Random Dr. Who Thought

[jeriendhal]

I'll be posting the next bit of "Arc" later. For now I have to get this out of my head.

Had a thought occur about last season's cliffhanger, with the Master regenerating into John Saxon. [1] We know that certain timelords can choose their appearance when they regenerate (Romana II) and more importantly choose to look like people they've met. It's not that much of a jump to assume they can switch genders too (per Tom Baker's off the cuff statement back in the 80's that got fans in such a tizzy)

I just got the thought in my head of the Master regenerating to look like Sarah Jane, just to piss off the Doctor that much more with the idea that he'd stolen one of his most beoved friend's face, And wouldn't you have loved the idea of seeing Elizabeth Sladen boogying down on the bridge of the carrier?

The real Sarah of course would be tucked away in a nice secure insane asylum, since she's operating on the delusion that she's the duplicate of a major political figure (a side effect of the mind control sat that made everyone vote Saxon into office.) Breaking her out would have been major sub plot in the revised version.


[1] Don't bitch at me about spoilers. If you're a fan, you've seen it or at least heard/read breathless summaries, if you're not a fan and you're at vaguely connected to Anglo-Saxon culture you've likely heard of the plot twist already anyway, and if you aren't a fan and you haven't heard of it why did you scroll down to read this stupid footnote anyway?

Comments

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

IIRC, Time Lords lose the ability to choose their faces as they get older/get further into their regeneration cycle (I think that MIGHT even be canon, but it's been a LONG time and I don't rightly remember. But my memory is pulling up a conversation about that between 4 and Romana).

So, if they kept to canon, then the Master couldn't have chosen another form. He's too old (unless the Chronos device reset his regeneration cycle).

[scarfman]

Since the Doctor doesn't lead a normal Time Lord life, there is little about normal regeneration in the screen sources. And, in fact, in the only onscreen regeneration that wasn't done on the fly as a result of life-threatening injury (which is to say, the most normal regeneration viewers have ever witnessed), the regenerating Time Lord did choose her new face and it was a face she'd seen on someone else.

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not disputing that. I remember when Mary Tamm left and Lalla Ward came on board. That was a fun sequence. I'm just saying that I seem to remember it being said somewhere that a Time Lord only has the ability to choose their appearance in during their first few regenerations (Romana's regeneration was her first, I think?). And as I said, I'm not sure if it's canon.

[jvowles.livejournal.com]

Nope, the only place it's been really mentioned in anything semi-official is in one of the RPG game source manuals (either Time Lord or the official FASA game), and that's not really considered canon anyway.

(oh god oh god i used canon and meant it)

We have seen a time lady choose her own face during a non-stress-induced regeneration, therefore it is possible. We have seen the Doctor (during War Games) at least be offered potential faces. In the new series, we have seen the Master deliberately choose to regenerate "younger". We have seen the Doctor on many occasions express a bit of dismay at his regeneration and attribute it to luck or chance. Beyond that, nothing is certain.

[scarfman]

I don't know of any source, screen or tie-in, where it's stated or implied that regeneration appearance control is a function of youth. Though it does appear from the example of Borusa that toward the end of your lives you can't regenerate into young bodies. Unless Borusa was regenerating old on purpose for reasons of his own.

[lacousteau.livejournal.com]

There was also discussion that, since the Doctor wasn't the best Time Lord Student, that he lacked the ability to change with the same finesse that Romana did...he pretty much is stuck with what he gets. Although, if you follow that, his regenerations have gotten easier (read: standardized) as he has gotten older.

[jvowles.livejournal.com]

My interpretation is that his body is attempting to craft a version of itself more likely to survive -- and choosing apparent youth is how it's currently reacting.

[scarfman]

The thing is, whether the Doctor was a poor regeneration student or not, his regenerations have always been field exercises. People take them for normal examples of the process when his are probably the least normal regenerations ever.

[allah-sulu.livejournal.com]

Joanna Lumley was under consideration for the role of The Doctor at one point.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

When did the Master turn into John Saxon? Or am I missing something? I thought it was Harold Saxon?

[chaypeta.livejournal.com]

I always got the impression that timelords normally have a fair amount of control over their regnerative cycle and for them it is an easy proceedure, like choosing and changing clothes. The Doctor, on the other hand, has a rough time of it either because his tends to be emergency situations were regeneration is neccessary to save his life or, and this is what I have stuck in my head, that he is just a poor regenerator... just something his physiology has difficulty doing.

And if he was to become a female I still reckon Claudia Black is the woman for the job. :)

[mehhayperson.livejournal.com]

This would have made the finale of season 3 actually WORTH WATCHING.

(I read a fanfic once where Harold Saxon was a novelist as well and had written loads of tawdry books about his sexual escapades with women with the same names as old companions to the Doctor. He wasn't impressed.)