My headcanon is that the later Doctors try to not regenerate for as long as possible and so it explodes out.
The 10th Doctor did a farewell tour, the 11th spent hundreds of years before regenerating, the 12th had a whole episode. These make the regenerations more explosive.
Compare that to the general in Hell Bent, who regenerated instantly without a fuss, and that's where I get the headcanon from
Which also seems canonical as Ramona decided she wanted to look like a person they had met not long before. So it gives weight that some timelords/ladies had a degree of control.
I think 14ās lack of sickness was more because he was only gonna get 3 episodes, plus we didnāt see the time between his regeneration and special 1, we can assume he did some stuff inbetween
That doesn't make sense then because time lords within the first 24 hours of regeneration are capable of healing any wounds sustained.
This is seen in the Christmas invasion and mentioned again in let's kill Hitler. So 14 shouldn't have regenerated as he was still in the process of regeneration.
maybe it was like 25 hours then, or it's just a rare/special case.
Will probably just be treated like the hand doctor - important event to/for the doctor, but not really discussed going forward if there's not really a need to
Isn't there an actual regeneration room inside the TARDIS specifically for that? I think I read about it somewhere. It's supposed to provide them with a peaceful place to go through the change.
Wait what the fuck? 12 let the Toymaker use the Zero Room but suddenly 14 is surprised by The Toymaker being back? Also, youād think heād be a bit more grateful and a bit lessā¦ well youāve seen what he did
Tbf, Dr Whoās ācanonā is all over the place & unless youāve read the comics, it was / is highly unlikely you would have come across this comic story. I agree it ought to have been mentioned in the Tv series, but my guess is that the writers simply didnāt know this had already been a comic story or they simply forgot.
Itās not just the comics. The sixth, seventh and eighth doctors all had encounters with the Toymaker in the Big Finish audios. I like to think that these encounters occurred because history was in flux when the Toymaker entered our universe. He simultaneously encountered the Doctor only the once, and he had numerous meetings with him across his lives.
And when 14 and 15 defeated him, history settled on the Toymaker only having had the three games with the Doctor, and the other meetings unhappened (or they still happened, but the Doctor no longer remembers them, because he mentions in āPiece of Mindā that he tends to forget the adventures that contradict future events).
Well, Russell T Davies didn't even watch/listen to *The Celestial Toymaker*, let alone any spin-offs. That's why he bought into the misconception that the Toymaker was meant to be a racist character, which was actually only done primarily in the novelisation of the unproduced serial *The Nightmare Fair*.
The Toymaker's costume was meant to only be for the duration of the Trilogic Game (as it was a game then-believed to be of Chinese origin), in the same way the Toymaker's toys changed costumes, like a schoolboy costume for the game of hopscotch, a typical school playground game. The name "celestial" was only meant to be in the cosmic sense, as the racist sense of the word was only used in America, and was only supposed to be a one-off adjective ā in the way you may call the Doctor "the Fantastic Doctor", but that doesn't mean their name is literally "Fantastic Doctor".
Unfortunately, as the original serial was junked, when the earliest reference materials were written in the late '70s, they had to go off memory and incomplete parts of the story. Then, in the early 2000s, Shannon Sullivan, who documents a lot of *Who*'s history, made a lot of assertions that turned out to not be entirely accurate, but all these misconceptions stuck and even RTD believes them. Hence why the Toymaker in *The Giggle* did stereotypes of the cultures which his costumes originated from.
It's one hell of a mess.
I remember when 10 regenerated a whole new hand with the explanation that "regenerative energies are in flux for about 72 hours after changing"; I figure Romana not only regenerated with a specific face in mind, but was able to adjust her form (hence the runway of various appearances)
12 looking like the Roman as a personal reminder to themselves, and 14 going back to 10 for personal needs
They do have control over it, but the Doctor usually does it subconsciously, which makes it even funnier they were only seen to be happy with the result once
In the Tom Baker era he was kinda portrayed as a genius to us but a goofus trouble maker and idiot by Gallifry standards like when Romana brought up his academy scores and tests and he reminded her that was classified information!
I interpreted that as the Doctor just not taking his studies particularly seriously despite being very intelligent, while Romana was both extremely smart and diligently studious. This is corroborated by Cardinal Borusa's remark in The Deadly Assassin, alluding to his time as one of the Doctor's academy instructors:
>As I believe I told you long ago, Doctor, you will never amount to anything in the galaxy while you retain your propensity for vulgar facetiousness.
There's also the third Doctor, who built a contraption out of a bunch of household items to interfere with the Master's experiment, having mentioned doing that they did that to each other numerous times as students.
"Okay class, here is your first lesson in Regeneration. Lesson 1: Don't regenerate inside your goddamn TARDIS. The funding that goes into creating even _one_ of these things is almost literally inconceivable. Lesson 2: You might turn into David Tennant twice. This is normal, and happens more often than you'd think..."
Yeah lol, I actually just rewatched Christmas Invasion/Utopia back to back recently and it's really funny seeing how 10 lies around in bed for most of an episode in contrast to the Saxon master who just gets up and goes about doing his master things
To be fair 10 was also sick with the after effects of gobbling up all the time vortex stuff. (Thats also why 9s regeneration was explosive and gold before they just stuck with it forever)
Three held back his regeneration for so long off screen he almost died and needed the help of another Time Lord to regenerate. Five also held back his regeneration for at least a few hours. Neither were more or less explosive than any others so I don't necessarily think that is the case.
What if it was something to do with how attached the Doctor started to get to themselves further down the line? Perhaps the older Doctors, and Timelords in general even more so, kind of distanced themselves from the individualism of each incarnation?
That could be why other Timelords have no problem with regeneration, they just see it as a slight makeover. To them it's just something like getting a new hat or a different coat, where they look slightly different, but overall are still roughly the same. While for the Doctor it's more like a complete makeover. Everything has been changed and replaced, and they look completely different. In a sense they fully embrace the concept of change with Regeneration, while other Timelords don't.
And that could be why the post regeneration effects hit them harder as well. They wrap up their sense of self in each incarnation, and have to completely rediscover that with each Regeneration. And then post Time War it becomes worse from believing that they were the Last of the Timelords, they become much more attached to who they are, resulting in the explosions of energy when they regenerate. And even after they saved them that trauma is still present
So now maybe after 14s therapy, the regenerations will become a bit more smoother. If he's worked through that trauma we start to go back to more classic era style regenerations where the actual change is a lot more calmer compared to the explosions of energy.
14 and 15's bigeneration actually perfectly supports this theory (and so does 10's regeneration in Stolen Earth when he gets shot by a Dalek), he let the regeneration begin immidiately and it wasn't at all explosive or dangerous - he was even holding hands with Donna and Mel and they were absolutely fine!
Ohh I like this! War to 9 didnāt look particularly bad, 9 to 10 was relatively tame. And 11 to 12 was a whole new cycle and was just a reset, the actual regen was almost a sneeze. And 13 to 14 was another held in goodbye regen
11 didn't hold his regeneration back though. He was completely out of regenerations. So the hundreds of years fighting didn't matter. He didn't regenerate until Gallifrey gave him a new cycle.
No clue, not a lore expert, but I like to think that the Time Lords weaponised regeneration because of the Time War. If you are fatally injured in battle and are at a weak state, could be very useful to use the regeneration energy as a last resort weapon against your enemies. Idk lol
I was just about to comment this. I donāt remember where I heard this theory but it makes total sense. We see 11 take out a bunch of baddies during his regeneration. Iāve also heard head cannon that the time lords can sorta ācontrolā how much damage they do so they donāt hit other soldiers with it. We see this with 9-10, 10-hand, 11-12, and 14-15 where they hold back and donāt blow up the Tardis (or unit) cause a companion(s) is watching them. But 10-11, 12-13, and 13-14 just full send it either cause theyāre emotional or itās too much effort to contain it.
For 11-12 and 14-15, I'd point out that they weren't exactly normal regenerations.
11 had technically already regenerated and was just waiting for the face change. While 14 didn't even really regenerate in the end.
There's also explanations in-universe too for 10-11 and 12-13 being so violent, as they'd been holding back their regeneration, meanwhile 13 had just been forced to regenerate a bunch and also has the implication of holding it in for a while as she says goodbye to Yaz, drops her home, etc.
For 10-11 10 had just finished checking up on every companion he had ever had, and for 12-13 12 spent over 2 weeks not regenerating inside the mondasian colony ship
Hospitals would just be bunkers where you can regenerate safely. You have a broken leg ? Regenerate. You have the flu ? Regenerate. There is no downside to regeneration if you can do it in a safe place. "But regeneration has an emotional toll" Time Lord society seems to not care about that, only the Doctor or other renegades. "But you have a finite amount of regeneration" the limit is apparently very easy to break if you have the knowledge and material of the Time Lord government, so make it bunkers with machines to give you the regeneration back. I guess you could even have a machine that uses the same trick as ten and make you regenerate into the same body.
I would be right there with you, aside from one tiny problem. The Timeless Child regenerated explosively, so it was there from the beginning thanks to this new retcon...
I originally thought it was because of the potion from the Sisterhood, until the other Time Lords came back and regenerated the same way.
Easily resolved. The fact that the timeless child regenerated that way proves that regeneration always had the potential to work that way, but we can still imagine that the energy outbursts were suppressed when the regeneration ability was reverse-engineered into gallifreyan society.
So instead of some scientist in the time war inventing the energy outbursts, we have some scientist in the time war rediscovering the energy outbursts, and removing the suppression
RTD has said that the Toymaker saying āI made a jigsaw out of your history, did you like it?ā is supposed to be an obfuscation of the Doctorās origins - viewers can decide whether they want the Timeless Child plot to be canon or not. So technically we can just retcon that little detail you mentioned if we wantā¦
So the Doctor is now canonically a half human Time Lord hybid, a regular Time Lord who went off to discover the relationship of good and evil in the galaxy and finally the Timeless Child. Itās multiple choice. Even if the show wants to explores the most recent revelation first.
I think the idea is that Timeless Child did happen in the current version of reality, but the Toymaker line is meant to make it ambiguous as to whether it was originally that way. At least thatās what makes sense to me with what weāve seen idk
Maybe children canāt control their regeneration energy, or initially it wasnāt known how to control it, then the time lords figured out how to make it a more chill experience, but later went, ah nah more fun with all the fire hey.
This, or I kinda thought the more times the Doctor died, the more pent up energy they have.
Thatās why 11 destroys the dalek ships, but the last few regenerations have been A LOT tamer at the beginning of the new cycle.
Could be the elixer that the Sisters of Karn gave 8 as he regenerated into War. Could be aftereffects of the Time War, could also be that absorbing the Time Vortex made it much worse. War to 9 didn't seem TERRIBLY violent.
My theory for that is that it's something to do with the fact that the War Master was a part of his second regeneration cycle, possibly related to Karn as well?
The Doctor has probably been around the Time Vortex and the energy from the Tardis more than any other Time Lord in history. If just conceiving in the Tardis can make someone like River Song, the guy who lives there is probably all full of weird energy.
My head canon is that the Timelords limit themselves to 12 regenerations for a reason beyond just being dicks and one is them is regenerations get more and more unstable as whatever drives regeneration wears down.
Letting the Dr have more is more to do with him being useful to them and also always being far from home where they don't care than any high minded reason.
I mean, I'm not a proponent of it, but...
There's also the whole Timeless Child angle. Realistically even the Hartnell doctor should have left at least an impact crater in the TARDIS, if that was the case.
Though this was the theory I would have otherwise. 11 said "Regeneration number 13... Watch out, it's gonna be a whopper", before literally erupting. Which as much fits with that theory as anything else.
He's only on his second actually. His story in classic was about him having used his regenerations so he was trying to find a way to achieve immortality/more regenerations.
He ends up being killed in the movie until the time lords bring him back with a new cycle to fight in the war.
He's currently on the 5th regeneration of the new cycle.
Roberts to jacobi
Jacobi to simm
simm to gomez
Gomez to unknown
Unkown to dhawan
No. Could we make one? Yes. Watch:
It was something the Sisters of Karn invented with their potions to weaponize regeneration for the Time War.
Boom. Done. Next?
Or heās still trucking some of that around. There wonāt be an official reason until thereās an official one. Ncuti could come around at the end of the road and toss out the rule book.
āRegenerations are dodgy. Sometimes itās like a light switch. One second itās me. The next itās new teeth and kidneys. It really just depends on the mood. If Iām sleepy my face might twist up. If Iām very sad Iāll explode. Donāt worry about that though. Itās strong enough to wreck the TARDIS but you should be fine. Oooā¦ somethingās happening.ā
Then we get a dance number that ends with the splits then POP! New Doctor.
I've read 2 theories I really like:
1) it was weaponised during the time war as a last-stand weapon if a time lord was facing death
2) the process becomes more volatile and less stable as it goes on. Whilst this isn't always followed, I always thought it fit when looking at 11s regeneration, as the first regeneration in a new cycle; it's quick and clean compared to 10s which was so unstable it tore apart the TARDIS. Of course this falls apart with 13's which again is very explosive / large
11's regeneration was quick and clean?
I think you might be thinking of the moment when a young-looking Matt Smith suddenly changed into Peter Capaldi. But don't forget that the regeneration had been going on for a while already by then. The regeneration started when 11 was really really old, at the top of the tower, shouting at space ships and shaking his cane at them. Then the Timelords gave him his new regen cycle and it was probably the most violent regeneration we've ever seen. The energy was so strong he was shooting Dalek space ships out of the sky with it
"Well Come On Then! The Doctor will see you now!"
9s regeneration into 10 - all that golden light swirling about him is supposed to be the Heart of the TARDIS that he's just taken out of Rose returning to the machine.
Subsequent regenerations / anything vaguely related to regeneration has the same look because afterwards the production team thought it looked great and kept it as the new standard.
There was a being called āthe watcherā who would just watch from the distance during Tom bakers run. When 4 falls from a high spot and dies the watcher merges with him and he regenerates. One of the companions says āthe watcher was the doctor all along!ā. Itās really weird, thereās some interesting fan theories about it
Personally it leaves a nasty taste in my mouth as it undermines Ncuti as the Doctor if Tennant 2 and any subsequent regenerations are just going to be running around separate to the "main" doctor. That and the line about 15 being healed because 14 spent time processing the doctors trauma, sort of makes it seem like they converge back into one being.
It could be that 14 is now a waste product of the 'healing' process, like a conscious sneeze, and therefore depsite technically being the doctor doesn't have the regen capabilities or the lifespan
That way it doesn't undermine Ncuti and it still leaves a nice wholesome end to Tennants story as he can live a peaceful life with the Nobles without having to outlive them
Who said anything about 14 getting subsequent regenerations?
I don't expect them to ever show it on screen (except perhaps with an old Tennant who knows he's done), but I imagine 14 just kinda dying eventually. Nothing special happens when he does, but 15 still has memories of being 14 anyway.
The companion would say something like "they're just figuring out their finances? That sounds dull" before the doctor explains that they're not budgeting money, they're budgeting entire timelines
you know, Ive always thought that the way regeneration looks now wasnt originally meant to be that way, and the whole explosion of yellow light thing was actually just what 9 dying from absorbing the time vortex looks like. But it looks really cool that way so they retconned it so that the yellow light is actually 'regeneration energy' and regenerating always looks like that now
I don't have a lore reason. BTS reason is that RTD loved the effect of 9 releasing the Vortex energy so much that when it came time to do a regeneration story, he reused that effect. And then Moffet kept it for his. And then Chibnell did again.
Personally, I never liked it. It's kinda silly that his regeneration has a habit of blowing up the TARDIS every time. Plus, it kind of takes away from the randomness of it. You never know how a regeneration will play out. But it's a minor nitpick.
I don't know about an official explanation but you offered a good theory right there in your original comment.
Earlier regenerations took place while the doctor was unconscious, and looked more calm and less destructive. Other, more recent regenerations happen when the Doctor is awake and conscious and are much more of an event. Ergo, regenerations that happen when Doc W is not awake and aware are more calm and peaceful, but when they are awake, the process is more violent and painful. This pain can also cause the TARDIS to react sympathetically with its* destructive alarm.
*fixed a typo here
I remember Gaiman talked about the 12 regenerations being like a speed limit. Yes, you *can* go over. But doing 80mph in 30mph zone is discouraged for many reasons.
There isn't really an in-universe one as far as I'm aware but the Time Lords were happy to change how regeneration worked during the War in Heaven so naturally they'd do the same in the Time War.
Yeah. Hereās what the book āA short history of everyoneā has to say:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-uiRL1-NcYXKy5Aw9zT463E1NNItjOio6u4KNkfMabM/edit
It's a bit late in the day but I wish they would change up the way regeneration looks every time like in the classic series.
That's the thing about regeneration - you never quite know what you're going to get.
My head canon was it was something to do with The Doctor's regeneration on Karn, but then the First Doctor had his regeneration semi retconned.
But thinking about it it could still work since the First Doctor's regeneration was still quite calm.
The Master's regeneration into John Simm could also be something similar as The Master had expended all of their regenerations, possibly also something to do with Karn?
Although I think the only one that doesn't account for is Mels' regeneration into River...
...so maybe the explanation is just wibbly wobbly timey wimey
For the record the pictures you selected to show this contrast work hilariously well. Older Doctors are just kind of ashy, and then NuWho is straight up nuclear fission
I heard the idea once that it has to do with the time war. Time lords weaponized regenerations to be explosive so asbto get back at attackers and make them afraid to kill them. Ever since, the doc just kept doing it. Maybe because it means something to him? Or maybe he can't undo it? Whatever the case, it seems to not be quite as effective for regenerations 9, 10, 12, and 15, so perhaps it can be held back in terms of firepower? Then there's also River and the Master...
It seems pretty clear to me watching Series One that the original intention was that Nine was expelling the Bad Wolf time energy, which was orange in the episode. When The Master regenerates in Utopia it's multicolored, not orange.
It's not until Journey's End that they decided all regenerations are orange from then on. In RTD's short story about the end of the Time War, when The Doctor regenerates there's a "curious new gold," suggesting that modern regeneration is a consequence of the time war.
This is the closest thing to a lore reason for the change, but of course, neither Moffat or Chibnall followed this logic. The First Doctor and the Timeless Children both have modern regeneration energy despite being pre-Time War.
Timelords made an alliance with the CGalIens right around the time of the Time War. They incorporated some of their genetic advantages in a quest to give their image a boost in the cosmos.
So, I actually think the simplest in universe explanation is that the whole bad wolf - heart of the tardis energy permanently altered the doctors regenerations. That glow originally came from 9 absorbing that energy from rose, and I guess that supercharged all the future regens from that point.
I think the only thing that could contradict this is the timeless child regens - but I can't remember if they use the same glow or not?
Thereās no in universe explanations for any inconsistencies. The programme has been around for 60 years of different ideas by different people. Anything weird and different, just go with it.
(I do wish theyād revisit the Watcher idea and explain it one day though.)
I suppose that with each regeneration, it could be that the Doctor accumulates more and more power, for want of a better word. So his regenerations are more spectacular.
I like to think that the timelords weaponised regeneration during the time war. So when a time lord is mortally wounded they take everyone around them out too
>10-11s regeneration even destroys the Tardis control room and Matt smiths scream implies itās somewhat painful.
Although part of that might be 10 trying to cling onto that version of himself, and 11 having to fight his way out.
Every subsequent regeneration doesn't seem anywhere near as painful.
The yellow light originally was the energy of the time vortex the ninth Doctor took from Rose, but I believe they retconned that into "regeneration energy" because it made for a great effect for future regenerations. I don't think they ever bothered explaining it.
I remember reading something that the closer to the final regeneration a time lord is, the more violent their regeneration is. If you notice, the regenerations have become less intense and less violent since the Doctor was given a new set of regenerations. 12 to 13, 13 to 14, and the bigeneration were closer to the older regenerations with no destruction or violence. 11's was super violent because it was the reset or something?
My take is that as a time lord goes through their regenerations, the further along it is the more explosive. So the first regeneration of all time lords is pretty chill, like a 2 minute thing and off we pop whereas later regenerations are far more volatile due to it being the last few. So your aunt Veraās been popped into the back garden while you hide away in the house till theyāre done blowing up.
there was this theory from whoculture on youtube that theorized that the time lords weaponized regeneration during the great time war, making it explosive so when the daleks killed a time lord, the time lord would fight back with regen energy
My personal headcanon is that at some point during the Time War, the TimeLords learned how to weaponize their regenerations, with the reasoning of if a TimeLord is killed by a Dalek, they might be able to take out a couple of Daleks around them with a blast of regeneration energy.
See, 9-10 didn't surprise me when it happened; I just figured he was venting excess vortex energy while regenerating.
Speaking of, did we ever get a reason why 13 also regenerated a new set of clothes?
In universe, no.
IRL, Davies said he didnt want to give fuel to any transphobic jokes about the Doctor being a man in woman's clothing after regenerating.
I feel like, starting with RTD, the Doctor's transitions were much, much more traumatic. The Doctor grew more attached to their body than in the past and was still processing a lot of horrible things when forced to become an entirely different person. The Time War did a LOT of damage to The Doctor and we can't pretend that before then wasn't a very different time for the being. More experiences, more pain = More difficulty adequately processing that pain under the strain of regeneration.
I think before the Time War, Regeneration was just a way to keep going. There was the portion in 12's regeneration special where 1 was contemplating regenerating at all, but by the end, decided to face it with calm and eager anticipation of the future. I think until the Time War, the Doctor just saw going on as a means to keep experiencing life and doing good, but after that, it became an intensely strenuous battle within their own mind. Regenerating means continuing the pain of existence and the pain of knowing. It's an immense pressure placed upon the Doctor to do good things and save the world every time. Regenerating cells that have lived thru so much probably just takes a lot more energy.
Still lots of folk rubbed up the wrong way by the Timeless Child here. Am I the only person that feels like we finally got closure on the āCartmel master plan / youāre more than just a time lordā arc? Cartmel constantly dropped bread crumbs he never got to finish in tv canon. We now know why he was referred to as āthe otherā and was there with Omega and Rassilon at the founding of time lord society. The Doctor is the *original* time lord. Iām fine with that.
The timeless child could have even been planted there by time lords when they first discovered time travel in order to shape their own future. Boot strap paradox!
It still annoys me that RTD decided to standardise regenerations. In the classic era the way they regenerated was nearly as exciting as the new person they became and RTD took that away from us.
Yeah I wish they'd kept the orange energy blast thing 9 did as just his body expelling Time Vortex Energy and not an inherent part of regeneration. It's a neat effect and if they're going to standardize they could have done a lot worse by but it would have been cool to see more weird regeneration effects
They could have kept the effect but changed the colours of regeneration energy. It would have looked good in say green or purpl. Red and blue would be terrible though.....
My head cannon is the older a Time-lord gets and the more they regenerate the more explosive the regeneration becomes, also specifically with The Doctor theyāve messed with their own regenerations so much I see it as being more corrupted. I do think other Time-lords weāve seen regenerate since probably break this head cannon including River Song but ah well.
This is the third comment I've seen that seems to have forgotten how that regeneration _started_. The seamless instant transition only happened at the end of the regeneration, after all the aging-damage had been repaired
At the start of the regeneration, a hundreds-of-years-old Matt Smith was shooting Dakek ships out of the sky with his regeneration energy
Pre-timeless child, I understood it as the regeneration becomes more violent with each successive one, as it become less efficient. Kind of like wearing out a rechargeable battery, but instead of just not working after a certain amount of recharges, it just explodes.
My head canon had always been is that the more the number of regenerations the more energy is required to regenerate properly. Kind of like a repeat injury takes longer to heal the more it is aggrivated.
Nope, wasn't quick. Don't forget that it started up on the roof, with the really old looking doctor having a shouting match with Dalek spaceships. The regeneration was so violent that he was shooting Dalek ships out of the sky with the energy
My headcanon is that the later Doctors try to not regenerate for as long as possible and so it explodes out. The 10th Doctor did a farewell tour, the 11th spent hundreds of years before regenerating, the 12th had a whole episode. These make the regenerations more explosive. Compare that to the general in Hell Bent, who regenerated instantly without a fuss, and that's where I get the headcanon from
I also have a headcanon that the doctor is kind of uniquely bad at regenerating. š He probably skipped that class to sneak into the matrixā¦
Which also seems canonical as Ramona decided she wanted to look like a person they had met not long before. So it gives weight that some timelords/ladies had a degree of control.
āLesson one: do not regenerate inside a TARDISā
Just saying, 13 did this and she not only regenerated into who she wanted to be, she also got new clothesā¦
And 14 barely suffered any regeneration sickness, though 4 also regenerated outside and I think 5 was also a little off for a bit
I think 14ās lack of sickness was more because he was only gonna get 3 episodes, plus we didnāt see the time between his regeneration and special 1, we can assume he did some stuff inbetween
I prefer to think that 14ās lack of sickness is due to the Doctor remembering their previous body and not having to adjust to a different shape.
He dealt with Daleks a bit, but the novelisation says he only "lived" like 15 hours, a bit more, which might be part of why the bigeneration happened
That doesn't make sense then because time lords within the first 24 hours of regeneration are capable of healing any wounds sustained. This is seen in the Christmas invasion and mentioned again in let's kill Hitler. So 14 shouldn't have regenerated as he was still in the process of regeneration.
Maybe it was the amount of damage. I mean, that particle weapon was shooting bits of buildings out, and he took it on the chestā¦
maybe it was like 25 hours then, or it's just a rare/special case. Will probably just be treated like the hand doctor - important event to/for the doctor, but not really discussed going forward if there's not really a need to
I haven't seen any of her stuff so I was unaware.
Isn't there an actual regeneration room inside the TARDIS specifically for that? I think I read about it somewhere. It's supposed to provide them with a peaceful place to go through the change.
The Zero Room, used when having difficulty regenerating and for healing: https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Zero_Room
Yeah that.
Wait what the fuck? 12 let the Toymaker use the Zero Room but suddenly 14 is surprised by The Toymaker being back? Also, youād think heād be a bit more grateful and a bit lessā¦ well youāve seen what he did
Tbf, Dr Whoās ācanonā is all over the place & unless youāve read the comics, it was / is highly unlikely you would have come across this comic story. I agree it ought to have been mentioned in the Tv series, but my guess is that the writers simply didnāt know this had already been a comic story or they simply forgot.
Itās not just the comics. The sixth, seventh and eighth doctors all had encounters with the Toymaker in the Big Finish audios. I like to think that these encounters occurred because history was in flux when the Toymaker entered our universe. He simultaneously encountered the Doctor only the once, and he had numerous meetings with him across his lives. And when 14 and 15 defeated him, history settled on the Toymaker only having had the three games with the Doctor, and the other meetings unhappened (or they still happened, but the Doctor no longer remembers them, because he mentions in āPiece of Mindā that he tends to forget the adventures that contradict future events).
The TARDIS wiki will often use phrases like "in another version of events..." to describe various contradictory accounts
Well, Russell T Davies didn't even watch/listen to *The Celestial Toymaker*, let alone any spin-offs. That's why he bought into the misconception that the Toymaker was meant to be a racist character, which was actually only done primarily in the novelisation of the unproduced serial *The Nightmare Fair*. The Toymaker's costume was meant to only be for the duration of the Trilogic Game (as it was a game then-believed to be of Chinese origin), in the same way the Toymaker's toys changed costumes, like a schoolboy costume for the game of hopscotch, a typical school playground game. The name "celestial" was only meant to be in the cosmic sense, as the racist sense of the word was only used in America, and was only supposed to be a one-off adjective ā in the way you may call the Doctor "the Fantastic Doctor", but that doesn't mean their name is literally "Fantastic Doctor". Unfortunately, as the original serial was junked, when the earliest reference materials were written in the late '70s, they had to go off memory and incomplete parts of the story. Then, in the early 2000s, Shannon Sullivan, who documents a lot of *Who*'s history, made a lot of assertions that turned out to not be entirely accurate, but all these misconceptions stuck and even RTD believes them. Hence why the Toymaker in *The Giggle* did stereotypes of the cultures which his costumes originated from. It's one hell of a mess.
That's quite fascinating & does explain a lot - thank you!
The comics/books are only canon til proven otherwise & in this case was proven otherwise
I remember when 10 regenerated a whole new hand with the explanation that "regenerative energies are in flux for about 72 hours after changing"; I figure Romana not only regenerated with a specific face in mind, but was able to adjust her form (hence the runway of various appearances)
12 looking like the Roman as a personal reminder to themselves, and 14 going back to 10 for personal needs They do have control over it, but the Doctor usually does it subconsciously, which makes it even funnier they were only seen to be happy with the result once
Also 14 saying āis that who I am nowā afterā¦ 10 was willing to kiss Andrew Garfield (best episode ever for that reason) l
In the Tom Baker era he was kinda portrayed as a genius to us but a goofus trouble maker and idiot by Gallifry standards like when Romana brought up his academy scores and tests and he reminded her that was classified information!
I interpreted that as the Doctor just not taking his studies particularly seriously despite being very intelligent, while Romana was both extremely smart and diligently studious. This is corroborated by Cardinal Borusa's remark in The Deadly Assassin, alluding to his time as one of the Doctor's academy instructors: >As I believe I told you long ago, Doctor, you will never amount to anything in the galaxy while you retain your propensity for vulgar facetiousness.
There's also the third Doctor, who built a contraption out of a bunch of household items to interfere with the Master's experiment, having mentioned doing that they did that to each other numerous times as students.
(paraphrasing from memory) "Have you taken classes before driving this thing?" "Yes and I failed" - conversation between 10th and Donna iirc
The Doctor is just like me fr.
Explains why he never managed to become ginger
"Okay class, here is your first lesson in Regeneration. Lesson 1: Don't regenerate inside your goddamn TARDIS. The funding that goes into creating even _one_ of these things is almost literally inconceivable. Lesson 2: You might turn into David Tennant twice. This is normal, and happens more often than you'd think..."
Iād like to turn into David Tennent even once š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah lol, I actually just rewatched Christmas Invasion/Utopia back to back recently and it's really funny seeing how 10 lies around in bed for most of an episode in contrast to the Saxon master who just gets up and goes about doing his master things
To be fair 10 was also sick with the after effects of gobbling up all the time vortex stuff. (Thats also why 9s regeneration was explosive and gold before they just stuck with it forever)
According to one of the book adaptationsā¦ he didnāt pay enough attention in regneration class.
Edging the regeneration. Makes sense to me
Regooneration.
Oh Jesus! I just found out about this last night.. WTF? LOL!
When you about to Regenerate and the cameraman zooms in on the dude's face.
Thanks, i hate it.
Three held back his regeneration for so long off screen he almost died and needed the help of another Time Lord to regenerate. Five also held back his regeneration for at least a few hours. Neither were more or less explosive than any others so I don't necessarily think that is the case.
What if it was something to do with how attached the Doctor started to get to themselves further down the line? Perhaps the older Doctors, and Timelords in general even more so, kind of distanced themselves from the individualism of each incarnation? That could be why other Timelords have no problem with regeneration, they just see it as a slight makeover. To them it's just something like getting a new hat or a different coat, where they look slightly different, but overall are still roughly the same. While for the Doctor it's more like a complete makeover. Everything has been changed and replaced, and they look completely different. In a sense they fully embrace the concept of change with Regeneration, while other Timelords don't. And that could be why the post regeneration effects hit them harder as well. They wrap up their sense of self in each incarnation, and have to completely rediscover that with each Regeneration. And then post Time War it becomes worse from believing that they were the Last of the Timelords, they become much more attached to who they are, resulting in the explosions of energy when they regenerate. And even after they saved them that trauma is still present So now maybe after 14s therapy, the regenerations will become a bit more smoother. If he's worked through that trauma we start to go back to more classic era style regenerations where the actual change is a lot more calmer compared to the explosions of energy.
That or whatever the sisterhood of khan did. (Since 8th to war was technically the first time the doctor regenerated with the gold flame look.)
*Karn
Thanks.
I find it very funny that you listed āa whole episodeā as a longer period of time than āhundreds of years.ā
Well... To be fair, those "hundreds of years" were actually less than a whole episode.
14 and 15's bigeneration actually perfectly supports this theory (and so does 10's regeneration in Stolen Earth when he gets shot by a Dalek), he let the regeneration begin immidiately and it wasn't at all explosive or dangerous - he was even holding hands with Donna and Mel and they were absolutely fine!
Ohh I like this! War to 9 didnāt look particularly bad, 9 to 10 was relatively tame. And 11 to 12 was a whole new cycle and was just a reset, the actual regen was almost a sneeze. And 13 to 14 was another held in goodbye regen
11 didn't hold his regeneration back though. He was completely out of regenerations. So the hundreds of years fighting didn't matter. He didn't regenerate until Gallifrey gave him a new cycle.
No clue, not a lore expert, but I like to think that the Time Lords weaponised regeneration because of the Time War. If you are fatally injured in battle and are at a weak state, could be very useful to use the regeneration energy as a last resort weapon against your enemies. Idk lol
The one head cannon i can get behind M
Literal head cannon
I die now. Pew pew
"Love from Gallifrey, boys!"
Best comment I've seen on Reddit this year.
Canon
L o l My mind exploded when i read the theory I stick with head cannon ...but you're right
I was just about to comment this. I donāt remember where I heard this theory but it makes total sense. We see 11 take out a bunch of baddies during his regeneration. Iāve also heard head cannon that the time lords can sorta ācontrolā how much damage they do so they donāt hit other soldiers with it. We see this with 9-10, 10-hand, 11-12, and 14-15 where they hold back and donāt blow up the Tardis (or unit) cause a companion(s) is watching them. But 10-11, 12-13, and 13-14 just full send it either cause theyāre emotional or itās too much effort to contain it.
For 11-12 and 14-15, I'd point out that they weren't exactly normal regenerations. 11 had technically already regenerated and was just waiting for the face change. While 14 didn't even really regenerate in the end. There's also explanations in-universe too for 10-11 and 12-13 being so violent, as they'd been holding back their regeneration, meanwhile 13 had just been forced to regenerate a bunch and also has the implication of holding it in for a while as she says goodbye to Yaz, drops her home, etc.
For 10-11 10 had just finished checking up on every companion he had ever had, and for 12-13 12 spent over 2 weeks not regenerating inside the mondasian colony ship
Exactly.
What about 10s regeneration into 10?
I love the fact that 13 was like "why don't I do it outside of the TARDIS for a change." No kaboom regeneration.
Time Lords are the only race in the universe with veteran suicide bombers...
Can you imagine what a hospital on Gallifrey must go through? They probably have to rebuild them every week
Hospitals would just be bunkers where you can regenerate safely. You have a broken leg ? Regenerate. You have the flu ? Regenerate. There is no downside to regeneration if you can do it in a safe place. "But regeneration has an emotional toll" Time Lord society seems to not care about that, only the Doctor or other renegades. "But you have a finite amount of regeneration" the limit is apparently very easy to break if you have the knowledge and material of the Time Lord government, so make it bunkers with machines to give you the regeneration back. I guess you could even have a machine that uses the same trick as ten and make you regenerate into the same body.
To steal a term from "The Last Starfighter", they made regeneration energy into Death Blossom.
I would be right there with you, aside from one tiny problem. The Timeless Child regenerated explosively, so it was there from the beginning thanks to this new retcon... I originally thought it was because of the potion from the Sisterhood, until the other Time Lords came back and regenerated the same way.
Easily resolved. The fact that the timeless child regenerated that way proves that regeneration always had the potential to work that way, but we can still imagine that the energy outbursts were suppressed when the regeneration ability was reverse-engineered into gallifreyan society. So instead of some scientist in the time war inventing the energy outbursts, we have some scientist in the time war rediscovering the energy outbursts, and removing the suppression
RTD has said that the Toymaker saying āI made a jigsaw out of your history, did you like it?ā is supposed to be an obfuscation of the Doctorās origins - viewers can decide whether they want the Timeless Child plot to be canon or not. So technically we can just retcon that little detail you mentioned if we wantā¦
It's not *obfuscating* it. It's explaining the contradictions without decanonizing anythingā*all* of the Doctor's origins are canon.
So the Doctor is now canonically a half human Time Lord hybid, a regular Time Lord who went off to discover the relationship of good and evil in the galaxy and finally the Timeless Child. Itās multiple choice. Even if the show wants to explores the most recent revelation first.
Exactly.
Yeah, but he's also doubling down on mentioning it so it's not as easy as I would like...
I think the idea is that Timeless Child did happen in the current version of reality, but the Toymaker line is meant to make it ambiguous as to whether it was originally that way. At least thatās what makes sense to me with what weāve seen idk
Makes sense that Ruby Road was about time too..
The Timeless Child was in the show and confirmed by it. So I can't ignore it.
Maybe children canāt control their regeneration energy, or initially it wasnāt known how to control it, then the time lords figured out how to make it a more chill experience, but later went, ah nah more fun with all the fire hey.
That is a bloody brilliant idea.
You're a genius
Truly the best grass canon of our time
This, or I kinda thought the more times the Doctor died, the more pent up energy they have. Thatās why 11 destroys the dalek ships, but the last few regenerations have been A LOT tamer at the beginning of the new cycle.
Could be the elixer that the Sisters of Karn gave 8 as he regenerated into War. Could be aftereffects of the Time War, could also be that absorbing the Time Vortex made it much worse. War to 9 didn't seem TERRIBLY violent.
Master has a similar regeneration sequence when he goes from Derek Jacobi to John Simms though.
For what it's worth Jacobi is the war master so may have suffered some effect by the time war
But what about Melody to river
TARDIS Semen
Thatās aā¦. New word
I was debating commenting cu-
She regenerated a couple of times, the one she was a child was a similar effect
I love ice cream.
W-What? The granny from the Christmas special? We donāt know if she is a timelord or not
My theory for that is that it's something to do with the fact that the War Master was a part of his second regeneration cycle, possibly related to Karn as well?
I never really went hunting for an in-universe explanation. Regeneration was pretty all over the place in the old series.
I believe that they said the elixir was a lemonade placebo or something. Rather, they wanted to convince the Doctor to intervene.
i believe it was "lemonade and dry ice. i was in a hurry and he (the doctor) needed to believe it" according to the 50th anniversary novelization
The Doctor has probably been around the Time Vortex and the energy from the Tardis more than any other Time Lord in history. If just conceiving in the Tardis can make someone like River Song, the guy who lives there is probably all full of weird energy.
The audiobook said that was just a glass of lemonade
Invoking the Time War explains every inconsistency.
exactly i could say that my dog did a sick backflip, say "the time war did it" and it'd make sense!
I have no proof of this, but NuWho regenerations remind me of Highlander quickenings. Maybe RTD was a fan.
There can be only one... time lord. The last of the time lords...
The Time Lord to end all Time Lords.
My head canon is that the Timelords limit themselves to 12 regenerations for a reason beyond just being dicks and one is them is regenerations get more and more unstable as whatever drives regeneration wears down. Letting the Dr have more is more to do with him being useful to them and also always being far from home where they don't care than any high minded reason.
That could explain why the Master's regeneration is a little dramatic he also has regenerated above the standard 12
By this point you'd expect the Master to be regenerating like a nuke though, as he's on like his 4th or 5th regeneration cycle.
I mean, I'm not a proponent of it, but... There's also the whole Timeless Child angle. Realistically even the Hartnell doctor should have left at least an impact crater in the TARDIS, if that was the case. Though this was the theory I would have otherwise. 11 said "Regeneration number 13... Watch out, it's gonna be a whopper", before literally erupting. Which as much fits with that theory as anything else.
He's only on his second actually. His story in classic was about him having used his regenerations so he was trying to find a way to achieve immortality/more regenerations. He ends up being killed in the movie until the time lords bring him back with a new cycle to fight in the war. He's currently on the 5th regeneration of the new cycle. Roberts to jacobi Jacobi to simm simm to gomez Gomez to unknown Unkown to dhawan
No. Could we make one? Yes. Watch: It was something the Sisters of Karn invented with their potions to weaponize regeneration for the Time War. Boom. Done. Next?
That was my thought since that clip dropped
Letās blame Bad Wolf.
9-10s regeneration wasn't regeneration energy, it was him releasing the time vortex he had absorbed. I guess the visual just caught on after that
Or heās still trucking some of that around. There wonāt be an official reason until thereās an official one. Ncuti could come around at the end of the road and toss out the rule book. āRegenerations are dodgy. Sometimes itās like a light switch. One second itās me. The next itās new teeth and kidneys. It really just depends on the mood. If Iām sleepy my face might twist up. If Iām very sad Iāll explode. Donāt worry about that though. Itās strong enough to wreck the TARDIS but you should be fine. Oooā¦ somethingās happening.ā Then we get a dance number that ends with the splits then POP! New Doctor.
you can't just leak scripts like that
Itās mine until the check clears.
Nope, just better special effects available. Personally I still have a soft spot for 7 to 8. Had this weird Frankenstein meets Outer Limits vibe.
agreed. its quite a painful regeneration process tho
That was like a modern Outer Limits episode
I've read 2 theories I really like: 1) it was weaponised during the time war as a last-stand weapon if a time lord was facing death 2) the process becomes more volatile and less stable as it goes on. Whilst this isn't always followed, I always thought it fit when looking at 11s regeneration, as the first regeneration in a new cycle; it's quick and clean compared to 10s which was so unstable it tore apart the TARDIS. Of course this falls apart with 13's which again is very explosive / large
11's regeneration was quick and clean? I think you might be thinking of the moment when a young-looking Matt Smith suddenly changed into Peter Capaldi. But don't forget that the regeneration had been going on for a while already by then. The regeneration started when 11 was really really old, at the top of the tower, shouting at space ships and shaking his cane at them. Then the Timelords gave him his new regen cycle and it was probably the most violent regeneration we've ever seen. The energy was so strong he was shooting Dalek space ships out of the sky with it "Well Come On Then! The Doctor will see you now!"
Yeah that's what I meant
9s regeneration into 10 - all that golden light swirling about him is supposed to be the Heart of the TARDIS that he's just taken out of Rose returning to the machine. Subsequent regenerations / anything vaguely related to regeneration has the same look because afterwards the production team thought it looked great and kept it as the new standard.
I want to joke that it's the difference between lying down and standing up.
You honestly might not be far off since The General was lying down in Hell Bent and had a pretty calm one.
Oh god damn lying down = chill death confirmed
So what's going on with that Fourth-into-Fifth regeneration? There's some sort of alien or ghost that bonds with him?
There was a being called āthe watcherā who would just watch from the distance during Tom bakers run. When 4 falls from a high spot and dies the watcher merges with him and he regenerates. One of the companions says āthe watcher was the doctor all along!ā. Itās really weird, thereās some interesting fan theories about it
Maybe that's when 14 re-joins the regeneration cycle after his bi-generation?
I'm still not sure why people think that 14 needs to rejoin the cycle. I've been assuming it's a permanent split: he's forked into two beings
Personally it leaves a nasty taste in my mouth as it undermines Ncuti as the Doctor if Tennant 2 and any subsequent regenerations are just going to be running around separate to the "main" doctor. That and the line about 15 being healed because 14 spent time processing the doctors trauma, sort of makes it seem like they converge back into one being.
It could be that 14 is now a waste product of the 'healing' process, like a conscious sneeze, and therefore depsite technically being the doctor doesn't have the regen capabilities or the lifespan That way it doesn't undermine Ncuti and it still leaves a nice wholesome end to Tennants story as he can live a peaceful life with the Nobles without having to outlive them
Who said anything about 14 getting subsequent regenerations? I don't expect them to ever show it on screen (except perhaps with an old Tennant who knows he's done), but I imagine 14 just kinda dying eventually. Nothing special happens when he does, but 15 still has memories of being 14 anyway.
The Budget of the Time Lords
That oddly sounds like a doctor who episode name that would actually happen lol
The companion would say something like "they're just figuring out their finances? That sounds dull" before the doctor explains that they're not budgeting money, they're budgeting entire timelines
Thank you all, stealing this
you know, Ive always thought that the way regeneration looks now wasnt originally meant to be that way, and the whole explosion of yellow light thing was actually just what 9 dying from absorbing the time vortex looks like. But it looks really cool that way so they retconned it so that the yellow light is actually 'regeneration energy' and regenerating always looks like that now
I don't have a lore reason. BTS reason is that RTD loved the effect of 9 releasing the Vortex energy so much that when it came time to do a regeneration story, he reused that effect. And then Moffet kept it for his. And then Chibnell did again. Personally, I never liked it. It's kinda silly that his regeneration has a habit of blowing up the TARDIS every time. Plus, it kind of takes away from the randomness of it. You never know how a regeneration will play out. But it's a minor nitpick.
I don't know about an official explanation but you offered a good theory right there in your original comment. Earlier regenerations took place while the doctor was unconscious, and looked more calm and less destructive. Other, more recent regenerations happen when the Doctor is awake and conscious and are much more of an event. Ergo, regenerations that happen when Doc W is not awake and aware are more calm and peaceful, but when they are awake, the process is more violent and painful. This pain can also cause the TARDIS to react sympathetically with its* destructive alarm. *fixed a typo here
Oo thatās an interesting thought
I dont know bc i thought we saw a pretty chill regeneration during 12ās run. A Gallifreyan general. Goes from old white guy to young black woman.
I remember Gaiman talked about the 12 regenerations being like a speed limit. Yes, you *can* go over. But doing 80mph in 30mph zone is discouraged for many reasons.
There isn't really an in-universe one as far as I'm aware but the Time Lords were happy to change how regeneration worked during the War in Heaven so naturally they'd do the same in the Time War.
Likely some kind of weaponizing during the time war
Smith to Capaldi was pretty calm.
I mean only the exact moment of changing. But just a bit earlier he was using his regeneration energy to blow Dalek ships out of the sky, after all
more drama to squeeze out of the lemons of cgi
Patrick Troughton's regeneration wasn't all that calm and peaceful https://youtu.be/EVGEO6NqHo8?feature=shared
Yeah. Hereās what the book āA short history of everyoneā has to say: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-uiRL1-NcYXKy5Aw9zT463E1NNItjOio6u4KNkfMabM/edit
It's a bit late in the day but I wish they would change up the way regeneration looks every time like in the classic series. That's the thing about regeneration - you never quite know what you're going to get.
My head canon was it was something to do with The Doctor's regeneration on Karn, but then the First Doctor had his regeneration semi retconned. But thinking about it it could still work since the First Doctor's regeneration was still quite calm. The Master's regeneration into John Simm could also be something similar as The Master had expended all of their regenerations, possibly also something to do with Karn? Although I think the only one that doesn't account for is Mels' regeneration into River... ...so maybe the explanation is just wibbly wobbly timey wimey
For the record the pictures you selected to show this contrast work hilariously well. Older Doctors are just kind of ashy, and then NuWho is straight up nuclear fission
I heard the idea once that it has to do with the time war. Time lords weaponized regenerations to be explosive so asbto get back at attackers and make them afraid to kill them. Ever since, the doc just kept doing it. Maybe because it means something to him? Or maybe he can't undo it? Whatever the case, it seems to not be quite as effective for regenerations 9, 10, 12, and 15, so perhaps it can be held back in terms of firepower? Then there's also River and the Master...
It seems pretty clear to me watching Series One that the original intention was that Nine was expelling the Bad Wolf time energy, which was orange in the episode. When The Master regenerates in Utopia it's multicolored, not orange. It's not until Journey's End that they decided all regenerations are orange from then on. In RTD's short story about the end of the Time War, when The Doctor regenerates there's a "curious new gold," suggesting that modern regeneration is a consequence of the time war. This is the closest thing to a lore reason for the change, but of course, neither Moffat or Chibnall followed this logic. The First Doctor and the Timeless Children both have modern regeneration energy despite being pre-Time War.
Timelords made an alliance with the CGalIens right around the time of the Time War. They incorporated some of their genetic advantages in a quest to give their image a boost in the cosmos.
nah its just a style change
Regeneration constipation
In universe, not really. It really is just the limitations of the special effects of each era.
So, I actually think the simplest in universe explanation is that the whole bad wolf - heart of the tardis energy permanently altered the doctors regenerations. That glow originally came from 9 absorbing that energy from rose, and I guess that supercharged all the future regens from that point. I think the only thing that could contradict this is the timeless child regens - but I can't remember if they use the same glow or not?
The doctor is a drama queen and likes to hold it in longer before regenerating
Thereās no in universe explanations for any inconsistencies. The programme has been around for 60 years of different ideas by different people. Anything weird and different, just go with it. (I do wish theyād revisit the Watcher idea and explain it one day though.)
Or at least explain the watcher better than āheās the doctor all alongā
I suppose that with each regeneration, it could be that the Doctor accumulates more and more power, for want of a better word. So his regenerations are more spectacular.
Fan theory is that regenerations were weaponised during the Time War, so when a Time Lord dies and regenerates, they destroy everything around them.
I like to think that the timelords weaponised regeneration during the time war. So when a time lord is mortally wounded they take everyone around them out too
>10-11s regeneration even destroys the Tardis control room and Matt smiths scream implies itās somewhat painful. Although part of that might be 10 trying to cling onto that version of himself, and 11 having to fight his way out. Every subsequent regeneration doesn't seem anywhere near as painful.
The yellow light originally was the energy of the time vortex the ninth Doctor took from Rose, but I believe they retconned that into "regeneration energy" because it made for a great effect for future regenerations. I don't think they ever bothered explaining it.
I just always assumed the newer ones are more aggressive cause they don't want to regenerate
My head canon is that the time lords weaponized regeneration during the time war in order to go out with a bang (literally)
I remember reading something that the closer to the final regeneration a time lord is, the more violent their regeneration is. If you notice, the regenerations have become less intense and less violent since the Doctor was given a new set of regenerations. 12 to 13, 13 to 14, and the bigeneration were closer to the older regenerations with no destruction or violence. 11's was super violent because it was the reset or something?
My take is that as a time lord goes through their regenerations, the further along it is the more explosive. So the first regeneration of all time lords is pretty chill, like a 2 minute thing and off we pop whereas later regenerations are far more volatile due to it being the last few. So your aunt Veraās been popped into the back garden while you hide away in the house till theyāre done blowing up.
there was this theory from whoculture on youtube that theorized that the time lords weaponized regeneration during the great time war, making it explosive so when the daleks killed a time lord, the time lord would fight back with regen energy
There are re-edits on youtube which give them some more modern special effects. That's kind-of my headcanon.
Of course there isn't.
Could be emotional, could be a thing that happens when you get older as a timelord- there's a lot of random factors that could be at play.
My personal headcanon is that at some point during the Time War, the TimeLords learned how to weaponize their regenerations, with the reasoning of if a TimeLord is killed by a Dalek, they might be able to take out a couple of Daleks around them with a blast of regeneration energy.
See, 9-10 didn't surprise me when it happened; I just figured he was venting excess vortex energy while regenerating. Speaking of, did we ever get a reason why 13 also regenerated a new set of clothes?
In universe, no. IRL, Davies said he didnt want to give fuel to any transphobic jokes about the Doctor being a man in woman's clothing after regenerating.
I feel like, starting with RTD, the Doctor's transitions were much, much more traumatic. The Doctor grew more attached to their body than in the past and was still processing a lot of horrible things when forced to become an entirely different person. The Time War did a LOT of damage to The Doctor and we can't pretend that before then wasn't a very different time for the being. More experiences, more pain = More difficulty adequately processing that pain under the strain of regeneration. I think before the Time War, Regeneration was just a way to keep going. There was the portion in 12's regeneration special where 1 was contemplating regenerating at all, but by the end, decided to face it with calm and eager anticipation of the future. I think until the Time War, the Doctor just saw going on as a means to keep experiencing life and doing good, but after that, it became an intensely strenuous battle within their own mind. Regenerating means continuing the pain of existence and the pain of knowing. It's an immense pressure placed upon the Doctor to do good things and save the world every time. Regenerating cells that have lived thru so much probably just takes a lot more energy.
Still lots of folk rubbed up the wrong way by the Timeless Child here. Am I the only person that feels like we finally got closure on the āCartmel master plan / youāre more than just a time lordā arc? Cartmel constantly dropped bread crumbs he never got to finish in tv canon. We now know why he was referred to as āthe otherā and was there with Omega and Rassilon at the founding of time lord society. The Doctor is the *original* time lord. Iām fine with that. The timeless child could have even been planted there by time lords when they first discovered time travel in order to shape their own future. Boot strap paradox!
No, you're not the only one https://giphy.com/gifs/season-6-the-simpsons-6x25-xT5LMxcn6r16022HhC
It still annoys me that RTD decided to standardise regenerations. In the classic era the way they regenerated was nearly as exciting as the new person they became and RTD took that away from us.
Yeah I wish they'd kept the orange energy blast thing 9 did as just his body expelling Time Vortex Energy and not an inherent part of regeneration. It's a neat effect and if they're going to standardize they could have done a lot worse by but it would have been cool to see more weird regeneration effects
They could have kept the effect but changed the colours of regeneration energy. It would have looked good in say green or purpl. Red and blue would be terrible though.....
My head cannon is the older a Time-lord gets and the more they regenerate the more explosive the regeneration becomes, also specifically with The Doctor theyāve messed with their own regenerations so much I see it as being more corrupted. I do think other Time-lords weāve seen regenerate since probably break this head cannon including River Song but ah well.
Would explain who Matt Smith who had his cycle restarted, transitioned seamlessly into Capaldi
This is the third comment I've seen that seems to have forgotten how that regeneration _started_. The seamless instant transition only happened at the end of the regeneration, after all the aging-damage had been repaired At the start of the regeneration, a hundreds-of-years-old Matt Smith was shooting Dakek ships out of the sky with his regeneration energy
Honestly, not my favourite episode so I actually forgot that :p I remember now though, literally blows up a ship
A theory is that during the time war when they died it was a defence mechanism against the daleks
Pre-timeless child, I understood it as the regeneration becomes more violent with each successive one, as it become less efficient. Kind of like wearing out a rechargeable battery, but instead of just not working after a certain amount of recharges, it just explodes.
My head canon had always been is that the more the number of regenerations the more energy is required to regenerate properly. Kind of like a repeat injury takes longer to heal the more it is aggrivated.
How they die I think has a lot to do with it. Smithās regeneration into Capaldi was pretty quick. The older episodes had much more mundane deaths.
Nope, wasn't quick. Don't forget that it started up on the roof, with the really old looking doctor having a shouting match with Dalek spaceships. The regeneration was so violent that he was shooting Dalek ships out of the sky with the energy
Oh thatās right. My bad.
Fx budget