User:BetaCoder/OverRegion

Joke Page Made By Betacoder.

You may wish to consult Regeneration (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

Regeneration was the process of "molecular readjustment" (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks (novelisation)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"], The Caves of Androzani ^[+]Loading...["The Caves of Androzani (TV story)"], The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"], Day of the Moon ^[+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"] ; AUDIO: The Brink of Death ^[+]Loading...["The Brink of Death (audio story)"]) old age, fatigue, (TV: The Tenth Planet ^[+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"], The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"], The Time of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"]) or injury. (TV: Logopolis ^[+]Loading...["Logopolis (TV story)"], Time and the Rani ^[+]Loading...["Time and the Rani (TV story)"], Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"], Utopia ^[+]Loading...["Utopia (TV story)"], Let's Kill Hitler ^[+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"], Hell Bent ^[+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"], The Doctor Falls ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor Falls (TV story)"], Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"], The Timeless Children ^[+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"], The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"], PROSE: Interference - Book Two ^[+]Loading...["Interference - Book Two (novel)"]) It could also be invoked by choice, whether voluntary (TV: Destiny of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Destiny of the Daleks (TV story)"], The Twin Dilemma ^[+]Loading...["The Twin Dilemma (TV story)"], The Night of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Night of the Doctor (TV story)"], Nightmare in Silver ^[+]Loading...["Nightmare in Silver (TV story)"]) or involuntary. (TV: The War Games ^[+]Loading...["The War Games (TV story)"] The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], COMIC: The Night Walkers ^[+]Loading...["The Night Walkers (comic story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["Last of the Time Lords (TV story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"], The Doctor Falls ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor Falls (TV story)"], Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"]) Precise damage to a Time Lord could also cause a delay in the regeneration starting. (TV: Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"], The Doctor Falls ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor Falls (TV story)"],)

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 ^[+]Loading...["A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)"]) a natural process which the Time Lords developed through exposure to the Time Vortex (TV: A Good Man Goes to War ^[+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"]) or the Eye of Harmony, (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey ^[+]Loading...["The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"], PROSE: The Book of the War ^[+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"])

Regeneration was described by the scientist Davros as "the ancient magic of the Time Lords", (TV: The Witch's Familiar ^[+]Loading...["The Witch's Familiar (TV story)"]) and was also described as "witchcraft" by the Sycorax. (TV: The Christmas Invasion ^[+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"], PROSE: A Brief History of Time Lords ^[+]Loading...["A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)"]) or through experimentation. (AUDIO: Zagreus ^[+]Loading...["Zagreus (audio story)"]; PROSE: The Crystal Bucephalus ^[+]Loading...["The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)"], The Scrolls of Rassilon ^[+]Loading...["The Scrolls of Rassilon (short story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"], PROSE: The Book of the War ^[+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)"]) and was then conditioned into a proto-Time Lord by the Kovarian Chapter. (AUDIO: The Furies ^[+]Loading...["The Furies (audio story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["The Legacy of Gallifrey (short story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["A Brief History of Time Lords (novel)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["Day of the Master (audio story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"], AUDIO: Day of the Master ^[+]Loading...["Day of the Master (audio story)"]) Among the reasons given for the limited cycles were that the mind could not handle the multiplicity of psyches, (PROSE: Head Games ^[+]Loading...["Head Games (novel)"]) and that Rassilon ultimately came to consider total immortality a curse. (TV: The Five Doctors ^[+]Loading...["The Five Doctors (TV story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["Zagreus (audio story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["The Scrolls of Rassilon (short story)"]) which ravaged ancient Gallifreyan society when Rassilon seized power. (PROSE: The Scrolls of Rassilon ^[+]Loading...["The Scrolls of Rassilon (short story)"], The Pit ^[+]Loading...["The Pit (novel)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["Lungbarrow (novel)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["Ascension of the Cybermen (TV story)"]) 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 Secret of the Timeless Child ^[+]Loading...["The Secret of the Timeless Child (short story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"]) Indeed, the Great Vampires were searching for a "Child-That-Was-Taken". (PROSE: Out of the Box ^[+]Loading...["Out of the Box (short story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["The Twin Dilemma (novelisation)"], AUDIO: Unregenerate! ^[+]Loading...["Unregenerate! (audio story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["Mawdryn Undead (TV story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["Unnatural History (novel)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["Interference - Book Two (novel)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["Prisoners of Fate (audio story)"], TV: Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["Legacy of the Daleks (novel)"])

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 ^[+]Loading...["The Woman Who Fell to Earth (TV story)"])

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 2024 ^[+]Loading...{"page":"6","1":"A Letter from the Doctor (DWAN 2024 short story)"})

Process

Appearance

This section's awfully stubby.

How to be a Time Lord and A Short History of Everyone 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 ^[+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"] ; PROSE: The Indestructible Man ^[+]Loading...["The Indestructible Man (novel)"]) a swirl of rainbow colours (TV: The Caves of Androzani ^[+]Loading...["The Caves of Androzani (TV story)"], Time and the Rani ^[+]Loading...["Time and the Rani (TV story)"], Utopia ^[+]Loading...["Utopia (TV story)"]) or no colours, (COMIC: The Night Walkers ^[+]Loading...["The Night Walkers (comic story)"]) crackle with electricity, (TV: Doctor Who ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) appear to be engulfed in flames, (PROSE: Exodus, COMIC: Fast Asleep ^[+]Loading...["Fast Asleep (comic story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The Forgotten (comic story)"], Doorway to Hell ^[+]Loading...["Doorway to Hell (comic story)"], TV: The Curse of Fatal Death ^[+]Loading...["The Curse of Fatal Death (TV story)"], The Parting of the Ways ^[+]Loading...["The Parting of the Ways (TV story)"], Utopia ^[+]Loading...["Utopia (TV story)"], The Stolen Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"], The End of Time ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"], Day of the Moon ^[+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"], Let's Kill Hitler ^[+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"], The Night of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Night of the Doctor (TV story)"], The Day of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Day of the Doctor (TV story)"], The Time of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"], Hell Bent ^[+]Loading...["Hell Bent (TV story)"], The Lie of the Land ^[+]Loading...["The Lie of the Land (TV story)"], World Enough and Time ^[+]Loading...["World Enough and Time (TV story)"], The Doctor Falls ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor Falls (TV story)"], Twice Upon a Time ^[+]Loading...["Twice Upon a Time (TV story)"], The Timeless Children ^[+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"], The Power of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Power of the Doctor (TV story)"], PROSE: Doctor Who and the Time War ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Time War (short story)"])

In other cases, there was no apparent energy discharge at all, just a fade away to the next incarnation. (TV: Planet of the Spiders ^[+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"], PROSE: The Ancestor Cell ^[+]Loading...["The Ancestor Cell (novel)"], The Touch of the Nurazh ^[+]Loading...["The Touch of the Nurazh (short story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["Logopolis (TV story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"]) When mortally wounded by the Toymaker, the Fourteenth Doctor's body momentarily glowed with regeneration energy before dissipating. (TV: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])

The Sixth Doctor regenerates. (TV: Time and the Rani ^[+]Loading...["Time and the Rani (TV story)"]

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 ^[+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"], Planet of the Spiders ^[+]Loading...["Planet of the Spiders (TV story)"], Logopolis ^[+]Loading...["Logopolis (TV story)"], The Caves of Androzani ^[+]Loading...["The Caves of Androzani (TV story)"], Time and the Rani ^[+]Loading...["Time and the Rani (TV story)"], The Time of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Time of the Doctor (TV story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The Night of the Doctor (TV story)"]) when the Ninth Doctor received a brief surge of regenerative energy in the presence of Rose Tyler, (TV: The Parting of the Ways ^[+]Loading...["The Parting of the Ways (TV story)"]) and when the Eleventh Doctor realised that Mels was regenerating. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler ^[+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"]) 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 ^[+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"])

Indeed, the Doctor came to realise that his regenerations were growing m