Howling:Why regenerate?

Have just been rewatching 'The Sound of Drums' where the Doctor talks about the role of the Timelord. "Watching over the galaxies below...never interfering."

Which raises the question? Why would they need such an elongated life? We don't know how Hartnell was but we can assume they already had one life longer than human life? Why twelve more shots of that if all they were were a race of observers?

--TheMasterRace ☎  18:22, March 1, 2014 (UTC)

Even observers age & die -- unless they can regenerate. In any case, the description of the Time Lords in The Sound of Drums was of the Time Lords as they were in the Doctor's youth. It's quite clear from other episodes (such as The Runaway Bride) that they'd not always been observers only. Remember how the Empress of the Racnoss reacted when the Doctor revealed that he was from Gallifrey. State of Decay, among other stories, also established that the early Time Lords fought wars against a variety of enemies & Underworld indicated that the Time Lords had done much more than merely observe the Minyans -- that, in fact, it was partly because their interaction with the Minyans had gone badly wrong that they adopted the "observe only" rule. Once the Time Lords had the ability regenerate, they'd be unlikely to give it up, even if it was no longer really necessary. --89.243.199.238talk to me 12:02, March 2, 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure I understand the question. If your culture had the ability to watch documentaries in all dimensions, you had time travel, etc., you would still want to live as long as possible. And they gained regeneration from time travel. --104.32.214.184talk to me 21:06, May 24, 2014 (UTC)

I cannot tell you the episode, but I seem to recall the 4th Doctor saying something like, the longer the potential life, the more risk averse people became. To risk losing a life lasting hundreds of years became too high a price for many to pay to travel beyond the well ordered life of Gallifrey.Phil Stone ☎  23:06, June 1, 2014 (UTC)