In an interview with SFX, Russell T Davies addressed the fandom-splitting line in the recent Sarah Jane Adventures episode, Death of the Doctor, which supposedly changed the regeneration limit to... 507.
"507 – I could not resist! I was hooting. It’ll never stick, though. That 13 lives is stuck in people’s heads. It is, isn’t it funny? Yet they only said 13 once or twice."
Read the rest of the interview here, where Russell talks about writing for Matt Smith's Doctor amongst other stuff.
11 comments:
RTD underestimates the canonical evidence for 12 regenerations/13 lives.
The Deadly Assassin
The Keeper of Traken
Mawdryn Undead
The Twin Dilemma
The Paul McGann Movie
That's just off the top of my head. There are probably others....
hmm interesting... i don't believe it personally but it's still an interesting prospect
wait so he's like not gonna die this sorta makes me happier but i dont really like matt smith but this does give a chance to other doctors
It's always possible that the Timelords gave the doctor extra lives from the eye of harmony so he could lead everyone in the Time War. The Timelords certainly have the power, since they have offered The Master extra lives to help the doctor on occasion("The Five Doctors"). And they revived the master after he was executed on Scaro ("Dimensions in Time") to fight in the time war (The Sound of The Drums"), plus they revived Rassilon ("The End of Time"). The Doctor might have even stolen all the lives left in the eye of harmony so the timelords couldn't endlessly regenerate and would eventually die. Just a theory though.
I think 'Doctor Who' fans need to simmer down about the 13 lives thing. Like, really? Do you *WANT* 'DW' to end in less than a few years?
507 is silly, yes. But I applaud RTD for throwing the number of regenerations into flux. Many aspects of 'DW' canon has been wibbly-wobbly over the years. We didn't even learn that the Doctor's race was called Time Lords until the fiftieth story, five and a half years into the show's run! And yet the twelve regenerations thing, that everyone clings to. The very piece of canon that could end the whole franchise.
It needs to be rewritten. Some way, some how. I'm cool with it.
He's refering to fact that Doctor Who will last as long as it is successful and the limit doesn't matter.
@NicodemusLegend
The Doctor even referenced it himself in The Next Doctor, "But your the next Doctor, or the next but 1."
There are almost limitless ways to take care of this. If it was me, I would say that the limit was self imposed by the Time Lords who knew the danger of coming so close to immortality. Remember he can still die even with regeneration.
But now with them all gone, and Gallifrey with them, the limit or whatever imposed it is gone too.
I think 'Doctor Who' fans need to simmer down about the 13 lives thing. Like, really? Do you *WANT* 'DW' to end in less than a few years?
...
It needs to be rewritten. Some way, some how. I'm cool with it.
I don't think anyone really wants "the 13 lives thing" to remain absolute. Personally, I just want a plausible (and this is science fiction, I realize when I say that) explanation given for life 14 by the time life 14 actually arrives.
Even the "with the Time Lords gone, all things are possible" idea (which is, on it's own, pretty weak IMHO) isn't established on screen yet. Doing that is, at a minimum, what I'm asking for.
Acknowledge that the 13 lives thing has been true, and then tell us why it isn't any more....
Blimey, shouldn't we be cheering? This is a GOOD THING! Why do folks want there to be an end in sight? Blimey, some people need to calm down and let the show evolve!
It isn't an end, if the show is successful and still as entertaining as ever when it comes to be that the 13th Doctor must go then make it a truly brilliant end with him regenerating at the last second.
Then it can come to pass that the Guardians granted him new life or the Big Bang 2 reset his regenerative cycle or whatever the writers feel like saying when the time comes. Perhaps the best explanation is no explanation, he just regenerated and move on.
Also it is Rassilon that imposed the 13 regeneration rule, not the Time Lord society itself. If anything he could have lifted this limitation during the Time War.
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