Doctor Who....

[simon the viking]

If you don't like Doctor Who I suggest you stop reading NOW....

Okay so tonight is the fiftieth year anniversary and the BBC have announced it will be a game changer.....

I assume this will be to get rid of the 12 regeneration maximum of the Doctor (for as long as I can remember it has been said in the script that he can only regenerate 12 times.... If you include Paul McGann (and the BBC do) and John Hurt as "The War Doctor" I assume this is a Doctor that existed between Paul McGann and Christopher Ecclestone (and seen in mini episode Night of the Doctor) that took part in the often mentioned (but not seen) Time Wars) then Peter Capaldi will become the 13th Doctor

Would you like me to name (without googling) all the Doctors.... I can.... I'm that sad.... So here goes (not including the actor who portrayed Hartnell's first doctor in the twentieth anniversary "The Five Doctors" or the comic relief special including amongst others Joanna Lumley and Rowan Atkinson....)

William Hartnell
Patrick Troughton
John Pertwee
Tom Baker
Peter Davidson
Colin Baker
Sylvestor McCoy
Paul McGann
Christopher Ecclestone
David Tennant
Matt Smith...

And Tonight includes...

John Hurt

and introduces (I assume) Peter Capaldi if not tonight, then in the Christmas Special making him the thirteenth Doctor (fourteenth if you include Peter Cushing but the BBC don't)

Before anybody posts a reply saying I'm a sad and boring individual who needs to get out more, don't worry.... my family and friends already know this.....

 

[MossCommuter]

I have my ticket to go and watch on the big screen in 3D at the cinema this evening.

I can't wait!!

 

[simon the viking]

I have my ticket to go and watch on the big screen in 3D at the cinema this evening.

I can't wait!!

You lucky Thing.... I couldn't convince Mrs V it was a worthwhile trip.... So in front of the 'tele' it is... probably running about 20 mins behind the real time show....I'm recording it and will start watching it slightly later after Little-un has gone to bed (the sofa is against the wall so he can't hide behind it so off to bed he must go (and I might send Mrs V to bed as well so I get to watch it without the questions.... )

 

[marinyork]

There have been other 'versions' of the doctor such as the Valeyard in trial of a timelord which an amalgamation of his darker sides of his future self.

The limit has been speculated about a long time. If you watch the brain of morbius which was a Tom Baker story, when the doctor duels Morbius in a mind bend it shows the incarnations of the doctor and then other faces before William Hartnell, suggesting the first doctor may not have been the first doctor, or are they someone else? They were actually members of the production crew who had a dispute about getting paid (some very famous faces in there)!

The reason was the brain of Morbius was before Deadly Assassin which thought up the idea of there being a limit of 12. Then it was talked about when the master pinched Tremas's body in the Keeper of Traken. After that regeneration theory was talked about a lot more.

In other words they make it up as they go along!

 

[simon the viking]

There have been other 'versions' of the doctor such as the Valeyard in trial of a timelord which an amalgamation of his darker sides of his future self.

The limit has been speculated about a long time. If you watch the brain of morbius which was a Tom Baker story, when the doctor duels Morbius in a mind bend it shows the incarnations of the doctor and then other faces before William Hartnell, suggesting the first doctor may not have been the first doctor, or are they someone else? They were actually members of the production crew who had a dispute about getting paid (some very famous faces in there)!

The reason was the brain of Morbius was before Deadly Assassin which thought up the idea of there being a limit of 12. Then it was talked about when the master pinched Tremas's body in the Keeper of Traken. After that regeneration theory was talked about a lot more.

In other words they make it up as they go along!

I think you're right they do make it up as they go a long, most sci-fi series/films do, (some of the plot holes that exist in Star wars between the Prequels and the original 3 films are so large you fly the Millenium falcon through them)

I bow to your superior knowledge of the early years (Brain of Morbius.... That's the first adventure I remember watching the first time round....) regarding regenerations but I feel they must address the regeneration as most fans believe he's only allowed 12 (I believe it has been mentioned since the relaunch - story involving the master?) and assume Hartnell was the first So Matt Smith is the 11th (or 12th including John Hurt)

They must be addressing (or ignoring) it tonight or they wouldn't of "wasted" a regeneration introducing John Hurt as an extra Doctor... I suppose we will have to wait and see

 

[marinyork]

(I believe it has been mentioned since the relaunch - story involving the master?)

Deadly Assassin is the first story mentioning twelve regenerations. It was written (again) by Robert Holmes (one might be forgiven for seeing a pattern). The same theme crops up again and again. The same thing tried to happen again twice since (it depends what you call a relaunch).

After the death of Roger Delgado who played the original master, they brought the master back from time to time who thought up various wheezes to get around the problem of twelve generations such as nicking the powers of rod of rassilon, then he tries to get the powers of the keeper of traken and then on and on into the present day. It is taken that twelve is the maximum.

Another kind of version of the Doctor is the Watcher in the final Tom Baker story Logopolis (who makes an appearance for a few seconds in the overlap in Castrovalva). The 80s featured references to 12 regenerations and the timelords on a much more regular basis than the 70s, it isjust people have forgotten this.

 

[ufkacbln]

River Song saved the Doctor after she had poisoned him.

It cost her the unused regenerations that she had inherited.

Now where these passed on as a single total energy, or did she pass 10 regenerations to him..

Equally inthe prequel, McGann's regeneration is forced by a potion..... is a forced regeneration the same as a personal regeneration?


.. or Eccleston absorbed the matrix as part of the Bad Wolf scene.... did that renew the regenerations, or again "force" a regeneration that is not part of the usual routine

...or Bad Wolf can restore life - cans she restore regenerations as well?
In other words the plots for extending form 12 are already there

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I liked Dr Who when it was Jon Pertwee, Jo, Brigadier Lethbridge-Hyphenated and Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto.

 

[MontyVeda]

I was wondering about the Time Wars... were they introduced in the relaunch?

Never really watched Doctor Who as a kid.... it was for geeks and had too many big words in it, I was more into Starsky and Hutch or The Professionals... chase baddy catch baddy, much easier to understand. But I do enjoy the rebooted Doctor Who for what it is, and now i'm middle aged, i understand that i don't have to understand the meaning of the made up words that i don't understand. The less said about the rebooted Tomorrow People, the better.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

You lucky Thing.... I couldn't convince Mrs V it was a worthwhile trip.... So in front of the 'tele' it is... probably running about 20 mins behind the real time show....I'm recording it and will start watching it slightly later after Little-un has gone to bed (the sofa is against the wall so he can't hide behind it so off to bed he must go (and I might send Mrs V to bed as well so I get to watch it without the questions.... )

One of the paradoxes of time travel for children's TV appears to be that only the future's children can now watch it.

 

[marinyork]

I was wondering about the Time Wars... were they introduced in the relaunch?

Yes. The time wars come from fandom (as is always that case there are hints to elaborate on in the classic tv series). There are comic strips, fanzine stuff and the spin-off books. During the gap between 1989 and 2005 (with the film that does hint at it in 1996) people were pretty bored of the lack of doctor who and so wrote their own.

That is not to take it too seriously, I have a much more Jon Culshaw view of doctor who. As with other SF I was musing on the inconsistencies and where the idea of 12 regenerations came from. I enjoy watching some of the classic ones. For the 50th anniversay I shall watch it and a few of my favourite stories and hope other people do their own thing. I may dust out only 30 years in the TARDIS which is a lot better than the documentaries that have appeared the last few nights.

Nor am I recommending anyone watch Trial of a Timelord to confirm what I said!

 

[simon the viking]

The less said about the rebooted Tomorrow People, the better.

Don't remember that, I remember a reboot of "The Survivors" which was rubbish

 

[simon the viking]

@marinyork I have just noticed your location.... You are clearly a far bigger fan (and knowledge base) than myself

 

[MontyVeda]

Don't remember that...

those! one in '92, and an american one this year.

only watched one of each... that was too much

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tomorrow_People#Revivals

 

[simon the viking]

those! one in '92, and an american one this year.

only watched one of each... that was too much

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tomorrow_People#Revivals

Didn't see either of those.... I remember a pilot of "The bionic woman" with some one out of Eastenders.......less said the better....