Regenerations...

[Volpone]

Yeah. I apologize if I've said it before, but I'll say it again. First off, I haven't seen as much nuWho as I'd like--an episode or two of Eccleston and a few Tennant episodes. Then maybe a half doze of the first Smith episodes. What I saw of Eccleston ("The Empty Child" was one), I liked. What I saw of Tennant ("Idiot's Lantern" was one), I didn't. It seemed like the episodes boiled down to him running around frantically and waving his sonic screwdriver in the air until everything was magically fixed and then he could stand around in the rain and look moody.

I saw the last story with him and hated it so much I thought I'd actually given up on "Dr. Who," but I figured they'd be showing Smith's first story next so I stuck around and gave it a shot and the magic was back. It was like I was 7 again, frantically pedalling my Huffy Evel Knievel BMX bike home from school to see the TARDIS shoot down the time tunnel and that classic diamond logo.

But I digress. First half of "Snakedance" was tonight, and for the most part it was pretty good. Janet Fielding was really good in it. The bit where she's hypnotized and is six years old again so her Australian accent comes out more and she has little girl mannerisms--just really fun to watch. Very convincing. And she pulls off the Mara persona very well too. Really good work.

 

[Emissary of the Prophets]

I think Turn Left Ten drowning because Donna wasn't there, was a case of dying over and over again until his Regenerations ran out.

It is actually stated in the episode itself that the Doctor died before he could regenerate. The Saxon Master was able to prevent his regeneration and die a natural, or as natural as you can get for a Timelord, death.

There is no specific need for a Timelord to have to be in their TARDIS to regenerate. Remember, the TARDIS is the Doctor's home as well as his transport & oldest friend and, like the rest of us when we are ill, he would rather return home. The Third and Fourth Doctor's didn't regenerate in the TARDIS.

The Second Doctor does state that his renewal is part of the TARDIS, but this was still early in the show's run and like a lot of things in Doctor Who can easily be over written.

 

[Iamnotspock]

It is actually stated in the episode itself that the Doctor died before he could regenerate.

It was supposed by a UNIT officer, but Occam's Razor - and probably authorial intent - would have it be the correct assumption. Presumably he saw the body.

 

[Ithekro]

It is assumed he still looked like the 10th Doctor when he died.

 

[Iamnotspock]

It is assumed he still looked like the 10th Doctor when he died.

Indeed.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I don't see why it can't work either way. The Doctor can die before regenerating, and the implication in the Third's regeneration is that, had he not had the "push" from his mentor, he may not have regenerated into the Fourth.

 

[Iamnotspock]

I don't see why it can't work either way. The Doctor can die before regenerating, and the implication in the Third's regeneration is that, had he not had the "push" from his mentor, he may not have regenerated into the Fourth.

Plus, the Fifth was unsure as to whether he'd regenerate, and it seems the Seventh almost didn't, in both cases due to massive amounts of a foreign substance in their system during death.

 

[Emissary of the Prophets]

Eight needed the help of The Sisterhood of Karn to regenerate. From the dialogue he was minutes away from death before he took the potion. Even though Timelords have the ability to regenerate there is no guarantee that it will happen. As the Ninth Doctor states: You don't know what you are going to get.
So, far the Doctor has taken on 2 faces that have belonged to other characters. Romana did it too.
As a story device, it works brilliantly to cover the change of actor...looking at it closely, isn't so easy.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

You're both right, of course.

Which brings an interesting fact... that the Doctor needed help to regenerate on more than one occasion. The Third, Eighth and of course Eleventh needed Time Lord intervention (or similar to it, like the Sisterhood of Karn) in order to regenerate, and the Seventh almost didn't regenerate. The OldWho Doctors sure had a difficulty regenerating, didn't they?

And the Second's regeneration wasn't even wilful. Come to think of it, only the First Doctor had a relative "peaceful" regeneration, as did the Ninth and Tenth.

 

[Ithekro]

Romana choice of her new face was specifcally. The Doctor never has that we are aware. A choice of face aside from the options he was given by the Time Lords as the Second Doctor. He never seemingly recognized that his face as the Sixth was like Maxil. There was a fan made comic once where both appear together and various beings make note of the likeness, even as a plot point. Yet neither the Doctor nor Maxil notice. The Doctor even finds it proposterous when Peri mentions it. Though he does use it against the Daleks, without realizing it.

The 12th Doctor clearly knows his face from someplace, but cannot place it.

The 11th Doctor clearly recognized the face of the Fourth Doctor even though it had aged considerably by the time he saw it on the Curator. He never forgets a face (except when he does...sort of) Though the Curator does say the Doctor might revisit a few old favorite in later years.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

So, far the Doctor has taken on 2 faces that have belonged to other characters.

Actually four that we know of:

The first Doctor had the same face as the Abbot of Amboise (The Massacre)

The second Doctor had the same face as Ramón Salamander (The Enemy Of The World)

The sixth Doctor had the same face as Maxil (Arc Of Infinity)

The twelfth Doctor has the same face as Lobus Caecilius and his (potential) descendant John Frobisher ("The Fires Of Pompeii"; Torchwood: Children Of Earth)

It seems to me the Curator was implied to be a future incarnation bearing the same face as the fourth, so that would be a fifth instance, but it was left a bit ambiguous.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

It will be interesting to revisit this thread at the end of September, when the circumnstances that led the Sixth Doctor's regeneration will finally be revealed.

 

[Iamnotspock]

It will be interesting to revisit this thread at the end of September, when the circumnstances that led the Sixth Doctor's regeneration will finally be revealed.

And after Series 9 where, according to Moffat in this month's DWM, the issue of the Doctor looking like Frobisher and Caecilius will be addressed.

 

[Emissary of the Prophets]

So, far the Doctor has taken on 2 faces that have belonged to other characters.

Actually four that we know of:

The first Doctor had the same face as the Abbot of Amboise (The Massacre)

The second Doctor had the same face as Ramón Salamander (The Enemy Of The World)

The sixth Doctor had the same face as Maxil (Arc Of Infinity)

The twelfth Doctor has the same face as Lobus Caecilius and his (potential) descendant John Frobisher ("The Fires Of Pompeii"; Torchwood: Children Of Earth)

It seems to me the Curator was implied to be a future incarnation bearing the same face as the fourth, so that would be a fifth instance, but it was left a bit ambiguous.

The Doctor only met Maxil and Caecilius before regeneration. The first Doctor shared the same face as the Abbot. The second Doctor shared the same face as Salamander. Neither of these characters were encountered by the Doctor on screen prior to those episodes/stories. The same with 12 and John Frobisher. The Doctor is never actually seen interacting with Frobisher. As none of these meetings are seen on screen their effect on canon is negligible As for the Curator...we may never know.

 

[Ithekro]

The Doctor did wonder where the faces he gets come from.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

It will be interesting to revisit this thread at the end of September, when the circumnstances that led the Sixth Doctor's regeneration will finally be revealed.

And after Series 9 where, according to Moffat in this month's DWM, the issue of the Doctor looking like Frobisher and Caecilius will be addressed.

Yep.