The Doctor is immortal. It's Official!

[TimeLord]

Ok it's more or less official but it's 99% now.

The Doctor WILL be able to go past his 12th regeneration. But the fact won't be explained in an episode. But in a passing comment in the Sarah Jane Adventures.

Here is the news section.

What was only a teaser last week has suddenly become fact. Doctor Who's regeneration limit of 12, long a part of the Time Lord's canon, is going away. And, strangely, it won't be treated as a big deal, either, as the whole matter will be resolved in a simple passing comment.

Not only that, but the BBC will deal with the situation NOT in a Doctor Who episode, but rather in its spinoff series The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring Elisabeth Sladen as former Doctor companion Sarah Jane Smith, in the two-part episode titled Death of the Doctor, which will air in the U.K. Oct. 25 and 26.

According to the Guardian:

While the Doctor and Clyde Langer, played by Daniel Anthony, are in the process of outwitting spooky vulture undertakers the Shansheeth, Clyde asks how many times he can regenerate. The Doctor indicates that there is no limit. The action continues.
While perhaps the manner in which the event will happen is a tad underwhelming (OK, maybe a lot underwhelming), it's also a strange move on the part of the BBC to have decided to deal with this very important event in Doctor Who lore in a spinoff for children, on the CBBC no less, rather than on the main show itself?or at the very least on the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special.​

And because SJA no longer airs in North America (though we hope this may change), it also means that many Doctor Who fans will not be able to see the famous episode and the moment in question until the DVD comes out.

As well, some won't be happy that changing something so fundamental as Time Lords having a limit of 12 regenerations will only be mentioned in passing instead of getting a more significant scene.

But with a show as successful as Doctor Who, they needed to address the issue sooner rather than later, and we all knew that it would lead to some sort of explanation or event that would definitely have the Doctor regenerating more than 12 times?we are, after all, up to Matt Smith's 11th Doctor already, with only two more regenerations left for the Time Lord!

That likelihood must have seemed far away back in 1976, when the powers that be came up with this storyline in The Deadly Assassin, with Tom Baker's fourth Doctor, but now it's no longer viable, since the Doctor is heading toward the end of his "life" and the show is giving every indication that it plans to go on long after the 13th Doctor.

So what do you think about this new rule? And are you happy or disappointed by the way in which it will happen?

I am pleased they rid themselves on the limit, but hoped it would be through a cool cross-dimensional shift that affects the Doctors biological make-up and not a passing comment.

Link [http://blastr.com/2010/10/its-official-doctor-who-i.php]

The Doctor can still "die" if killed before regeneration. So the show can still be ended if needed.

 

[tomtom94]

Well, the BBC were hardly likely to pen themselves in with such an arbitrary limit on an immensely popular series.

Still seems a bit of a silly way to deal with it, but it'll increase the popularity of SJA no doubt.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I have an angry.

I shall calm down and write later.

With sharpened words.

 

[smithy_2045]

I hope it'd be explained better at a later point in the main series.

 

[TimeLord]

I have an angry.

I shall calm down and write later.

With sharpened words.

It is taking all my energy NOT to write harsh swear words all over the OP.

 

[The Rockerfly]

How on earth did the time lords die out then?

There must be a massive over population on the original time lord planet

 

[Rhymenoceros]

I think it's fair enough that they have decided to let him regenerate more than 12 times. Can you blame them? It's one of their most popular shows, however I think they could have done it better than in a small comment in a spin-off show. I think it would also have been better had they given a decent reason for it "Oh because I am the last all the dead Timelords remaining regeneration have passed on to me" or something.
Something better though. I'd be worried if that was the best the writers could come up with!

 

[TimeLord]

How on earth did the time lords die out then?

There must be a massive over population on the original time lord planet

Remember, if a Time Lord dies before he can regenerate. He is dead for good.

 

[knight steel]

I have an angry.

I shall calm down and write later.

With sharpened words.

It is taking all my energy NOT to write harsh swear words all over the OP.

Given in to your anger my apprentice strike this news down and you become more powerful than ever before,now while the time is ripe attack whahahahaha.

P.S:Hows life,can you give me cake plez ^_^.

 

[smithy_2045]

How on earth did the time lords die out then?

There must be a massive over population on the original time lord planet

If I got the right impression from the last episode with Tennant as the Doctor, which I might not have but whatever, the TimeLords aren't actually dead, rather just locked away in an alternate dimension.

 

[Jedamethis]

Hey, if they give a good enough excuse, then it should be all right.

 

[Flames66]

I think they just need to stop going through doctors so fast.

 

[EgoDeusEst]

As long as the current Doctor dies as fast as possible and the scriptwriters for season 5 regenerate, I'm happy.

 

[The Rockerfly]

How on earth did the time lords die out then?

There must be a massive over population on the original time lord planet

If I got the right impression from the last episode with Tennant as the Doctor, which I might not have but whatever, the TimeLords aren't actually dead, rather just locked away in an alternate dimension.

True, I completely forgot about this

Remember, if a Time Lord dies before he can regenerate. He is dead for good.

True but I get the feeling this is only to draw out the program

 

[DarkLordofDevon]

I doubt the truth of this. I think the Guardian may have a bad source.

Steven Moffat has been trying very hard to restore the old Time Lord lore, I doubt he'd change such a vital plot point in a spin off show. And I doubt he'd change it at all. I hear he's going to try very hard to bring back Galifrey into the canon, and considering he already rejuvinated the Daleks (though some people are not so happy about the new look), getting rid of the maximum regenerations is more Russel T's style.

 

[TimeLord]

How on earth did the time lords die out then?

There must be a massive over population on the original time lord planet

If I got the right impression from the last episode with Tennant as the Doctor, which I might not have but whatever, the TimeLords aren't actually dead, rather just locked away in an alternate dimension.

The Time Lords are dead from the Doctor's point of view. Part of his Time Stream involves killing them. But from the Time Lords, point of view, they are not dead yet. It's like Shakespeare being dead now. But 200 years ago (or whatever) he was alive to his point of view.

Normally (if the Time Lords were any other species), going into the Doctor's future after they died and while they were still alive would cause a temporal paradox. This is worked around in two ways.

1. They are Time Lords. It is an established fact that they can control the laws of time to their will.

2. The Time Lock gives them a fixed point in time from which to leave the lock. Placing the 4 beats in the Master as a child gives them a starting point within the Time Lock, and because the Master ran from the Time War before it's end. He was not included in the Time Lock and thus was outside it. This gives the Time Lords a "finish point" so to speak. The only reason they didn't end up in any point of the Masters life is the events on Earth in 2010 when the Master turns all humans into "Masters" and were able to broadcast their point in time using the Masters device and the White Point Star.

tl;dr The Time Lords are dead from our point of view.

 

[Phenakist]

I see no problems with that, they've managed to keep it fresh so far (mostly), so long as there are new writers we shall have Doctor Who.

 

[little.09]

i always thought it was a law imposed by timelords on themselves rather than a genetic fact

 

[TimeLord]

i always thought it was a law imposed by timelords on themselves rather than a genetic fact

Nope, in the old series. The Master gets the end of his 13th regeneration and comes near death (his body begins to break down and die) and steals new regeneration for himself using the Eye of Harmony (yes?).