Though the circumstances which led to the event were disputed, (PROSE: Spiral Scratch, First Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["First Day of the Doctor (short story)"], AUDIO: The Brink of Death, Zagreus) the Sixth Doctor underwent his regeneration into the Seventh Doctor within the control room of his TARDIS shortly after the craft had been brought to the planet Lakertya by the First Rani. (TV: Time and the Rani) This was the sixth regeneration of the 12-regeneration life cycle beginning with the First Doctor. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
Nature[[edit] | [edit source]]
By most accounts, this regeneration involved the Doctor's features blurring in a colourful swirl, (TV: Time and the Rani [+]Loading...["Time and the Rani (TV story)"]) being the regeneration type known as the Swirl. (PROSE: How to be a Time Lord [+]Loading...["How to be a Time Lord (novel)"]) However, one account showed the regeneration as being the same type of regeneration as those of later Doctors, involving golden regeneration energy. (TV: Time and the Rani (Extended Cut) [+]Loading...{"var":"Extended Cut","1":"Time and the Rani (TV story)"})
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Anticipation[[edit] | [edit source]]
During an encounter with the Rani on Koturia, the Sixth Doctor was warned his regeneration could "happen sooner than [he thought]". (PROSE: Something Borrowed)
After being mortally wounded by Zor, the Sixth Doctor began to regenerate, and was on the brink of a regenerative collapse when he was found and healed by Captain Jack Harkness after the TARDIS landed in late 20th century Wales. (AUDIO: Piece of Mind)
Causes[[edit] | [edit source]]
By one account, the Doctor died after he hit his head on the TARDIS console. (PROSE: Head Games [+]Loading...["Head Games (novel)"])
The changes[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor was seen lying on his side in the control room as the TARDIS was brought to Lakertya. After the Rani and the Tetrap leader Urak entered the TARDIS, she ordered him to take the Doctor to her laboratory. When the Doctor was turned over, his face was covered in a spiralling swirl of colours before fading into his next incarnation. (TV: Time and the Rani)
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
After defeating the Rani, (TV: Time and the Rani, etc.) the Seventh Doctor wrote in his diary about his regeneration and the Rani. (PROSE: First Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["First Day of the Doctor (short story)"]) In his later life, the Seventh Doctor began to believe that he had subconsciously caused his predecessor to regenerate so that Time would have a champion (PROSE: Love and War), and to prevent the Valeyard manifesting (PROSE: Head Games).
The Twelfth Doctor thought that his sixth incarnation regenerated after falling off an exercise bike, but wasn't completely certain. (PROSE: The Complete History of the Doctor [+]Loading...{"page":"9","1":"The Complete History of the Doctor (short story)"})
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Sixth Doctor's regeneration, depicted in TV: Time and the Rani, is perhaps the most infamous in the franchise's history.
Due to Colin Baker being fired from the role, when asked to film a single episode for the beginning of Season 24, Baker refused. He believed it would not be justified for him to be viewed as the current Doctor for a sliver of 1987 when he had been forcefully removed from the series.
So, when McCoy was cast as the Seventh Doctor, the choice was made to film a regeneration sequence with the actor playing both incarnations during the transformation. By coincidence, the stage production Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday had done a similar trick in 1974, having Trevor Martin play both the Third Doctor and a new Fourth Doctor via a white wig which was then hidden.
During the sequence, a white swirling mist was added to the actor's face in post production. Out of all the Classic Series regenerations, this effect is the most similar in style to the "Vortex energy" regenerations commonly seen in the BBC Wales run post-2005. As the white mist fades, so does the curly wig McCoy was wearing.
One notable discrepancy noted by both cast and fans is that McCoy is much smaller in stature than Baker, making it appear that the Sixth Doctor "shrunk" right before regenerating. This is actually included in the plot of PROSE: Spiral Scratch, as the Doctor is said to have diminished in height due to being weakened over the plot of the story.
A modification of the regeneration, which used CGI to include Colin Baker's face, was included as an easter egg on the Time and the Rani DVD release.
After filming the Eighth Doctor's regeneration into the War Doctor in The Night of the Doctor, Paul McGann joked in a 2013 interview that Colin Baker was the only Doctor without a regeneration.[1] Ultimately, 2015 saw the release of the audio anthology The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure concluding with The Brink of Death, in which Baker's Sixth Doctor begins to regenerate following an act of self-sacrifice, leading straight into Time and the Rani.