COULD regeneration ever produce a gender change?

[gastrof]

We've seen lots of jokes and parodies of the Doctor regenerating into a woman, but could this ever even happen? We don't know if regeneration is something the Time Lords GAVE themselves, or if it's something that simply COMES to certain Gallifreans. (I've been told in the past that it isn't something that happens with all of them...just those called Time Lords.)

If it's something they DESIGNED, it seems they'd have been very careful about it not causing gender changes, since that'd be sort of inconvenient for someone who's married or has children. ("Mother, why are you a man now?" "Mother had a serious fall yesterday, dear, died, and regnerated. That's all.")

Considering they offered the Master a whole new set of regenerations during THE FIVE DOCTORS, it may just BE something they invented and have considerable control over.

If it's NOT something they invented or engineered into themselves, tho', and it's something that just COMES to some (possibly leading to those Gallifreans being identified AS Time Lords?), then it might have a random element to it, not unlike other genetic "hiccups" we see in humans.

For example, there are people conceived with two X chromosomes where one malfunctions and the child developes as a male. Fully male in every way, but if their chromosomes are checked, there's no "Y" like there should be. Just two Xs.

What if such a thing is possible during regneration? (It's obvious that while they stay Gallifrean, most of their DNA gets reorganized.) Could a genetic malfunction during regeneration lead to a serious hiccup? ("Not tonight dear...I've become male.")

Has there ever been any serious discussion of this possibility? Again, I've heard the jokes and such, but never heard anything from an official source on if it'd ever happen or is viewed as possible.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Given that at least one of Romana's potential new bodies in "Destiny of the Daleks" doesn't look Time Lordish (i.e. doesn't look human), and that the ninth Doctor says in "The Parting of the Ways" that he could end up with two heads or no head at all, it seems pretty clear that Time Lords don't always look human. If they change form as radically as that, it seems unlikely they wouldn't at least occasionally change gender.

Most tie-ins have suggested that regeneration is an artifically engineered process.

The satirical alternate reality audio drama Exile suggests that Time Lords switch gender if they commit suicide.

 

[Cky]

Personally I don't think that there would ever be a female Doctor. Mainly because most of the fanbase is male, and see the Doctor in themselves (I know that sounds stupid, but I'm sure at some point you've related to the Doctor). I think that Doctor Who as a show would lose a lot of viewers if there were to ever be a female Doctor.

 

[wamdue]

I dont think its completely impossible that a regeneration could trigger a sex change, but I dont think it should happen to the Doctor.

 

[The]

Could it happen? Possibly, depending on who was writing the script.

Should it happen? I doubt it would really be damaging in any way to the franchise.

Would I personally want it to happen? No, not really. I prefer the idea of gender-set Gallifreyans. Switching gender would, as pointed out, probably cause a lot of confusion with not only the fanbase, but the fictional society as well. However, that latter point could be written around. The former, not so much...

 

[Brendan Moody]

Mainly because most of the fanbase is male, and see the Doctor in themselves

Whether we're defining "the fanbase" as the kind of people who go to conventions and post on the Internet or as the show's consistent audience of six million, I don't think this is actually true.

 

[Stevil2001]

Given the makeup of Doctor Who fandom, gender-switching would probably be all the rage!

Anyway, I don't see what would be so difficult for Time Lord society about gender-switching. If it's always happened, wouldn't it just be an accepted part of society? Your hypothetical Time Tot wouldn't be surprised by mummy becoming daddy because he'd see that sort of thing all the time.

 

[Thrall]

Female Doctor + Rose + Martha + Donna = TEH AWESOMENESS!

 

[Garth Rockett]

I can't think of anything to necessarily suggest that a regeneration couldn't produce a gender change. Personally, I'm not in favor of it because I don't think there's any reason to do it unless you want to explore the idea of changing gender on past and present relationships. I've seen that already with Star Trek's Trills, so I don't know that it could offer anything really new.

Then again, the right writers could surprise me and make it really novel and interesting. I'm just not eager to find out, because it also has a lot of potential to be really poorly done.

 

[wamdue]

Your hypothetical Time Tot wouldn't be surprised by mummy becoming daddy because he'd see that sort of thing all the time.

Time Tot

anyways the Time Tot is not the only problem here, if I was married to a Time Lady, I would not be thrilled if she regenerated into a Time Lord? Such a society would be very open about gender & sexuality.

 

[The]

Female Doctor + Rose + Martha + Donna = TEH AWESOMENESS!

I've got to say, I really enjoy the majority of your posts. You always have a knack of reminding us to focus on the important things...

anyways the Time Tot is not the only problem here, if I was married to a Time Lady, I would not be thrilled if she regenerated into a Time Lord? Such a society would be very open about gender & sexuality.

Which is a very heavy (and slightly boring) topic for Doctor Who, and not one I'm keen to see explored in the series. As Garth Rockett pointed out, been there/done that with Trek...

 

[wamdue]

^ it hasnt been explored that well, I dont recall a Trek episode where a society is truly open about sexuality, infact it is more likely to be a society where gender & sexuality are repressed.

It would work better with Captain Jack in the TARDIS, but what if the Doctor landed on a planet that despite having gender, had no idea of sexuality. Everyone kisses everyone and thinks that, that is strange.

 

[The]

What about the one where Riker gets it on with the she-male? I can't remember the name. Then, the aforementioned Trill episode on DS9. Understand, I'm not against the concept being explored or anything. I'm just not interested in the idea being explored in Doctor Who, dealing with The Doctor...

 

[wamdue]

What about the one where Riker gets it on with the she-male?

that episode proves my point about repressed society's, and Riker "gets it on" with a alien who views themsef as female, if we had seen more of the group that experiments with gender the episode might have been worth more.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

I'm certain that if lowly human famillies can deal with having transsexual children/parents/siblings/whatever that the mighty Time Lords could deal with it. I mean, the Time Lords were so high and mighty that they were written out of the series for being too boring. I imagine it would go down like this:

Mrs. TimeLord: "Love, could you take out the trash."
Mr. TimeLord: "Sure thing." (Regenerates suddenly into a female body.) "Oh, I'm a chick now!"
Mrs. Timelord: "That's nice, love, but could you still take out the trash?"

 

[Stevil2001]

Your hypothetical Time Tot wouldn't be surprised by mummy becoming daddy because he'd see that sort of thing all the time.

Time Tot

anyways the Time Tot is not the only problem here, if I was married to a Time Lady, I would not be thrilled if she regenerated into a Time Lord? Such a society would be very open about gender & sexuality.

I wish I could claim credit for "Time Tot," but I believe the term was first used in Shada by Douglas Adams.

Also, in Neverland the Doctor disparagingly calls the legend of Zagreus "tea-time terror for Time Tots".

 

[Cky]

Wait wait, he's said before that he's been a father, and a grandfather once. So really I think the Time Lords are gender specific.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Wait wait, he's said before that he's been a father, and a grandfather once. So really I think the Time Lords are gender specific.

Or that the Doctor personally has never been female. Which we already knew, really.

 

[Cky]

Well yeah true, but if I were to say I'm a father, if I had a sex change it wouldn't make me a mother. Do you get my very obscure point?

 

[The Badger]

Most tie-ins have suggested that regeneration is an artifically engineered process.

IIRC, the story 'Horror Of Fang Rock' has a bit where the Doctor and Leela discuss the Rutan's shape changing abilities. It is suggested the process is similar to Time Lord regeneration, except that the Rutan had to learn it. There is an implication that regeneration is natural to Time Lords.