about it upsetting children if they did. If nothing else, this a huge practical reason not to do it. Can you imagine the inconvenience for the BBC? Look at the fuss about the Blue Peter dog, and that was beyond the writers' control and only a dog anyway!

Bumped

Perhaps you can reword this slightly because as written I'm afraid I haven't a clue about what you're talking about.

I honestly thought the BBC are going to cancel the show (which is a massive success to the BBC) because they have to stick to a comment that was said about 40 years ago. Of course they are going to ignore the 12 regenerations limit or find some way around it, it is madness if they don't. This issue isn't worth debating about because it is obvious the Doctor will regenerate more than 12 times.

They won't ignore the 12 regeneration rule because it would upset the kiddies - they will ignore it because Dr Who is a big ratings winner for the Beeb and a very lucrative one too, with all the toys etc that need 'new editions' adding every new series/new companion/new doctor, keeping us parents forking out for them every Christmas.

Well that too of course, I was just pointing out a reason people might not have thought of.

There would probably be a Daily Mail campaign, possibly involving Munchkins.

Daily Express more likely, the Mail hate Doctor Who.

*bangs head against wall*

What bp2 said.

I really wish people would just stop talking about the BBC cancelling the show because of one line 30years ago.

30 seconds of thought would tell you they wouldn't.

River has already given all her regeneration energy to the Doctor, she may even have claimed to have given him all her remaining regenerations. Assuming she was on her 3rd out of 13 and he was on 11th out of 13 then he either has 10 or 12 left depending on how you count it.
Besides which in the Empty Child the doctor was exposed to some repair nanites that may have reset his regeneration count and augmented his control over the process. Failing all that there may have been a removal of the limit during the time wars, Rassilon was back remember, or the Doctor may never have had that limit in the first place.

The Eleventh Doctor retconned the 13 limit in a line to Clyde Langer in SJA.

Why is there always this 'either/or' attitude to regeneration? You don't have to completely ignore the regeneration limit to find a way around it!

Say for example, the doctor was granted a new regeneration cycle by the (resurrected) Timelords. You would acknowledge the ending of one cycle and the beginning on another, no retconning involved. And that's just one idea of hundreds they could do.

If the doctor is running out of regenerations, why not make a storyline out of it? That's how regeneration was invented in the first place, to cover up a production crisis. If you think of the tension of The End Of Time as the regeneration approaches, imagine how gripping it would be if the doctor really believed he was going to die. (And then the Trickster comes to offer him a regeneration cycle, etc)

Whether or not the regeneration limit will be broken is not really the question, of course it will. The fact that the master reached his limit in 1976 and continues to make appearances tells you that. What I cannot understand is some people's willingness to not mention it when the doctor could acquire new regenerations in a new and interesting way.

I was on a forum once and someone said "What if the doctor just regenerated and said 'ooh, thirteenth regeneration, that's new!'".

I didn't say anything, but I thought "Really? You wouldn't consider that a cop-out or a deus ex machina? Why not have the regeneration problem solved in an exciting way?"

Honestly, there are a million things you could do before you even consider retcons.

I kinda feel the whole 'I'm actually gonna die thing' was done to death in S6. And 'The End Of Time' because Ten really believed he would die that time and not regenerate (or at least for part of the story he did).

But I DO agree that they should make a big story out of this. In some way, it's kinda sad that we're not at that point now. It could have made a great story for the 50th especially if they bring back the Time Lords for good this time, which I think they should when they change the regeneration limit. It's been a nice run without them but I think there's so much they can add to the overall story and so many smaller stories they can write involving the Time Lords that it would be a travesty not to bring them back for good at some stage.

That was me that said that! Or something along those lines.

Who said there was a problem with the "supposed" regeneration limit. Why not just let it happen - go with flow, etc, etc. if you go with another "cycle" of regenerations, it becomes an issue again when the limit is next approached. Likewise you can't really have an unlimited no of regenerations, an immortal doc is just too powerful. Far better to have the dr surprised by the fact he hasn't died, than have the reason explained - then he doesn't know how many more regerations he has left - added to the mystery...

But when there's so much potential for stories surrounding the limit it only makes sense to have something happen. To just have the Doctor regenerate, accept it, and just get on with things would be a huge anticlimax.

Why?

What ideas for stories that rely on the suppose regen limit...

it could be the setup for a good series arc, the 12th Doc mentions the limit to the companion ( prob while in danger ) the doc sacrifices himself to save companion, regenerates and is on a mission to find out why he regenerated beyond the limit, which leads to something interesting

just a thought

Sorry - but that is not much of a story....

I think River accidently giving him another 10 or even the nanites accidently giving him another 12 are perfectly acceptable reasons. At the very least it gives future show runners another 30 years to forget about the problem.

Lets face it, the worst case scenario - in universe - would be that the Doctor in his final adventure brings back the Time Lords and in gratitude they give him a new cycle of regenerations (Like they gave/offered the Master).

But I do think a limit is important - an effectively immortal Doctor is a boring Doctor.

Here's four for a start.

1. The Timelords give him a new regenerative cycle.

2. The Trickster appears to him before he dies. (The Trickster's 'thing' is that he appears to people before they die and offers them life in return for servitude. He has done this to Andrea Yates, Peter Dalton and Krislok the Graske)

3. The doctor uses Minyan technology to get a new regeneration cycle.

4. He uses the Jewel of Zog. (RTD's jokey suggestion)

I think thats a great idea, it would make for a cracking story line

The doctors story, in a fearce battle, the doctor has saved earth, and the universe from destruction, but at what cost, he is seriously injured, and no regenerations left, and slowly dying, on his last breath, he dies

Out of now where the white guardian appear, seeing the doctor has saved humanity, and everyone else, he must not die in vian for this, so the white guardian gives the doctor life, and new regeneration cycle, and he begins to regenerate, seeing this is a new cycle, the previous regenerations, of the doctor no longer exist, that doctor is gone for ever, and in his place a new doctor

Ah people don't see the obvious answer though do they :P

1000% agree!

I know why some fans seem eager to tie up plot holes in convenient, unexciting ways like that...they forget it's an entertainment show. They forget that tackling the regeneration limit could be a major, fantastic storyline because they can't see why it can't just be papered over for convenience sake.

I can imagine saying to the kids: The Doctor didn't die, he just went to live on a farm a few galaxies away, where he can run about and be happy.

or on TV,

He turns into a snake, then takes over a random paramedic's body and steals someone else's regenerations. ( Nah - that one's crazy, it'd never work)

or

He gets to the last one and goes back in time to try and hijack some life from his own past self.

or

He meets someone who seems to know something about time lords. They ask what number life hes up to now. He says I'm on 11 now. The stranger asks if 'you guys still have that restriction now most of you are gone.' The Doc says nah- that limit was removed when things heated up in the time war,

or

They could do a big story about it. Big 2 parter ( or longer) where he hears of the great Galactic McGuffin, that can give him an extra life. Maybe he will die still trying to figure out a way to extend his regens, BUT, when we're all sobbing into our popcorn, then he DOES regenerate. He doesn't know why- cue a new story arc for the series AND then they also spring a hidden extra episode on us that no one knew about, to be shown the following week, with the brand new doc. they do this via a 'next time' 30 second thingamyjig, and we all realise that the programme the BBC had scheduled in called 'Dr WHO, the end of an era'- a documentary... blah blah blah. is really a fake item in the schedule

Anything would be better than "oh, that wasn't supposed to happen!" says the newly-regenerated 14th Doctor.