I am new to the Doctor Who universe, so please forgive me if this is a stupid question. I just finished watching the Christmas Invasion where Ten tells Harriet Jones that he is the same man with a new face. Why is The Doctor hesitant to regenerate in TEOT if he is the same person with a just a different appearance?
Question about The Doctor's Regeneration
- Thread starter TyberiusDeAngelo
- Start date
Because he's not - 9 said as much before he regenerated, and 10 has confirmed it. However, the "same person" line was the simplest way to reassure Jones.
It was easy for Ten to say that he's the same man as Nine since he just got there. Eleven probably thinks of it the same way. It's tougher, though, when he looks at all of the unique things about him that are about to cease to exist. No more Allons-y, no more pin-striped suits and trainers, no more sticky-upy hair, no more brainy specs, etc. Every cell in his body is about to cease to exist, along with his personality, and be replaced with somebody else's.
I like that regeneration is a little scary for the Doctor. Even if it isn't death, as The Doctor will go on, it feels like death. That's much more dramatic than, "Oops, I regenerated! Oh, well!"
I like that regeneration is a little scary for the Doctor. Even if it isn't death, as The Doctor will go on, it feels like death. That's much more dramatic than, "Oops, I regenerated! Oh, well!"
The thing that gets me about regeneration in nuWho is how 9 and 11 imply that something other than a standard human shape is not just possible, but very common.....11 comes off as someone relived that he has all the required stuff to pass as a normal human.
But really, why should he? As far as we know, he's never regenerated any other way. Ditto for all the Time Lords we see on nuWho. Nothing exotic or alien....no two heads or no heads or anything other than humans.
Realistically speaking, if they want to go with that whole approach, they prolly should've had some Time Lords that were really funky looking to get across a society where appearances are a fluid thing.
But really, why should he? As far as we know, he's never regenerated any other way. Ditto for all the Time Lords we see on nuWho. Nothing exotic or alien....no two heads or no heads or anything other than humans.
Realistically speaking, if they want to go with that whole approach, they prolly should've had some Time Lords that were really funky looking to get across a society where appearances are a fluid thing.
Nine said that the process was a bit dodgy. It might be possible for him to regenerate with two heads or no heads, but it's not supposed to happen that way.
Eleven was checking his body parts to be sure they were all as they're supposed be be.
Similarly, when my daughter was born, I counted her fingers and toes... just to make sure.
Eleven was checking his body parts to be sure they were all as they're supposed be be.
Similarly, when my daughter was born, I counted her fingers and toes... just to make sure.
Well, there were Romana's other bodies...
I think it's just a running joke, like the ginger thing. When Eleven was checking his legs, fingers and face, he was making sure the regeneration was successful, albeit in a highly-strung manner.
Didn't the first Doctor say that he had to "trade in this old body for a new one"?
Since the new Doctor recognizes his friends and has all his other memories, it's really the same man. I seem to recall reference being made in the past to his mind being "shaken up" a bit. In this sense, he's a new man, new personality and all. He's still the Doctor, tho'. As the fifth Doctor said to Tegan just after his regeneration "You know me...my true self".
If he was a totally new person, she wouldn't have known him at all.
Since the new Doctor recognizes his friends and has all his other memories, it's really the same man. I seem to recall reference being made in the past to his mind being "shaken up" a bit. In this sense, he's a new man, new personality and all. He's still the Doctor, tho'. As the fifth Doctor said to Tegan just after his regeneration "You know me...my true self".
If he was a totally new person, she wouldn't have known him at all.
I kind of thought that 10 did not think that he was actually going to regenerate until he got out of that radiation chamber and saw that his wounds had healed. The conversation with Wilf in the cafe seems to lead to that...he said he was going to die, but when Wilf brought up regeneration, 10 made his point that even IF that happened, he'd still "die" to some degree when he changed. He didn't seem too hopeful that he'd actually regenerate with the time came...
I got the impression from the last bit that Ten knew he was going to regen and that it was kept more vague so that we the audiance weren't sure. To me Ten didn't want to go, as in become 11 and while he wasn't sure how he would die once he saw how knew he was going to regen. If that make sense.
Ten was proud of his incarnation, he was young, thin and good looking and he grew very attacted to that. In Timecrash Ten goes on about how much he addores Five, that he was old and cranky (to start with) and then came five, who was young and active. So, regeneration scared him becuse he did not know what he would get, and then came 11, happy about having normal body parts. So if anything Ten had fear of the unknown when it came to his regeneration.
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10 didn't want to die. Occam's Razor, among other things.
I've always kind of believed that Time Lords can regenerate into any body they wished--like Romana did--but because most of the Doctor's regenerations usually came about suddenly or from a traumatic event that left him weakened, the bodies he acquired were random, although they've been skewing younger of late.
But he's still not ginger.
But he's still not ginger.
Two was shown possible faces he could change into. He refused them all. Although one of them looked a lot like Nine.
In the end, of course, the Time Lords took the choice away and they decided what he would look like in his third incarnation. As far as know (given the mystery of the Eighth Doctor), it was the only time the Doctor underwent a forced regeneration.
