Monday, October 14, 2013

Doctor Who Regenerations

The new season of Doctor Who is almost here. (Squee!) We know our new Doctor, but there's something else we're all wondering.

The first eleven Doctors, courtesy of BBC One.
(Click on link to go to BBC's official characters page.)
How will Moffat get around the regeneration limit?

He's come out and said Timelords can only regenerate 12 times. It's pretty well-established fan canon. But of course general fan speculation is that the writers will find a way around the limit--ask any fan, they'll give you two to six different ways to dodge the limit. (River's "donation," do like the Master and start over, already used his twelve throughout the time war and forced into a new cycle long before anyway...)

According to Radio Times, Moffat may be playing with numbers, letting us think there have been more regenerations than there actually have been. Body switching? Imposters? But there's also the possibility that there have been regenerations spent in the same body. Apparently the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, thinks Moffat's got a plan up his sleeve.

Here's a list of all the Doctor's known regenerations, in case you want a brush-up. Or the Wikipedia entry, if you prefer.

What are your thoughts? Will Moffat get around the limit? Will he push the limit? Will he leave the next writer in a crunch? Or will--heaven forbid!--Doctor Who come to an all-time end?


2 comments:

  1. My comments seem to not be going through... Fingers crossed on this one.
    The "comprehensive" list skipped John Hurt's 8.5. Which means the next regeneration will actually be the 12th. Yikes!
    Though I'm sure they'll work around it. It would be silly of them to cut it off now.

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  2. Grr, bad Blogger comments! Work, darn you!
    I get the feeling you're right... I don't see them trying to end the series now!

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