A *Doctor Who* question

[capri0mni]

Hello, there! I'm currently stirring up my brain to concoct an essay for A teaspoon and an open mind, but I have a wee question, thus:

I have a distinct impression that, of the people of Gallifrey, only the Time Lords (the ruling elite) can regenerate, while the "ordinary citizens" -- the farmers, cobblers, plumbers, et alia -- live only one life, like us humans.

I'm not sure where that impression comes from though. Is there evidence in any of the aired episodes themselves, or is this just a fandom favorite idea?

Yours, in curiousity -- Me.

Comments

[pedanther]

Broadcast Who doesn't have much at all to say about the ordinary people of Gallifrey, really; mostly it's all about the Time Lords swanning about in their robes and stuff. "The Deadly Assassin" does make it clear that there are ordinary non-Time Lord people on Gallifrey, but I don't recall off-hand if it says anything about whether they have the capacity to regenerate.

[popesnarky.livejournal.com]

Hail Eris!

They never address the issue, in any on-screen Gallifrey story...Now, of course, it's a moot point. And since the books give us a tangled web of contradiction, myth, and (deliberately) unreliable narration, they're not a lot of help either. Basically, you have to reason it out. Mind you, I have no idea how much assistance the audios might provide, but if you specifically prefer to rely on TV eps only, that doesn't matter.

Snarky

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.... Well, the novels are moot, anyway, as I came up with this theory (To be expounded upon in this essay I'm thinking up) before I even knew the novels existed. ... I think. It's been one of those vague, half-formed ideas that has been floating around in my head for years.

I'm just wondering where it came from, is all...

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Okay... will have a closer look at Deadly Assasin, then (that is an ep I vaguely remember actually watching, so it may, in fact, be one source of my impression).

If the only the Time Lords have TARDISes, that may be were the supposisition started, as Troughton-Doctor explains to Ben and Polly that it's his TARDIS that gives him the gift of regeneration.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

True; but not all the upper-crust Time Lords even own TARDISes, yet they obviously regenerate. I'm suspecting the technology of the singularity that powers all the TARDISes and is located on Gallifrey is a big part of the process.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Well, my theory is based more on biology than technology (I, personally, dislike the whole asexual, Loom-based reproduction with something approaching passion).

In my theory, a Time Lord need only to be a descendent of an early Time Traveler to have the ability to regenerate, as it's in the genes.

But more later, after the essay is written... don't want to spoil it ;-)

[narm00.livejournal.com]

Which does beg the question of the times the Doctor's clothes have regenerated with him (First to Second, most noticeably, but Fourth to Fifth counts too). Not part of the body, yet they change as well.

The Doctor raises the possibility the Time Lords have engineered parts of themselves in The Two Doctors, though he does say that a large part of what he says in that story is a fabrication on his part.

So there's the possibility that it's an /engineered/ ability, rather than an inherited ability.

There's also the issue of whether the title of Time Lord can be bestowed on another species. Never addressed in the series; had the original s27 gone ahead, then it would have been revealed that the Doctor was preparing Ace to be trained at the Time Lord Academy.

Fun idea: /both/ the Doctor's parents were Time Lords, even though one was human (and it's never stated he's Gallifreyan on his /father's/ side...)

[narm00.livejournal.com]

Further to this is the Master in The Five Doctors and the TVM - the Time Lords offer him a new regeneration cycle in The Five Doctors, and he attempts to steal the Doctor's lives in the TVM while in a human body.

From that, we can conclude that a regeneration cycle can be given, and can be stolen from another Time Lord, but not much more.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

the Doctor's clothes have regenerated with him (First to Second, most noticeably, but Fourth to Fifth counts too).

Well, I'd chalk First/Second up the writers not yet sure of what regeneration is, yet... at that point, I may be wrong, but I think they were still working on the assumption that the Doctor is human from the far future. And are you sure you don't mean "Second to Third"? because I have distinct memories of Fifth coming to in Fourth's oversized clothes, and later changing into that cricketing outfit in the wardrobe room.

So there's the possibility that it's an /engineered/ ability, rather than an inherited ability.

Well, it doesn't have to be an either/or situation... after all, present-day geneticists (whose knowledge and skill must be shockingly primative compared to the advanced science of Time Lord society) have given lab mice glowing ears by implanting them with firefly genes.

Bioluminescence is inherited for fireflies, but it still can be granted and engineered into mice. So -- when the Time Lords offered a new regenitive cycle to the Master, it could have been a form of "gene therapy"

had the original s27 gone ahead, then it would have been revealed that the Doctor was preparing Ace to be trained at the Time Lord Academy.

Hmmm... I'm thinking that would have been purely accedemic, though -- right? Not changing her biology or anything (of course, now we'll never know)? Considering how zenophobic and caste-conscious the Time Lords were, though, I imagine that Ace would have been a rare and grudgingly-admitted exception to the rule. And I can imagine the Doctor working to get her in, in part, to get the High Council's collective knickers in a twist.... >;-)

[rob-t-firefly.livejournal.com]

Tom's boots regenerated into Peter's shoes, a wardrobe flub which has been the subject of much idle retconnng.

Quite noticeable as the final version of Tom's costume included knee-length breeches to be worn with boots, leaving Peter with breeches and argyle socks on full display until he changed clothes.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Tom's boots regenerated into Peter's shoes, a wardrobe flub which has been the subject of much idle retconnng.

All, most likely, for the logistical and laudable reason of preventing a real life actor from getting real life blisters...

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

Fun idea: /both/ the Doctor's parents were Time Lords, even though one was human (and it's never stated he's Gallifreyan on his /father's/ side...)

...now I have a mental image of Captain Sorin popping up with a picture of Ace yelling "Sophie Aldred is your mooootherrrrrrr!"

[warinbabylon.livejournal.com]

I have that feeling as well.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

To whom are you replying? This thread is getting long and somewhat tangled...

[warinbabylon.livejournal.com]

It was simply a concise response to you, but I didn't have particular reference from where I drew my response.

Sorry about that.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Okay. I wasn't sure if you were agreeing with my perception that regeneration is unique to the Time Lord caste, with my distaste for the Looms, or were agreeing narm00's idea that regeneration is engineered, rather than biological.

Now I know... I think.

[warinbabylon.livejournal.com]

:)

I agree with you.

[rustyverse.livejournal.com]

My theory of regeneration is really radical and no one agrees with it, but I'll still share :-)

Regeneration is NOT a biological process. It's a process involving alternate realities. When a Time Lord "dies" he or she is replaced by an another version of his/herself from an alternate timeline. Thus, this is why the Doctor's clothes have occasionally "regenerated."

Due to Time Lord temporal engineering, the replacement version of the Time Lord inherits the memories of the previous version...but sometimes carry over bits from the new incarnation's "home timeline". Thus when the 4th Doctor told Davros that the Dalek invasion of Earth happened in the year 2000 and not in 2064, as demonstrated in the episode from the Hartnell era, the 4th Doctor was not lying (Davros would have been able to detect this) and he was not mistaken. In the version of history that the 4th Doctor was "pulled" from, the Dalek invasion of Earth did indeed take place in 2000.

Additionally, when Romana was trying on bodies in "Destiny of the Daleks", she was able to "shop" for different versions of herself in the multiverse. Among the versions that she considered were timelines where the Time Lords evolved into tiny little munchkins and tall, statuesque Amazons.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Regeneration is NOT a biological process. It's a process involving alternate realities.

Yeah... that's out there all right...

(As is the whole Romana 1 to 2 regeneration... All so they could rehire an actress that appeared on the show quite receently. Sometimes, I think the writers would consider Occam's Razor when coming up with explainations... and then, do the opposite ;-))