For those of you that have not seen Doctor Who, or didn’t read my earlier post here are some things you should know before reading any further:
1. Time Lord: part of the alien species the Doctor belongs to. Time Lords are “the oligarchic rulers of the planet Gallifrey” (Time Lords)
2. Regeneration: “the process by which Time Lords renewed themselves, causing a complete physical and often psychological change”. (Regeneration)
3. TARDIS: the time machine/space ship that the Doctor travels in; “Time And Relative Dimension In Space” (Rose)
4. The Doctor’s extra hand: During the 10th Doctor’s initial regeneration from the 9th Doctor, he was in fight that resulted in his hand being cut off. The residual regeneration energy allowed him to grow a new hand, but he kept the old hand in the TARDIS. This takes place during the episode “The Christmas Invasion”
5. Here’s a video of the scene I will be discussing (feel free to watch the whole thing, but the important part is the first 35 seconds, and then from 1:55 to the end)
In my previous post, I discussed the biology of that process. Today, I will be delving into the physical change that occurs as a result of David Tennant’s first regeneration. This regeneration poses a rather unique situation in that the physical change doesn’t come until much later, and actually doesn’t come purely from the regeneration itself. I’m referring, of course, to the Meta-Crisis Doctor.
The Meta-Crisis Doctor occurred in the episode “Journey’s End” when Donna, one of the Doctor’s friends, was trapped in the TARDIS. She touched the extra hand that the Doctor siphoned off all the extra regeneration into, which caused an “instantaneous biological meta-crisis”. (Journey’s End) This means a combination of the regeneration energy and Donna caused a new Doctor to grow from this hand.
Biologically, Time Lords are fairly similar to humans. The main differences between the two are the Time Lord’s ability to regenerate and their two hearts. The Meta-Crisis Doctor has neither of these things. In the above video, while explaining the meta-crisis to Donna he says, “This body has got one heart... That’s disgusting….I’m part Time Lord, part human.” (Journey’s End) Later, the Meta-Crisis Doctor explains, “I’m part human. Specifically the aging part. I’ll grow old and never regenerate.” (Journey’s End) While these physical changes are in a way a result of Donna touching the hand, they would never have happened without the regeneration or the regeneration energy. Regeneration energy is made to cause a physical change and this was its opportunity. If that’s not enough, the Doctor went from having one body to having two. That’s certainly a physical change.
Based off of the definition of regeneration, we can conclude that this has the makings of a full regeneration and therefore means that David Tennant should be considered the 11th Doctor as well as the 10th.
"Regeneration." TARDIS Data Core. Wikia, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.
"Time Lords." TARDIS Data Core. Wikia, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.
"TARDIS." TARDIS Data Core. Wikia, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
"Christmas Invasion." Doctor Who. BBC. 25 December 2005. Television
"Journey's End." Doctor Who. BBC. 5 July 2008. Television
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