To Die or Not to Die: The Thirteenth Doctor

[The Wormhole]

I usually hate it when someone uses this argument, but like a good hypocrite, here I go.

Moffat and RTD are not making this show for its fans. They're making it for its audience. And since most of the audience probably don't know about the regeneration limit, they don't seem to feel a need to include it. In the end, it's the audience which provides the ratings, not the fans. If it were for the fans, than I'm sure the Doctor and Sarah-Jane and Jo Grant could sit down have a lengthy discussion about it and other fanwanky things. While this would please the fans, the audience would not enjoy it and it would not bring in ratings.

My issue about them doing away with the limit in this episode is why is it even being brought up in this particular episode? Whether Jo even knows about regeneration is contingent on if she remembers the events of The Three Doctors. And while Sarah-Jane obviously is aware of regeneration, she wouldn't know there's a limit since it wasn't established until after she left Doctor Who.

 

[C.E. Evans]

In a way, getting rid of the regeneration limit simply brings us back to what the Second Doctor said about Time Lords living forever--barring accidents.

In the long run, though, it really changes nothing since we were pretty much going to get new Doctors (and Masters) as long as there was Doctor Who, limit or no limit. Maybe we can just say that there was a time when there was a limit, but that time has passed, and we can just move along now.

Still, while the Doctor may live forever--his individual incarnations won't. Enjoy them while you can, IMO...

 

[TigerBait]

I'm pretty sure that the throwaway line about having 507 regenerations in the recent Sarah Jane Adventures ep was just that, a throwaway line. Robert Holmes had to contrive a plot point when he wrote the Deadly Assassin, and now another plot point will lead to adjusting that. Plot points will continue to adjust canon, and we'll be all the better for it with new Doctor Who eps. I just hope noone has an infarction over what is obviously RTD and the Moff sitting back and searching for something to laugh at....all the fan boys going crazy on the internet....just like this.

 

[VDCNI]

Apparently Clyde asks the Doctor about how many times he can regenerate not Jo or Sarah.

Given that the limit was established in a throwaway line over 30 years ago (and in a story which fans complained overturned everything they thought they knew about the timelords) I don't see the problem with one line getting rid of it. After all Doctor Who has rarely been a show to get particularly hung up on its own mythology.

Has it even been mentioned in the series since?

 

[The Wormhole]

Apparently Clyde asks the Doctor about how many times he can regenerate not Jo or Sarah.

Given that the limit was established in a throwaway line over 30 years ago (and in a story which fans complained overturned everything they thought they knew about the timelords) I don't see the problem with one line getting rid of it. After all Doctor Who has rarely been a show to get particularly hung up on its own mythology.

Has it even been mentioned in the series since?

Since The Deadly Assassin? Yes. However, it has not been mentioned once in NuWho. Indeed, I've been suspecting that RTD may have done away with it during his reign, which now may turn out to be the case.

 

[RoJoHen]

Here's what you do:

Kill off the 13th Doctor in a super dramatic way, but have his personality saved in one of those pocketwatch thingies.

Have some kind of aliens steal a piece of the Doctor's DNA before he dies, and then have them grow a new Doctor from scratch. This Doctor will grow into a new body with its original 13 lives intact. You could even have him come back evil for most of the episode. Eventually, New Doctor gets a hold of the pocketwatch, figures out who he is, and then goes on his merry way to have more adventures.

 

[Joe Washington]

I could accept that ending as long as they go through with actually killing off the Thirteenth Doctor. An ending like that would have a mixture of tragedy and hope for the future.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Just have the 13th Doctor start dying, fully expecting to be his real death. Then he wakes up regenerated completely confused, if you wanted to get fanwanky have him find some note from Romana or some other random Time Lord or Lady saying it was a gift.

Either that or he finds the magic rock of extra regenerations. The BBC would be insane to actually kill off the Doctor for good. Even when the show quits making money, they can hold off for a few years and it comes back even more popular.

 

[Gepard]

Either that or he finds the magic rock of extra regenerations.

I like it. He could just sort of...trip over it. Like a...brick. Or something.

 

[God of Gor]

So long as we watch, there will always be new incarnations of the Doctor. The only other option is a complete reboot of the franchise.

 

[Trevacious]

"You lot, you're everywhere, you're like Rabbits! I'll never get done saving you."

 

[Captaindemotion]

So long as we watch, there will always be new incarnations of the Doctor. The only other option is a complete reboot of the franchise.

Doctor Who's regeneration allows for a unique way of acknowledging the fact that the main character is suddenly being played by a different actor. No need for a reboot ala Spider-man/ Hulk, for ignoring the subject like the 007 movies or pre-Bale Batman or for in-jokes in the dialogue, like On Her Majesty's Secret Service or the recent Mummy movie. To suddenly reboot it would be a complete waste of time, IMHO.