The Doctor dying before he can regenerate

[Jax]

What is a direct hit from a dalek though? They have a gun, it kills if it hits you. Why is it that if it hits you'r limbs it doesn't kill you straight away but if it hits further in it kills you straight away?

Well the bolt glazed off the Doctor so not of all the energy of the Dalek weapon was absored by the Doctor's body so I always felt while damaged it was not enough to kill him outright...The shot sort of only just grazing the Doctor seemed to be done on purpose by RTD so I always figured direct hit means death no regeneration.

 

[EJA]

I'm starting to think that it might be a better idea not to think of NuWho as a continuation of Classic Who, but as occuring in its own, separate continuity which just happens to share some similarities with the older one, sort of like the old and new versions of Battlestar Galactica.

 

[Sci]

What's that?

The Doctor regenerated after dying in the TV movie but not in nuWho? Contradiction?

Why, that's easy!

Wibbly-wobbly timey-whimey!

Works for me!

 

[davejames]

I thought the most interesting thing about that conversation was the idea of the Doctor becoming a "new man" after regeneration, and not just the same man with a new face and new personality, which is what I always assumed happened.

It gives each death a little more meaning and impact I think.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I'm starting to think that it might be a better idea not to think of NuWho as a continuation of Classic Who, but as occuring in its own, separate continuity which just happens to share some similarities with the older one, sort of like the old and new versions of Battlestar Galactica.

Nah.

 

[davejames]

I'm starting to think that it might be a better idea not to think of NuWho as a continuation of Classic Who, but as occuring in its own, separate continuity which just happens to share some similarities with the older one, sort of like the old and new versions of Battlestar Galactica.

Nah.

Agreed. They're pretty much making things up on the fly and playing loose with canon the way the show always has.

I think it's part of the show's charm myself.

 

[The Castellan]

In Turn Left Ten was killed before he could regenerate, and stayed dead. Ten mentions the possibility of this happening to him in The End of Time, Part 1. But what about Seven regenerating into Eight in the '96 TV movie AFTER he died on the operating table? This is something the writers appear to have a) forgot, or b) just said "f***k it" and ignored it.

It appears to be option b), given the emphasis placed on the danger of having a Time Lord mind in a human body as indicated at the end of the last season. Anyway, the TV movie itself indicated that he can change species when regenerating, so maybe the human maternal DNA thing wasn't something that he actually inherited from a human mother. Alternatively, though, having a human mother would actually fit in with the possibility - put forward in the Sylvester McCoy story Battlefield - of him being Merlin, given that some Arthurian fiction has it that Merlin's father was a mystical being or demon and his mother was human.

I go for the former. Since I'm so sick and tired of every hero in sci fi series HAVING to be part human. I'm guessing the Doc absorbed some of that doctor chick's DNA or something on the operating table...which would not surprise me, with all the chemicals they pumped into him, and so on, making his body need something to use as a template to get the regeneration to work or something.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm starting to think that it might be a better idea not to think of NuWho as a continuation of Classic Who, but as occuring in its own, separate continuity which just happens to share some similarities with the older one, sort of like the old and new versions of Battlestar Galactica.

It doesn't work that way. NuWho has made several direct continuity referances to the original, and even included a few other characters, and we've seen evidence of all Doctors prior to the Ninth. NuWho is very much the same continuity as the original.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In Star Trek, if a new story contradicts an old story, most of the time the writers try to find a rationale to explain the discrepancy.

Nah, that's the fans' job.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In Star Trek, if a new story contradicts an old story, most of the time the writers try to find a rationale to explain the discrepancy. In Doctor Who, if a new story contradicts an old story, well, it just does. All in all, I think that's a much better approach.

Sorry, but I just can't agree with this. I like consistency, and whenever people disregard what's gone before it smacks of laziness to me.

Or that the previous idea wasn't all that great.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Personally, I've imagined the "unable to regenerate" scenario being one where the Doctor is vaporized in some fashion. Isn't it pretty much a given that he would need some part of his body left to regenerate?

As for Sylvester's McCoy's death in the movie, didn't he sit up and gasp on the operating table before collapsing? I believe there was enough consciousness there for him to begin regeneration.

 

[Jax]

I've noticed over past week Who fans are becoming more like the rest of Sci Fi fanbases around the world maybe we all need to regenerate

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Alternatively, though, having a human mother would actually fit in with the possibility - put forward in the Sylvester McCoy story Battlefield - of him being Merlin, given that some Arthurian fiction has it that Merlin's father was a mystical being or demon and his mother was human.

But where does that knowledge come from within Arthurian fiction? Merlin himself? If so, than The Doctor was probably just amusing himself for the sake of the humans.

 

[EJA]

Personally, I've imagined the "unable to regenerate" scenario being one where the Doctor is vaporized in some fashion. Isn't it pretty much a given that he would need some part of his body left to regenerate?

In Turn Left he either drowned or was crashed into a wall by a massive flood of water. His body was intact, and he did not regenerate.

 

[DimesDan]

Personally, I've imagined the "unable to regenerate" scenario being one where the Doctor is vaporized in some fashion. Isn't it pretty much a given that he would need some part of his body left to regenerate?

In Turn Left he either drowned or was crashed into a wall by a massive flood of water. His body was intact, and he did not regenerate.

Or he just decided not to regenerate and that UNIT chap was talking out of his arse!

 

[EyalM]

Personally, I've imagined the "unable to regenerate" scenario being one where the Doctor is vaporized in some fashion. Isn't it pretty much a given that he would need some part of his body left to regenerate?

In Turn Left he either drowned or was crashed into a wall by a massive flood of water. His body was intact, and he did not regenerate.

Or he just decided not to regenerate and that UNIT chap was talking out of his arse!

Maybe he did regenerate, but just drowned again and again until he ran out of regenerations (or until he figured it was pointless)?

 

[Tom]

In Turn Left he either drowned or was crashed into a wall by a massive flood of water. His body was intact, and he did not regenerate.

Or he just decided not to regenerate and that UNIT chap was talking out of his arse!

Maybe he did regenerate, but just drowned again and again until he ran out of regenerations (or until he figured it was pointless)?

Why do images of 'The Curse of the Fatal Death' come to mind. LOL

 

[Skellington]

I go for the former. Since I'm so sick and tired of every hero in sci fi series HAVING to be part human.

I can relate. It turned out to be a superfluous part of the TV movie, aside from the Eye Of Harmony thing (although I think that they were going to address it if a series was commissioned). Spock had been there before, too.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

In Star Trek, if a new story contradicts an old story, most of the time the writers try to find a rationale to explain the discrepancy. In Doctor Who, if a new story contradicts an old story, well, it just does. All in all, I think that's a much better approach.

Sorry, but I just can't agree with this. I like consistency, and whenever people disregard what's gone before it smacks of laziness to me.

The proof is in the pudding, so to speak - you may not like it, but it's generated more fascinating, quality entertainment in the last five years than Trek has managed in decades.

Consistency does not mean quality - McDonald's burgers are consistent. Mediocrity, almost by definition, has a certain consistency.

Three cheers for "laziness."

 

[CmdrAJD]

In Turn Left he either drowned or was crashed into a wall by a massive flood of water. His body was intact, and he did not regenerate.

Or he just decided not to regenerate and that UNIT chap was talking out of his arse!

Maybe he did regenerate, but just drowned again and again until he ran out of regenerations (or until he figured it was pointless)?

That's what I always assumed happened. We never saw his face under the sheet, so he very well could have regenerated, drowned again, regenerated, and so on until they ran out of regenerations or British celebrities. If you pull that sheet back, it's actually Jeremy Clarkson.