- You may wish to consult
Regeneration (disambiguation)
for other, similarly-named pages.
Regeneration, also known as renewal (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).), was the process of "molecular readjustment" (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terrance Dicks, adapted from Destiny of the Daleks (Terry Nation), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1979).) by which Time Lords and others renewed themselves, causing a complete physical and often psychological change. It could happen because of severe illness, (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Robert Sloman, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974)., The Caves of Androzani [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984)., The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010)., Day of the Moon [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011). ; AUDIO: The Brink of Death [+]Nicholas Briggs, The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure (Big Finish Productions, 2015).) old age, fatigue, (TV: The Tenth Planet [+]Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966)., The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013)., The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) or injury. (TV: Logopolis [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 18 (BBC1, 1981)., Time and the Rani [+]Pip & Jane Baker, Doctor Who season 24 (BBC1, 1987)., Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996)., Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015)., The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017)., Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017)., The Timeless Children [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020)., The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022)., The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)., PROSE: Interference - Book Two [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) It could also be invoked by choice, whether voluntary (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979)., The Twin Dilemma [+]Anthony Steven, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984)., The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013)., Nightmare in Silver [+]Neil Gaiman, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2013)., The Legend of Ruby Sunday [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).) or involuntary. (TV: The War Games [+]Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke, Doctor Who season 6 (BBC1, 1969). The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022)., COMIC: The Night Walkers [+]Roger Noel Cook, TVC comic stories (Polystyle Publications and Ltd., 1969).)
Conversely, regeneration could be prevented by choice, although choosing not to regenerate from fatal damage was essentially an act of suicide. (TV: Last of the Time Lords [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) However, a Time Lord could delay the actual change in appearance and enter "a state of grace" for a brief period of time. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010)., The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017)., Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).) Precise damage to a Time Lord could also cause a delay in the regeneration starting. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996)., The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).,) It is also possible for a Time Lord to die if they are prevented from regenerating, such as through drowning. (TV: Turn Left)
There was a general lack of consensus upon whether regeneration was a natural process which all Gallifreyans possessed, (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords [+]Steve Tribe, BBC Books (2017).) a natural process which the Time Lords developed through exposure to the Time Vortex (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) or the Eye of Harmony, (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey [+]Gary Russell, DWM prose stories (Marvel Comics, 1985).) or if it was a manufactured process, created through experimentation, and possibly by being stolen from other beings predating the Time Lords. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020)., PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).)
Regeneration was described by the scientist Davros as "the ancient magic of the Time Lords", (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) and was also described as "witchcraft" by the Sycorax. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005).)
Background[]
Origins[]
Many different explanations were given for the origins of regeneration, although most agreed that regenerations typically came in cycles of twelve. Some of these accounts suggested that regeneration originated on Gallifrey, either occurring naturally (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords [+]Steve Tribe, BBC Books (2017).) or through experimentation. (AUDIO: Zagreus [+]Alan Barnes and Gary Russell, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).; PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus [+]Craig Hinton, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994)., The Scrolls of Rassilon [+]John Peel, 1991.) Other accounts suggested that regeneration was an ability with non-Gallifreyan origins, which the Time Lords took for themselves through experimentation. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020)., PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).)
Naturally occurring[]
Some accounts suggested that regeneration was a natural process found on Gallifrey. One of these accounts, which the Eleventh Doctor explained to Vastra, stated that exposure over billions of years to the Untempered Schism contributed to the Time Lords' ability to regenerate. This was also what allowed for River Song's regenerative abilities, as she was conceived in the Doctor's TARDIS whilst it traversed the Time Vortex (TV: A Good Man Goes to War [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) and was then conditioned into a proto-Time Lord by the Kovarian Chapter. (AUDIO: The Furies [+]Matt Fitton, The Diary of River Song: Series Three (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018).)
Another account found in historian Postar the Perfidious's Scrolls of Gallifrey stated that Rassilon was the first Time Lord to gain regeneration as an unintended side-effect of his work with the Eye of Harmony. Due to the elemental forces which he had been exposed to as he worked on stabilising the Eye, his original body died and underwent the first ever regeneration. Rassilon gained a set of twelve regenerations as a result, and upon reshaping Time Lord society to his designs, Rassilon then gave a select number of Gallifreyan aristocrats the privilege of gazing upon the Eye unveiled, thus granting each of them twelve regenerations as well. Morbius would later partially base his campaign for the Presidency on the promise of extending the same generosity to all Gallifreyans. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey [+]Gary Russell, DWM prose stories (Marvel Comics, 1985).)
A distinctly different account by one Gallifreyan suggested, however, that regeneration was a process innate to all Gallifreyans, and was not exclusive to the Time Lords. (PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords [+]Steve Tribe, BBC Books (2017).) Gallifreyans could in fact regenerate into new bodies before they had even established themselves as the Lords of Time, with Omega regenerating into a muscular form sometime before the creation of the Hand of Omega. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Ben Aaronovitch, adapted from Remembrance of the Daleks (Ben Aaronovitch), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1990).)
Artificially created[]
Some accounts suggested that regeneration originated on Gallifrey, but came about as a result of experimentation. Several of these accounts involved the experiments of Rassilon. Indeed, by the time of Rassilon's ill-fated intervention on Kolstan, Artron, his contemporary, knew that Rassilon had "experimented" with a limited sort of regeneration. (AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).) A limit of twelve regenerations ultimately became standard among Time Lords, with additional regeneration cycles being granted to certain Time Lords only under exceptional circumstances. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013)., AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).) Among the reasons given for the limited cycles were that the mind could not handle the multiplicity of psyches, (PROSE: Head Games [+]Steve Lyons, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1995).) and that Rassilon ultimately came to consider total immortality a curse. (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special (Public Broadcasting Service, 1983).)
One of these accounts held that Cardinal Rassilon had been investigating a method of regenerating decayed and diseased tissue via a series of self-replicating, biogenic molecules. The cells of a Gallifreyan body would be repaired, restored and reorganised, resulting in a wholly new physical form. The brain cells would also be rearranged, though to a lesser extent; the new incarnation would retain the memories of the former incarnation, though the personality of the Time Lord could change. The degree in which the personality changed during regeneration varied between Time Lords and even between incarnations. Rassilon intended for regeneration to be reserved for only the Gallifreyan elite. According to this account, another reason that Rassilon imposed a limit of twelve regenerations was to avoid decaying biogenic molecules. (AUDIO: Zagreus [+]Alan Barnes and Gary Russell, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).)
Another account suggested that regeneration was the result of Time Lords having triple-helix DNA. The third strand of DNA was added by Rassilon, which enabled regeneration. (PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus [+]Craig Hinton, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).)
According to several accounts, however, Rassilon was not responsible for the creation of regeneration. One of these accounts, given by the Black Scrolls of Rassilon, indicated that regeneration was instead caused by a virus created by Thremix, (PROSE: The Scrolls of Rassilon [+]John Peel, 1991.) which ravaged ancient Gallifreyan society when Rassilon seized power. (PROSE: The Scrolls of Rassilon [+]John Peel, 1991., The Pit [+]Neil Penswick, adapted from Hostage, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1993).)
Another account suggested that the ability to regenerate was only present in Loom-born Gallifreyans, being a product of the Looming process. This account indicates that earlier womb-born generations of Gallifreyans could not regenerate. (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Marc Platt, adapted from Lungbarrow, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1997).)
Stolen from other species[]
Some accounts suggested that regeneration did not originate on Gallifrey, but was rather stolen from species that predated the Time Lords through experimentation. One of these accounts, described by the Spy Master to the Thirteenth Doctor, suggested that regeneration on Gallifrey began with the Timeless Child, who Tecteun, a Shobogan explorer and scientist, had discovered on another planet, adopted, and then brought home. The child proved capable of regenerating their body an indefinite number of times, being of another species from an unknown realm. The First Tecteun began experimenting upon her child, and eventually unravelled the mystery of regeneration by discovering the regeneration code. She put this to the test on her own biology, and regenerated into a new male incarnation. The Second Tecteun gave the gift of regeneration to all other Gallifreyans within the Citadel, and would go on to found Time Lord society alongside the other Founding Fathers of Gallifrey. He also limited the number of regenerations each Time Lord got to twelve. The Timeless Child went on to become the Doctor, but eventually had their memories erased following their service as an agent of the Division. The Doctor was transformed back into a child and grew up again with no recollection of their former life, as well as a limited regeneration cycle. All records in the Matrix with explicit information on the Timeless Child and the origins of regeneration were redacted as the Founding Fathers wanted a "noble creation myth" instead. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020).) What little remained was disguised with a visual filter that instead depicted the story of Brendan, an immortal Irish policeman. (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020).) The Thirteenth Doctor accepted this account, but later claimed the limited number of regenerations was a limit in the power of regeneration itself that the Shobogans discovered instead of creating. (PROSE: The Secrets of the Timeless Child [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
Another account suggested by Richard Francis Burton, upon observing the similarities between Time Lord regeneration and the rapid healing of the Mal'akh, theorised that early Time Lords obtained regenerative abilities by knowingly infecting themselves with the Yssgaroth taint. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).) Indeed, the Great Vampires were searching for a "Child-That-Was-Taken". (PROSE: Out of the Box [+]Aristide Twain, Out of the Shadows (P.R.O.B.E., Arcbeatle Press, 2021).)
The workings of regeneration[]
Time Lords released massive amounts of a hormone called lindos in moments of extreme trauma, and it was this hormone which triggered regeneration. Newly regenerated Time Lords could be identified by elevated levels of lindos in their system. (PROSE: The Twin Dilemma [+]Eric Saward, adapted from The Twin Dilemma (Anthony Steven), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1986)., AUDIO: Unregenerate! [+]David A. McIntee, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2005).)
Time Lords were also said to have "packets" of regeneration energy in their bodies, one for each life. These packets could be physically removed from a Time Lord's body, essentially robbing them of their regenerations. (TV: Mawdryn Undead [+]Peter Grimwade, Doctor Who season 20 (BBC1, 1983).)
During regeneration, a Time Lord experienced a surge of pure regenerative energy, as their entire system was rewritten and their universe moulded into a new shape, with their very biodata being rewritten in the fabric of space-time. (PROSE: Unnatural History [+]Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) Unfortunately, their immune systems were seriously weakened as the process took place, with the result that they could be infected by viruses such as the Faction Paradox biodata virus that would normally have had no effect on them. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) On a wider scale, regenerations were so important to a Time Lord's timeline that even minor temporal paradoxes during the process of regeneration could have devastating consequences. (AUDIO: Prisoners of Fate [+]Jonathan Morris, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2013)., TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).)
The Fourth Doctor explained that he still had the same body as his first incarnation; it had just been restructured a lot since then. He agreed that the process of regeneration went against Newton's Third Law, and added that he did violate a few laws "now and then". (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks [+]John Peel, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1998).)
The Thirteenth Doctor described regenerating from her previous incarnation as "every cell in [her] body burning" as her "whole body changed". She stated that, while changing, "there's this moment when you're sure you're about to die and then... you're born." She deemed the process as "terrifying". (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One, BBCA, Space and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2018).)
The Fourteenth Doctor described how allowing a regeneration to begin was like sneezing after holding it in for "too long." (PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor [+]Paul Lang, Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 (Penguin Group, 2023). Page 6.)
Process[]
Appearance[]
How to be a Time Lord [+]Craig Donaghy, Official Guides (BBC Children's Books, 2014). and A Short History of Everyone [+]Craig Donaghy and Justin Richards, Official Guides (BBC Books, 2022). discuss these different visual appearances for regeneration
During a regeneration, a Time Lord's body could shine with milky white light, (TV: The Tenth Planet [+]Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966). ; PROSE: The Indestructible Man [+]Simon Messingham, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2004).) a swirl of rainbow colours (TV: The Caves of Androzani [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984)., Time and the Rani [+]Pip & Jane Baker, Doctor Who season 24 (BBC1, 1987)., Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) or no colours, (COMIC: The Night Walkers [+]Roger Noel Cook, TVC comic stories (Polystyle Publications and Ltd., 1969).) crackle with electricity, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).) appear to be engulfed in flames, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus [+]Terrance Dicks, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1991)., COMIC: Fast Asleep [+]Rob Williams, Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor (Titan Comics, 2016).) or discharge golden energy, which could vary in speed and intensity from being brief and contained to explosive and capable, in extreme circumstances, of causing damage to the nearby area. (COMIC: The Forgotten [+]Tony Lee, IDW mini-series and one-shots (IDW Publishing, 2008-2009)., Doorway to Hell [+]Mark Wright, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2017)., TV: The Curse of Fatal Death [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who television episodes (BBC One, 1999)., The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010)., Day of the Moon [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013)., The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013)., The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013)., Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015)., The Lie of the Land [+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017)., World Enough and Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017)., The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017)., Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017)., The Timeless Children [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020)., The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022)., PROSE: Doctor Who and the Time War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who: Lockdown! (2020).)
In other cases, there was no apparent energy discharge at all, just a fade away to the next incarnation. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Robert Sloman, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974)., PROSE: The Ancestor Cell [+]Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000)., The Touch of the Nurazh [+]Stephen Hatcher, Short Trips: Monsters (Short Trips short stories, 2004).) In the case of the Doctor's fourth regeneration, the Doctor appeared to merge with and become the Watcher, after which he transformed from the Watcher into his fifth incarnation. (TV: Logopolis [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 18 (BBC1, 1981).) On the occasion that the Doctor had just been granted a brand new regeneration cycle, he initially emitted a large eruption of energy in an almost liquid form. Sometime later, when his actual shift to a new body occurred, there was only a very short, almost negligible discharge of energy. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) When mortally wounded by the Toymaker, the Fourteenth Doctor's body momentarily glowed with regeneration energy before dissipating. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Some regenerations occurred with other individuals in close proximity. These times, the energy from the Doctor's body wasn't particularly violent. (TV: The Tenth Planet [+]Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966)., Planet of the Spiders [+]Robert Sloman, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974)., Logopolis [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 18 (BBC1, 1981)., The Caves of Androzani [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984)., Time and the Rani [+]Pip & Jane Baker, Doctor Who season 24 (BBC1, 1987)., The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) However, from their eighth incarnation onward, the Doctor warned anyone in close proximity to a regeneration to keep away. This happened with members of the Sisterhood of Karn prior to the Eighth Doctor transforming into his so-called War Doctor incarnation, (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).) when the Ninth Doctor received a brief surge of regenerative energy in the presence of Rose Tyler, (TV: The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) and when the Eleventh Doctor realised that Mels was regenerating. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) When the Tenth Doctor regenerated during the 2009 Dalek invasion of Earth, Captain Jack Harkness similarly warned Rose Tyler to stay away from the Doctor when his regeneration started. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) Why the Doctor thought this was necessary became clear when the Tenth Doctor's regeneration into the Eleventh caused enough damage to the TARDIS to force a complete reconstruction into a different design. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).)
Indeed, the Doctor came to realise that his regenerations were growing more explosive; (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time [+]Paul Cornell, adapted from Twice Upon a Time (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).) when he began his thirteenth regeneration, it was the most destructive of all — emitting a shock-wave resembling a thermonuclear blast. The town of Christmas was levelled, Dalek fighter pods were blown out of the sky, and the Dalek flagship (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) and Dalek fleet were destroyed. (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time [+]Paul Cornell, adapted from Twice Upon a Time (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).) Because the Doctor didn't have time to warn the citizens of Christmas of the danger from regenerating, his companion Clara Oswald ushered the people into the bell tower to take shelter. The Daleks that remained on the street were blown to pieces. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) The Twelfth Doctor was able to tell that his fourteenth regeneration would be explosive, (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time [+]Paul Cornell, adapted from Twice Upon a Time (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).) and it eventually caused enough damage to the TARDIS for it to malfunction. The control room exploded, sending the Thirteenth Doctor plummeting from its doors. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).)
However, when the Fourteenth Doctor expected to regenerate, he accepted the company of Donna Noble and Melanie Bush as they each took one of his hands, assisting his bi-generation from the Fifteenth Doctor. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Physical and mental change[]
During regeneration, there were the genetic equivalents of "bit errors" in the DNA of the regenerating cells. The Time Lord would change in appearance, height, mass or apparent age. The personality would also change; even the cells and chemistry of the brain regenerated, although their blood type would remain the same in all their lives. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors [+]Terrance Dicks, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1997).) Allergies and dominant limbs could also change between regenerations. (AUDIO: The Lady in the Lake [+]Nev Fountain, The Diary of River Song: Series Three (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018).) According to the Sixth Doctor, a Time Lord's basic personality traits remained unchanged throughout all their lives, but the balance of said traits could be affected by regeneration. (AUDIO: The Sirens of Time [+]Nicholas Briggs, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 1999).) With each incarnation, the Doctor's memory worked differently, (PROSE: Nothing O'Clock [+]Neil Gaiman, Puffin eshort (Puffin Books, 2013).) with some of their memories from before regeneration being lost even after the new incarnation had mentally stabilised, unless they were specifically reminded of relevant events. (TV: Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982)., Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996)., Deep Breath [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).)
When he fell unconscious after being exposed to radiation, the Sixth Doctor heard the voice of his successor before the regeneration began in full, leaving him assured that he would regenerate despite the circumstances of his death, the voices of the two Doctors briefly merging in his mind as they each noted that their life was far from over. (AUDIO: The Brink of Death [+]Nicholas Briggs, The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure (Big Finish Productions, 2015).) When the Eighth Doctor was stabbed by Charley while he was possessed by anti-time, he nearly died permanently due to his current grief, but found himself conversing with the personas of his immediate three predecessors who helped him realise what had happened and the need to return to life to stop Rassilon controlling the power of anti-time. (AUDIO: Zagreus [+]Alan Barnes and Gary Russell, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).) Indeed, the metaphysical Edge of Existence was a location in the Doctor's mind where each incarnation passed during regeneration, entering the Doctor's subconscious as a new persona emerged.
After a forced regeneration into the Spy Master, the Thirteenth Doctor found herself at the Edge but refused to pass, meeting past incarnations who acted as the Guardians of the Edge. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).) When the amnesiac Eighth Doctor was in a coma after his chest was crushed by sandbags, during his coma fantasy he experienced a feeling that he compared to the idea of his body as a coat that he could take off and don another body around a corner, but in this instance the Doctor did not need to regenerate as his current link to Sabbath would sustain his life even after such serious injuries. (PROSE: Camera Obscura [+]Lloyd Rose, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2002).)
On rare instances, regeneration[disputed statement] could change a Time Lord's clothing, as happened when the First Doctor became the Second Doctor, (TV: The Tenth Planet [+]Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966)., The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) and when the Thirteenth Doctor became the Fourteenth Doctor, the latter acknowledging his resemblance to a previous incarnation. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022)., PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor [+]Paul Lang, Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 (Penguin Group, 2023). Page 6.) Most other cases would have the regenerated Time Lord in the attire of their predecessor. (TV: Spearhead from Space [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 7 (BBC1, 1970)., Robot [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1974-1975). etc.) The Fourteenth Doctor's bi-generation split his outfit evenly on himself and the Fifteenth Doctor. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
While most regenerations caused Time Lord's to take on an entirely new appearance, it seemed that in very rare circumstances they could regenerate into previous appearances. The Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration caused the Fourteenth Doctor to look identical to a previous incarnation, even down to the teeth, something that shocked the newly regenerated Doctor. In addition, this regeneration changed the Doctor's clothing. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).) Donna Noble suggested that this was because the regeneration was influenced by the Doctor's subconscious desire to settle down with a family - specifically, the Noble family. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).) The Curator had previously noted to the Eleventh Doctor that they may find themselves revisiting a few old faces in years to come with the Curator himself having the appearance of an elderly Fourth Doctor. (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013).)
Generally, most newly regenerated Time Lords appeared physically younger than their preceding incarnations, (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996)., Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., Death of the Doctor [+]Russell T Davies, The Sarah Jane Adventures series 4 (CBBC, 2010).) so much so that the First Doctor assumed it to be the natural result of regeneration. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).) Indeed, the Tenth Doctor once told Rose Tyler that regeneration was an alternative to ageing. (TV: School Reunion [+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 2 (BBC One|BBC One]], 2006).) However, this was not always the case; the "dashing young" Eleventh Doctor was dismayed to find that he would become the "old" Twelfth Doctor, with his companion Clara Oswald remarking that the new Doctor did not look "renewed". (TV: Deep Breath [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) However, the Eleventh Doctor had aged considerably, to the point that he was on the brink of dying of old age, when he was enabled to regenerate, though he was able to briefly "reset" to his youthful appearance before the change of appearance. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) Following her second regeneration, River Song, formerly Mels Zucker, observed herself to have a "mature" appearance. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
Ohila offered the Eighth Doctor the choice of whether his successor would be "young or old"; (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).) before that, the Second Doctor rejected two potential faces offered to him by the Time Lords, one "too old" and another "too young". (TV: The War Games [+]Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke, Doctor Who season 6 (BBC1, 1969).) According to the Valeyard, there was also a risk of emerging from a regeneration as a Time Tot rather than an adult Time Lord. (AUDIO: Trial of the Valeyard [+]Alan Barnes and Mike Maddox, The Sixth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2013).) River Song's second incarnation started off as a baby, (TV: Day of the Moon [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) while Rassilon actually had the opposite happen to him, changing from the body of a middle-aged man to that of an elderly man. (TV: Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) One of the Master's Time War incarnations resembled a small male child, only for it to be undone into his more elderly War incarnation. (COMIC: The Then and the Now [+]Si Spurrier and Rob Williams, Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015)., Fast Asleep [+]Rob Williams, Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor (Titan Comics, 2016).)
Despite the apparent changes in physical age, observers such as River Song, Clara Oswald and Cindy Wu found that they could identify younger incarnations of the Doctor by looking into their eyes. (TV: Silence in the Library [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013)., COMIC: The Lost Dimension [+]George Mann, et al., Titan summer events (Titan Comics, 2017).)
One source stated that Time Lords were born with just one heart and grew a second heart on regeneration. This included the Doctor, who in their first incarnation had only one heart. (PROSE: The Man in the Velvet Mask [+]Daniel O'Mahony, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1996).) Other accounts showed Time Lords having two hearts in their original incarnation, such as the Doctor (AUDIO: Frostfire [+]Marc Platt, The Companion Chronicles (Big Finish Productions, 2007)., The Abandoned [+]Nigel Fairs and Louise Jameson, The Fourth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2014).) and Jenny. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter [+]Stephen Greenhorn, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) Tegan Jovanka was under the belief that the second heart of a Time Lord was only developed upon the first regeneration, much to the surprise of Leela, who believed that a Time Lord always had two hearts, with neither being sure who was correct. (AUDIO: Time in Office [+]Eddie Robson, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2017).) Regeneration also changed the location of said hearts. (TV: Dalek [+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., The Power of Three [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012)., Resolution [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who New Year Special 2019 (BBC One, 2019).)
According to the Eleventh Doctor, every regeneration was painful, (TV: Death of the Doctor [+]Russell T Davies, The Sarah Jane Adventures series 4 (CBBC, 2010).) with the Seventh Doctor once describing regeneration as a good and bad feeling in the same way driving a car very fast was a good and bad feeling, enjoying the exhilaration of the process but knowing you were going to "die" at the end. (PROSE: The Room With No Doors [+]Kate Orman, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1997).) Klyst assured Louis following his first regeneration that the first was always more painful than subsequent ones. (AUDIO: Unregenerate! [+]David A. McIntee, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2005).)
Regeneration could also change a Time Lord's biological sex. The Doctor, the Master, the Monk, Drax, Rindle, and Lake each had female incarnations, while the majority of their incarnations were male. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017)., Dark Water [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014)., AUDIO: The Wrong Woman [+]John Dorney, Dalek Universe (Big Finish Productions, 2021)., The Trouble with Drax [+]John Dorney, The Fourth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2016)., The Lady in the Lake [+]Nev Fountain, The Diary of River Song: Series Three (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018).) The General was usually a woman, but one of their incarnations was a bald white male. (TV: Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) The Twelfth Doctor alluded to the fact that some Time Lords could get "stuck in a rut" where a large number of incarnations followed the same "model of body". For example, the Doctor themself spent thirteen incarnations as a light-skinned male before their fourteenth regeneration produced a female incarnation. Similarly, as mentioned above, the General spent ten incarnations as female before their tenth regeneration produced a male incarnation. Other Time Lords changed sex more evenly; a male incarnation of Volstrom regenerated to female form, then back to male, and then female again. (AUDIO: The Side of the Angels [+]Matt Fitton, Doom Coalition 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition, Big Finish Productions, 2017).) Missy (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) and the Thirteenth Doctor (TV: Spyfall [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020).) referred to their regenerations to female form as an "upgrade", a term also used by River Song when discussing the former's change. (AUDIO: The Bekdel Test [+]Jonathan Morris, The Diary of River Song: Series Five (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
Skin colour could also change between regenerations. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015)., PROSE: Engines of War [+]George Mann, BBC New Series tie-in novels (BBC Books, 2014)., AUDIO: The Next Life [+]Alan Barnes and Gary Russell, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2004)., The Lady in the Lake [+]Nev Fountain, The Diary of River Song: Series Three (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018).) Though fluctuations in gender, size and skin colour appeared to be fairly common, the Twelfth Doctor stated that he was "one of those stuck-in-a-rut Time Lords who always [had] the same model of body." (PROSE: Twice Upon a Time [+]Paul Cornell, adapted from Twice Upon a Time (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).)
More extreme physical changes were also possible. Cavis regenerated a complete body after being decapitated, although the process was cut short when she was stabbed through both hearts (the one that she already possessed and the one that she was growing as she regenerated), and her lover Gandar became a kind of human-Silurian hybrid in appearance when he regenerated in the realm of Avalon mere hours after his previous change. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon [+]Paul Cornell, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000).)
When the Eleventh Doctor lost his leg during the Siege of Trenzalore, he grew a new one after his body was "reset" as his new regeneration cycle began. The Twelfth Doctor had both legs once he had regenerated. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013)., Deep Breath [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).)
In the early days of regeneration, it was possible for fragments of other DNA to be incorporated into the new incarnation if, for example, a Time Lord had recently eaten or spent a great deal of time around other species; the early Gallifreyan priest I.M. Foreman suffered from this problem throughout his regenerations, each incarnation becoming more and more inhuman as more foreign DNA was incorporated into the process. (PROSE: Interference - Book One [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999)., Interference - Book Two [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).)
As well as the obvious benefits of purging Time Lords of any poisons or diseases that might have caused their deaths, regeneration could have more subtle benefits. As each Time Lord accumulated artron energy throughout their lives, regeneration reset the artron energy levels in their bodies to a pre-set level to prevent it rising to a point where the radiation could threaten them. (PROSE: Empire of Death [+]David Bishop, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2004).) When the Sirens of Time attempted to make the Doctor their agent, while responding to the Sirens' call more than once would have brought the Doctor permanently under their control, the Doctor was still a free agent as he had responded to their call three times in three different incarnations, suggesting that regeneration would purge the Sirens' influence. (AUDIO: The Sirens of Time [+]Nicholas Briggs, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 1999).)
However, this purge would not include assets, as the Seventh Doctor retained an immunity to the Swarm virus despite receiving that immunity in his fourth incarnation. (AUDIO: Revenge of the Swarm [+]Jonathan Morris, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2014).) Some negative influences could not be purged by regeneration; while the Fourth Doctor was able to resist succumbing to the breath of forever, (AUDIO: Destroy the Infinite [+]Nicholas Briggs, The Fourth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2014).) he was still susceptible to the influence of the Eminence in his sixth incarnation. (AUDIO: The Seeds of War [+]Matt Fitton and Nicholas Briggs, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2013).)
Non-humanoid forms[]
Although Time Lords usually favoured humanoid forms in regeneration, this was not universal. One Time Lord, Lord Cardinal Zero, regenerated into an avian lifeform as a result of the poison which triggered the regenerative process. (AUDIO: Spring [+]Mike Maddox, Circular Time (Main Range, Big Finish Productions, 2007).) When Romana regenerated from her first to second incarnation, the Fourth Doctor advised her not to "wear" Princess Astra's body and to "try another" body. Before once again assuming Astra's form, she tried various others, including a short blue humanoid and an extremely tall woman. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) although according to another source, this particular episode was just the TARDIS matrix playing a trick on the Doctor. (PROSE: The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe [+]Mark Michalowski, Short Trips: Companions (Short Trips, 2003).) In another instance, the Archon Lotto had a fourth body resembling that of a dog, and a fifth had that of an anthropomorphic lioness. Though Lotto was originally a biological human despite his ability to change body, rather than a native of the Archon's Homeworld. (PROSE: The Claus-Rosen Bridge [+]Ostara Gale and Elodie Christian, The Book of the Snowstorm (Coloth, Auteur, The Detective of Ishiok, Arcbeatle Press, 2023).)
Although all of the Doctor's known bodies could pass for human but for minor internal differences, their eleventh incarnation stated clearly that he could become "anything", (TV: Death of the Doctor [+]Russell T Davies, The Sarah Jane Adventures series 4 (CBBC, 2010).) and the Ninth Doctor once suggested that two heads or even no head were both possible. (TV: The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) Shortly after regenerating, the Eleventh Doctor had even made it a priority — even amidst serious damage to his TARDIS — to immediately conduct a physical inventory to make sure he still had two legs, both hearts and sufficient fingers, eyes, ears, a nose, chin and hair. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).) The Tenth Doctor, upon meeting a Skithra Queen inside a future Doctor's TARDIS control room, briefly wondered if she was the future incarnation of himself that he had run into, although he was soon proven wrong. (COMIC: Alternating Current [+]Jody Houser, Doctor Who Comic (2020) (Titan Comics, 2020-2021).) Novice Hame once claimed that among the Doctor's many faces and forms were those of animals, although she also claimed many of said forms were other individuals who take his title. (WC: The Secret of Novice Hame [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who: Lockdown! (2020).)
During the War in Heaven, regeneration into extremely non-humanoid bodies became the norm for members of the House Military, although bodies without obvious facial features were considered "informal"; this was the case even for a strategist like Entarodora. However, the same tendencies were implemented in the regen-inf soldiers, members of the lesser species who had been granted regeneration to serve as disposable foot-soldiers for the Great Houses, who often resented having no choice but to transform into gigantic, living weapons upon death. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).) At least one Homeworlder soldier in the House Military, who fought in the Battle of Cratosi Fields, shared this mindset; upon beginning to regenerate from a humanoid form into a monstrous form with razor-sharp mandibles where her throat should have been, she broke down sobbing, begging all who would hear her to help her not to change. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice [+]Jayce Black, The Book of the Peace (Faction Paradox, 2018).)
After-effects[]
Regeneration mixed up the synapses in the brain, sometimes resulting in negative after effects. (AUDIO: The Lady in the Lake [+]Nev Fountain, The Diary of River Song: Series Three (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018).) During the first few hours of the regeneration, the Time Lord could suffer from confusion, erratic behaviour, extended periods of unconsciousness, or memory loss. (TV: Spearhead from Space [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 7 (BBC1, 1970)., Robot [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1974-1975)., Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982)., Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996)., The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005)., AUDIO: The Lady in the Lake [+]Nev Fountain, The Diary of River Song: Series Three (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018)., et al.) Motor control could be impaired; the Eleventh Doctor expressed difficulty "steering" his new body, having walked into a tree minutes earlier, and a Time Lord could suffer random spasms as the regeneration settled. (TV: The Eleventh Hour [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) The Tenth Doctor noted "energy deficiency" was common after regenerating, which could lead to an increase in appetite to supplement the energy loss. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment [+]Stephen Greenhorn, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One|BBC One]], 2007).)
The Thirteenth Doctor explained a Time Lord had new instincts upon regenerating; they must trust these instincts to shape their personality. Until then, the Time Lord had no clue what kind of person they had become. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One, BBCA, Space and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2018).) The Tenth Doctor stated that he would have no clue what kind of person he would become until he experienced new things. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005).) However, it was possible for Time Lords to retain a quirk or choice throughout their lives, such as the Doctor's promise (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013).) and the Corsair's tattoo. (TV: The Doctor's Wife [+]Neil Gaiman, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
The Doctor, in particular, seemed to be highly susceptible to post-regenerative side-effects. After their first regeneration, the Second Doctor had some confusion over his own identity, although he adjusted to his new body reasonably quickly. (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) The Doctor's third incarnation was incapacitated for some time after a forced regeneration by the Time Lords. (TV: Spearhead from Space [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 7 (BBC1, 1970).) Likewise, their fourth incarnation suffered acute delirium and memory loss and was placed under bed rest for a few days until he regained consciousness. (TV: Robot [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1974-1975).) It took a while for the newly regenerated Fifth Doctor to remember his own identity, experiencing fainting spells and sudden spurts of alternating energy and fatigue until he stabilised. (TV: Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).) Their sixth incarnation confused myths with reality, resulting in him trying to strangle Peri before coming to his senses, and experienced erratic mood swings of enthusiasm or depression until he became reasonably stable. (TV: The Twin Dilemma [+]Anthony Steven, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) The Seventh Doctor was sufficiently weakened that the First Rani was able to effectively brainwash him. (TV: Time and the Rani [+]Pip & Jane Baker, Doctor Who season 24 (BBC1, 1987).) The Eighth Doctor suffered from amnesia and emotional instability, after having been declared dead for some time prior to regenerating due to the anaesthetic that had been used on his previous body. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).) The War Doctor showed no after-effects after regeneration, (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).) as Ohila's elixir assisted in the process. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, adapted from The Day of the Doctor (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).
The Ninth Doctor mentioned being "not quite calibrated" after regeneration, and likened himself to a soft shell crab waiting to harden, (PROSE: The Beast of Babylon [+]Charlie Higson, Puffin eshort (Puffin Books, 2013).) and the newly regenerated Tenth Doctor spent hours unconscious after an initial burst of wild enthusiasm. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005).) Immediately post-regeneration, the Eleventh Doctor craved various foods, which he hated upon tasting them. (TV: The Eleventh Hour [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) At the start of a new regeneration cycle, the Twelfth Doctor experienced severe memory loss, forgetting how to pilot the TARDIS, (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) and spent the next few hours in a delirious state. He was unable to remember names and distinguish people from each other, to the point that he confused Clara Oswald with both Handles and Strax. (TV: Deep Breath [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) The Thirteenth Doctor began her life with some amnesia, unable to remember her own name. However, most of her memories and all of her intellect remained intact. Like the Tenth Doctor, she passed out and slept for a long period of time to recover, expelling regeneration energy while she was asleep. Though she was also awoken early due to circumstances, she did not suffer serious health complications like the Tenth Doctor did. She later regained access to her memories after an adrenalin rush from confronting Tzim-Sha. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One, BBCA, Space and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2018).) Curiously, the Fourteenth Doctor did not experience any of the usual post-regeneration side-effects, (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Alan Barnes, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2022).) although the Doctor did question his appearance. (PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor [+]Paul Lang, Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 (Penguin Group, 2023). Page 6.), TV: The Star Beast [+]Russell T Davies, adapted from Doctor Who and the Star Beast (Pat Mills and John Wagner), Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
On two occasions, the Doctor crashed the TARDIS following regeneration, first when the Tenth Doctor compulsively sped up the TARDIS and hit it against a wall in the Powell Estate, (TV: Born Again [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who (BBC One, 2005)., The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005).) and again when the Tenth Doctor's regeneration into the Eleventh damaged the TARDIS, causing it to crash land into a garden shed in Leadworth. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010)., The Eleventh Hour [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) The Thirteenth Doctor was thrown out of her TARDIS after damage dealt by her regeneration caused an explosive malfunction. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).)
As regeneration involved completely rewriting a Time Lord's biodata and exposing it to the Time Vortex, for a time, the Eighth Doctor speculated that his raw biodata was responsible for the transformation of his companion Sam Jones from her original dark-haired, self-destructive self into his blonde-haired "perfect" companion, as his biodata was particularly exposed after his traumatic regeneration and the opening of the Eye of Harmony. However, Professor Daniel Joyce dismissed this theory for blonde Sam's existence as impossible as the Doctor could never have had that degree of unintentional influence on a complete stranger, although he admitted that the basic concept of Time Lord biodata rewriting another person's biodata wasn't completely impossible if there was greater pre-existing contact between them. (PROSE: Unnatural History [+]Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).)
A Zero Room could help with the regeneration-recovery process, as it removed all outside distractions. (TV: Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).) After his first regeneration, the Second Doctor implied that the TARDIS itself helped the process along. (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) The Second Doctor helped a dying Pavo to regenerate by bringing the other Time Lord into his TARDIS. (AUDIO: The Black Hole [+]Simon Guerrier, The Early Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2015).) The Eighth Doctor offered to take Sandun into his TARDIS, as well, to help with the latter's first regeneration. (AUDIO: X and the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dark Eyes (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Dark Eyes, Big Finish Productions, 2012).) After regenerating, the Tenth Doctor said he needed the TARDIS. In some cases proper rest helped a Time Lord's mind heal, but waking too soon prolonged the need of it; it was referred to as a "neural implosion". He later explained that some tannin in tea helped heal the synapses, accelerating the healing process. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005).)
Were a Time Lord knocked unconscious, the whole process might start all over again. (PROSE: The Power of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Power of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993).) Indeed, the Fourth Doctor thought that he had regenerated again without noticing when the Brigadier told him he had "changed" (referring to his clothes, not his appearance). (TV: Robot [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1974-1975).) However, this was not a certainty, (TV: The Eleventh Hour [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) as it seemed that sleep would help a Time Lord recover from post-regenerative delirium. (TV: Spearhead from Space [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 7 (BBC1, 1970)., Robot [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1974-1975)., The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005)., Deep Breath [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014)., The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One, BBCA, Space and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2018).)
After a while, the Time Lord's body would settle down, though they could regrow lost limbs within the first fifteen hours of the regeneration due to residual energy. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005)., Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) The residual energy also provided a Time Lord with significantly greater endurance; the Twelfth Doctor fell out of a tree but remained unaffected by it. (TV: Deep Breath [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) The Thirteenth Doctor fell out of the stratosphere and into a train without suffering any major damage, even reacting as if she had fallen from a simple loss of balance. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One, BBCA, Space and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2018).) Melody Pond, following her second and final regeneration, not only used her regenerative energy to survive a hail of gunfire by Nazi soldiers but channelled it into a focused blast of energy that knocked out the entire squad. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
Even after the physical transformation, changes could occur. The Doctor was excessively tired after their third regeneration, falling asleep in many odd locations. (TV: Robot [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1974-1975).) The Fifth Doctor's hair went from longer to shorter to longer in the space of a few days. (PROSE: Cold Fusion [+]Lance Parkin, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1996).) For a short time after regenerating, a Time Lord displayed greater strength than usual; the Doctor's fourth incarnation was able to karate-chop a brick in half shortly after his regeneration, though he failed to repeat the action once fully recovered, (TV: Robot [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1974-1975).) while their eighth incarnation broke down a steel door with his bare foot immediately following his regeneration. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).)
Forced regenerations could also result in Time Lords losing some of their skills or memories in various incarnations. Some of these changes could be minor, such as the Fourth Doctor reflecting that he was no longer able to make successful soufflés, (PROSE: Heart of TARDIS [+]Dave Stone, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000).) while on two occasions, later Doctors were forced to mentally regress back to their third persona, when they found themselves facing a situation where the Third Doctor's skills would be better-suited to handle the crisis than their own abilities were. This happened during their sixth and seventh incarnations. The Sixth Doctor required the Third's skills at hand-to-hand combat (PROSE: State of Change [+]Christopher Bulis, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).) while the Seventh felt that his technical expertise would be useful. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys [+]John Peel, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1991).) The Fifth Doctor also notably lacked the hand-to-hand combat skills of his two immediate predecessors, though he remained a fairly capable swordsman, (TV: The King's Demons [+]Terence Dudley, Doctor Who season 20 (BBC1, 1983).) and the Twelfth Doctor expressed uncertainty about his ability to use a motorbike early in his life as he hadn't had a chance to test his current capabilities. (PROSE: The Crawling Terror [+]Mike Tucker, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2014).) Post-regenerative amnesia could also be a problem, preventing the Doctors' recall of crucial information, such as the Sixth Doctor forgetting about his predecessor's encounter with Katherine Chambers when he met a younger version of her despite his past self's attempt to leave a reminder, resulting in him being unable to avert Katherine's interest in acquiring Cyber-technology. (AUDIO: The Reaping [+]Joseph Lidster, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2006)., The Gathering [+]Joseph Lidster, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2006).)
Personal tastes could also vary between different incarnations, such as the Fifth Doctor not being a particularly strong drinker, (AUDIO: The Kingmaker [+]Nev Fountain, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2006).) while the Fourth (TV: The Twin Dilemma [+]Anthony Steven, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) and Sixth (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel [+]Craig Hinton, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2001).) enjoyed the chance to get drunk, the Fourth Doctor expressing surprise at the attire he would wear in his sixth (AUDIO: The Light at the End [+]Nicholas Briggs, Big Finish Doctor Who Special Releases (Big Finish Productions, 2013).) and eleventh bodies (PROSE: The Roots of Evil [+]Philip Reeve, Puffin eshort (Puffin Books, 2013).) when he caught glimpses of his future, or the Eleventh Doctor enjoying football, (TV: The Lodger [+]Gareth Roberts, adapted from The Lodger (Gareth Roberts), Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) while the Twelfth considered it a boring sport. (TV: For Tonight We Might Die [+]Patrick Ness, Class television stories series 1 (BBC Three, 2016).)
The mental transformation caused by regeneration could also be a problem; when Andred decided to pose as Torvald after the two fought in the Capitol basement, Torvald dying while Andred regenerated, immediate post-regenerative trauma was so difficult that Andred didn't think about what his actions would do to his wife Leela before he was too far into his deception, (AUDIO: A Blind Eye [+]Alan Barnes, Gallifrey (Big Finish Productions, 2004).) others noting later that Andred had spent so long pretending to be Torvald that his own new personality had never asserted itself, resulting in him still expressing some of Torvald's personality traits even after his deception was exposed. (AUDIO: Lies [+]Gary Russell, Gallifrey (Big Finish Productions, 2005).)
However, some Time Lords were able to regenerate with little or no overt complications, as in the case of Romana (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) and River Song, (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) neither of whom appeared to experience any sign of incapacitation in their exploits immediately following regeneration. Both treated the change rather casually and acted as normal. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979)., Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) The General showed no after-effects after regenerating into her twelfth incarnation, in fact stating that she was "back to normal". (TV: Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)
Long term after-effects[]
The Doctor was sometimes unsure what adventure happened within what regeneration. (AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan [+]Steve Lyons, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2000).) However, the Doctor's memories and the Doctor's time stream were subject to great deals of change and flux. (AUDIO: Previously, Next Time [+]James Moran, Cass (The Eighth Doctor: Time War, Big Finish Productions, 2023).; PROSE: Celestial Intervention - A Gallifreyan Noir [+]Dave Rudden, Twelve Angels Weeping (BBC Children's Books, 2018).)
The Fourth Doctor tended to get a minor headache whenever he remembered something that happened to him in a previous regeneration. (PROSE: The Return of Robin Hood [+]Paul Magrs, Puffin Classics crossovers (BBC Children's Books, 2022).)
Limitations[]
River Song and the Silence believed that a Time Lord could die permanently if killed "again" at the right time during the regenerative process. This appeared to be verified when River, controlled by the Silence, seemingly managed to kill the Eleventh Doctor permanently after he began to regenerate at Lake Silencio, (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) although unbeknownst to the Silence, the Doctor she shot was actually a simulacrum, the Teselecta, used by the Doctor to fake his death (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) and was already out of regenerations. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) Indeed, the Tenth Doctor told Wilfred Mott that he could still be killed before regeneration kicked in. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).)
Though Time Lords could regenerate after severe injuries, regeneration was by no means guaranteed. Artron energy was crucial to the regenerative process, meaning Time Lords were unable to regenerate if they did not have any artron energy in their body. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy [+]Andy Lane and Justin Richards, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000)., AUDIO: Repeat Offender [+]Eddie Robson, The Memory Bank and Other Stories (Main Range, Big Finish Productions, 2016).) The regenerative process could also be destroyed by acid (PROSE: Night of the Humans [+]David Llewellyn, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2010).) or by exposures to substances, such as anaesthetics meant for humans, which were toxic to the Gallifreyan body. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).)
Certain energy weapons could also prevent the regenerative process. In an alternate reality, a Raxacoricofallapatorian used an energy weapon that destroyed the Tenth Doctor's regenerative process, preventing his regeneration into the Eleventh Doctor. (COMIC: Four Doctors [+]Paul Cornell, Titan summer events (Titan Comics, 2015).) A planet of executioners possessed a machine built for executing Time Lords that could disable regeneration as part of the execution process. (TV: Extremis [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) Martha Jones also had a gun that, when inserted with four distinct chemicals, could apparently prevent regeneration, as she reportedly planned to do to the Saxon Master. While the existence of this gun was actually a ruse created by the Tenth Doctor to distract the Master from their real plan, the fact that the Master believed it suggests that such a weapon was theoretically possible. (TV: Last of the Time Lords [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) According to some accounts, a blast from staser fire could prevent regeneration. Maxil implied this, (TV: Arc of Infinity [+]Johnny Byrne, Doctor Who season 20 (BBC1, 1983).) and Gandar later explicitly noted that a staser pistol was one of the few weapons capable of killing a Time Lord immediately. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon [+]Paul Cornell, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000).) However, the Twelfth Doctor shot the Eleventh General once with the sidearm of the President's personal security, triggering the General's regeneration. (TV: Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) Several Time Lords died without regenerating when they were killed by a TCE. (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976).)
When the Tenth Doctor tried to attach his brain to the CAL Data Core, believing he could regenerate and provide the extra memory space, River pointed out it would outright kill him by burning out both of his hearts, so she took his place. (TV: Forest of the Dead [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) The Master's upgraded laser screwdriver could disable the regenerative process if its target received a full blast on its maximum setting. (TV: The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) While not explicitly demonstrated, the Master at least believed that Janis thorns could prevent regeneration, as he went to great lengths to brainwash Leela so that she would use the thorns against the Fourth Doctor, the Doctor only surviving this experience as he was able to help Leela break the Master's programming in time for her to inject him with the antidote. (AUDIO: The Evil One [+]Nicholas Briggs, The Fourth Doctor Adventures (Big Finish Productions, 2014).)
Certain injuries only had a chance of causing regeneration if left untreated; when the Doctor was paralysed from the waist down after a spaceship crash, he expressed concern that he would regenerate if he passed out while being transported, but he made it back to the TARDIS without regenerating and was able to find healing nanites that could repair his back. (AUDIO: Devil in the Mist [+]Cavan Scott, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
Some injuries were so serious that they could not be treated by regeneration; when the Time Lady Solenti was blinded, she spent ninety-one years uncertain if she would ever regain her sight, although a telepathic exchange with a pan-dimensional race allowed her to confirm that the neural pathways for sight in her brain were still intact and she would be able to see again once she regenerated, even if she decided that she would not regenerate just to regain her vision. (PROSE: The Suns of Caresh [+]Paul Saint, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2002).)
According to some accounts, the regenerative process could only kick in when the body was still alive to some extent; as a result, final deaths could occur too quickly for the body to regenerate, as evidenced by how an alternate version of the Tenth Doctor died because he was drowned confronting the Empress of the Racnoss. (TV: Turn Left [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) When facing the Word Lord, the Seventh Doctor sacrificed himself to stop Nobody No-One by using a tablet linked to the Trans-Galactic net to hit Nobody with the full force of the stories collected about himself, at the cost of frying his own mind, causing so much damage that he expressed a belief that this would kill him even before the Word Lord tricked a UNIT soldier into declaring "Nobody can stop the Doctor from regenerating" which gave the Word Lord the power to do just that. Fortunately, this sacrifice was undone when the Seventh Doctor's future self - currently present at the death of his past self after his own attempt to trap the Word Lord - set up a complex plan that allowed Ace to subvert the Word Lord's power to rewrite reality so that she could undo the Doctor's death, restoring him to life in his seventh body with no need for regeneration. (AUDIO: A Death in the Family [+]Steven Hall, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2010).) However, in other accounts, regeneration could occur even after the previous incarnation's body had completely died, or indeed, been dead for some time — although this could result in some "growing pains" for the new incarnation, who might deal with such conditions as amnesia. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).)
By some accounts, stabbing or shooting a Time Lord through both hearts at the same time would kill them. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon [+]Paul Cornell, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000)., World Game [+]Terrance Dicks, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2005).) The Bruce Master, having already gravely wounded the Eighth Doctor by shooting him in one of his hearts, threatened to take out the other if he attempted to regenerate. (AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).) Missy recommended eight snipers, with two trained on each of her hearts and three for her brain stem, so that Clara Oswald could feel safe while speaking to her, noting that they'd have to "switch [her] off fast" before she could regenerate. (TV: The Magician's Apprentice [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) Plans to execute a Time Lord relied on technology that would destroy both hearts, sever all three brain stems, and deliver a cellular shock to prevent regeneration, after which the subject would be left in a quantum vault for no less than a thousand years to ensure that regeneration would not occur. (TV: Extremis [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
Time Lords could also be injured beyond the point of regeneration, with copies of the Twelfth Doctor dying after contact with the Veil inside his confession dial. In such cases, the Doctor claimed that every cell in a Time Lord's body would continue attempting to regenerate, which could prolong their actual death for several days. In his case, this gave each copy time to use the last of their energy to trigger a teleportation device and "create" a new body for their essence to continue trying to escape. (TV: Heaven Sent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)
It was suggested that regeneration may not occur if the Time Lord lacked the will for it to do so. Indeed, the Saxon Master refused to regenerate upon being shot by Lucy Saxon, instead deciding to die in the Tenth Doctor's arms to mock his rival. (TV: Last of the Time Lords [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) An alternate version of the Sixth Doctor was killed permanently by a Dalek, but this Doctor had been locked away in the Tower of London for decades after his legs had been amputated, and his mental state had significantly deteriorated, to the point that he may have wanted to die to escape his nightmarish existence. (AUDIO: Jubilee [+]Robert Shearman, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).) The Doctor's Cousin Arkhew was unable to regenerate after being strangled by Owis, but Arkhew was noted as being a very weak-willed Time Lord who feared how he was perceived by others. (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Marc Platt, adapted from Lungbarrow, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1997).)
When the Eighth Doctor was infected by anti-time and asked his companion Charley to kill him, while talking with his predecessors in his mind, he speculated that he was not regenerating because he had wanted to die out of grief and Charley's new hatred of what he had become, requiring support from his predecessors to allow the anti-time to take him over and let Zagreus defeat Rassilon. (AUDIO: Zagreus [+]Alan Barnes and Gary Russell, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).)
The Eighth Doctor was killed when the ship he was trying to escape from crash landed on Karn. He was later restored temporarily to life by the Sisterhood of Karn and provided with an elixir to trigger the regenerative process. (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).) The Ninth Doctor showed the same level of concern as his human companions did towards falling victim to the Gelth, suggesting regenerating was not an expected outcome. (TV: The Unquiet Dead [+]Mark Gatiss, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) When surrounded by Daleks, the Doctor was under the belief that he would die for good, remarking that "maybe it's time". (TV: The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
Certain environments could also be dangerous for regeneration, with the Fifth and Eighth Doctors going to great lengths to avoid dying in space. (PROSE: Imperial Moon [+]Christopher Bulis, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000)., The Taking of Planet 5 [+]Simon Bucher-Jones and Mark Clapham, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) Malika believed that her regenerative processes would simply not activate in the vacuum of space, as her new incarnation would simply die all over again, rendering the process futile. (COMIC: Omega [+]Mark Griffiths, Omega (Cutaway Comics, 2021).) The Eighth Doctor instead recalled horror stories of Time Lords regenerating in such an environment, burning themselves out as their new bodies became increasingly twisted trying to "evolve" into something that could cope in a vacuum. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5 [+]Simon Bucher-Jones and Mark Clapham, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) However, safe regeneration from exposure to a vacuum was possible if the subject was returned to an oxygenated environment before the process initiated, with one Time Lord regenerating normally after being cast adrift in space before the War Doctor materialised his TARDIS around him and left him to regenerate in the ship's Zero Room. (PROSE: Engines of War [+]George Mann, BBC New Series tie-in novels (BBC Books, 2014).) The Fifth Doctor once noted that the important thing in regeneration was that the brain remained intact, with an early Gallifreyan being killed for good when she was shot in the brain at close range with a 26th century weapon. (PROSE: Cold Fusion [+]Lance Parkin, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1996).)
Retro-genitor radiation was specifically created by the Daleks to inhibit regeneration. (AUDIO: X and the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, Dark Eyes (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Dark Eyes, Big Finish Productions, 2012).) The Daleks also used regeneration inhibitors within their gunsticks during the Last Great Time War (AUDIO: The Conscript [+]Matt Fitton, The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume One (The Eighth Doctor: Time War, Big Finish Productions, 2017).) and equipped with Varga plants with similar inhibitors. (AUDIO: Legion of the Lost [+]John Dorney, Infernal Devices (The War Doctor, Big Finish Productions, 2016).)
Certain types of radiation could be more dangerous to Time Lords than others. Roentgen radiation was relatively harmless so long as it was expelled quickly enough, (TV: Smith and Jones [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) and the Doctor was able to hold back his regeneration for several hours after being exposed to the radiation from the Immortality Gate. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).) However, the radiation belt around Lakertya was uniquely deadly to Time Lords while safe for human exposure, (AUDIO: The Brink of Death [+]Nicholas Briggs, The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure (Big Finish Productions, 2015).) and the radiation around the blue crystals of Metebelis III caused so much damage to the Third Doctor that he required external aid to trigger his regeneration after spending ten years drifting in the TARDIS dying of exposure. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Robert Sloman, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974)., Love and War [+]Paul Cornell, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1992).)
When the Sixth Doctor was exposed to radiation on a Cyberman ship, he ran the risk of triggering a tortured sequence of regenerations where he would rapidly exhaust his remaining lives as the radiation damaged his cellular structure so that his subsequent incarnations would still suffer damage even after regeneration; as with his third incarnation's death from the Metebelis radiation, he only survived because he returned to the timeless stability of the TARDIS and was kept in a form of temporal stasis until his body had recovered. (PROSE: Killing Ground [+]Steve Lyons, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1996).)
The Fifth Doctor was not sure if he would be able to regenerate after contracting Spectrox toxaemia, and indeed the transition into his next incarnation occurred "not a moment too soon". (TV: The Caves of Androzani [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) It was implied that particularly serious blood loss could prevent regeneration altogether; Ruath was able to regenerate after draining her blood and sending it to Yarven via her TARDIS, (PROSE: Goth Opera [+]Paul Cornell, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).) but the Eighth Doctor and Romana II were both concerned that the Fourth Doctor would die for good after several vampires fed on him at once before the Eighth Doctor was able to give his past self a transfusion. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) Particularly traumatic damage could cause a Time Lord to suffer regenerative collapse, which would kill them immediately regardless of how many lives they had remaining; the Sixth Doctor almost suffered this fate after a confrontation with Zor, requiring Captain Jack Harkness to give him medical attention and take his place for a time until the Doctor had recovered. (AUDIO: Piece of Mind [+]James Goss, The Lives of Captain Jack: Volume Two (The Lives of Captain Jack, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
Due to the Time Lords' reliance on artron energy to power the regenerative process, an artron inhibitor could prevent Time Lords from regenerating, as well as limit their ability to heal from damage; when Time Lord agent Cuthbert Simpson attempted to track and trap Compassion with an inhibitor, his injuries were so serious that it took him decades to recover even after the field preventing him from regenerating was deactivated. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy [+]Andy Lane and Justin Richards, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2000).) Some Time Lords, such as Yayani, had Abridgement Syndrome, which made them unable to regenerate. (PROSE: Lords and Masters [+]Cavan Scott, The Missy Chronicles (2018).) When the Doctor's TARDIS was damaged by a vitreous time storm, the subsequent effects on the Doctor due to his link to the ship nearly killed both of them until a past Doctor was able to donate the energy needed for the ship to heal itself. (AUDIO: Mary's Story [+]Jonathan Morris, The Company of Friends (Main Range, Big Finish Productions, 2009).) By the Last Great Time War, the Varga plants evolved so that they possessed regeneration inhibitors which could kill a Time Lord instantly. (AUDIO: Legion of the Lost [+]John Dorney, Infernal Devices (The War Doctor, Big Finish Productions, 2016).) Dalek weapons also incorporated regeneration inhibitors, with the result that Daleks could kill Time Lords instantly, even if the High Council maintained the propaganda that regeneration would still be an option if Time Lords fell in battle. (AUDIO: The Conscript [+]Matt Fitton, The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume One (The Eighth Doctor: Time War, Big Finish Productions, 2017).)
In the early days of regeneration, the process was so disruptive to a Time Lord's DNA that regenerations were known to incorporate aspects of what the Time Lords had recently eaten before regenerating. While this defect had been corrected by the Doctor's era, the old Gallifreyan priest I.M. Foreman still had this defect in his system, resulting in his thirteen incarnations representing a wide range of genetic anomalies as he pushed his biodata envelope as far as it could go, culminating in his final incarnation "evolving" to become the vibrant new biosphere for an entire planet. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).)
Ideally, regeneration would be undergone within a low-grade telepathic field. The presence of another Time Lord was recommended to assist with any difficulties, and the newly regenerated Time Lord best remained in a state of total tranquillity for a time afterwards to allow the mind and body to properly readjust. (PROSE: Cold Fusion [+]Lance Parkin, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1996).)
Regenerative cycle[]
- Main article: Regenerative cycle
Number of regenerations[]
Time Lords usually had a limited cycle: twelve regenerations, consisting of thirteen incarnations, after which they would suffer permanent death, (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976)., Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996)., The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) except insofar as their minds, uploaded to the Matrix, lived on as Matrix Lords. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey [+]Gary Russell, DWM prose stories (Marvel Comics, 1985).) On occasions, the Doctor gave other numbers as the length of the basic Time Lord regeneration cycle. The Fourth Doctor told Romana that Time Lords had ninety lives, and that he had already gone through "about 130" of them; (TV: The Creature from the Pit [+]David Fisher, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) the Fifth Doctor, while in a state of confusion, later claimed the same thing. (AUDIO: Cold Fusion [+]Lance Parkin, adapted from Cold Fusion (Lance Parkin), Novel Adaptations (Big Finish Productions, 2016).) The Eleventh Doctor told Clyde Langer that he could regenerate 507 times. (TV: Death of the Doctor [+]Russell T Davies, The Sarah Jane Adventures series 4 (CBBC, 2010).)
As with most such "rules", there were occasional exceptions to the twelve regeneration limit: although Rassilon had originally found the twelve-regeneration cap to be absolute, forcing him to retreat into the Matrix as a disembodied mind to survive his final death, (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey [+]Gary Russell, DWM prose stories (Marvel Comics, 1985).) the High Council, at later points in history, was capable of offering Time Lords a new lease of life in the form of a new regeneration cycle. The Council offered the Tremas Master a new regeneration cycle if he rescued the various incarnations of the Doctor from the Death Zone. (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special (Public Broadcasting Service, 1983).) Although he did not receive this award on that occasion, later in his life, he was resurrected by the Time Lords (AUDIO: Eyes of the Master [+]Matt Fitton, Dark Eyes 2 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Dark Eyes, Big Finish Productions, 2014)., TV: Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) as part of a deal they made with a future version of himself, (AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).) and was able to regenerate on at least three more occasions. (COMIC: Fast Asleep [+]Rob Williams, Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor (Titan Comics, 2016)., TV: Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., Dark Water [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) It was indicated that the Master possessed at least one more regeneration after this as he told his future self "don't bother trying to regenerate" after mortally wounding her with his laser screwdriver. (TV: The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) Missy went on to cheat death by using an Elysian Field to reconstruct her body at an atomic level, granting her a new regeneration cycle. (AUDIO: The Lumiat [+]Lisa McMullin, Missy: Series Two (Missy, Big Finish Productions, 2020).)
The Time Lords also granted the Eleventh Doctor a new cycle of regenerations before he could die for the final time, having used up all twelve of his regenerations in his first cycle; (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) the Twelfth Doctor, (TV: Kill the Moon [+]Peter Harness, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) the Master (TV: The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) and even Rassilon himself were uncertain as to how many regenerations the Doctor now possessed. (TV: Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)
Aside from being granted a new cycle, there were other ways to gain regenerations. Having used up all of his natural regenerations, the Master was able to gain an extra one by using the Source to merge with Tremas, (TV: The Keeper of Traken [+]Johnny Byrne, Doctor Who season 18 (BBC1, 1981).) undergoing a regeneration into a new body, (AUDIO: The Light at the End [+]Nicholas Briggs, Big Finish Doctor Who Special Releases (Big Finish Productions, 2013).) then later gaining another regeneration after being cured by Tzun nanites. (PROSE: First Frontier [+]David A. McIntee, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).) However, these artificial means of adding regenerations was not permanent and eventually the Master reverted back to his decayed self. (AUDIO: Planet of Dust [+]Matt Fitton, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
The Spy Masters discoveries about the Timeless Child in the Matrix suggested that the Child had originally possessed more regenerations than the typical twelve, and that it had been the Second Tecteun's decision, when the Founder had shared the genetic gift of regeneration with his people, to limit the common folk's regenerations to a maximum of twelve times. The Master believed that the Child had later become the Doctor, who had gone through a number of lives which even he couldn't even guess at. (TV: The Timeless Children [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020).)
End of a regeneration cycle[]
- Main article: Thirteenth regeneration
Despite not being able to regenerate any further, a Time Lord in their final incarnation retained a small amount of regeneration energy; just enough to mend broken bones once. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).) Time Lords could will themselves to die by attempting to regenerate when they had no more regenerations left to use, as Azmael who was hosting the evil consciousness of Mestor, chose to do so to prevent it from escaping. (TV: The Twin Dilemma [+]Anthony Steven, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) The Eleventh Doctor likewise threatened to use regeneration to hold off Mr Clever from taking over his mind, fully aware that he had expended his first regeneration cycle's allotted lives. (TV: Nightmare in Silver [+]Neil Gaiman, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2013).) A Time Lord on their last regeneration could will themselves to effect a pseudo-regeneration which would cause their body to vanish into thin air. (TV: Shada [+]Douglas Adams, Doctor Who (1992).)
If they attempted to regenerate in earnest beyond their thirteenth and final body, a Time Lord's flesh could break down into degenerate matter and then into random molecules, as was the case for one particular Time Lord. (COMIC: The World Shapers [+]Grant Morrison, DWM Comics (Marvel Comics, 1987).) The Thirteenth Doctor believed that attempting to regenerate "one time too many" was what had once caused the Master to degenerate into (PROSE: The Doctor vs the Master [+]Paul Lang, Doctor Who annual (2020).) a barely-alive, emaciated, ambulatory cadaver, (TV: The Deadly Assassin [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 14 (BBC1, 1976)., The Keeper of Traken [+]Johnny Byrne, Doctor Who season 18 (BBC1, 1981).) although other accounts suggested that this skeletal form was instead simply the Master's thirteenth incarnation after sustaining debilitating injury, (AUDIO: The Two Masters [+]John Dorney, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2016).) or indeed an incarnation of the Master who had simply been injured in a fashion that took away his ability to regenerate. (PROSE: Legacy of the Daleks [+]John Peel, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1998).)
Transference of regenerative energy[]
- Main article: Regeneration energy
When the Third Doctor was too weak to regenerate, Cho-Je gave him a "little push" to jump-start the process. However, doing so scrambled the Doctor's brain a bit. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Robert Sloman, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974).)
In an attempt to end their perpetual cycle of rebirth, Mawdryn and his crew attempted to force the Fifth Doctor to sacrifice all eight of his remaining regenerations so that they could take his 'deaths' for themselves. Although the Doctor rejected that request because he was unwilling to essentially kill himself eight times over in order to save this crew from their own mistake, he was willing to do so in order to cure his companions of an infection they had contracted from exposure to Mawdryn's crew. However, the same necessary energy was released when the Brigadiers of 1977 and 1983 made contact with each other, the temporal energies released in the subsequent paradox serving the same purpose as the Doctor's eight regenerations. (TV: Mawdryn Undead [+]Peter Grimwade, Doctor Who season 20 (BBC1, 1983).)
While regeneration was a natural Time Lord function, it was not an intrinsic part of their genetic makeup that could be acquired through simple DNA samples. When the Forge created a clone of the Sixth Doctor, the most successful clone retained the Doctor's knowledge but was incapable of regenerating, although this may have been due to flaws in the Forge's cloning technology. (AUDIO: Project: Lazarus [+]Cavan Scott and Mark Wright, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2003).) The Doctor was initially uncertain whether his "daughter" Jenny (grown from harvested genetic material of his tenth incarnation) could regenerate, and when he witnessed her dying of a gunshot wound, commented she wasn't "enough" like him with a fatalistic tone. Jenny later returned to life (unbeknownst to the Doctor) in a burst of golden shimmering energy, but without changing her face; the energy resembled regeneration energy, but also the life-giving gasses of the Source. (TV: The Doctor's Daughter [+]Stephen Greenhorn, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) According to one account, the Doctor's new golden appearance was due to the Restoration from his saviour. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Time War [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who: Lockdown! (2020).)
After the Bruce Master was executed by the Daleks and transferred his essence into a human body, he attempted to use the Eye of Harmony in the Doctor's TARDIS to transfer the Eighth Doctor's five remaining regenerations to him to restore himself to full life. This plan failed when the Doctor's ally Grace Holloway set the TARDIS into temporal orbit, severing the link between the Eye and the Master, returning the Doctor's regenerations to him and leaving the Master once again trapped in a dying body, which was subsequently lost when he fell into the Eye. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).)
During the War in Heaven, the Time Lords granted many of the lesser species the ability to regenerate, creating the regen-inf. (PROSE: Interference - Book One [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999)., The Book of the War [+]Lawrence Miles, et al., Faction Paradox novels (Mad Norwegian Press, 2002).)
When the Eleven discovered the Matrix print of the Time Lord scientist Artron, he was able to use the knowledge on the Matrix print and the Crucible of Souls - a space station previously designed to absorb life energy from the dying universe - to grant the entire universe of the present the ability to regenerate to become a new food source for the Ravenous. The Doctor and three different incarnations of the Master were able to undo the Eleven's actions and restore mortality to the universe. (AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lord Vassarian was captured by the Sontarans after he entered the Eternity Cage of his damaged Battle TARDIS as he started to regenerate, leaving him trapped in the moment of his own regeneration. The Sontarans were able to use the resulting artron energy released to power various temporal weapons, with the goal of opening a third front in the Time War, but the War Doctor was able to make telepathic contact with Vassarian as his mind was still active on some level. While technically frozen in time, Vassarian revealed that he had lost so much energy through the Sontarans' actions that he would be unable to regenerate. The War Doctor helped him end his life so that the Sontarans would be destroyed by the Daleks. (AUDIO: The Eternity Cage [+]Andrew Smith, Agents of Chaos (The War Doctor, Big Finish Productions, 2016).)
When the Third Doctor was drawn to a time period shortly after the Tenth Doctor had regenerated, the Tenth Doctor unknowingly drew on the energy of his past self to stabilise his own regeneration simply because the two Doctors were in close proximity to each other without either Doctor coming face-to-face. The Third Doctor described the experience as energy osmosis as the weaker incarnation took energy from the stronger. The process caused the Third Doctor to feel a brief fatigue before returning to normal, whereas the Tenth Doctor was restored to full health. (PROSE: The Christmas Inversion [+]Jacqueline Rayner, Twelve Doctors of Christmas (2016).)
In one instance, the Tenth Doctor used up his first cycle's eleventh regeneration while still keeping the same face by channelling it into a hand (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) which had been sliced off by the leader of the Sycorax, (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005).) allowing himself to heal his body, yet avoid physical changes. This energy remained active and was accidentally interacted with by a human, Donna Noble, triggering a two-way human-Time Lord meta-crisis which caused the hand to regenerate the missing body of its owner, creating a human-Time Lord copy of the Doctor and causing Donna to gain the mind of a Time Lord. However, the presence of two minds inhabiting Donna at once nearly destroyed her and the Doctor was forced to block all memories of him from her consciousness to stop her Time Lord half from remaining active. (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) Donna would later go on to have a child, Rose Noble, who inherited part of the Metacrisis from her mother. When the Fourteenth Doctor was forced to reactivate Donna's memories to stop Beep the Meep from killing millions, Donna did not dies because the Metacrisis was now split in Rose, delaying her death from it. Rose, her Time Lord half likewise activated, then chose alongside Donna to simply let go of the regeneration energy, reverting them both to fully human. (TV: The Star Beast [+]Russell T Davies, adapted from Doctor Who and the Star Beast (Pat Mills and John Wagner), Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Dead Time Lords could be revived with regenerative energy, though the amount of energy required to do this was very large and took a physical toll on the donor. Doing this, Melody Pond, in her third incarnation, sacrificed her ten remaining regenerations to save the Doctor's life after he was dying from a poison that would normally immobilise his ability to regenerate, and was hospitalised as a result. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
Despite using up all twelve of his regenerations, the Eleventh Doctor possessed enough regenerative energy to heal River Song's broken wrist, although she was angered at what she considered a waste of the energy. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).)
The Twelfth Doctor attempted to donate a small portion of regenerative energy to the dying Davros to give him the strength to see a final sunrise, speculating that this would cost him an arm or a leg at some future date (or make him diminutive in stature), but Davros used this opportunity to siphon regeneration energy from the Doctor, and transmit it to all the Daleks across Skaro. While the Daleks grew stronger, Davros gained several more years of life. (TV: The Witch's Familiar [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) It is unknown if the Doctor suffered any long-term consequences from this, as he was subsequently able to regenerate without complication, (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).) although the Thirteenth Doctor noted that "[her] legs definitely used to be longer" after attempting to jump between two cranes. (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One, BBCA, Space and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2018).)
An illusionary version of the Twelfth Doctor attempted to temporarily cure his current blindness by transferring energy from his own future, noting that it may cost him the ability to regenerate in a worst-case scenario. The long-term consequences of this were not important as this Doctor was only a digital recreation. (TV: Extremis [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
The Twelfth Doctor also demonstrated the ability to release regenerative energy at will without transferring it to anyone else, instead simply allowing it to dissipate. This allowed him to essentially fake a regeneration without changing. It is unclear how much energy this used, or how it may have affected his ability to regenerate in the future. (TV: The Lie of the Land [+]Toby Whithouse, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
In order to trigger a retro-regeneration in the Thirteenth Doctor's body, Yasmin Khan and Inston-Vee Vinder, guided by an AI hologram of the Fugitive Doctor, triggered the CyberMasters to regenerate and then drained all of their regeneration energy into the the Spy Masters machine. Along with successfully triggering the retro-regeneration, this also appeared to drain the CyberMasters of their regeneration energy entirely, leaving them truly dead. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).)
Control over regeneration[]
Generally, the regenerative process triggered itself when a Time Lord was too badly injured to survive; however, in some cases, Time Lords exercised control over the process. Romana I seemed to regenerate on a whim, (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) while Azmael deliberately attempted a thirteenth regeneration to end his life. (TV: The Twin Dilemma [+]Anthony Steven, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).) When badly injured without actually sustaining regeneration-inducing injuries, the regenerative platelets in a Time Lord's blood could activate to accelerate their ability to heal, allowing them to recover from serious injuries more quickly than a human would, (AUDIO: The Bride of Peladon [+]Barnaby Edwards, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2008).) although particularly serious yet non-fatal damage would require the Time Lord to enter a healing coma to recuperate. (TV: Planet of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who television stories season 10 (BBC1, 1973)., PROSE: Vanishing Point [+]Stephen Cole, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2001).)
When Rallon was taken as a host by the Toymaker, he began to die after centuries bonded to the powerful entity, but was eventually able to die as himself by triggering all twelve of his regenerations at once after receiving a boost of telepathic energy, expelling the Toymaker from his body even if the strain of it killed him. After this mass regeneration, Rallon's Watcher - which had previously manifested as part of Rallon's plan against the Toymaker - merged with the Toymaker in Rallon's place, with the Watcher essentially acting as a new incarnation of Rallon, thus causing a similar change to the Toymaker's personality as though he had regenerated himself. (PROSE: Divided Loyalties [+]Gary Russell, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).)
The degree of control that Time Lords had over their end appearance was unclear. The First Rani stated, "Most Time Lords are at the mercy of fate after death." She desired the ability to definitively control the outcome of her appearance upon regeneration and attempted to learn how to do this by studying Koturian Phasing. Her attempt failed, however, because she was not in love with the man she was engaged to, which was the catalyst for Phasing. (PROSE: Something Borrowed [+]Richelle Mead, Puffin eshort (Puffin Books, 2013).) The Master had the ability to control the appearance of each of their regenerations. (PROSE: Harvest of Time [+]Alastair Reynolds, (informally) BBC Books past Doctor novels (BBC Books, 2013).) Indeed, the mortally wounded War Master decided that his next incarnation would be "young and strong" to match the Tenth Doctor. (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) In contrast, Missy claimed to have had no influence over her then present form. (AUDIO: The Bekdel Test [+]Jonathan Morris, The Diary of River Song: Series Five (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
Sometimes it's like playing pin the tail on the donkey during an earthquake. If you come out the other side with the right number of eyes, that counts as a win.
Melody Pond announced she was "focusing on a dress size" moments before her final regeneration. She also commented that she might "take down the age a bit, just to freak people out," although she did not elaborate whether this was a joke or a literal intention. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) Romana I seemed adept enough at the process to custom design her new form during what seemed to be a voluntary regeneration. The Doctor criticised Romana II for taking on the form of another person, suggesting such things were not unheard of. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) On an earlier occasion, Lord Roche was able to influence his next incarnation to be a double of the Third Doctor's appearance when he regenerated after being hit by a bus despite having only briefly seen the Doctor. (PROSE: The Suns of Caresh [+]Paul Saint, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2002).) When Glospin attempted to frame the First Doctor for the murder of Quences, he was able to deliberately regenerate into a duplicate of the Doctor after taking a genetic sample during a fight. (PROSE: Lungbarrow [+]Marc Platt, adapted from Lungbarrow, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1997).) Lake observed his fellow clones sometimes exhibited control over aspects of their next bodies and realised he could influence his own regeneration by focusing on a specific appearance he desired as he was regenerating. He used this knowledge to influence one of his incarnations into the identical form of a man he murdered in order to steal his identity. (AUDIO: The Lady in the Lake [+]Nev Fountain, The Diary of River Song: Series Three (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018).)
When it came to changing sexes during regeneration, however, a Time Lord had no say in the matter, unless the regeneration was triggered willingly. (COMIC: The Fourth Wall [+]Robbie Morrison, Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2016).)
In contrast to Romana, the Doctor did not seem to have much control over their post-regeneration appearance; after their fourth regeneration, the Fifth Doctor commented, "That's the trouble with regeneration, you never quite know what you're going to get." (TV: Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).) The Ninth Doctor restated this sentiment immediately prior to their tenth regeneration, referring to the process as "a bit dodgy". (TV: The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) They also nearly always examined themselves or asked about their appearance. (TV: The Power of the Daleks [+]David Whitaker, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966)., Spearhead from Space [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 7 (BBC1, 1970)., Robot [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who season 12 (BBC1, 1974-1975)., The Caves of Androzani [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984)., The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005)., The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010)., Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).) Both the Seventh (TV: Time and the Rani [+]Pip & Jane Baker, Doctor Who season 24 (BBC1, 1987).) and Tenth Doctors (TV: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, 50th Anniversary Specials (BBC One, 2013).) referred to regeneration as "a lottery".
While skilled Time Lords could choose their new form with a voluntarily induced regeneration, the process could go horribly wrong and leave the Time Lord in a severely misshapen body. This problem could be exacerbated by the Time Lord immediately starting another regeneration instead of obtaining medical assistance, amplifying the defects in the regeneration. The end result of these abortive regenerations was inevitably a mutated monstrosity that could only be put out of its misery by complete disintegration. (PROSE: The Twin Dilemma [+]Eric Saward, adapted from The Twin Dilemma (Anthony Steven), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1986).)
In cases where Time Lords could not choose their new appearance, it appeared that their bodies still had some degree of natural "control" over the forms they would take upon regenerating. The Third and Seventh Doctors were once given glimpses of what their next incarnations would look like without actually meeting their future selves, when the Third was briefly possessed by the Nurazh and nearly regenerated before his injuries were healed (PROSE: The Touch of the Nurazh [+]Stephen Hatcher, Short Trips: Monsters (Short Trips short stories, 2004).) and when the Seventh encountered Elizabeth Klein and learned about her relationship with the version of him that existed in the timeline where Ace died at Colditz. (AUDIO: Klein's Story [+]John Ainsworth and Lee Mansfield, Survival of the Fittest (Main Range, Big Finish Productions, 2010).)
At least one of the infinite parallel universes of "possible space", (COMIC: Fire and Brimstone [+]Alan Barnes, DWM Comics (Marvel UK, 1997).) it was said that a Time Lord's new form was chosen by their "unconscious". (PROSE: The Chronicles of Doctor Who? [+]John Leekley, Doctor Who: Regeneration (HarperCollins Publishers, 2000).) Indeed, after the Twelfth Doctor's regeneration, he believed that he recognised his new face from somewhere, (TV: Deep Breath [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) but it took some time until he recognised it (TV: The Girl Who Died [+]Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).) as the face of Caecilius, (TV: The Fires of Pompeii [+]James Moran, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) speculating that he "chose" the face to remind himself that his purpose as the Doctor was to save people, irrespective of other forces (such as those watching over history) "having a problem with that". (TV: The Girl Who Died [+]Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)
Some Time Lords were capable of momentarily regenerating, or partially regenerating. Though this could use up a lot of regenerative energy, it would give the Time Lord a new set of genes, allowing them to fool genetic sensors. The Seventh Doctor used this method on the planet Purgatory to fool the genetic scanner used by the Imperial Landsknechte. (PROSE: Original Sin [+]Andy Lane, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1995).)
Forcing an individual to regenerate could be used as a form of punishment and in these cases, the new appearance could be chosen or influenced by the condemned. (TV: The War Games [+]Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke, Doctor Who season 6 (BBC1, 1969).) Granting additional regeneration cycles (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special (Public Broadcasting Service, 1983)., Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)., The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) or removing any remaining regenerations (TV: The Ultimate Foe [+]Robert Holmes and Pip & Jane Baker, Doctor Who season 23 (BBC1, 1986).) was also possible. Rassilon's gauntlet could be used to remove regenerations, or at least force a Time Lord to repeatedly regenerate until their remaining lives were exhausted. (TV: Hell Bent [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 9 (BBC One, 2015).)
The Sisterhood of Karn had elixirs that could trigger and control regeneration in a Time Lord who was dying and unable to regenerate normally or, in extreme cases, already dead. These elixirs could determine traits to be held by the new incarnation such as appearance, sex, apparent age, and personality. (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).) Though some "elixirs" were fake; a Time Lord could be tricked into willingly regenerating into the person they wished to become. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, adapted from The Day of the Doctor (Steven Moffat), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2018).)
With effort, Time Lords could resist regeneration, effectively committing suicide. (PROSE: The Power of the Daleks [+]John Peel, adapted from The Power of the Daleks (David Whitaker), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1993).) The Saxon Master refused to regenerate after being shot, ostensibly to avoid becoming the Tenth Doctor's eternal prisoner. (TV: Last of the Time Lords [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) Similarly, the Fifth Doctor once threatened System with resisting regeneration to stop the device from learning the biological details of the act. (AUDIO: The Gathering [+]Joseph Lidster, Main Range (Big Finish Productions, 2006).) This was not always an option, however, as the Sixth Doctor noted fearfully that while his companion could die only once, he might repeatedly regenerate and live out all of his lives when the TARDIS stalled in space. (TV: Vengeance on Varos [+]Philip Martin, Doctor Who season 22 (BBC1, 1985).) Both the First and Twelfth Doctors at first refused to regenerate, with the First Doctor's appearance being slightly changed as a result, but eventually relented and went on to become their successive selves. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).)
Rassilon had discovered a form of true immortality beyond the regenerations known to the Time Lords, but kept this a secret, believing it would be too dangerous to share. He went to the extreme of entombing the secret with himself in the Death Zone of Gallifrey and petrifying all those who came to inquire of the method. Borusa described Rassilon's immortality as a "timeless, perpetual, bodily regeneration". (TV: The Five Doctors [+]Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special (Public Broadcasting Service, 1983).)
The ancient Gallifreyan scientist Artron found means of perfecting his own version of the regenerative process, which allowed the subject to regenerate swiftly but retain their original appearance and personality, with no limits on the number of times they could regenerate. The Time Lords sent the War Master to retrieve the Matrix print from the Eleven so that they could use this knowledge in the Time War. The Master agreed to this deal in return for them restoring his past self's ability to regenerate, although the Time Lords insisted that he only give himself a new regeneration cycle under the standard rules. (AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
After deciding to help the Doctor, Missy stabbed her past self in such a way that the wound was "precise", forcing him to regenerate but giving him a period of time before the process was triggered. (TV: The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
Donna Noble suggested that the Thirteenth Doctor's regeneration into the Fourteenth Doctor was because of how emotionally exhausted the Doctor was after everything that they had been through over their lives. The Doctor subconsciously wanted to return to the face of their tenth incarnation and find Donna to come home. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Forced regeneration[]
It was possible for Time Lords to inflict a forced regeneration on others, triggering a regeneration as a punishment and even deliberately influencing the form of the next incarnation. When the Time Lords sentenced the Second Doctor to exile on Earth, they initially attempted to give him a choice about his next appearance as part of the accompanying sentence of regeneration, but the Doctor tried to escape this choice by rejecting the offered faces and his subsequent regeneration was seemingly random. (TV: The War Games [+]Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke, Doctor Who season 6 (BBC1, 1969).)
Using technology he had stolen from the now-destroyed Gallifrey, the Master used an artificial planetoid to gather enough energy to allow him to force a regeneration on the Thirteenth Doctor, causing her to regenerate into a form that was a near-exact copy of the Master himself. However, this regeneration was soon established as being particularly unstable, allowing the Doctor's allies to capture the Master/Doctor and use that same equipment to undo the forced regeneration so that the Doctor was restored to her previous incarnation. It is unclear if this transition to and from her temporary state as the duplicate Master would count as the Doctor using a regeneration or two, as the process was explicitly described as being unstable to the extent that the Thirteenth Doctor spoke with manifestations of her past selves in her mind who suggested that she was resisting the "need" to complete the change in hopes of stopping the Master's plan. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).)
Bi-generation[]
Bi-generation was a rare mutation of regeneration that was believed by the Doctor to be merely a myth. After being mortally wounded, instead of changing directly into the new incarnation, the new incarnation would instead split from their previous self, existing as a separate entity while the original incarnation involved would be healed of their fatal injuries. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
After being mortally wounded by the Toymaker, the Fourteenth Doctor underwent a bi-generation instead of a regular regeneration. The regeneration at first appeared to be normal, but when the regeneration energy disappeared, the Fourteenth Doctor remained himself, although he felt something different. At his request, Donna Noble and Melanie Bush each pulled on one of the Fourteenth Doctor's arms, causing the Fifteenth Doctor to begin emerging from his body. The two Doctors then finished the bi-generation by shoving each other away from themselves. The exact nature of the process was unclear, though the Fifteenth Doctor later claimed that he was now at peace due to the Fourteenth having "fixed himself" by settling down, likening it to "therapy in reverse". (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
State of grace[]
According to the Twelfth Doctor, there was a period of time that he called "a state of grace" when a dying Time Lord could resist regeneration for a period of time without consequence and were restored to full strength. During this period of time, the Time Lord had to choose whether or not they would ultimately regenerate or else they would grow weaker as time passed by. At this period's end, the Time Lord would either regenerate or die permanently. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).) While a state of grace could be voluntary, some forms of death could induce a similar state unless they received aid. When the Third Doctor contracted radiation poisoning on Metebelis III, (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Robert Sloman, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974).) he spent ten years drifting in his current form in the TARDIS before he finally died upon returning to UNIT, (PROSE: Love and War [+]Paul Cornell, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1992).) only regenerating with the aid of K'anpo Rimpoche. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Robert Sloman, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974).)
The First Doctor, fearing the change, held off his own regeneration for several hours. However, unlike his future incarnations, the Doctor's face did not stay the same, becoming "mixed up" while in the state of grace. When the Doctor regenerated, he passed out as his state of grace ceased. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).) However, his regeneration was comparatively peaceful compared to when his future selves regenerated after halting the process. (TV: The Tenth Planet [+]Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, Doctor Who season 4 (BBC1, 1966).) The Thirteenth Doctor also underwent a similarly peaceful regeneration after only using the state of grace for a short period of time to say goodbye to Yasmin Khan. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).)
The Fifth Doctor was able to hold off his regeneration from Spectrox toxaemia for several hours (AUDIO: Winter [+]Paul Cornell, Circular Time (Main Range, Big Finish Productions, 2007).) while trying to retrieve the bats' milk needed for the antidote, but finally accepted the need to regenerate when he was only able to acquire enough for his companion, Peri. (TV: The Caves of Androzani [+]Robert Holmes, Doctor Who season 21 (BBC1, 1984).)
The Ninth Doctor momentarily delayed his impending regeneration to explain what was happening to Rose Tyler. (TV: The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)
After subjecting his body to a lethal amount of radiation, the Tenth Doctor delayed the regenerative process long enough to revisit each of his former companions, (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).) including those of his past selves, (TV: Death of the Doctor [+]Russell T Davies, The Sarah Jane Adventures series 4 (CBBC, 2010).) before he finally regenerated, which severely damaged the TARDIS. A few minutes before the regeneration began, his "state of grace" ended causing the Doctor to experience excruciating pain, resulting in him collapsing to the ground, barely possessing the strength to reach his TARDIS. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).)
When the Eleventh Doctor was granted a new regeneration cycle on Trenzalore, he was able to use the energy from the resulting "reset" to regress his body to a younger state and hold back the regenerative process for a time. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) During such, he phoned his personal future to ensure Clara Oswald stayed with his future self, (TV: Deep Breath [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 8 (BBC One, 2014).) and later said goodbye to his companion before finally undergoing a full regeneration. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).)
When severely injured by a Cyberman, the Twelfth Doctor was able to resist regeneration for several weeks despite struggling to walk. He further resisted it despite numerous Cybermen mortally wounding him, buying himself time to ignite Floor 0507. However, he struggled to hold it off when revived in the TARDIS, nearly regenerating completely. (TV: The Doctor Falls [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).) He then encountered the First Doctor, who was also in a state of grace, holding back his regeneration as he feared regenerating. Throughout this time, the Twelfth Doctor steadily grew weaker, nearly collapsing at one point while at Villengard and having to sit down for a few minutes to recover. After the adventure, both Doctors chose to regenerate. While holding his regeneration back a little longer to make an advisory speech to his future incarnation, the Twelfth Doctor continued to grow weaker and collapsed to the floor just before his regeneration occurred, though he managed to stand up once more by leaning on the TARDIS console to help him to his feet. Similar to the Tenth Doctor's regeneration, the Twelfth Doctor regenerated explosively, causing the control room in the TARDIS to explode. (TV: Twice Upon a Time [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2017 (BBC One, 2017).)
Difficult or unusual regenerations[]
Regenerative difficulty[]
While most regenerations seemed to cause moments of mental instability, with temporary amnesia often noted, some offered particularly profound instances of physical peril. The Fifth Doctor feared that his regeneration was "failing" when he found himself reverting to previous personas, and could only be righted with the use of the TARDIS Zero Room. Ambient complexity could also contribute to the failure of a regeneration. (TV: Castrovalva [+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 19 (BBC1, 1982).) The Eighth Doctor claimed that anaesthesia had "nearly destroyed the regenerative process" during his seventh regeneration as an explanation for the particularly severe amnesia he suffered afterwards. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).) During the Tenth Doctor's post-regenerative state, he suffered an arrest in one of his hearts and began to exhale regenerative energy when Rose Tyler revived him too early. After this, he said that he was having a neural implosion, and slipped into a coma-like state for most of the day. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC One, 2005).) Upon hearing of this, the Third Doctor suggested that his future self was suffering from a regeneration crisis. (PROSE: The Christmas Inversion [+]Jacqueline Rayner, Twelve Doctors of Christmas (2016).)
Regeneration, especially later ones, could be painful. Melody Pond screamed during one regeneration, (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) as did the Master during his transition into his Harold Saxon identity. (TV: Utopia [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007).) The Ninth Doctor winced in pain as his regenerative energy spiked, (TV: The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) the Tenth Doctor also appeared to grimace in pain during the process, and the Eleventh Doctor screamed as he emerged from the regeneration. (TV: The End of Time [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2009 and New Year Special 2010 (BBC One, 2009-2010).) Once, Sarah Jane Smith asked the Eleventh Doctor if his last regeneration had hurt. After trying to deflect the question, he quickly said, "It always hurts," before, in the same breath, continuing with the task at hand. (TV: Death of the Doctor [+]Russell T Davies, The Sarah Jane Adventures series 4 (CBBC, 2010).) The Eighth Doctor's regeneration was painful due to the circumstances, but he wanted it so. (TV: The Night of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Specials minisode (BBC One, 2013).) After being asked if regeneration was painful when she described the process, the Thirteenth Doctor replied that "you have no idea." (TV: The Woman Who Fell to Earth [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One, BBCA, Space and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2018).)
In some cases, it was possible for the regenerative process to be restarted by another Time Lord if it failed, such as when Cho-Je gave the Third Doctor's body "a little push" to initiate the regeneration process after he was exposed to the radiation of the Metebelis crystals, although he warned that the new Doctor would be somewhat shaken up as a result of this method. (TV: Planet of the Spiders [+]Robert Sloman, Doctor Who season 11 (BBC1, 1974).)
After suffering damage to his body during his plan to take over the Doctor's body with regeneration, the Spy Masters own body began to fail and was later crushed by a boulder. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).) The Toymaker revealed to the Fourteenth Doctor that the Master was dying and had to play a game against the Toymaker to survive, but lost and was trapped in his gold tooth. (TV: The Giggle [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who 2023 specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)
Reversal[]
There were many ways to reverse a regeneration. One way involved the sacrifice of another, causing the regeneration to reverse. One example of this was when the Third Doctor had an encounter with the Nurazh. As the Doctor battled the Nurazh's main host, the two fell off a building, killing the Doctor. As the Third Doctor (nearly) regenerated into the Fourth, the Nurazh possessed the Time Lord's body; however, it found itself unable to cope with the two Time Lord minds within the body and it soon perished, restoring the Doctor to his previous incarnation in the process. (PROSE: The Touch of the Nurazh [+]Stephen Hatcher, Short Trips: Monsters (Short Trips short stories, 2004).)
When trapped in a dimensionally-unstable pocket universe created and controlled by Iam and the First Rani, the Sixth Doctor's morphic print was destabilised, causing him to unwillingly and painfully regress back through his previous selves as his body sought a stable morphic print. He was forced to rely on the stabilising atmosphere of the TARDIS and a personal morphic stabiliser he designed to operate in this realm until it was returned to the real universe. (PROSE: State of Change [+]Christopher Bulis, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).)
Some Time Lords of the first rank attempted retro-regeneration, reverting from their current incarnation back into a prior body, but this procedure was relatively rare, to the extent that the Sixth Doctor was unable to recall any examples of it. (PROSE: State of Change [+]Christopher Bulis, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).) The Tenth Doctor once reverted into the Ninth Doctor when an artefact reversed his local time field. Moments later, he changed back, but wondered if he got back the regeneration he wasted. (COMIC: The Fountains of Forever [+]Nick Abadzis, Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor (Titan Comics, 2015).)
On rare occasions, it was possible for Time Lords to deliberately allow themselves to mentally regress back to the personas of previous selves while remaining the same incarnation physically. When he was trapped in Iam's unstable realm, the Sixth Doctor was able to use his current morphic instability to allow the Third Doctor's persona to take control, allowing him to draw on his past self's skill for hand-to-hand combat. (PROSE: State of Change [+]Christopher Bulis, Virgin Missing Adventures (Virgin Books, 1994).) On another occasion, the Seventh Doctor used the TARDIS telepathic circuits to bring the Third Doctor to the fore so that he could use his past self's skill with technology to disarm a dangerous bomb, although his control sometimes slipped as his current self tried to assert itself, resulting in the Third Doctor referring to his current associates by the names of his own companions. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys [+]John Peel, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1991).)
When the Master inflicted a forced regeneration on the Thirteenth Doctor that transformed her into another version of himself, the Doctor was able to mentally resist this transition. Manifestations of her past selves observed the strength required for her to resist crossing over completely, and the Doctor also noted that forced regenerations would be even more unstable than usual. Her companions were subsequently able to capture the Master and use the Master's equipment and the regenerative energy of the Cyber-Masters to restore the Doctor to her previous incarnation. (TV: The Power of the Doctor [+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who Centenary Special 2022 (BBC One, 2022).)
Regenerative dissonance[]
Considered as a rare mental illness, Time Lords might not lose their past personas when they regenerate. As a result, these Time Lords acquired new physical bodies, but the past personas remained conscious and active in their minds, rather than simply retreating into the Time Lord's subconscious. These past incarnations thrived and accumulated inside the current incarnation's head, fighting over control of the physical body. One known Time Lord who had this illness was the Eleven. (AUDIO: The Eleven [+]Matt Fitton, Doom Coalition 1 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition, Big Finish Productions, 2015).) Immediately after regeneration, the previous incarnations would be mentally weaker and more disorientated, but they would eventually assert themselves and resume the Eleven's warped sense of mental balance. (AUDIO: The Crucible of Souls [+]John Dorney, Doom Coalition 3 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition, Big Finish Productions, 2016).) Other Time Lords were known to suffer from this illness, but they often committed suicide as they couldn't cope with the voices. The Time Lord who lasted the longest with this condition (other than the Eleven) died after shooting out both his hearts with a staser in his eighth body. (AUDIO: World of Damnation [+]Matt Fitton, Ravenous 1 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2018).) The very nature of this illness also had an unusual side-effect of somehow affecting the regeneration energy produced by the Eleven, with the result that he was the only known Time Lord the Ravenous could not feed off. (AUDIO: The Odds Against [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 3 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
Avoiding change[]
A Time Lord could avoid the change of appearance and personality caused by regeneration by focusing the regenerative energies into a "bio-matching receptacle", as the Tenth Doctor did with his own severed hand. The hand siphoned off the excess energy that would have changed his appearance while the Doctor used just enough to heal himself (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) from the injury sustained from a Dalek gunstick. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) This resulted in the appendage storing enough residual energy to grow an identical Time Lord when it came in contact with Donna Noble soon after. (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) As a result, the Doctor used up a full regeneration (his eleventh of twelve overall), (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) but kept his appearance, allowing him to avoid the usual post-regenerative confusion and disorientation experienced in the past. (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
During the time when he controlled the Source of Traken, (TV: The Keeper of Traken [+]Johnny Byrne, Doctor Who season 18 (BBC1, 1981).) the Master was able to use the Source to heal his injuries in place of regenerating, noting that this process was far smoother than regeneration as it avoided sacrificing the healthy tissue in the process, although this method eventually proved short-term when he expended the last of the Source. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel [+]Craig Hinton, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2001).)
The regeneration process could also be delayed to allow healing. The Second Doctor was shot in the head when confronted by guards on Skybase, causing damage to his skull and frontal lobe; and the subsequent fall broke his nose, jaw, right femur, and collarbone, along with causing some spine damage. He began to regenerate, but an injection of Shiner DNA delayed the regeneration and kept him alive long enough for his body to go into a six-month healing coma to recover on its own, although he was briefly certain that he had regenerated when he woke up. (PROSE: The Indestructible Man [+]Simon Messingham, BBC Past Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2004).) When the Seventh Doctor deliberately affected himself with light wave sickness to save the Spiridons from the Daleks, he briefly believed that he was going to regenerate until he retreated to the TARDIS, his body spending some time fighting between its cellular paralysis and natural desire to regenerate until it stabilised in his current self. (AUDIO: Return of the Daleks [+]Nicholas Briggs, Bonus Releases (Big Finish Productions, 2006).)
When his second heart was extracted by Sabbath and placed in Sabbath himself, the stolen heart created a link between the Eighth Doctor and Sabbath that rendered the Doctor essentially immortal; as his second heart was still beating in Sabbath's chest, the Doctor could survive normally fatal injuries, such as having his chest crushed by sandbags or being stabbed in his remaining heart, without changing, although he would go into a near-death state until his body could heal. However, it was unspecified if there were any limits to this connection - the Doctor only needed to use it when he and Sabbath were on the same planet at the same time in the same city - and the connection was lost when Sabbath tore the Doctor's heart out of himself. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2001)., Camera Obscura [+]Lloyd Rose, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 2002).)
The ancient Gallifreyan scientist Artron was able to devise a system of perpetual regeneration where the subject would not need to change their appearance during the process, but even after this knowledge was regained during the Time War with the recovery of Artron's Matrix print, the Time Lords were never shown putting it into full practise, save for granting the Master a new set of regenerations in return for his assistance while insisting that he limit himself to the standard thirteen lives under the usual rules. (AUDIO: Day of the Master [+]John Dorney, Ravenous 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
Cross-species transformations[]
I.M. Foreman, an early Gallifreyan (but not a Time Lord), absorbed the DNA around him and underwent indescribable changes as a result of mutations, transcending sex, species and even physical existence itself. (PROSE: Interference - Book One [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999)., Interference - Book Two [+]Lawrence Miles, BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (BBC Books, 1999).) Romana, prior to her regeneration into her second incarnation, appeared to take on a humanoid blue-skinned form, (TV: Destiny of the Daleks [+]Terry Nation, Doctor Who season 17 (BBC1, 1979).) although one account held that the TARDIS itself, rather than Romana, had adopted this shape. (PROSE: The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe [+]Mark Michalowski, Short Trips: Companions (Short Trips, 2003).) Former Cardinal Zero regenerated into the form of the avian species whose planet he had taken residence on. (AUDIO: Spring [+]Mike Maddox, Circular Time (Main Range, Big Finish Productions, 2007).) Although the Doctor's actual tenth self was, like the Time Lord's previous and later bodies, indistinguishable from a human, the previous incarnation of the Doctor had mused that his next body "might have two heads… or no head" before regenerating. (TV: The Parting of the Ways [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).) Novice Hame heard stories about animal incarnations of the Doctor. (WC: The Secret of Novice Hame [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who: Lockdown! (2020).) There was a cat incarnation of the Doctor in an alternate universe. (COMIC: The Glorious Dead [+]Scott Gray, DWM Comics (Panini Comics, 2000).)
Aborted regeneration[]
Occasionally, a regeneration would fail and the process would abort. Though the Time Lord would have regenerated, they would be severely deformed. Though Time Lord technology could treat this, on some occasions the damage would be too severe to fix.
Regenerative collapse was a potentially fatal complication of regeneration. Mortally wounded by Zor, the Sixth Doctor's body attempted to regenerate when he found himself on the brink of a regenerative collapse. Fortunately, he was found and healed by Captain Jack Harkness, saving his life as well as stopping him from regenerating. (AUDIO: Piece of Mind [+]James Goss, The Lives of Captain Jack: Volume Two (The Lives of Captain Jack, Big Finish Productions, 2019).)
After being shot by the War Lords, the War Chief was barely able to survive. While being returned to the War Lords' planet, his body attempted to regenerate. Due to the massive injuries and the lack of medical care, this regeneration aborted. This resulted in two conjoined individual bodies, poorly fused together, and also apparently compromised his ability to regenerate ever again, preventing him from simply regenerating once more to solve the problem. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus [+]Terrance Dicks, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1991).)
Iterative regeneration[]
During the Last Great Time War, Rassilon experimented on other Time Lords, retro-evolving their timelines and connecting them to the time vortex, in order to build a possibility engine - a machine to question about decisions to make during the conflict. A side effect of the process on the so-called Interstitials was the trapping in a loop of an iterative regenerative cycle, which caused their appearance to enter a state of constant flux among their different incarnations. (PROSE: Engines of War [+]George Mann, BBC New Series tie-in novels (BBC Books, 2014).)