regeneration, in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, is a biological ability exhibited by Time Lords, a race of fictional humanoids originating on the planet Gallifrey. This process allows a Time Lord who is old or mortally wounded to undergo a transformation into a new...
from the wound. In the episode's closing scenes after the Doctor leaves, Jenny revives, takes a small spaceship, and takes off into the unknown to become an explorer like her father.
In the accompanying Doctor Who Confidential
Doctor Who Confidential
Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary series created by the British Broadcasting Corporation to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly...
episode, David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
(who portrays the Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
) refers to her as "another member of that race, or something closely akin to it." In the episode itself the Doctor says to Jenny, "You're an echo, that's all. A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, shared history, shared suffering", but later accepts her as his daughter, saying "You're going to be more than great; you're going to be amazing". Jenny's 'death' is shown during "Journey's End
Journey's End (Doctor Who)
"Journey's End" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane...
" when the Doctor recalls those who have died while helping him, as he did not know she revived.
Character creation
While it is well established within Doctor WhoDoctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
that the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
once had a family—his first incarnation
First Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...
having travelled with his granddaughter, Susan
Susan Foreman
Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter and original companion of the First Doctor, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season...
—this fact has been seldom referenced in the show. As executive producer Russell T Davies stated, when discussing the creation of Jenny as the Doctor's newest family member: "In the current series once or twice we've had fleeting little mentions, he said to Rose in the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
in "Fear Her
Fear Her
"Fear Her" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 24 June 2006.The episode takes part on the day of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, almost exclusively on a fictitious cul-de-sac named after the British athlete...
" that he'd been a father once. And now obviously this story, it's not a natural, biological daughter, you could argue, but this really brings him face to face with fatherhood."
Regarding the creation of the character Jenny, series producer Phil Collinson
Phil Collinson
Philip "Phil" Collinson is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as Springhill and Emmerdale, later becoming the producer of Peak Practice, Doctor Who and Coronation...
explained, "It came out of a desire to keep pushing David
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
, and keep taking him in new directions, and keep challenging him, really. To suddenly find himself with a member of family is kind of one of the biggest challenges you could give him, so I'm chuffed we did it." Tennant has agreed that giving the character a daughter was "an interesting, emotional, dramatic place for the character to go," while the episode's writer, Stephen Greenhorn
Stephen Greenhorn
Stephen Greenhorn is a Scottish playwright, television writer and novelist.He is the creator of the BBC Scotland soap opera River City....
, has spoken of the manner in which creating Jenny allowed the show to broach "aspects of the Doctor's past life that we don't often get to discuss, about his previous family that he had and lost in the Time War
Time War (Doctor Who)
The Time War, more specifically called The Last Great Time War, is a conflict within the fictional universe of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
." Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat is a Scottish television writer and producer.Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang. His first sitcom, Joking Apart, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling was based upon the development of his...
suggested that the character lives in the episode's conclusion.
Casting
Georgia Moffett
Georgia Elizabeth Moffett is a British actress. Moffett was born in West London, the daughter of actors Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson....
had previously auditioned for a smaller role in Doctor Who episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp
The Unicorn and the Wasp
"The Unicorn and the Wasp" is the 7th episode in the revised fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was aired by BBC One on 17 May 2008 at 19:00. Perhaps due to its later broadcast, it received an overnight audience rating of 7.7 million, making it the...
". Phil Collinson revealed that: "As soon as we saw her, we realised there was a much bigger and better part later on in the series... so Georgia kindly waited until the time was right." Coverage of her casting focused on the fact that Moffett is the daughter of Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
, who played the Doctor's fifth incarnation
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
—as the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
stated: "a Doctor's daughter is playing the Doctor's Daughter". Moffett has described how, after Davison filmed the 2007 Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
segment "Time Crash
Time Crash
"Time Crash" is a mini-episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on 16 November 2007, as part of the BBC One telethon for the children's charity Children in Need...
", in which the Fifth Doctor briefly returned to meet the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
, her father called her to inform her: "Right, now it's your go." Discussing Moffett's casting as Jenny, both actors relayed their amusement at the character's first line being "Hello, Dad," with Davison describing his own daughter playing the Doctor's daughter as "kind of surreal". He has denied that there was any nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
involved in the casting process, explaining, "She got it off her own bat. I would love to get another part in Doctor Who, I'm certainly not going to get her one first." Moffett has praised her character and the episode in which she appeared, asserting that: "If I'd had to write my ideal part in an episode of Doctor Who it would have been that script." She has also expressed a desire to return to the role, calling on the show's producers to "Bring Jenny back. Please!"
Characteristics
Over the course of the episode "The Doctor's DaughterThe Doctor's Daughter
"The Doctor's Daughter" is the sixth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 10 May 2008.- Synopsis :...
", the character of Jenny undergoes marked change. Moffett explained: "She starts off not being particularly likeable but by the end she's learned a lot from her experiences and from The Doctor. She becomes something that he's very proud of." Initially, Jenny is portrayed as an "action hero" character, described by series producer Phil Collinson
Phil Collinson
Philip "Phil" Collinson is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as Springhill and Emmerdale, later becoming the producer of Peak Practice, Doctor Who and Coronation...
as: "a warrior. [...] She's born to fight. She's born to use weapons, she's born to karate chop and kick her feet", and by episode writer Stephen Greenhorn
Stephen Greenhorn
Stephen Greenhorn is a Scottish playwright, television writer and novelist.He is the creator of the BBC Scotland soap opera River City....
as: "a kind of manufactured soldier, with a kinda pre-programming towards aggression and war." Shortly after her creation within the episode, the character explains that she was born knowing just "How to fight, and how to die."
Learning from the Doctor, Jenny begins to adapt her ideology. Moffett explained that her character: "begins to become much more like the Doctor, and much more like a Time Lady," describing the episode as "a journey," over the course of which Jenny learns to use her fighting skills "in the right way," developing morals as she grows on a personal level. Executive producer Russell T Davies has discussed the Doctor's
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
initial reluctance to accept Jenny as his daughter, explaining, "It's awful for him in that this daughter is everything he wouldn't be; she's a soldier, she's got military protocols downloaded into her brain, she can fight, and she wants to fight, that's the important thing, that she thinks killing is fine." Greenhorn asserts that as the character develops, "You can see the Doctorishness in her. And you can see that actually, the reason he would warm to that is because he begins to recognise there are elements in her that are strong in him as well." Concluding the character's development over the course of the episode, Moffett surmised, "By the end of it, they've both realised that they want to be a little bit more like the other one, and admire that in each other."
Reception
Martin Anderson of Den of Geek! has suggested that the creation of a daughter character for the Doctor was a move designed to lay to rest decades long speculation that the Doctor himself might one day regenerate into a female form. He describes the act of reviving the character at the end of the episode as "a pretty cheap trick", but asserts that; "this is outshone by the big surprise at Jenny's career-choice at the conclusion of The Doctor's Daughter. Wow." NewsroundNewsround
Newsround is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972, and was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically at children...
Lizo Mzimba
Lizo Mzimba
Lizo Mzimba is the Entertainment Correspondent for BBC News.-Early life:He attended the independent Solihull School and The University of Birmingham...
opines that Moffett's appearance as Jenny is "superb", while Doctor Who producer Phil Collinson
Phil Collinson
Philip "Phil" Collinson is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as Springhill and Emmerdale, later becoming the producer of Peak Practice, Doctor Who and Coronation...
has hailed the introduction of Jenny as the Doctor's daughter: "One of the best pre-title sequences we've ever had." Despite reviewing the episode "The Doctor's Daughter" poorly as a whole, Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
Ben Rawson-Jones argues that Jenny "deserved a stronger narrative context for her debut", and that Georgia Moffett portrayed the character with "the right spirit, arrogance and compassion that befits a sprog of the Time Lord."
Ian Berriman, writing for SFX
SFX magazine
SFX is a British magazine covering the topics of science fiction and fantasy.-Description:SFX magazine is published every four weeks by Future Publishing and was founded in 1995. The magazine covers topics in the genres of popular science fiction, fantasy and horror, within the media of films,...
, is somewhat more critical of the character, stating: "we're not given much time to get to know Jenny (and you always suspect she's a redshirt
Redshirt (character)
A "redshirt" is a stock character in fiction who dies soon after being introduced. The term originates with fans of Star Trek , from the red shirts worn by Starfleet security officers who frequently die during episodes.-Star Trek:...
), so her "death" is not as affecting as it could have been." The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
Mark Wright is similarly critical of the character and her conception, writing: "I'll admit to feeling cheated that she isn't the real thing and it's a bit of techno-gubbins malarkey to give the Doctor something to emote against. I don't quite buy the bond that springs up between the Doctor and Georgia Moffett's Jenny (a name she is given rather quickly). She is a genetically engineered soldier with military tactics and skills programmed in, and knows what to do with a gun, much to the Doctor's horror. But why does he care, she isn't really his daughter?"
Anderson, Berriman, Wright, and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
Andrew Billen all speculate that the character is likely to return to the series in the future, with Anderson assessing that the episode's ending left "vast scope" for the return of the character in her own spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
: "Moffett herself has the obvious credentials due to her real-life dad, and she's certainly young, attractive and athletic enough to cross quite a few barriers in viewer demographics." Billen adds: "If Jenny [...] does not spin off into, at least, her own comic books, I shall be surprised."
Georges Jeanty, artist of the comic series Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...
, felt that the character of Jenny was clearly an homage to Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...
's influential character Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers is a fictional character from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in the television series and subsequent comic book of the same name...
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
), from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Jeanty returned the favour by modelling Buffy's outfit in Season Eight #32 after Jenny's outfit in "The Doctor's Daughter".