Who is the longest incarnation?

[The]

I'm not talking longest actor tenure. I'm saying that taking into account all of the televised minutia concerning age and all of that with The Doctor, do we know which incarnation has lasted him the longest length of time? Strictly from his linear, in-universe perspective, which body has he had the longest?

Anyone more versed in the lore have any appropriate guess?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I actually did number cracking on this a couple of years and posted my results here. I'll see if the thread is still there...

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Sadly, the thread is gone, but two sequel threads I did are still around: Time periods on Earth and Locations.

Unfortunately, the original Excel file that I had all of the data in was lost when my hard drive died last year, but I think the screen capture I made of the results is still up on my mom's web server. I'll see if I can dig it up.


Okay, I found it and the one I did for the companions:

It should be noted that all four are out of date. I don't think any of them have season 4 (but I could be wrong) and they definitely don't have "The Next Doctor" and "Planet of the Dead."

 

[wamdue]

Strictly from his linear, in-universe perspective, which body has he had the longest?

forgetting about counting episode, he was probaly the 1st Doctor for the longest, as he died of old age, so we assume he was born and grown up all in that 1st regeneration, there is no way any of the other regenerations died of old age.

im not sure how long a normal Time Lord could last, but im sure its at least 500 years

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm not talking longest actor tenure. I'm saying that taking into account all of the televised minutia concerning age and all of that with The Doctor, do we know which incarnation has lasted him the longest length of time? Strictly from his linear, in-universe perspective, which body has he had the longest?

Either 8 or 1.

All of these dates figure forward from the Doctor's birth.

Assuming no pre-Hartnell incarnations, he lived to be roughly 450 years old. (The second Doctor says that he's 450 in "Tomb of the Cybermen," and that's a year or two after the regeneration.)

The fourth Doctor is about 750, so there's 300 years between "Tomb of the Cybermen" and "Pyramids of Mars."

Another 150 years pass between "Pyramids of Mars" (fourth Doctor) and "Revelation of the Daleks" (sixth Doctor). "Trial of a Time Lord" reveals that the sixth Doctor lives for another fifty years.

The seventh Doctor is 953 in "Time and the Rani."

The eighth Doctor is 1012 in Vampire Science, and at that point he's already been three years into that incarnation. He's 1200 in The Dying Days (though everyone believes that book takes place during Vampire Science). The eighth Doctor spends 120 years living alone on Earth when he's about 1020. He then sleeps another 100 years in The Sleep of Reason, and that takes us near to the end of the EDAs.

Now, here's where things get tricky. If The Infinity Doctors stars the eighth Doctor on a reborn Gallifrey, that's several hundred years after The Gallifrey Chronicles; the Time Lords are well aware that the Doctor traveled the cosmos and then returned home. In that case, the eighth Doctor lives to be at least 2000 years old, giving the eighth Doctor a lifespan of at least a millennium. (Which is neat; the Doctor with the least amount of screentime has the longest life.)

The ninth Doctor says he's 900, which is clearly incorrect. I actually use this to support the Infinity Doctors theory; the Doctor started counting his life forward from Gallifrey's rebirth. The reason is simple; it doesn't make him look "special." As far as the new Time Lords are concerned, he's the same age as they are.

We have no idea how long the ninth Doctor existed, but he's been around a while; he's the one that fought the Time War.

The tenth Doctor? His incarnation is between 12 and 15 years old by the time of "Journey's End." (The Infinite Quest itself eats up eight years of solo adventuring.)

The eighth Doctor probably has the longest lifespan, followed by the first (again, assuming no pre-Hartnell incarnations), then the fourth, second, sixth, seventh, fifth.

The one thing we can be sure of? The third, in all likelihood, had the shortest lifespan.

 

[Chaos Descending]

EDIT: @ wamdue

I would imagine that a normal Time Lord would live quite possibly for many tens of thousands of years. I always assumed that due to his adventurous nature, the Doctor has used up his regenerations much, much faster than his peers.

My guess is that the first Doctor lasted the longest, quite possibly up to 450 years, since the 2nd Doctor was that old, and he had overlapping human companions (who did not seem to age much) since the time in which he was the 1st Doctor

 

[Chaos Descending]

We have no idea how long the ninth Doctor existed, but he's been around a while; he's the one that fought the Time War.

I disagree with this.

His actions in Rose indicate that he's most likely very recently regenerated.

Either that or he's not been around any mirrors in several years.

 

[wamdue]

We have no idea how long the ninth Doctor existed, but he's been around a while; he's the one that fought the Time War.

hang on how do we know that, I have posted my theory about the Time War before, but the 9th Doctor was only around for the end of the Time War, he ended it, how long it was between him meeting Rose & the Time is anybodys guess, but in theory he only lived for a few years.

now to distract from the main point of this thread, but how old is Jack now?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Looked at his ears in a mirror during rose.

With the master when he was 90 but still just a kid.

I was never sure if the first body didn't have serious flaws which were fixed in subsequent regenerations.

 

[FalTorPan]

Of course, a speculative answer to this question depends in large part on which of the Doctor's adventures one takes under consideration. If one goes strictly by the original TV series, the 1996 telefilm, and the current TV series, then one might arrive at different conclusions than the ones upthread.

 

[FalTorPan]

Looked at his ears in a mirror during rose.

With the master when he was 90 but still just a kid.

The first Romana, who was a young 140 when we met her, considered the Doctor to be old at about 750.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

We have no idea how long the ninth Doctor existed, but he's been around a while; he's the one that fought the Time War.

I disagree with this.

His actions in Rose indicate that he's most likely very recently regenerated.

Either that or he's not been around any mirrors in several years.

You can disagree with it, but you'd be wrong.

The common fan theory is that the eighth Doctor fought the Time War and that he regenerated either in its climax or shortly thereafter, leading into "Rose."

This, however, isn't workable for two reasons.

First, it's not what RTD intended.

Second, "The Next Doctor" makes that chain of events impossible.

Let's examine both.

First, RTD's authorial intent. As is now well-known, the eight-to-nine regeneration was supposed to happen in Doctor Who Magazine's "The Flood." It was planned and scripted and approved. The reason it didn't happen is that DWM wasn't allowed to tell the post-regeneration story. McGann would become Eccleston, but the story of what happened after wouldn't be told. RTD wanted the ninth Doctor to only appear with Rose; plans for the ninth Doctor to appear with Destrii were scrapped.

To quote RTD himself:

That new story will, sadly -- look, I'm sorry! -- have to find a way to park Destrii. I'm sure you will come back to her. And as he finally regenerates, beautifully coinciding with our transmission date, the Ninth Doctor sails off.

And wham, next month, there he is with Rose. We skipped a war. We'll come back to it...

RTD was well aware of what he was doing to the comics. Likewise, he was well aware that sometime after the regeneration, the Time War happened. If you read the "Flood Barriers" essay in The Flood, the conclusion is inescapable -- the Time War happened to the ninth Doctor, not the eighth.

Second, "The Next Doctor."

The Cybermen received the Infostamps from the Daleks in the Void. These Daleks were placed there during the Time War as a trojan horse ("Doomsday"). As the Infostamp had an image of the ninth Doctor, it stands to reason that the pre-Time War (or Time War-era) Daleks had encountered the ninth Doctor. At the very least, the ninth Doctor existed and was known to the Daleks during the time during the Time War when the Cult of Skaro Daleks were placed into the Void.

Either way you cut it -- authorial intent, the evidence of "The Next Doctor" -- the ninth Doctor had an existence prior to "Rose." And he fought the Time War.

 

[Chaos Descending]

BTW FalTorPan, I really like your Dark Star avatar!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

now to distract from the main point of this thread, but how old is Jack now?

He's about 2,300.

 

[Chaos Descending]

How funny that Jack is possibly actually older than the Doctor!

 

[wamdue]

The Cybermen received the Infostamps from the Daleks in the Void. These Daleks were placed there during the Time War as a trojan horse ("Doomsday"). As the Infostamp had an image of the ninth Doctor, it stands to reason that the pre-Time War (or Time War-era) Daleks had encountered the ninth Doctor. At the very least, the ninth Doctor existed and was known to the Daleks during the time during the Time War when the Cult of Skaro Daleks were placed into the Void.

Either way you cut it -- authorial intent, the evidence of "The Next Doctor" -- the ninth Doctor had an existence prior to "Rose." And he fought the Time War.

that is not true the Daleks could have gotten the information from Torchwood, in fact if I was Dalek Sec leader of the Cult of Skaro alone in the sphere, I would want to know where I was in history when I got out, and part of that would be theDoctor, and Torchwood would have that information.

and Captain Jack

well we dont know his age when he first meets the Doctor, and is left behind on Satellite 5, he could be as old as he looks in human years but somehow I think hes older than that.

moving on first he is sent back to 1869, so if we assume the year is 2010 (when Children of the Earth is set) that bit of time makes him 141 years old, never mind being sent back to 27AD and that whole thing, giving him another 1983 years (even if he didnt "live" those years) , so in terms of years he is at least 2200 years old.

2124 between Parting of The Ways, and Children of the Earth, and rounded up to 2200 as we dont know how old he was in The Empty Child.

You think the Doctor is old? nothing compared to Jack

 

[wamdue]

How funny that Jack is possibly actually older than the Doctor!

you post whilst I was working it all out.

ooh I forgot "the year that never was" that was another year for Jack but really at this stage, what is a year amongst friends, making it 2125 years for Jack between PotW and CotE

 

[Peacemaker]

We have no idea how long the ninth Doctor existed, but he's been around a while; he's the one that fought the Time War.

I disagree with this.

His actions in Rose indicate that he's most likely very recently regenerated.

Either that or he's not been around any mirrors in several years.

You can disagree with it, but you'd be wrong.

The common fan theory is that the eighth Doctor fought the Time War and that he regenerated either in its climax or shortly thereafter, leading into "Rose."

This, however, isn't workable for two reasons.

First, it's not what RTD intended.

Second, "The Next Doctor" makes that chain of events impossible.

Let's examine both.

First, RTD's authorial intent. As is now well-known, the eight-to-nine regeneration was supposed to happen in Doctor Who Magazine's "The Flood." It was planned and scripted and approved. The reason it didn't happen is that DWM wasn't allowed to tell the post-regeneration story. McGann would become Eccleston, but the story of what happened after wouldn't be told. RTD wanted the ninth Doctor to only appear with Rose; plans for the ninth Doctor to appear with Destrii were scrapped.

To quote RTD himself:

That new story will, sadly -- look, I'm sorry! -- have to find a way to park Destrii. I'm sure you will come back to her. And as he finally regenerates, beautifully coinciding with our transmission date, the Ninth Doctor sails off.

And wham, next month, there he is with Rose. We skipped a war. We'll come back to it...

RTD was well aware of what he was doing to the comics. Likewise, he was well aware that sometime after the regeneration, the Time War happened. If you read the "Flood Barriers" essay in The Flood, the conclusion is inescapable -- the Time War happened to the ninth Doctor, not the eighth.

Second, "The Next Doctor."

The Cybermen received the Infostamps from the Daleks in the Void. These Daleks were placed there during the Time War as a trojan horse ("Doomsday"). As the Infostamp had an image of the ninth Doctor, it stands to reason that the pre-Time War (or Time War-era) Daleks had encountered the ninth Doctor. At the very least, the ninth Doctor existed and was known to the Daleks during the time during the Time War when the Cult of Skaro Daleks were placed into the Void.

Either way you cut it -- authorial intent, the evidence of "The Next Doctor" -- the ninth Doctor had an existence prior to "Rose." And he fought the Time War.

Which also would explain Clive's photos of the 9th Doctor...but it still leaves that bit with the mirror out of place, as that's very clearly an homage to Robot and the 4th Doctor's first look at himself...unless what happened was something along the lines of the 9th Doctor having fairly long hair and a completely different look during the Time War...after the Time War, he gave himself the very severe, dark look we saw in Series 1.

 

[Chaos Descending]

^^^ Clive's photos of the 9th Doctor could have come from any point in the 9th Doctor's life, time travel and all that.

 

[captcalhoun]

how do you explain that the Ninth Doctor was 'born in war' then allyn?