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

[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.