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From the TARDIS to the Companions and the Sonic Screw Driver, there’s been one other constant throughout the tenure ofDoctor Whoand that’s Regeneration. It’s happened frequently throughout over 50 years of the show, and it’s an interesting process that works thematically and practically for the cast of actors that get shuffled in and out of the role over the years.
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For Whovians, it’s got a lot of deep meaning and it’s always an emotional moment, but for newbies and first-timers it can be a little confusing. There’s quite a lot to get through, so to help dissect this unique moment in a Time Lord’s life cycle, here’s what you need to know about Regeneration in Doctor Who.
What Is Regeneration?
Regeneration is a process that’sprimarily been available to the Time Lords, a hyper-advanced alien species that come fromthe planet Gallifreyand from which The Doctor hails (or used to).
Regeneration is essentiallya trick that Time Lords use to heal themselves of mortal wounds, lethal poisoning, or if they reach an extremely advanced age,usually around 500 or more. When it kicks in, theircellular structure essentially regenerates at a molecular level, completely healing them of all injury and essentially resetting them.
However, during each Regeneration,a Time Lord does not return to their previous state. Instead, their entire body, personality, race, age, and gender are changed,often completely at random.
Though in some cases it’s been shown thata Time Lord can revert to a previous incarnationof themselves for a short period of time. As was seen inDavid Tenannt’s Eleventh Doctorre-appearing again after his fourteenth incarnation. Or Tom Baker’s Fourth and Colin Baker’s Sixth appearing asThe Curator.
The Regeneration Process
As the decades crawled by, the technology used for special effects improved and alongside it we saw the process of Time Lord Regeneration change right along with it. What started as just asimple close-up of The Doctor and a cross-fade into a new actorbecame a big flashy spectacle that can cause quite a bit of destruction.
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In the lore,the regeneration process is uniqueand it can vary from Time Lord to Time Lord. Outside of the lore, this was usually due to the various “visions” of the current showrunner or director.
For example,some experience it immediately and instantly flash to their new form, whilst others take much longer and let off lots of excess energy. There are also exceptions like The Doctor who can oftenstave it off for a time. But either way, it’s inevitable.
What Regeneration Looks Like
By the more modern standards of the series, when Regeneration starts,a Time Lord’s skin will begin to glowas bright flowing energy builds and thenblasts out of their head and extremities. Sometimes they yell in pain, sometimes they don’t, and they thenturn into their new Incarnation.
This all culminates in amassive outburst of energyfrom the individual. Though the blast doesn’t seem to harm organic matter,anything mechanical or electronic is immediately fried. As was seen numerous times when the more modern era versions of The Doctor regenerated inside the TARDIS, only for everything to immediately spectacularly explode and break.
Though this issue has been explained as being due to an unintendedbuild-up of energythat was accumulated by The Doctor prolonging the inevitable whilst going onfarewell tours for all of his companions.
However, there have been instances when Regeneration was forcefully activated, paused, and even stopped or reversed. But, as long as there’s organic material, the process can begin, it can besomething as small as a hand or a few cells preserved in stasis.
Regeneration Energy or leftover Regeneration Energy can beused to regenerate others. As was seen with theTenth sending some to his disembodied handor the Thirteenth compassionately trying toextend Davros’s life.
Killing A Time Lord
Time Lords are not invincibleand they are, or at least were, limited to amaximum of thirteen regenerations. There are alsocertain weapons that could interrupt the regeneration processor completely bypass it. Or if they’reinterrupted mid-regenthe energy will simply disperse and they’ll expire.
They can also be taken out if they’re shot in both hearts, the brain, and the part of the brain that stores the genetic coding for Regeneration to activate. The same applies if a Time Lord is caught in a massive explosion, if there areno remains there’s no regeneration.
So they can be killed, it just requires some extra steps. Some Time Lords can alsorefuse regeneration, as was seen by The Master when he became Harold Saxon, though this isessentially a suicidal act.
River Song also attempted toutilize the energy released by Regeneration as a weaponas seen in the episode Lets Kill Hiter. Though it doesn’t seem to be lethal.
Origins Of Timelord Regeneration
One of the downsides of having such a long-running show is thatdifferent aspects of a character will be answered again and again in many different waysby various showrunners and writers over the years to the point it all becomes a bit of a tangled mess.
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Time Lord Regeneration, unfortunately, falls into that camp a little as the exact nature of it and where it came from haschanged regularly over the decades.
For example, some say itcame from experimentation, a nano-virus, evolution from exposure to the raw schism of the Time Vortex over the years, or as some characters have put it over the years it’s just a “Trick of the Time Lords."
Even more recently with the start of the Fourteenth Incarnation of The Doctor,the origins of Regeneration were completely retconned. Which was an interesting if divisive choice.
It’s a little tricky to pin down exactly where or how the Time Lords managed to gain this extremely beneficial ability. So we’lldive briefly into the various originsas some of them were pretty interesting choices for a legacy series.
Real World Reason For Regeneration
First up, outside of the show the reason for Regeneration or “Renewal” as it was dubbed in the early days was a way tocombat staffing problems for the role of The Doctor. The First Incarnation, William Hartnell hadpoor health that gradually deteriorated furtherand so they had to find a way to replace him.
After all, as actors get older theycan’t physically perform the role, or their performance might be lacking, or it justnarratively fits to refresheverything. So you need toswap them out with someone else.
That’s where Regeneration came in. A new actor or actress would be cast ahead of time, usually a season or two,The Doctor would “die” and then regenerate, and then off they go with this new person at the helm. It was aclever way to get around the limitations of the timeand it evolved into its own massively influential part of the character.
TARDIS Renewal
Next, we have the theory thatthe TARDIS is behind it all. In the early days of Doctor Who, the writers were still trying to find their footing, and it was hinted that the TARDIS was doing it.
The theory goes thatThe Doctor and The TARDIS were linkedand the machine would “Renew” The Doctor. This was, at the time, a quick and easy way to handwave how The Doctor was able to regenerate. It also wasa way for the Showrunners to overhaul the TARDISafter some seasons to keep the set fresh and interesting.
Razillon’s Experimentation
Another theory that got thrown around was thatRazillon performed twisted experiments on Gallifreyan DNAin order to extend his own life. Over time and many failed attempts, he eventuallypinned it down to a maximum of thirteen regenerationsand then passed this on to his fellow Time Lords.
This eventuallyblended and fed into the idea that Regeneration was a “Time Lord Trick”or that they merely evolved this way. However, this was eventually retconned andit never really came backas the show went on. Though the character of Razillon did, many times.
The Watcher
Next is The Watcher, amysterious character that appeared when Tom Baker’s Fourth Incarnation was running a chaotic riotwithin the space-time continuum. They have a pale white, almost featureless face, white robes, and thestrange ability to manipulate The TARDISand travel through space-time by themselves.
This mysterious figure isanother unique Regeneration by-productthat’s unfortunately fallen by the wayside over the years. But itappears when The Doctor is going to die soonand when they do,The Watcher approaches and merges with them. They then take on the form of the next Incarnation of The Doctor, and off they go on adventures.
The true nature of The Watcher has changed a little over the years, but it’sgenerally accepted that it’s a projection of the next Incarnation. A wandering embodiment of the next self that’s waiting for their time.
He wouldappear again when the Fifth Incarnation would Regenerateand then again when the Tenth was about to become the Eleventh, watching silently from nearby, thoughthe merging is never mentionedin the latter example.
The Timeless Child
Finally, we have the Timeless Child.A mysterious undying being that was floated around during the Fourteenth’s tenure. They were a legendary figure of a perpetual child that was said to have beenthe source of the Time Lord’s ability to regenerate.
But it would be revealed by The Master, after looking at secret ancient Gallifrean records, thatThe Doctor was the Timeless Child. A very, very long time ago Tecteun,a Gallifrean Scientist, would discover the Timeless Child, who was in turna being from another Universethat was found underneath a Wormhole. Seeing the helpless child, Tecteun took them in.
Then one day when the child fell from a cliff,Tecteun saw that they regenerated. And so Tecteun did what any sane person would do andexperimented and forced regenerations on the kidover, and over, and over again.For many years.
Eventually, she found a way toreplicate this ability in Gallifrean DNA, testing it first on herself and then others before going on to become one of the Founding Fathers of Gallifrey and the proverbialProgenitor of the Time Lords.
It was quite a controversial take toretcon the Doctor’s entire historyas a being from another Universe next door that couldregenerate forever without endand was part of a secret society within the Time Lords. And the Time Lords themselves as a species that were born fromexperiments on a small child.
