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Huh. I hadn't heard about the "500 regens" claim before now. Must be something very recent.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Heh... 'Nothing outlasts The Doctor. He just keeps going and going and going...'
_____
DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...
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It may be that the number of Regenerations was something the Time Lords themselves regulated. Now that he's the only one left, there's nobody enforcing it.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
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It was mentioned by the Eleventh Doctor in the episode of Sarah Jane Adventures titled 'Death of the Doctor'. The episode first aired back in October.
Edit:
Plus, I seem to recall something about the Time Lords giving the Master a new set of regenerations from somewhere, so there's probably something to that 'Time Lords regulated regenerations' idea.
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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Steven Moffat recently stated that they were getting rid of the regeneration limit, which is probably a good idea, given how not doing it could lead to problems with the 12th Doctor.
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This is dimly-remembered hearsay, so it's probably entirely wrong, but wasn't a Time Lord's regenerations originally limited to seven?
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Dr Who regenerations
02-11-2011, 08:05 PM
I can't tell you how many regenerations, but it was a finite number close to 12 or 13.
I remember a episode where this small group of aliens(5 or 6) had stolen Timelord technology and created a form of regeneration for themselves, but it backfired causing horrible endless pain to millions of their people and they punished the group by casting them out to live forever in horrible endless pain in a star ship.
These aliens were ?directed? by the master to find Dr. Who knowing that he couldn't resist helping them and that in order to help them it would require him to use his final 5 or 6 regenerations to end their endless torment resulting in his death. I pretty sure it was the 6th or 7th doctor so 12 or 13 regenerations.
There were also episodes dealing with The Master trying to take Dr. Who's body, but instead settled for a scientist's body because after a certain number of ?illegal? regenerations a Time Lords body started to break down putting them in constant endless torment as the body slowly fell apart.
If I remember right it was implied that after a certain number of regenerations the Time Lord's body started to break down quicker than in the previous regeneration.
There was also a story arc dealing with a evil Dr. Who in his last regeneration working for the Time Lord Council to take all his past lives regenerations. I'm pretty sure the episode claimed it was the 12th doctor that was in his last regeneration.
howard melton
God Bless
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The evil Doctor incarnation you mentioned was called the Valeyard, if he was a regeneration of the Doctor. I can't remember if it was explicitly stated that he was, or if it was just implied or something. (Also, minor note, while the name of the show is Doctor Who, the character is simply called the Doctor, not Doctor Who. I think the abbreviated form Dr was used in some of the credits in the early seasons, but they stopped doing that relatively quickly.)
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"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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The 'new' regen limit of basically being none I first picked up on in The Waters Of Mars special.