A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor")

[The Mirrorball Man]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

I'm not familiar with prior cloning stories in DW, but cloning would not automatically transfer or copy memories. Real cloning, of course, would merely create an embryo which is a genetic duplicate of the clone donor, but even a process that clones an adult duplicate from a mature fragment would have no source for duplicating memories.

Yeah that's not what we're talking about at all.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

I think the word "meta-crisis" is enough to handwave any questions you might have about that particular situation.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

Sure, but in any normal situation (not that anything is normal), if a Time Lord were decapitated there would be no way to copy his consciousness in the two bodies. Unless Time Lords can somehow back up their consciousness in individual cells or something.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

It seems to me that there are four causes so far:

Old Age
Enforced Regeneration
Trauma
Poison

The interesting one is poison. Obviously, regeneration must purge the body of the poison, otherwise he'd keep dying until he ran out of regenerations. So, if he were to die of a fatal, communicable, disease, the same would likely occur. Or would the new body simply be immune to the poison or disease? This could lead to an interesting situation where the Doctor contracts a disease, regenerates, and is subsequently a source of antibodies.


Suppose he died of decapitation or a severe head injury? This is a specific case of trauma, but one still has to wonder how it would effect the next regeneration. It would depend upon the specifics of the regeneration process, of course, but it's possible that the next Doctor could be retarded or at least amnesiac.

This is an interesting train of thought.

The thing is, we found out in Lets Kill Hitler, that there are poisons that WILL stop his ability to regenerate. It was only because River was willing to give him her remaining regenerations that he was able to be saved (without having to regenerate himself I might add).

True. I suppose, like injuries, some poisons are so serious that he can't bounce back.

Also, we've seen the Doctor have a body part cut off, and it grow back, so why not his head (even though I suspect that will cause him to regenerate)?

Well, it would depend on if the head grew a body or the body grew a head. If the head grows a body, no problem; if the body grows a head, it would be empty. If both happens, then the Doctor has a full-grown infant twin. It would be an interesting twist to use in a story-- maybe not with the Doctor, but with another Time Lord.

Although David Tennant's human twin was not mindless. Did they ever actually explain that?

that's something I would have expected from Jack Harkness in Torchwood, had the show continued.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

Sure, but in any normal situation (not that anything is normal), if a Time Lord were decapitated there would be no way to copy his consciousness in the two bodies. Unless Time Lords can somehow back up their consciousness in individual cells or something.

That's why time lords have a prime number of cells in every moment. No matter in how many pieces you blow them up, their body regenerates from the largest piece (if possible). It's also why they are so good at breaking encryption.

 

[SeerSGB]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

Sure, but in any normal situation (not that anything is normal), if a Time Lord were decapitated there would be no way to copy his consciousness in the two bodies. Unless Time Lords can somehow back up their consciousness in individual cells or something.

Well, just spitballing, the TARDIS use telepathic circuits. We know that Timelord minds can be downloaded into the Matrix. Blend to the two techs: perhaps a TARDIS could keep a backup copy of the Timelord's mind stored is some sort of protected archive; a mini-matrix.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

that's something I would have expected from Jack Harkness in Torchwood, had the show continued.

You're right, it would be a Torchwood kind of story.

That's why time lords have a prime number of cells in every moment. No matter in how many pieces you blow them up, their body regenerates from the largest piece (if possible). It's also why they are so good at breaking encryption.

Ah, see, this is the kind of thing I don't know about DW lore.

Well, just spitballing, the TARDIS use telepathic circuits. We know that Timelord minds can be downloaded into the Matrix. Blend to the two techs: perhaps a TARDIS could keep a backup copy of the Timelord's mind stored is some sort of protected archive; a mini-matrix.

That makes sense. Do all Time Lords have a TARDIS?

 

[Rincewiend]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

Some-one mentioned this already?

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9D-2HJMD9s[/yt]

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

I guess that settles it all.






Does the regeneration in Journey's End count towards the limit, though? Is it 507 or 508 Doctors?

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

Well, taking into account the hitherto-unknown long-haired Peace Doctor, who will be played by an aged Benedict Cumberbatch and will travel back in time to stage a 37-year sit-in protesting the Time War, and who is actually the very first Doctor, before William Hartnell, it's 506.

 

[Iamnotspock]

Re: A thought on regenerations (spoilers for "Night/Day of the Doctor"

Some-one mentioned this already?

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9D-2HJMD9s[/yt]

Russell T Davies talks about this here.