The Time Lord Regenerates To Mate

One of the fascinating panel discussions at this year's Gallifrey One convention was about how sexuality has been placed into the new series, as well as in the original series. There certainly was a time where the first fact we learn about the Doctor -- that he is a grandfather -- is disputed as controversial. That's less so in the modern era, as there has been more sexual tension in the foreground of the series.

But one of the things that this discussion led into meant that it looks like Time Lords regenerate to match in their surroundings. Someone described it as a "mating form", and that's not entirely wrong. It was partially led into with the realization that despite there being some sexual tension between the first Romana and the Doctor, there's certainly a whole new level of tension between the second and the Doctor, and it almost appears that she deliberately regenerated into a form (and personality) *more* like and compatible with the Fourth Doctor.

But this isn't the only case of this -- almost every other regeneration we've seen on screen has been some sort of reaction to the people around them. Going backwards, we've got the Master -- where the Saxon Master is very much one that is a mirror image of the Tenth Doctor. The Master even says that the goal of his regeneration is to be just like the Doctor, after all.

But it's not also about two of the regenerations outside the Doctor -- almost every regeneration of the Doctor qualifies as well. The Tenth Doctor regenerates to be more compatible with Rose -- in a deleted scene, it's pointed out that his new incarnation takes his accent from Rose.

The Sixth Doctor regenerates into a personality bright and obnoxious -- maybe not with an American accent -- but more compatible with Peri (in a bizarre, twisted way) -- and while it might not be successful, you can see the connection between the sixth Doctor and Peri.

And then the Fifth Doctor -- a younger form to match the very much younger companions around him.

And the Fourth Doctor has a remarkable compatibility with Sarah Jane Smith -- into one of the most successful Doctor and companion pairings in the series.

The only other regeneration that we see is the one from the First to Second Doctor -- and while the full nature of this regeneration is difficult to see with the loss of the Tenth Planet and Power of the Daleks -- you've got a feeling that the younger, more whimsical Second Doctor was because of his proximity to Ben and Polly. We get someone who regenerates into a Beatle haircut around the two companions the most of the 1960s.

And this perhaps explains why we get so many old, dry men whenever we go to Gallifrey -- they all regenerate to be *like each other* -- where the only Time Lords that have real personalties like Drax or the Meddling Monk get them once they leave -- and even more so once they regenerate.

One of the best things, in my mind, about Doctor Who is that I doubt that much of this was explicitly thought of -- most of the compatibilities between Doctor and Companion (and the Master) come about due to the requirements of good drama. But as you look at it, one of the incredible things is how well it all ties together.

The True Creator of the Daleks

Paul Cornell's post about canonicity in Doctor Who is a massive extended statement about the whole questions about continuity and canonicity in Doctor Who. Which, of course, inspires my own...

One of the interesting points that was raised in the comments to Paul's post looks at the motivation for limiting the "canon" to be just the Television Series, or whatever -- is to make Doctor Who something that you can understand all of. I'd be surprised if a person exists who has seen, heard, or read every Doctor Who story that has been officially licensed and released.

Since reading Paul's comments I've been trying to work out the "rules" of how Time works in the Doctor Who universe a bit more -- that's part of the fun part of continuity discussions that leads me to enjoy books like Lance Parkin's AHistory. Because the first reference to Torchwood isn't in Tooth and Claw -- but in Bad Wolf, and Torchwood has a fairly direct involvement with the events of The Christmas Invasion. So Torchwood existed in the time line at least a little bit before the Doctor was the cause of it when he met Queen Victoria. Does that mean that the change in the time line "bleeds back" a bit? Was this something that was written into the time line purely because of the Time War? [Did Torchwood exist behind the scenes during World War Three?)

I've thought for a while that the Big Finish audio adventures -- but also any of the other novels that take place in a "Past Doctor" time have a strange involvement with how time works in Doctor Who. There is something "current" about those, as well as taking place in the past. I'm not sure it has happened yet, and it might only happen vaguely for continuity reasons -- but I think it's inevitable that we'll see a Past Doctor story that at least strongly hints at Torchwood, for example.

But I think we see how one story later in the Doctor's time line can impact previous ones -- The Gathering is a sequel to The Reaping, even though the sequel takes place earlier in the Doctor's timeline. And if you listen to the stories, you were certainly aware that (in the real world) the story was written after School Reunion and the Rise of the Cybermen.

So the Doctor's entire history is rewritten all the time. But does this mean that the Doctor wasn't a Time Lord -- but something else entirely -- until some time before The War Games. Was the Doctor responsible for unleashing the Daleks on the universe as a result of his encounters with them -- he wasn't aware of the Daleks when he first went to Skaro, but given their importance to the universe as a whole that seems impossible. So perhaps they only became so powerful as a result of their contact with the Doctor and (perhaps) other Time Lords?

No wonder the Doctor blames himself for the destruction of his own people.

About Time

One of my favorite series of books about Doctor Who has been Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood's About Time series. I don't always agree with their opinions about the series, and I don't really need another book of Doctor Who facts. But the commentary throughout the series is fascinating -- for example, discussing where and when Gallifrey was, or why it's not at all uncommon for two people in the Doctor Who universe to have the same physical appearance, or connecting the trends in British society and our favorite television series.

I had a chance to briefly page through proofs of the volume that is coming out that primarily covers the Second Doctor's era, and it looked to be as fascinating as the already released volumes.

One of the other things that is also interesting to start to see how the new series has impacted the commentary and views of the classic series. My example (though this volume of About Time isn't out yet) is that a story like Delta and the Bannermen begins to look like a template for the new series, with a higher awareness of romantic issues, Welsh accents, and a rock and roll soundtrack.

But you've got to wonder about stories like The Ark and Frontios after seeing The End of the World. And finding a time for a story like The Satan Pit makes sense when you here that the relationship between the Ood and the Sensorites might be something similar to those from Raxacoricofallapatorius and the Abzorbaloff from Clom.

One of my favorite things about the entire series is seeing "patterns that aren't there" -- making connections between stories that might not be intentional, but looking at the entire series as a puzzle to a fictional universe that hasn't been entirely locked down.