What do Time Lords Really Look Like?

[intrinsical]

I've only watched nuWho, so I'm wondering if the Doctor has always looked human?

The reason I'm asking this is because the I realize that Tardis has a chameleon circuit that makes itself look like a police box and it also automatically translate all alien languages into English for the companions. It sort of clicked in my mind that the perhaps Time Lords don't actually look human. The Tardis could have some kind of chameleon circuit that makes the Doctor look human to us.

 

[matthunter]

I've only watched nuWho, so I'm wondering if the Doctor has always looked human?

The reason I'm asking this is because the I realize that Tardis has a chameleon circuit that makes itself look like a police box and it also automatically translate all alien languages into English for the companions. It sort of clicked in my mind that the perhaps Time Lords don't actually look human. The Tardis could have some kind of chameleon circuit that makes the Doctor look human to us.

Time Lords don't look like humans. WE look like Time Lords. They had a galactic empire back when we were bringing down our dinner with spears.

The novels, IIRC, suggested that early Gallifreyan tampering resulted in most lifeforms possessing "humanoid" body plans. Rassilon knew some forms of life were SO alien that the mere sight of them might drive you mad, so the early Gallifreyans sought to eliminate them (the Great Vampires were one such lifeform, although there were more pressing reasons to fight them).

 

[diankra]

When Romana regenerates in Destiny of the Daleks, some of bodies she tries on are humanoid, but not quite human-looking. This scene isn't much a a fan favourite, it must be said, so tends to get explained away as in ways that let it be ignored).
Way way back, in The Dalek Masterplan, the Daleks suggest to their allies that the Doctor only looks human - which is interesting, as it's long before either the first regeneration or any mention of the Time Lords, but is from a time when the producers were actively considering dropping Hartnell and recasting at the earliest opportunity (as it turned out, they left instead, and Hartnell stayed on for another five serials).

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I love the Romana regeneration scene. I simply look at it as because voluntarily chose to regenerate (because she didn't her current body?), she was able to pick and choose what body she wanted for next regeneration.

 

[Captain Pike]

It's one of those things I try and pretend never happened.

 

[The]

I love the Romana regeneration scene. I simply look at it as because voluntarily chose to regenerate (because she didn't her current body?), she was able to pick and choose what body she wanted for next regeneration.

Agreed. There are a million different reasons why she could have done this, all of which expand the concept of regeneration in truly imaginative ways...

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I love the Romana regeneration scene. I simply look at it as because voluntarily chose to regenerate (because she didn't her current body?), she was able to pick and choose what body she wanted for next regeneration.

Would the Master have done the same thing at the end of Utopia?

 

[captcalhoun]

well, he did say about having a younger body...

 

[Bacl]

I always viewed regeneration as a roll of the dice. The way it works is that when a Time Lord is dying, they can reboot their DNA, trigger the sequence back to start and then have their body rebuild itself. The problem is that you don't come out exactly the same. All the possabilities of what color your eyes might be, or your hair are up in the air, and you get reborn or "regenerated." Personality changes because, even though you have the same memories, your brain has been ever so slightly rebuilt too.

If you are not prepared to regenerate, or simply too badly damaged, then you never know what you are going to end up with. But, as with dice, if you really want to roll double sixes, a little positioning on them in your hand and wishful thinking might just give you what you wanted...or something close to it.

The Master focused on being young like the Doctor's new regeneration, and in doing so he ended up with a personality to match 10's. When 9 regenerated he was with Rose, thinking of her joy and how much he loved her, and his new personality was reborn with many of the qualities he saw in her, as well as copying her accent.

And of course, Doc 5 was poisoned, freaking out that he might not regenerate, and all because he gave the last of the bat's milk to Peri. Naturally his regeneration shatters his psyche a bit, he gets weird frizzy hair, and a pissy attitude...and tries to strangle Peri first chance he gets ("Damn you! I was young, and good looking, and played cricket, and now look at me!")

 

[Neroon]

In which episode of the new series do we see the Doctor's recollection of Gallifrey? There is one scene in that recollection where we see a few figures in robes with some type of high collar or headdress or something .... I can't remember it just now.

 

[matthunter]

In which episode of the new series do we see the Doctor's recollection of Gallifrey? There is one scene in that recollection where we see a few figures in robes with some type of high collar or headdress or something .... I can't remember it just now.

The Sound of Drums

 

[Neroon]

Gotcha! As much as I have watched the new series, my recall still needs a fair amount of work.

 

[diankra]

I always viewed regeneration as a roll of the dice.

There's a fan assumption which, like much fanon, is only vaguely supported by the onscreen stuff but makes some sense, that the Doctor's changes are random because he barely scraped through his exams at the Academy ("51% at the last attempt," is, I think, what Romana says), and regeneration control is a part of a Time Lord's qualifying exams (though how you test it is a good question. (Possibly a safer version of the 8th Man Bound ritual which is mentioned in the 8th Doctor books?).
Whereas a better qualified Time Lord like Romana, the Master or Borusa has far better control of the process, and can look different, or similar, as they choose.

 

[Bacl]

I always viewed regeneration as a roll of the dice.

There's a fan assumption which, like much fanon, is only vaguely supported by the onscreen stuff but makes some sense, that the Doctor's changes are random because he barely scraped through his exams at the Academy ("51% at the last attempt," is, I think, what Romana says), and regeneration control is a part of a Time Lord's qualifying exams (though how you test it is a good question. (Possibly a safer version of the 8th Man Bound ritual which is mentioned in the 8th Doctor books?).
Whereas a better qualified Time Lord like Romana, the Master or Borusa has far better control of the process, and can look different, or similar, as they choose.

That's not a bad theory. I like that they have hinted that, while the Doctor may seem amazing to us, he was a goof and a slacker back home. He even told Martha you DO need to take a test to fly a TARDIS and that he failed it.

I think with the Romana thing her various forms weren't full regenerations. What she was creating were illusions of what she could look like, then upon finding one that she liked, regenerating into it. Probably the sort of skillful trick that requires a) an impressive amount of study and concentration, b) regenerating on purpose without being about to die.

Think of the Master focusing himself upon being young before his Utopia regeneration. Think of the Doctor's limited psychic abilities. Imagine both enhanced dramatically, and then used in ideal conditions. Project upon yourself the possible regenerations, then grab one you like.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Time Lord's naturally look human.
"You look human."
"You look Time Lord."
(What was that from? "Planet of the Dead"?)

Personally, I'm more interested in what a TARDIS looks like in its natural form. You know that golden, pockmarked texture with an eerie turquoise light that they use for the interior on the current series? I think it's kinda like that but on the outside.

I like that they have hinted that, while the Doctor may seem amazing to us, he was a goof and a slacker back home. He even told Martha you DO need to take a test to fly a TARDIS and that he failed it.

When did he say that?

 

[Bacl]

I like that they have hinted that, while the Doctor may seem amazing to us, he was a goof and a slacker back home. He even told Martha you DO need to take a test to fly a TARDIS and that he failed it.

When did he say that?

Shakespere Code

Martha Jones: Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?

The Doctor: Yes, and I failed it.

 

[matthunter]

I like that they have hinted that, while the Doctor may seem amazing to us, he was a goof and a slacker back home.

Given that he regularly rang rings around other Time Lords though, I doubt this is actually the case. Some sources suggested that he deliberately underperformed at the Academy to avoid being singled out for higher responsibilities in Time Lord society (ie: politics).

 

[Bacl]

I like that they have hinted that, while the Doctor may seem amazing to us, he was a goof and a slacker back home.

Given that he regularly rang rings around other Time Lords though, I doubt this is actually the case. Some sources suggested that he deliberately underperformed at the Academy to avoid being singled out for higher responsibilities in Time Lord society (ie: politics).

Perhaps I should clarify: I get the impression the the Doctor was more like Einstein, failing his exams but a genius among the genius. Einstein didn't know his own phone number, made common mistakes, but was brilliant. The Doctor isn't the best TARDIS pilot, and maybe doesn't know (or care to know) some fancy-shmancy Timelord tricks.

 

[diankra]

I like that they have hinted that, while the Doctor may seem amazing to us, he was a goof and a slacker back home.

Given that he regularly rang rings around other Time Lords though, I doubt this is actually the case. Some sources suggested that he deliberately underperformed at the Academy to avoid being singled out for higher responsibilities in Time Lord society (ie: politics).

The latter point's a good one, but the very clear undercurrent through much of Romana's first season that her Treble-Alpha might prove she knows the theory, but the Doctor's learnt more through experience after just scraping through.
Interesting sideline to that is that it's an example of how any references to the Doctor's youth tend to treat him as a younger version of the current incarnation (so, during Tom Baker he was a slacker student, but in Hartnell's time the young Doctor seems to have been an engineering pioneer. And seeing as the young Doctor probably was a young Hartnell...).

 

[Checkmate]

You know, it's possible to be a goof who doesn't do well academically, but still wind up at the very top of your field (while still being a goof). Albert Einstein, as previously mentioned, is a very classic example.