Regeneration as 'healing' energy

[Whofan]

In the original series, regeneration was pretty much just changing from one Doctor to another-yet in the new series in addition to that we've had the Doctor regrow his hand (The Christmas Invasion) heal himself from a Dalek death ray using original hand, which of course eventually led to the whole Doctor Donna thing and the Doctor clone (The Stolen Earth/Journey's End) The Doctor using part of the regeneration energy to remove his cuts and bruises from smashing through the window (End of Time) and in Let's Kill Hitler, Mels/River uses regeneration energy to recover from being shot (and also to stun people) and give her energy to the Doctor.

Does this cheapen the whole regeneration concept? Or make it more interesting? Granted, it 'sort of' explains why Romana (In Destiny of the Daleks) was trying on new bodies, possibly she was still within her regeneration cycle....

 

[The Wormhole]

Meh, RTD already opened this floodgate with the whole severed hand leading to the Doctor-Donna, River being able to stand up to bullets as a result of regenerating is just a continuation of that.

As for River giving her regneration energy to the Doctor, that's been established as possible back in the classic era. After all, the Master has made a few attempts to take the Doctor's remaining regnerations for himself. If it's possible for one Time Lord to steal another's regenerations, than a Time Lord willingly giving their regenerations to another isn't that much of a stretch.

Let's Kill Hitler has its problems, but the depiction of regeneration and what is isn't possible isn't one of them, and what we saw here is safely backed up by canonical precedents.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

It's consistent with what we've seen. Perhaps they should have left the process more mysterious, I don't know. We're well beyond that point right now. I'm fine with everything so far.

 

[Jax]

*Spoilers of course for latest episode*

What River did in episode 8 was a great use of the whole regeneration system IMO especially as it explains why the 10th Doctor did not feel her Timelord DNA because she was just a plain regular human. I did feel the bullet thing was a little bit of a stretch but hopefully it was a one off never to be repeated thing.

 

[David cgc]

How was it a stretch? It's not any more out there than the Doctor's hand or Jenny recovering from her gunshot wound.

 

[The Wormhole]

*Spoilers of course for latest episode*

What River did in episode 8 was a great use of the whole regeneration system IMO especially as it explains why the 10th Doctor did not feel her Timelord DNA because she was just a plain regular human. I did feel the bullet thing was a little bit of a stretch but hopefully it was a one off never to be repeated thing.

Of course, it is possible that since she's not a full Time Lord, there's nothing for the Doctor to sense. After all, he didn't catch on about Mels until she regenerated.

 

[Cutter John]

Don't forget Mawdryn Undead, and Trial of a Timelord. Where the baddies main motivation was to steal the Doctors remaining regenerations.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Meh, RTD already opened this floodgate with the whole severed hand leading to the Doctor-Donna, River being able to stand up to bullets as a result of regenerating is just a continuation of that.

How was it a stretch? It's not any more out there than the Doctor's hand or Jenny recovering from her gunshot wound.

Here's a thought - how do these events square with "The Impossible Astronaut" ?

In that ep, Doctor 1100 was shot by the astronaut, which started his regeneration. Then the astronaut shot him again, during his regeneration, and it apparently killed him outright.

If being shot during the 93 hour period after regeneration (or whatever, I think that's actually Trill) means you can just shrug it off because there's still enough regeneration energy left to heal you, why can't you shrug it off during the regeneration itself, when you're completely filled with regeneration energy?

And River seemed to know in LKH that she would be able to survive, it wasn't a surprise to her. But she's the one who explains to Amy and Rory in TIA that it doesn't work there.

Is this the way out of this?

.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The Doctor regenerates from being injured, not from being dead. That's why being shot within a period of regeneration is fine, but being shot a second time after regeneration has started that kills you is not.

That being said, it's arguably inconsistent with the movie, but the movie has quite a few inconsistencies.

 

[Meredith]

Meh, RTD already opened this floodgate with the whole severed hand leading to the Doctor-Donna, River being able to stand up to bullets as a result of regenerating is just a continuation of that.

How was it a stretch? It's not any more out there than the Doctor's hand or Jenny recovering from her gunshot wound.

Here's a thought - how do these events square with "The Impossible Astronaut" ?

In that ep, Doctor 1100 was shot by the astronaut, which started his regeneration. Then the astronaut shot him again, during his regeneration, and it apparently killed him outright.

If being shot during the 93 hour period after regeneration (or whatever, I think that's actually Trill) means you can just shrug it off because there's still enough regeneration energy left to heal you, why can't you shrug it off during the regeneration itself, when you're completely filled with regeneration energy?

And River seemed to know in LKH that she would be able to survive, it wasn't a surprise to her. But she's the one who explains to Amy and Rory in TIA that it doesn't work there.

Is this the way out of this?

.

When the doctor is killed by the lake it is a laser blast type weapon energy discharge, maybe during the post regeneration "grace period" physical trauma can be healed, but energy/radiation can kill you if it interferes with the energy of the regeneration.....

 

[Mitty]

I've often wondered how badly the Doctor has to be injured before the regeneration is triggered. For instance, if he broke his arm... well, normally that would heal by itself so no regen necessary. But if he was shot, it's possible that he could be operated on and the bullet removed without him needing to regenerate, though highly unlikely that would ever happen, so regen is the easy way out.

Conversely, there are probably times in the entire series history where the Doctor should have regenerated, but for obvious reasons he ended up surviving some other way.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I've always assumed that regeneration is triggered during a fatal wounding of the Doctor (or in other words he's dying and there is no way out of it). Also do we know for a fact that River donating her energy automatically extends the Doctor's regenerations or is this just fan assumption? I know the subject of his 13 lives and if Moffat is planning on extending them or not has been a sensitive topic for fans. I didn't get that impression from the episode at all myself so i just wondered what other people's opinions are on it since we're discussing regenerations.

 

[Sindatur]

I've always assumed that regeneration is triggered during a fatal wounding of the Doctor (or in other words he's dying and there is no way out of it). Also do we know for a fact that River donating her energy automatically extends the Doctor's regenerations or is this just fan assumption? I know the subject of his 13 lives and if Moffat is planning on extending them or not has been a sensitive topic for fans. I didn't get that impression from the episode at all myself so i just wondered what other people's opinions are on it since we're discussing regenerations.

IIRC correctly, the Doctor only regenerated twice before the final kill (IE: He would've regenerated into 12, then 13, and then nothing was left, so he died. This tracks with the Unbound audio, where a Doctor is shot over and over again, until his regenerations are used up.)

 

[DS9Continuing]

IIRC correctly, the Doctor only regenerated twice before the final kill (IE: He would've regenerated into 12, then 13, and then nothing was left, so he died. This tracks with the Unbound audio, where a Doctor is shot over and over again, until his regenerations are used up.)

Interesting, interesting... I hadn't got that impression myself, but that's certainly an intriguing possibility.

.

 

[Starkers]

I thought the second shot happened before the regeneration could take hold, ie before he could become 12, let alone 13, hence why the body was 11's,

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ This is what I thought as well.

 

[Sindatur]

I thought the second shot happened before the regeneration could take hold, ie before he could become 12, let alone 13, hence why the body was 11's,

Yea, he didn't have a chance for his body to change, but, he did spit out the yellow fire (Which appeared to me almost like he was cooperating and giving that regenerative energy to the executioner.)

To me, it doesn't make sense, that he could die from a gun shot, without first using up his regenerations (McGann came from McCoy being shot up)

Since the second time I saw the scene by the lake, it felt like he knew who was in the suit, and they had an agreement, that would result in the spacesuit being getting regeneration energy from him.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I've always assumed that regeneration is triggered during a fatal wounding of the Doctor (or in other words he's dying and there is no way out of it). Also do we know for a fact that River donating her energy automatically extends the Doctor's regenerations or is this just fan assumption? I know the subject of his 13 lives and if Moffat is planning on extending them or not has been a sensitive topic for fans. I didn't get that impression from the episode at all myself so i just wondered what other people's opinions are on it since we're discussing regenerations.

I think the implication was she used up all her regenerations to heal him from the poison. I don't think that means she gave him more regenerations. They might later decide to go that route, but I think they would have made a bigger deal had they done so. I'd argue, at the moment, he has the same cap he always has. The only difference is River has no more regenerations.

 

[Tom]

Ugh, there are so many question now about how many regenrations the Doctor has like:

- Did 10 use up a regeneration in SE/JE?

- Was the doctor joking when he told Clyde he had 507 regenerations?

- Did something happen during the Time War and the destruction of the Time Lords that gave the Doctor more lives?

- Since the Tardis basicaly made Melody a Time Lord (probably at conception) could the Tardis (ans/or time vortex) give the Doctor more lives somehow?

- Did River give the Doctor more lives?

 

[The Wormhole]

Honestly, imposing a limit on regenerations was the worst idea ever. Or more accurately, having the limit be something small like 13 lives Sure, it served the story purposes of The Deadly Assassin, but otherwise it was just asking to be contradicted. We know damn well that when the Doctor reaches his 13th life extenuating circumstances are going to be brought in to give him more lives. As long as the show is popular, the Doctor will continue to regenerate even if he's in his 15th, 50th. 103rd, or 507th life. Hell, I think they realized this in the classic era which is why they had that line in The Five Doctor stating it is possible for a Time Lord to receieve another set of regenerations.