Questions on Dr. Who

[dragon]

Wasn't there mention in the orginal series that the time lords only had so many lives? If so hasn't the new series surpassed that number or was that recanted somewhere?

[Bounty]

12 lives, now on 11. But other Time Lords have had their number of lives expanded or reset, so it's not a problem for the show.

[Patrick Degan]

Twelve regenerations, thirteen incarnations. However, the Master succeeded in regenerating himself by snatching the body of a Trakenite and using the Source (the powerfield on Traken) to do it ("The Keeper Of Traken"). At one point, the Master was offered a new cycle of regenerations as reward for aiding the Doctor in the Death Zone on Gallifrey ("The Five Doctors"). We can presume that the Master was reincarnated by the Time Lords when they needed him to fight in the Time War (implied, "The Sound Of Drums"). So there is precedent for writing around the twelve-regeneration limit. Any one of a number of ways can be utilised when the time comes to deal with the problem.

The short answer is that the Doctor has as many lives as the BBC wants him to have.

[dragon]

Ok new question if all the Time Lords have mutiple lives how did they all die and not the doctor?

[Crazedwraith]

There are certain kinds of death they can't regenerate from. Like total disintegration.

Also on a tangential not: What do people thing about the Docto's regeneration in "Jouney's End?"does that count as a regeneration or not? (Should the twelfth actor being the last incarnation before they bullshit themselves an extension?)

[mr friendly guy]

To add on to Deagan's points, the Time Lords were known to share some of their technology with others. Namely the Minyans "Underworld". Its clear that the Minyans used the regeneration technology to keep regenerating ad nauseum until they could complete their mission. Its not inconceivable that Time Lords have a similar method to do it with their own physiology, but it appears social norms don't allow them to. Especially in light of them offering the Master an extra set of regenerations "The Five Doctors".

In fact, there was a Troughton episode, IIRC it was "The Tomb of the Cybermen" where the Doctor mentions his people can live forever baring accidents.

If you tried to reconcile all this, it could simply mean a) TL have the means to regenerate ad nauseum b) sometime between the 2nd and 3rd doctors, their culture changed such that they now stopped themselves breaking the 12 regeneration limit.

[General Zod]

There are certain kinds of death they can't regenerate from. Like total disintegration.

I seem to remember one classic Who serial (Keeper of Traken? Trial of a Timelord? Maybe? I'll have to recheck.) where one of the Timelords was killed by a weapon another Timelord was carrying in the corridors of some space station or something. Would this imply that the Timelords have general weapons designed specifically to prevent regeneration when used on each other or something?

[Crom]

Wasn't the Valeyard character a later incarnation of the Doctor? Shouldn't he be showing up soon?

[General Zod]

Wasn't the Valeyard character a later incarnation of the Doctor? Shouldn't he be showing up soon?

Per wikipedia:

It was then revealed that the Valeyard was, in fact, the Doctor himself — or rather, a distillation of the Doctor's evil side, a potential dark version who might exist between his twelfth and final incarnations. This concept is similar to the ethereal "Watcher" that manifested itself to bridge the gap between his fourth and fifth incarnations (Logopolis). However in the novelization of the story the Master states "The Valeyard, Doctor, is your penultimate reincarnation ... Somewhere between your twelfth and thirteenth regeneration" implying that the Valeyard is the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor. (The Twin Dilemma revealed that Time Lords do have a thirteenth regeneration, but because there normally is not a fourteenth incarnation using this last regeneration is generally fatal for a Time Lord.)

[NecronLord]

I shall punt this thread to OSF.

Also on a tangential not: What do people thing about the Docto's regeneration in "Jouney's End?"does that count as a regeneration or not? (Should the twelfth actor being the last incarnation before they bullshit themselves an extension?)

Logically it should. It's probably best forgotten though.

Its not inconceivable that Time Lords have a similar method to do it with their own physiology, but it appears social norms don't allow them to. Especially in light of them offering the Master an extra set of regenerations "The Five Doctors".

To the point that the Sisterhood of Karn share an 'elixir of life' with the High Council, which can provide immortality, and is easily replicated. They don't use it, because they've got an immortality thing going.

Which, honestly, makes the Five Doctors story about Borusa's quest for true immortality... a bit silly.

Wasn't the Valeyard character a later incarnation of the Doctor? Shouldn't he be showing up soon?

As said above. But also, he was only a 'potential' future projection. So it's most unlikely the Doctor will become him.

[Parallax]

The novels dealt the the Valeyard problem; basically saying that the 7th Doctor offed (well, forced an early regeneration of) the 6th Doctor to stop the Valeyard ever coming about.

The technology that the Minyans used was indeed Gallifreyan in origin but, as we saw in the story, had a horrible side effect when it was used too much. It was probably this side effect that the Time Lords avoided by not using the technology shown.

Borussa's quest for immortality was for a way of gaining it without having to repeatedly rely on an outside source (such as the Elixir of Life, which could only come from one source). If he had gotten it from Rassilon, then that would have been it and he would never have (supposedly) needed any topping up/refreshing/whatever.

[Stark]

Wasn't there mention in the orginal series that the time lords only had so many lives? If so hasn't the new series surpassed that number or was that recanted somewhere?

Holy shit, we need a sticky. This gets asked every single fucking time someone starts watching the new show, like they think a successful show will just end because of a forty year-old plot device. Simpleminded and retarded questions like 'how can you kill them when they can regenerate' boggle the fuck out of my mind. I mean, shit, their planet was destroyed; clearly they should have regenerated!

I'd pretty much ignore anything anyone said about the Valeyard; the whole incident was hopelessly biased and contrived, so nothing anyone said is particularly reliable. The Time Lords probably just cooked him up from biodata as part of their 80s WE ARE EVIL silliness.

[mr friendly guy]

There are certain kinds of death they can't regenerate from. Like total disintegration.

I seem to remember one classic Who serial (Keeper of Traken? Trial of a Timelord? Maybe? I'll have to recheck.) where one of the Timelords was killed by a weapon another Timelord was carrying in the corridors of some space station or something. Would this imply that the Timelords have general weapons designed specifically to prevent regeneration when used on each other or something?

I think you are thinking of "The deadly Assassin". We have seenTL weapons kill each other without regeneration, whilst they don't seem to pack much fire power, eg in "The invasion of time". I would speculate that the weapons their largely ceremonial guards carry are just designed against each other, and they relied heavily on their planetary shield to protect them from invaders. Hence their standard hand held weapons are pretty crap against determine foes. Their other weapons eg D- mat gun is another story altogether.

[Stark]

The plastic rifles the guards use are probably just the last smallarm they bothered to design before they became totally immune to outside attack and lords of time. They're a bit rubbish, but to be honest Thal blasters are shown as being total garbage too and they're at war with the Daleks in some timelines.

Anyone mentions Apocalypse Element and I'll throw a cow at them.

[dragon]

Wasn't there mention in the orginal series that the time lords only had so many lives? If so hasn't the new series surpassed that number or was that recanted somewhere?

Holy shit, we need a sticky. This gets asked every single fucking time someone starts watching the new show, like they think a successful show will just end because of a forty year-old plot device. Simpleminded and retarded questions like 'how can you kill them when they can regenerate' boggle the fuck out of my mind. I mean, shit, their planet was destroyed; clearly they should have regenerated!

I'd pretty much ignore anything anyone said about the Valeyard; the whole incident was hopelessly biased and contrived, so nothing anyone said is particularly reliable. The Time Lords probably just cooked him up from biodata as part of their 80s WE ARE EVIL silliness.

Thats why I asked as I didn't know their planet was destroyed. Also as for complaining about a 40 year old plot device please half this board does the same thing when in comes to TOS.

[Stark]

It's not a trivia thing; it's that people honestly wonder what'll happen like a show would stop because a number nobody cares about got too high. It's just absurd - and since the Doctor constantly refers to his planet as being 'gone' and 'destroyed' 'along with the Time Lords' it's not my fault you didn't know Gallifrey was destroyed.

The idea that you'd get butthurt because I think commonly asked questions need a sticky amuses me. If you don't know shit about Doctor Who, and you know you don't know shit about Doctor Who, why do you care when people point it out? This is asked all the time, so it's not like you're special.

[NecronLord]

The novels dealt the the Valeyard problem; basically saying that the 7th Doctor offed (well, forced an early regeneration of) the 6th Doctor to stop the Valeyard ever coming about.

Which is pretty laughable, given that he's one of the few Doctors to actually die unambiguously due to enemy action. The Rani shot his ship, he cracked his head or something, and expired. Why does it need to be more complex than that?

Borussa's quest for immortality was for a way of gaining it without having to repeatedly rely on an outside source (such as the Elixir of Life, which could only come from one source).

Wrong. The Doctor's quite explicit that it can be made by anyone with the chemical formula. It's not really mystical at all. It just happens to occur naturally on Karn.

[dragon]

It's not a trivia thing; it's that people honestly wonder what'll happen like a show would stop because a number nobody cares about got too high. It's just absurd - and since the Doctor constantly refers to his planet as being 'gone' and 'destroyed' 'along with the Time Lords' it's not my fault you didn't know Gallifrey was destroyed.

The idea that you'd get butthurt because I think commonly asked questions need a sticky amuses me. If you don't know shit about Doctor Who, and you know you don't know shit about Doctor Who, why do you care when people point it out? This is asked all the time, so it's not like you're special.

Why would you think I got hurt because you mentioned a sticky. It's a good idea for those of us that have only seen a couple of episodes of the new Dr. Who and have missed clues like him mentioning the planet is gone.

[General Zod]

It's not a trivia thing; it's that people honestly wonder what'll happen like a show would stop because a number nobody cares about got too high. It's just absurd - and since the Doctor constantly refers to his planet as being 'gone' and 'destroyed' 'along with the Time Lords' it's not my fault you didn't know Gallifrey was destroyed.

The idea that you'd get butthurt because I think commonly asked questions need a sticky amuses me. If you don't know shit about Doctor Who, and you know you don't know shit about Doctor Who, why do you care when people point it out? This is asked all the time, so it's not like you're special.

Why would you think I got hurt because you mentioned a sticky. It's a good idea for those of us that have only seen a couple of episodes of the new Dr. Who and have missed clues like him mentioning the planet is gone.

A sticky like the Popular Series FAQ sticky, that has a post with all sorts of Doctor Who trivia that was made over two years ago?

[DaveJB]

The novels dealt the the Valeyard problem; basically saying that the 7th Doctor offed (well, forced an early regeneration of) the 6th Doctor to stop the Valeyard ever coming about.

Which is pretty laughable, given that he's one of the few Doctors to actually die unambiguously due to enemy action. The Rani shot his ship, he cracked his head or something, and expired. Why does it need to be more complex than that?

Not to mention that the novels actually give two explanations as to that regeneration - the other is that the 6th Doctor's body had been fried by vortex energy while taking out a universe-eating monster (yep), and he would have regenerated anyway, whether or not the Rani had gotten involved.

[NecronLord]

Not to mention that the novels actually give two explanations as to that regeneration - the other is that the 6th Doctor's body had been fried by vortex energy while taking out a universe-eating monster (yep), and he would have regenerated anyway, whether or not the Rani had gotten involved.

And it's at these kind of times I'm glad that the novels are non-canonical.

[mr friendly guy]

I had forgotten about the Doctor Who FAQ. Embarrassing considering it was me who wrote and posted it.

Necron Lord - these sci fi FAQs will need updating. I can already see some bits of my FAQ which needs updating, namely actors who played the Master and to announce Matt Smith taking over the role from David Tennant. Would it be possible for any one to post an updated version of the FAQ (not just DW, but any sci fi series in the sticky) and you as mod simply make the changes.

[NecronLord]

I had forgotten about the Doctor Who FAQ. Embarrassing considering it was me who wrote and posted it.

Necron Lord - these sci fi FAQs will need updating. I can already see some bits of my FAQ which needs updating, namely actors who played the Master and to announce Matt Smith taking over the role from David Tennant. Would it be possible for any one to post an updated version of the FAQ (not just DW, but any sci fi series in the sticky) and you as mod simply make the changes.

Yeah. If you want to change it, quote the post, make your changes, and then just send the finished product to me via PM, with a link to the original.

[FaxModem1]

Quick question, considering there is already a Doctor Who board open and it is not covered in the FAQ. Why is it that we never know the Doctor's name? Is there a story behind this or is it only because its a running gag and they are stuck with it?

If possible, would they ever reveal his name or would after all these years would it be pointless?

[NecronLord]

Romanadvoratrelundar is an example of a full Time Lord name.

Could you really take him seriously if his actual name were Karamavsermenthethex?