Time Bomb (Spoilers?)

[TemporalFlux]

Probably already been brought up by someone, but a thought just occurred to me. There's been a lingering issue who blew up the Tardis in Matt Smith's first year; and that made me think of something related.

It used to be that when the Doctor regenerated, it was a very calm affair with no real effects. But as the Doctor used up his lives, the regenerations have become increasingly explosive. This was most true in Matt Smith's entrance where the regeneration did significant damage to the Tardis.

How big of an explosion will the Doctor's next regeneration cause? Is the limit 12 regenerations because the final causes an explosion so large that there's no body left to regenerate ?

 

[shivkala]

^
I wonder if the Sisterhood of Karn was responsible for this? Perhaps their elixirs affected the regeneration?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ I brought up a similar point in the Night Of The Doctor thread, since McGann to Hurt was technically the first regeneration in nuWho.

I may have confused the "new effect" somewhat with the more violent regenerations.

Hurt to Eccleston wasn't particularly violent and other Timelords (Melody & the Master) have used the same "new effect" without the violent nature.

Tennant to Smith was speculated to be more violent due to the Vinvocci radiation and/or Tennant holding it in for Who knows how long.

 

[EnderAKH]

I was under the impression that the explosiveness of the Eccleston to Tenant regeneration was due to him having absorbed the heart of the TARDIS, and the Tenant to Smith regeneration was due to him having absorbed all of that radiation in the booth. Neither McGann to Hurt nor Hurt to Eccleston (what little we saw of them) looked particularly explodey.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Let's be honest, the destructiveness of the 10-11 change was due to them having built a new console room for HD and needing an excuse to change it...

There's no such issue with this time.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

10 decapitated an immortal before regenerating...

 

[DWF]

^^^This is true but I also think that Tennant's Doctor held back the regeneration for too long.

 

[PorthosShadow]

^^^This is true but I also think that Tennant's Doctor held back the regeneration for too long.

That's the simplest explanation and it gave TPTB a convenient excuse to tear down the old console room and rebuild it

 

[Allyn Gibson]

How big of an explosion will the Doctor's next regeneration cause? Is the limit 12 regenerations because the final causes an explosion so large that there's no body left to regenerate ?

Rumor has it that...

Spoiler: Rumor

...that this regeneration will be extremely explosive, that the Doctor will basically detonate in mid-air like a small nuclar bomb, wiping out an entire army of either Cybermen or Daleks. The TARDIS survives the detonation, and that's where Clara will find Capaldi's Doctor.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

^^^This is true but I also think that Tennant's Doctor held back the regeneration for too long.

That's the simplest explanation and it gave TPTB a convenient excuse to tear down the old console room and rebuild it

Not that they needed an excuse to change the console room seeing as it changes without explanation between The Angles Take Manhattan and The Snowmen.

 

[ATimson]

Not that they needed an excuse to change the console room seeing as it changes without explanation between The Angles Take Manhattan and The Snowmen.

There was a gap in the narrative there, allowing it to be "ignored". You couldn't do the same during series 5 quite so easily - sure, it could happen off-screen between episodes, but it would still "feel" like something we should have seen.

Of course, the offscreen explanation there was "we found out we couldn't actually move the old set to the new studio, so we'd have to build a new one anyways".

 

[StarMan]

How big of an explosion will the Doctor's next regeneration cause? Is the limit 12 regenerations because the final causes an explosion so large that there's no body left to regenerate ?

Rumor has it that...

Spoiler: Rumor

...that this regeneration will be extremely explosive, that the Doctor will basically detonate in mid-air like a small nuclar bomb, wiping out an entire army of either Cybermen or Daleks. The TARDIS survives the detonation, and that's where Clara will find Capaldi's Doctor.

Yes, that's got me wondering if...

Spoiler: rumor

the regeneration might be purposefully being used as a weapon to defeat the enemy. Perhaps he can direct his regeneration energy as happened with 10 in Journey's End, but in a more violent manner.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The destructive energy will coil about cleaving people in half like what Mickey Rouke had in Iron Man II?

 

[Cutter John]

Got to confess I've not really liked the orange explosion of light regeneration. Much prefer the old white glow effect.

 

[Green Lantern]

If you think about it, even in the classic series the regenerations go more violent gradually with Baker-McCoy and McCoy-McGann in mind. For the classic series anyway, those two were ever so slightly more violent than previous ones.

Hartnel to Troughton: He just lied there and quickly morphed.
Troughton to Pertwee: Well in the war games we didn't exactly see the actual transformation, but he did spin around a bit then stumble out the TARDIS in Spearhead. But if you take the fan film "Devious" as cannon as it actually had Pertwee in it, then there was a bit of suffering in it, but that's after the regeneration and when the timelords whipped the Doctor's memory. Nonetheless, ever so slightly more violent, although not really that violent anyway.
Pertwee to Baker: Really non violent again. A few tears and needed to be triggered off to start, but the actual transformation really was not violent either.
Baker to Davison: Probably a tad more violent than previous regeneration with the watcher sort of walking into the Doctor, but not really violent either. In a way, more peaceful.
Davison to Baker: Now this is where the violence rises. A haunting scene of memories about Andric and the Master. Plus is the first time the slightest sign of glowing light was seen at all (although I haven't seen Caves of Androzani in full, just the actual regeneration scene).
Baker to McCoy: Here's where we see the first slight resemblance to modern regeneration. Although the Doctor was lying down, we did see some light emerge from his face albeit multi-coloured as opposed to flame colour. Now this is where it begins getting more violent.
McCoy to McGann: This time the doctor actually properly morphs. It looked uncomfortable and slightly more violent than previous regenerations.
McGann to Hurt: The first stand up flame regeneration. McGann illuminates then a quiet but blinding explosion is seen. Slightly more violent again.
Hurt to Eccleston: Unfortunately we only see the beginning of this regeneration but I predict it probably was the same or similar to Eccleston's.
Eccleston to Tennant: more violent than previous ones yet again with the doctor bursting into flames then morphing.
Tennant to Smith: The first very violent regeneration, the TARDIS actually explodes along with the doctor.

So who knows what will happen with Smith. Will the he explode again? Or will we go back to a more traditional regeneration? (I hope not) Rumours have it this time the doctor will actually hover when regeneration as I heard something about Smith receiving and injury when being lifted to a harness in the regeneration scene. Would be fun.