Given that there were multiple different incarnations to have regenerated from the Eighth Doctor, (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles [+]Lance Parkin, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2005).) his regeneration was subject to largely differing accounts. (PROSE: The Tomorrow Windows [+]Jonathan Morris, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2004)., Doctor Who and the Time War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who: Lockdown! (2020).; TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).)
History[]
Anticipation[]
Info from The Final Chapter [+]Alan Barnes, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics UK, 1998). needs to be added
Prior to his arranged execution on Tor-Ka-Nom, the Eighth Doctor told the attending priest that he believed in reincarnation, but that he had "a nasty feeling it [was] not going to apply this time." The execution was successfully avoided due to Izzy Sinclair's intervention. (COMIC: By Hook or By Crook [+]Scott Gray, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics UK, 1997).)
.jpg){kind=link}
Izzy Sinclair and Fey Truscott-Sade watch "the Doctor" regenerate. (TV: The Final Chapter [+]Alan Barnes, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics UK, 1998).)
After the Doctor was stabbed in the chest by the Preacher Master, Izzy implored him to regenerate, but the Doctor told her that the Master had used a certain energy that inhibited the regeneration. The Doctor was healed by Kroton when he became the controller of the Glory. (COMIC: The Glorious Dead [+]Scott Gray, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2000).)
The Cybermen from the far future planned to make the Doctor regenerate when he connected with the Time Vortex aboard their ship, but the Doctor instead merged with the Vortex and unleashed the energy against them. (COMIC: The Flood [+]Scott Gray, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2004-2005).)
The Eighth Doctor nearly regenerated after being wounded by the explosion in the Mukabi laboratory, with the associated chemical release eradicating the Fear virus in his system. (PROSE: Fear Itself [+]Nick Wallace, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2005).)
After his chest was crushed by sandbags, the Doctor experienced a coma fantasy where he was walking through a series of corridors, troubled by the sensation that his body was a coat that he had taken off and he would find another one around a corner. However, his connection to Sabbath Dei prevented him from regenerating due to his second heart beating in Sabbath's chest, keeping the Doctor alive as well. (PROSE: Camera Obscura [+]Lloyd Rose, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2002).)
After being wounded in a duel with Sebastian Grayle, the Doctor initially asked Charley Pollard if he had "changed", but was assured that he looked no different. (AUDIO: Seasons of Fear [+]Paul Cornell and Caroline Symcox, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2002).)
When Charley stabbed the Doctor when he was under the influence of Zagreus, the Doctor resisted the regeneration due to his desire to die. After talking with manifestations of his three immediate predecessors, the Doctor was able to undo his death by surrendering to the forces of anti-time that empowered Zagreus. (AUDIO: Zagreus [+]Alan Barnes and Gary Russell, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).)
In an attempt to force Artron to operate a machine that would transfer the energy of the Kolstani into him, the Bruce Master mortally wounded the Doctor by shooting him in one of his hearts, warning the Doctor that he would take out the other heart if he attempted to regenerate. However, Artron used the equipment built by the Master to absorb the Kolstani energy into himself, using his new power to heal the Doctor. (AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
When his memory began to fail, the Doctor thought it was a sign that he would soon regenerate. (PROSE: The End [+]Alexander Leithes, Short Trips: Life Science (Short Trips short stories, 2004).)
During the Last Great Time War, the Doctor knew he would regenerate again. (PROSE: Museum Peace [+]James Swallow, Short Trips: Dalek Empire (Short Trips short stories, 2006).) During the Battle of Tenacity, the War Ollistra threatened to shoot him on a Gallifreyan Military Moon Base, believing she would have better luck convincing his next incarnation to fight in the Time War. (AUDIO: The Conscript [+]Matt Fitton, The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume One (The Eighth Doctor: Time War, Big Finish Productions, 2017).)
Regenerating into the Ninth Doctor[]
After a period of fighting in the Last Great Time War, (PROSE: Osskah [+]Gary Owen, Short Trips: Snapshots (Short Trips short stories, 2007).) the Doctor decided to use the Moment to wipe out the Time Lords and Daleks when he learnt of Rassilon's Ultimate Sanction. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).) After he managed to obtain the Great Key of Rassilon to help him to create a modified De-mat Gun (COMIC: The Forgotten [+]Tony Lee, IDW mini-series and one-shots (IDW Publishing, 2008-2009).) and unlock the Moment, (COMIC: Don't Step on the Grass [+]Tony Lee, Doctor Who (2009) (IDW Publishing, 2010).) the Doctor travelled to a Velyshaan museum to seek consultment from Kalendorf, an old soldier who had fought in the Dalek Wars, and was convinced to act when a Dalek killed a child at the museum, though he knew his action would result in his regeneration. (PROSE: Museum Peace [+]James Swallow, Short Trips: Dalek Empire (Short Trips short stories, 2006).)
After acquiring the Moment with the sacrifice of a female friend, the Doctor activated the weapon and fell through space and into the open doors of his TARDIS, breaking his bones in the impact, as Gallifrey Original and the Dalek Fleet were destroyed around him and the Time War was time locked. Despite his belief that he had fixed his existence in place by using the Moment, the Doctor soon found regeneration energy engulfing him as he realised that "she" had passed on the Restoration to him with a kiss before her death, resetting his life-cycle. Shocked and exhilarated, the Doctor regenerated into the Ninth Doctor, (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Time War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who: Lockdown! (2020).) who was later spotted still wearing the Eighth Doctor's clothes in 2003 Totter's Lane by Steven Hudson, who overhead him muttering to himself about being the last of the Time Lords. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man? [+]various authors, Who is Doctor Who? (BBC, 2005).)
Regenerating into the War Doctor[]
The Doctor is killed in a crashlanding. (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).)
During the Fifth Segment of the Last Great Time War, (PROSE: The Stranger [+]Gary Russell, Heroes and Monsters Collection (Heroes and Monsters Collection, 2015).) the Doctor answered a distress call from a spaceship crashing into Karn, but was forced to board the ship to manually retrieve the sole life form detected when he found no way to deflect the ship or save it with a tractor beam. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, adapted from The Day of the Doctor (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).) The Doctor made his way to the control deck and introduced himself the last remaining crewman, Cass Fermazzi, before guiding her back to the TARDIS with the promise of showing her the universe. However, once Cass cottoned on to the fact he was a Time Lord, she rejected his aid, holding the Time Lords in as much contempt as the Daleks for the carnage of the Time War. When the Doctor tried to convince her he was "one of the nice ones", she sealed herself away in the ship by deadlocking a door between them, choosing to die rather than accept help from him as he continued to beg her to let him save her until the ship finally crashed onto Karn and erupted into a fireball, killing them both.
While the Doctor had died too quickly to trigger a regeneration, the Sisterhood of Karn revived him with the Elixir of Life, with Ohila giving him four minutes left until he regenerated, and offered him a series of different Elixirs that would allow him to control his regeneration so he could become the person he needed to be to end the Time War. The Doctor continued to refuse to fight, until he saw Cass' body and conceded that there wasn't "any need for a doctor anymore" and asked Ohila to "make [him] a warrior". Ohila then handed him an Elixir she claimed she had specially prepared for that purpose, (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).) which was actually just dry ice and lemonade that she used to help in her "moment of theatre" to bring out the Doctor's potential as a warrior. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, adapted from The Day of the Doctor (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).) After he ordered the Sisterhood out the room, and saluted past companions of his, the Doctor apologised to Cass drank the Elixir, and underwent convulsions as he body glowed with regeneration energy, (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).) as his four minutes began to expire. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, adapted from The Day of the Doctor (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).) While the Ohila kept her back out of respect for his wishes of privacy, the Doctor was forced to the floor from the pain as regenerated into his next incarnation, who took Cass's bandolier, and discarded the name "Doctor". (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).)
Legacy[]
The Tenth Doctor remembered that the Eighth Doctor had died alone. (COMIC: The Forgotten [+]Tony Lee, IDW mini-series and one-shots (IDW Publishing, 2008-2009).)
Other realities[]
Ohila gets the cups mixed up. (COMIC: The Daft Dimension [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
The account of the Eighth Doctor's regeneration in which he did so on Karn, with the assistance of Ohila, also occurred to his counterpart who existed in the Daft Dimension, with two different accounts of events deviating slightly. By one account, the Doctor took his time to thank past companions and various other individuals who had previously helped him out in menial ways, only to find that the Elixir of Life had gone cold, leading him to ask for a fresh one. (COMIC: The Daft Dimension [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) According to another account, he drank the elixir and commented that it tasted like chicken, leading Ohila to realise she had gotten the elixir mixed up with Sister Ethel's cup-a-soup. (COMIC: The Daft Dimension [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
Behind the scenes[]
An illustration of the Ninth Doctor made for the The Flood graphic novel.
- In the Novelisations in Time & Space series book Cyber-Hunt [+]Callum Phillpott, Novelisations in Time & Space (BBV Productions, 2021)., it is strongly implied that the time traveler Fred was originally the Doctor, specifically the incarnation to follow the Eighth Doctor, until he made a deal with a man in black to restore his homeworl after it was destroyed, with the price being that he was severed from his past identity and erased from his timeline, with a different individual filled the void of his former identity. The implications are that the homeworld destroyed was referencing the destruction of Gallifrey by Faction Paradox in the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures book The Ancestor Cell [+]Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000). and offering an explanation for its return in later Eighth Doctor media, with the Eighth Doctor having been restored to replace Fred as the Doctor in their timeline.
- Paul McGann, who portrayed the Eighth Doctor in the telemovie, said that he would have returned to 2005's Series 1 if given the chance, but Russell T Davies did not want to depict a regeneration in Rose [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005). with first-time viewers tuning in, who would be unable to identify why the Doctor changed appearances.[1]
- COMIC: The Flood [+]Scott Gray, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2004-2005). was originally going to end with the regeneration of the Eighth Doctor, with the BBC approving the plan. However, a condition imposed by the BBC and Russell T Davies that the Ninth Doctor could not be seen to travel with any companion other than Rose Tyler rendered this unworkable, and the idea was abandoned. Thought was given to a storyline that would have seen Destrii travel with a Doctor who was "trapped mid-regeneration", with a flaming head and hidden features that the writers and artists compared to Dormammu of Marvel Comics, but this idea was considered too much effort for too little reward, considering the main purpose of a regeneration storyline was to see how the companions reacted to the new Doctor.[2]
- Russell T Davies introduced Doctor Who and the Time War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who: Lockdown! (2020).'s position in relation to The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013). as a "glimpse of parallel events" given that "all Doctors exist [and] all stories are true".[3] Although the specific mention of "ears" as the new Doctor feels his face references Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor, the story does not positively identify the Doctor into whom the Eighth Doctor regenerates. In the comments of the Instagram release of Doctor Who and the Time War, Russell T Davies liked a suggestion by a fan that "the Ninth Doctor here could also be interpreted as the Shalka Doctor or the Rowan Atkinson Doctor for the hat trick of alternative Ninth Doctors."[4]
