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did anyone catch the last couple of 'Sarah Jane Adventures'?

A nice little 2-parter called 'The Death Of The Doctor', scripted by Russel T. Davies, which brough togeter Sarah Jane and Jo Grant to attend the funeral of our favourite Time Lord...

Anyway, Matt Smith had an extended cameo and, in passing, answered a couple of questions about his regenerations:

Firstly, his regenerations aren't limited to sex and colour ("Nah, I could be anything" but the big question was "How many times can you do it?"

The answer? "507"

That was it, no explanation... no reference to the previous limit of 12... just a one line answer and then it was off onto the rest of the show!!

Now, there may be a few here that don't like that (a couple even disliked River Song's crack about the TARDIS making the classic whooping sound because the Doc left the handbrake on!!!) but I liked the way it was just thrown out in passing.

By Gad, I love Matt Smith - roll on the Xmas special!!!

Are you sure that he wasn't just having a laugh? I swear that it was confirmed before that due to his being male, he could only regenerate as a male? I may be wrong, but I am pretty certain.

The limit though I don't know...I know that the master hit about 11 regenerations and started dying until he struck a deal with the council for more 'lives'. With no council now though.....maybe there is no limit? Maybe it is until both hearts stop and the doctor actually dies? We should find out in a generation's time!

Allegedly the limit on regenerations was imposed by Rassilon, to give even Time Lords some concept of mortality (I assume). Or maybe to make them a bit weaker than him (same idea as General Sontar).

Amusing though this stuff is, I don't buy the Doctor changing gender. Racial (well, apparent racial) origin - maybe, bearing in mind Roger Delgado's Master vs John Simm, but as Time Lords marry, I think that would have been left out of the equation. Although, again maybe that was controlled by whatever regulated the number of regenerations, and without it, you might end up changing sex.

On the other hand... it's all fiction and the writers and producers can do what they like or say what they like, then turn round and do the exact opposite on another occasion. One minute breaking the laws of time merits an attack by the Reapers (in the process causing much more damage to the timestream), the next, pretty much nothing, then on another occasion, time somehow decides to come and teach you a lesson.

im still grinning from all the old school references.

507, was Im sure the right answer for Clyde. If he said 13, it probably wouldnt take somebody long to realize that things are about to get interesting.

however, heres a prediction. the events in this episode happen aftre the next series of Dr Who. And the reason why its now 507 will bbe explained when we find out who or what the silence man is.

Colour me cynical but I am still hoping he next regenerates into the tenth doctor again.

Good god yes, bring back Tennant, along with all the drama, the decent storylines with characters you cared about. i really really tried with the new series but its not the same.

I think if anything Tennent might return as the Doctor/Donner hand clone thing along with Rose, either that or they'll do a spin-off with them.
I think Matt Smiths a pretty good Doctor, Tennents just an impossible act to follow.
As for the next regeneration I wouldn't be surprised if the new Doctor will be 15, he seems to be getting younger and younger each time.

Beardy wrote:Are you sure that he wasn't just having a laugh? I swear that it was confirmed before that due to his being male, he could only regenerate as a male? I may be wrong, but I am pretty certain.

Nope once he died and regenerated so many times he turned into Joanna Lumley, lost his memory's (gained his mammaries) and marryed the Master, (dare you to say that last bit five times fast).

I'm one of those annoying fans who genuinely gets upset when producers etc. meddle with established Gallifreyan mythology etc. Yes, I understand the necessity to increase the amount of regenerations from 12 but I reserve the right to be annoyed with it.

There's other ways it can be managed. The TVM is canon and that stated that The Doctor is half human, which explained any number of things, not least of all why he might not get to choose his regenerated appearance as other Time Lords have done (most notably, Romana). More than 12 regenerations might be another side effect.

Can't remember exactly where the regenerative limit was imposed. I had a feeling it was by the Pythia, whom initially cursed Gallifreyans so that they could no longer reproduce. Might be wrong on that though and it's far too early on a Saturday to go digging amongst the New Adventures.

Part-Timer wrote:Allegedly the limit on regenerations was imposed by Rassilon, to give even Time Lords some concept of mortality (I assume). Or maybe to make them a bit weaker than him (same idea as General Sontar).

Beardy wrote:The limit though I don't know...I know that the master hit about 11 regenerations and started dying until he struck a deal with the council for more 'lives'. With no council now though.....maybe there is no limit? Maybe it is until both hearts stop and the doctor actually dies? We should find out in a generation's time!

Good points... The Master was offered a new regenerative cycle by the High Council so it seems it's a self imposed limit by Gallifreyen society rather than a physical limit. Quite likely The Doctor could have stolen the necessary tech to give himself new regenerative cycles.

Quite often there have been stories about The Master trying to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations so he could live longer as he'd worn out all his regenerations in the 1970s. I think that was the general plot of The Deadly Assassin when his body was so decayed his face looked like a skeleton.

Jean Eugene Roberts wrote:Nope once he died and regenerated so many times he turned into Joanna Lumley, lost his memory's (gained his mammaries) and marryed the Master, (dare you to say that last bit five times fast).

He turned into Joanna Lumley during the Comic Relief spoof The Curse of Fatal Death. It's very much not canon.

Vanderbelt wrote:There's other ways it can be managed. The TVM is canon and that stated that The Doctor is half human...

They have heavily back-pedalled away from that, though. The Eighth Doctor's comments could easily be explained as metaphorical.

Vanderbelt wrote:...why he might not get to choose his regenerated appearance as other Time Lords have done (most notably, Romana).

All of the Doctor's regenerations have been forced. Romana did it on a whim, and apparently so did the Master on occasion, to afford a permanent disguise, but I think the latter detail might have only featured in the Target novels (those of you familiar with the Delgado version will recall he was pretty handy with impermanent disguises already).

V.E. Day wrote:Quite often there have been stories about The Master trying to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations so he could live longer as he'd worn out all his regenerations in the 1970s. I think that was the general plot of The Deadly Assassin when his body was so decayed his face looked like a skeleton.

I can't recall if the Master actually tried that more than once, at least not in fully canon stories. I know the Valeyard tried it as well, in a completely nonsensical storyline. The Deadly Assassin actually involved the Master trying to siphon energy from the harnessed black hole that powered Gallifrey, in order to renew his ravaged body.

Part-Timer wrote:

Jean Eugene Roberts wrote:Nope once he died and regenerated so many times he turned into Joanna Lumley, lost his memory's (gained his mammaries) and marryed the Master, (dare you to say that last bit five times fast).

He turned into Joanna Lumley during the Comic Relief spoof The Curse of Fatal Death. It's very much not canon.

If he can be attacked by a giant Bertie Bassett he can turn into a woman. Maybe that's what started the time war. Time Lord divorce must be complicated.

Jean Eugene Roberts wrote:Time Lord divorce must be complicated.

Quite... I mean, who gets the dog? (Oh, hang on, Sarah Jane's already got him!)

Arkesus wrote:Colour me cynical but I am still hoping he next regenerates into the tenth doctor again.

God...I miss David T more than I thought possible. Ive just been looking at a you tube called-David Tennant My Way, its just so fantastic, very moving and it makes me miss him even more than I do already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD5VxRGkeQI I mean you wont get to see any other actor play the part of The Doctor quite like this.