TennantFace is a Photoshop exploitable that pastes Scottish actor David Tennant's gaping, wide-eyed expression, snapped on the Doctor Who set, onto other images for comedic effect. Tumblr user invisibleduck kicked off the format in November 2010, and it grew into a dedicated single-topic blog that racked up hundreds of fan-submitted edits.
Origin
The source photo of David Tennant surfaced online around September 2009, first showing up in a LiveJournal picspam by user sofiej dedicated to Tennant and the Tenth Doctor[1]. The still then bounced around fan sites including Uniblog[2], SodaHead[4], and the French Doctor Who fan site Unification (translated from French)[5]. On November 30, 2010, Tumblr user invisibleduck posted the first Photoshopped version and reposted it to a new single-topic blog called TennantFace[3]. Invisibleduck submitted a definition to Urban Dictionary the following summer, on June 19, 2011[6].
- Platform: Tumblr
- Creator: invisibleduck (Tumblr)
- Date: 2010
Overview
Edits typically drop Tennant's shocked, mouth-agape face onto celebrities, animals, cartoon characters, or whatever the editor thinks would look funnier with the Tenth Doctor's rubbery expression stapled on it[3]. The source still comes from behind-the-scenes footage of Doctor Who, and while the photographer was never confirmed, the image was already circulating in fan communities by September 2009[1]. Quality ranges from quick face-swap jobs to more careful blends where the eyebrows and jawline get color-matched to the recipient image. The TennantFace format lived on Tumblr as a reblog gag rather than crossing over to mainstream meme circulation.
How to Use
Making a TennantFace typically means grabbing the source still, isolating Tennant's face with its distinctive open-mouthed stare, and dropping it onto a target image with enough color-matching to blend. Common targets include album covers, movie stills, animals, and other memes, with posts commonly going up under the Tumblr hashtag #tennantface[7].
Frequently Asked Questions
What is TennantFace?
TennantFace is an exploitable Photoshop meme that pastes David Tennant's wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression, taken on the Doctor Who set, onto other images for comedic effect[6].
Where did TennantFace come from?
The source photo circulated in Doctor Who fan communities as early as September 2009[1], and Tumblr user invisibleduck posted the first Photoshopped edit on November 30, 2010, launching the TennantFace blog[3].
What does TennantFace mean?
The term refers to the specific gaping, wide-eyed still of Scottish actor David Tennant used as a face-swap template in Photoshop edits[6].
How do you use TennantFace?
Editors cut out Tennant's face from the source still and composite it onto a target image, then typically share the result on Tumblr under the #tennantface tag[7].
Is TennantFace still popular?
TennantFace was most active on Tumblr in the early 2010s, when the TennantFace blog cleared 800 posts in its first three years[3]; it's a classic Tumblr-era meme rather than a currently trending format.
