we've had various stories where different doctors encounter each other , but my question is - do they ever address the issue of them remembering it ?

for instance does the 3rd doctor have a memory of when he was 1 or 2 having met his 3rd self and the things that happened ?

or do they just not deal with it because it's too much of a headache to sort out ?

Time Crash. If you count that as canon. And the thing with the Tardis in a Tardis and Amy Pond.

It's never really been addressed, as it would be too much of a headache to sort out!
I believe it's always vaguely assumed that once the Doctors and companions are restored to their proper time streams then their memories of the adventure are lost.
This assumption explains why the third Doctor doesn't recall having lived through The Three Doctors twice already, and why the sixth doesn't remember the events of The Two Doctors etc

But... as I recall, the events of Time Crash as experienced by the fifth ARE remembered by the tenth, so that opens up the whole can of worms all over again! And who knows what will happen in The Day Of The Doctor...

I assume that the individual Doctor's memories converge on that one event and only the latest (or "current") incarnation actually benefits from it.

All the eggs in one basket ... until the latest Doctor steals the basket

I think this is probably right - the difference between the two is, as you say, in the first case it can be argued that the Doctors were plucked out of their own time streams, and so they are returned to the exact point they left, with no change in the events of time.

In Time Crash, however, the same event really did occur in the 'life' times of both Doctors, i.e. it's been in the normal run of the Doctor's life both times.

Time Crash is a one off, was for charity, and can probably be ignored.

The way I look at it is that the meetings only happen once and neither Doctor knows it's going to happen until it does. So in The Two Doctors the 2nd, and 6th both experience it at exactly the same time. The 6th doesn't already know it's going to happen as he's lived through it in his 2nd form, as it's not actually happened yet. However once it has happened, the older Doctor would have two lots of memories, what he experienced in his 6th form and also what the 2nd Doctor saw. Time effectivley re-writes itself.

It's just one more theoretical time travel paradox. If any of these was taken seriously, it would be impossible to write a dr who story.

I see what you mean but wouldn't this theory imply that all the Doctors are living their adventures simultaneously? If that was so, then how does, say, the fifth have memories of his previous incarnations?

I really don't understand how the third live his life from Spearhead to Spiders and not experience the events of Five Doctors until the fifth experiences them. How could that actually work?

Time could be rewritten, but it wouldn't make any sense for that to be what happens naturally, without some kind of intervention.

As a counter-example, imagine the Third Doctor having an adventure, when he is saved from certain death by the timely arrival of the Fifth Doctor. As it is being experienced, the Third Doctor must be aware of it happening. Unless he's in a coma.

Similarly, it only happens once, but it's seen from two different viewpoints, two different perspectives in the same person's life.

The First and Second Doctors must remember meeting the Fifth during the Five Doctors as they're adventuring through it - something needs to actually remove those memories if they don't have them later.

Maybe the Doctors, aware of the incredible instability of their own time line, prima facie remember previous meetings but are aware that the future Doctors they meet are only those they might become and that whatever they did long ago might not be exactly what happens now.

Then the Time Lords go and interfere with the memories anyway.

The third Doctor seemed to know that he would regenerate into the fourth Doctor in the Five Doctors because when Sarah-Jane meets him, she says something like "It's you, but you changed, you became all..." and then gestures. To which the third Doctor replies, "all teeth and curls? Well maybe I did, but that hasn't happened yet". Unless he is just responding to her gestures I guess...

I think that the Doctor does remember but if you'd lived for over 1000 years you may not have clear memory of every incident in your life. it could be a bit like trying to remember what the 12th of june 600 years ago was like.

I also think that on some occasions the Doctors memory is wiped when meeting himself after his adventure. In the 5 doctors he remembers susan and warns Tegan what he was like in his first incarnation and he pointed out his fondness for jamie as the the 6th in the 2 Doctors. The forth in the the pyramid of mars remembered the dress that Victoria wore when it was sported by sara-jane. So, he shows his awareness of his former adventures. Actually doesn't 10 in the next Doctor as jackson when think he might be a future incarnation whether he remembers being him.


Although, in the 2 Doctors the story did play with the idea of the future doctor watching his past self being manipulated but obviously knowing that something was wrong but having no memory of what, so its all timey wimey....I I do hate that expression)

I've said it before but 10, unless his memory is wiped or an altered timeline version, can not go back to before the Events of End Of Time as we saw it. He did not know there was going to be an 11 that was quite clear he thought his death could be permanent. They need to address that in some way.

I'm sure he did know there would be an 11th. He said himself, "even if I change, it feels like dying. Some new man goes sauntering away. And I'm dead'

No he didn't "Even if" means he didn't know there was going to be an 11. If he did he would have said "When I change" not "Even if"... He was uncertain. He didn't know. It's pretty clear. Watch the Sarah Jane episode too. He thought it was the last time he was ever going to see her. That final shot said it all. 10 thought that could be it for The Doctor.

I don't think so. After all what would make him think it was the end? He'd regenerated into 10 different people upto that point.

Because he was told he was going to die. It was a prophecy. Previously it had often been a last minute accident. He was also told during the Wedding of Sarah Jayne by the Trickster, as well as the Ood and a psychic! There was no mention of Regeneration.

Well I didn't get that from the episode.

You must have also missed Wilf and 10 talking:
Wilfred: "Well that's him, isn't it? The Master. That noise, in his head. The Master is gonna kill you."
The Doctor: "Yeah."
Wilfred: "Then kill him first. "

Wilfred is later in tears telling him he doesn't want him to die.
Last edited by LeslieGrufford : 21-10-2013 at 20:58

From what I can remember it was all much more about 10 dying. Regardless of whether he would regenerate into 11 or not 10 was still going to die.

It felt a little out of place compared to how regenerations have usually been depicted but I think the tone was much more about RTD and Tennant leaving.

It just seems to me that he knew he wasn't going to die considering the amount of times he regenerated.

My interpretation of the story was that he didn't want to change, he said himself, 'even if I change it feels like dying'.

His last words as 10 were, 'I don't want to go'

Yes that's certainly true. The whole point was 10 didn't know. We as the audience all knew he was turning into Matt smith. 10 was uncertain.

He also thought he was sacrificing himself when he went in the radiation. That same chat with Wilf he said that sometimes he thinks a timelord lives too long after telling Wilf he was 900+ years old. When Wilf was in the chamber he whispered "Lived too long" just after he complained he would never get his reward. He was relieved when the radiation didn't kill him and the regeneration process started and he got his reward and happy end! Something he wasn't expecting.

Both The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors (not sure about The Two Doctors) involved intervention of the Timelords. We know that the Timelords are capable of wiping memory and it may have been standard practice for the Timelords to wipe the memory of all but the oldest Doctor. We also know that the Doctor himself is capable of wiping memory so maybe 11 wipes 10's memory at the end knowing that he doesn't remember the story from when he was 10.

The same would likely apply to The Two Doctors as the 2nd Doctor was on a mission for the Time Lords.



If you go with the Season 6b theory "The Two Doctors" along with any other mission he was sent on were probably wiped from the 2nd Doctors memory before he was regenerated into Doc 3.