Romana II
In her second incarnation, Romanadvoratrelundar (Romana for short), continued to travel with the Doctor until she decided to remain in E-Space. Later, she returned to the main universe and eventually assumed the office of Lady President.
Biography
Regeneration and early life
Exactly! Good heavens, that's exactly right! Ha! I never realized you had such a sense of style.
Romana decided to regenerate into a form just like of Princess Astra. The Doctor protested that she had no right to assume the likeness of another person, so she went briefly through other alternative forms, only to settle back on Astra's. (DW: Destiny of the Daleks) She also initially chose a style of dress that mimicked the Doctor's. The Doctor soon got accustomed to her new form. He found this new incarnation easier to get along with than the last, to the point where he implied that he considered her his best friend. Together, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 Mark II made an unbeatable team.
The Doctor, Romana and K-9 Mark II spent an indeterminate period of time together, potentially quite long given the Doctor and Romana's longevity as Time Lords.
E-Space
After forgetting all about the matter, the Doctor received a message from the Time Lords requesting (or rather, ordering) him to return her to their home planet of Gallifrey now that she had helped him find the segments to the Key to Time. En route, the Doctor's TARDIS entered a Charged Vacuum Emboitment, left their own universe (N-Space) and entered another, smaller universe known as E-Space (DW: Full Circle). With K-9 damaged by the time winds, the regular universe remained inaccessible to him. Romana decided to stay with him in the new universe and to help the enslaved Tharils release themselves from captivity. (DW: Warriors' Gate)
President of the High Council
Romana and K-9 did return to N-Space and to Gallifrey and assumed the Presidency. (MA: Goth Opera, NA: Happy Endings) Romana boldly initiated diplomatic relations with the Time Lords enemy, the Daleks. (NA: Lungbarrow)
Prior to the destruction of Gallifrey, Romana had regenerated into a third incarnation. (EDA: The Shadows of Avalon) Romana claimed that she needed to regenerate to become a more effective leader of Gallifrey as her third incarnation was noticably more ruthless than her second self. (EDA:The Ancestor Cell)
Romana's ultimate fate is unknown, although the Doctor implied that she became involved in the Time War. (IDW: The Forgotten)
Key life events
- Romana regenerates into her second incarnation. (DW: Destiny of the Daleks)
- Romana and K-9 Mark II leave the Doctor for E-Space. (DW: Warriors' Gate)
- The Daleks capture Romana. She spends years of imprisonment at their hands. (BFA: The Apocalypse Element)
- Romana challenges Flavia for the Presidency.
- Romana assumes the role of Lady President of the Time Lords. (MA: Goth Opera)
- Romana regenerates into her third incarnation in order to prepare herself for The War (a separate event from the Last Great Time War).
Behind the Scenes
- The name "Romana II" is never used on-screen, but has been unofficially adopted to refer to the second incarnation of Romana, in a similar fashion to referring to the different incarnations of the Doctor as the First Doctor, Second Doctor, etc.
- BBV Productions released two original audio adventures which featured Lalla Ward as Romana II, with K-9. Since they had the rights to K-9 but not Romana or E-Space, she has no name other than "Mistress" in the audio plays, which the characters merely refers to E-Space as "the pocket universe".
- Although a relationship was never explicitly shown or intended by the writers, many fans have found the signs of a romantic relationship particularly evident in the story City of Death, perhaps reflecting the real-life romance between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward which reportedly blossomed during the production of that story and led to their brief marriage. In 1980, Ward and Baker made a series of television commercials in Australia for Prime Computers; performing as Romana and The Doctor, the advertisements feature a romance between the two characters, culminating in the Doctor proposing marriage to Romana. (These commercials are not considered canonical).
- In City of Death, Romana says she is 125 but in The Ribos Operation she claims to be nearly 140 so her age cannot be completely accurately placed without further information.
- The status of Romana during the events of The Five Doctors depends upon which version is viewed. In the original 1983 broadcast version (and four-episode rebroadcasts), she is trapped in the vortex with the Fourth Doctor when the Time Scoop malfunctioned (as evidenced by an image of the two of them that appears on Borusa's monitor). For the 1995 Special Edition, only the Fourth Doctor is visible in the vortex image. According to production notes on the 2008 DVD release, Romana is not trapped with the Doctor in the Special Edition version.
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