ANALYTICAL: 

Weird Regenerations

It started as a way to keep the show going after William Hartnell fell ill and turned into one of the most important cornerstones of the entire show's mythos. Regeneration is always a big deal on Doctor Who. Fans both dread and look forward to it every time an incarnation of the Doctor must relinquish himself and let a new man step in. But it can even be a fairly big ocassion when another Time Lord does it. The Master metamorphosing from Derek Jacobi to Jon Simm in Utopia, for instance, was one hell of a jaw-dropping moment.

Basically, no matter who is doing it, the regenerative process can create all kinds of drama and grandeur.

Like so many other elements of the show's continuity, the rules of regeneration evolved along the way as different production teams staged them. But there does seem to be a certain standardized method that remains consistent within most of the regenerations we've witnessed. But even though a good chunk of them happen the same way, we have seen some curious variations. Or weird regenerations as I like to call them. The Doctor's had a few of them, himself. Other Time Lords or even certain alien races have also experienced them. Over the next few paragraphs, we'll analyze a few of them. But before we can do that, it's important to define what a normal regeneration is:

STANDARDIZED REGENERATIONS

While the process of regeneration is not an ability that is completely exclusive to the Time Lords - they seem to have mastered it better than most other species that are capable of doing it. Basically, when a Time Lord's body has grown too old or gotten too badly damaged, they can induce a regeneration. It is a conscious act in which a Time Lord wills a new body into existence.

A normal regeneration shows the old body fading away and a new one taking its place. The old and new bodies look completely different from each other. In the Classic Series, this was usually achieved through a standard cross-fade. In the New Series, "morphing" (a CGI technique first made famous in the film Terminator 2) is employed. Other post-production effects have frequently been added to enhance the whole thing - but that's the basic visual representation of a regeneration.

Within the context of the storytelling itself, the new body that emerges from a regeneration is random. A Time Lord rarely knows exactly what they're going to get when they induce the process. A new incarnation also tends to have a slightly different personality from the last one but still retains the overall core values of the Time Lord.

It should also be noted that there are usually side effects from the process. It can cause physical, mental or even psychological disruption. As a rule, a Time Lord is frequently weak and/or vulnerable after a regeneration.

Of course, if a body is too badly damaged or the process is, somehow, interrupted by still further destruction being inflicted upon the Time Lord - than the regeneration process won't happen at all. So, if a Time Lord isn't cautious, they might not get to go through all 13 of their incarnations. They can still die. Just like anyone else in the Universe. It's just a bit more difficult to kill them.

Okay, that's the basic definition of a "normal" regeneration. Let's start looking at the variations:

OTHER TIME LORDS WHO HAVE REGENERATED WEIRD:

The first "proper" weird regeneration didn't occur til Planet of Spiders. The Doctor went through the process somewhat normally at the end of that story - but we also saw K'anpo Ripoche regenerate midway through Episode 6. And his regeneration was far from normal.

K'anpo (or, perhaps, The Mentor might be a better name for him) was able to create what I like to refer to as a Shayde. This is a projection of the next incarnation that is a unique being in and of itself. When the regeneration occurs, the Shayde re-joins its body and becomes the Time Lord again. But, for a brief time, a Time Lord can exist as two seperate entities at the same time. It's a weird process that we know little about. But the Doctor has been able to do this trick, himself. So we'll look at it some more in a bit.

The next weird regeneration that a Time Lord accomplishes is also not one that the Doctor does. At the beginning of Destiny of the Daleks, Romana appears to be breaking several of the standardized rules of regeneration.

First off, the process is far from random. She very consciously chooses to appear as Princess Astra from The Armageddon Factor. When the Doctor insists she can't go parading around as another person, Romana does something else we've never seen a Time Lord do. She starts swapping through a series of bodies that the Doctor rejects over and over. She changes her appearance several times before returning back to Astra. Being able to assume multiple forms like that is something else that seems to contradict all the rules.  We've never seen a Time Lord do this before or since.

The problem with the whole sequence, of course, is that it was written more for laughs than for drama. So it's difficult to take the whole thing all that seriously. But if we want to try to figure it out - there can be a few different explanations.

Romana teases the Doctor quite heavilly at the beginning of The Ribos Operation about how poorly he did at the Academy. Whereas her marks where much higher. Could it be that a Time Lord who did better at school can have better control over their ability to regenerate?

The other explanation might be that the Doctor has a Metamorphic Symbiosis Regenerator (we see one in Mawdryn Undead) or some other similiar piece of technology somewhere aboard the TARDIS. He doesn't like to use it - he prefers to keep regeneration as natural as possible, But Romana has no quelms about interacting with it. Such a device is meant to be used mainly for emergency situations where a regeneration is going badly. But it might also be used to simply give a Time Lord much better control over the whole regeneration experience. It might even enable them to make selections over the appearance of the next incarnation. To "try on" bodies in the same way one might select different outfits. So whenever Romana leaves the console room, she is going to the Regenerator to swap in a new body.

These seem to be the two most likely explanations for what is, probably, the weirdest of all the weird regenerations.

The Master has had such weird regenerations that we're not sure if they're regenerations at all. The first one takes place between Deadly Assassin and Keeper of Traken. He had leached a considerable amount of energy off of The Eye Of Harmony - was he able to use it to induce some sort of partial regeneration of some sort? This would explain why it's a different actor playing the Master in Keeper.

And then there's the possession of Tremas when the Master is, again, leaching off of a strong source of energy (this time, the Keepership). Cosmetic changes occur to the Trakenite's body after the Time Lord takes it over. Does this also constitute as a regeneration of some sort?

I'm more inclined to believe that the take-over of Bruce's body in The 96 Telemovie is more of just a straight possession rather than a regeneration - even though there are also some changes that take place to the body in that circumstance. But still, it's a very grey area. Particularly with the Master running on "borrowed time" the way he is. He's going to be bending the rules all over the place. So could this be yet another weird regeneration?

Any other time we've seen other Time Lords regenerate, they tend to follow the standardized rules. But what about people who possess some traits of the species but aren't "true" Time Lords?

HALF-TIME LORDS

We've seen a few of them in the New Series: aliens with a bit of Time Lord biology infused into them.They are, essentially, Half-Time Lords. Which means, of course, that they have the potential to regenerate. And some of those regenerations could be quite weird, indeed.

River Song, oddly enough, has had pretty standardized regenerations. Although, she does seem to be able to mess with her aging process a bit. She talks about aging backwards in Let's Kill Hitler (an in-joke to explain that she will look a bit younger in some of her stories that are meant to be taking place in her future). We also have to assume that  when she regenerated into Mels she, somehow, suspended her aging process for a bit until she could meet Rory and Amy as kids. She induces her regeneration sometime in the 70s but still has an entire childhood with the two of them in what would've probably been the late 80s/early 90s.

We also see River using excess regeneration energy at the beginning of her third incarnation and we'll discuss that in a bit. But, really, I would consider neither of her regenerations to be legitimately weird.

The other Half-Time Lord that we meet in the New Series definitely has a weird regeneration. If we can call it a regeneration at all. Jenny, the Doctor's daughter, seems to go through some sort of regenerative process at the end of her first and only story. It has none of the hallmarks of a normal regeneration, though.  To all intents and purposes, she appears to be dead at the end of the episode. Then she suddenly breathes in what appears to be regenerative energy and pops awake. There's no change in appearance. She doesn't even grow younger. She's just, suddenly, alive again.

Did this actually have anything to do with her Time Lord inheritance? Might she have actually done a "Spock in Wrath of Kahn" and used the terraforming energy that was around her to return from the dead? Was it more of a resurrection rather than a regeneration? Admittedly, the energy we see flowing into her is a bit of a weird color. Oftentimes, regeneration energy looks gold. There seems to be traces of green and blue in there, too. So, was there a regeneration at all? A return appearance for Jenny would be nice. If, for no other reason, then to give us a few more answers.



ALIEN REGENERATIONS

In most cases, non-Time Lords who have this ability have taken it from the Time Lords, themselves'. Because it isn't something they developed on their own, the whole process tends to happen in a very different way.

The Minyans are a prime example of this. When the Time Lords set out to "improve" them, they managed to pass on regeneration to them. It seems to be induced in a very artificial manner, though. Again, it looks like a Metamorphic Symbiosis Regenerator of some sort seems to be in use. The Minyans lie on a very special pallet that causes the process to occur. It seems as if they need to be brought to this special equipment. If they aren't - they just die. It's not something they can do without the assistance of technology.

The process also doesn't give the Minyan a totally different-looking body. It just causes them to become young again. In that respect, it seems more like a rejuvenation rather than a regeneration (rest assured, by the way, there will be more arguments about rejuvenation later!).

The other example we see of Time Lord technology causing weird regenerations in aliens occurs in Mawdryn Undead. Mawdryn's unamed species has actually stolen our frequently-mentioned Metamorphic Symbosios Regenerator from the Time Lords but their lack of knowledge on how it operates has induced some serious consequences. Mawdryn and his comrads can regenerate independently of the equipment, but each regeneration causes hideous mutation. The new body is malformed. It even seems as though the aliens are in pain. Oddly enough, the whole process also appears to be mildly contagious.  Both Nyssa and Tegan contract Mawdryn's "disease" and start mutating and radically rejuvenating as the TARDIS moves forwards and backwards in time.

It is significant to note that, in both these cases, the imposed limit of 13 incarnations has been removed. The Minyans and Mawdryn's race are immortal and can keep regenerating indefinitely. Which leads us to believe that the 12 regeneration limit is something the Time Lords have chosen to impose upon themselves'. It is not a limit of their own technology. The Master getting offered a whole new cycle in The Five Doctors and the Doctor being given one in Time of the Doctor seems to support this notion.

While on the subject of Metamorphic Symbiosis Regenerators, it seems the Argolins have created a primitive version of one using tachyonics. Again, it doesn't assign a completely new body to someone if they should use the technology - it just makes them young again. Alternatively, it can also age them. So we're not entirely sure if we can even consider this a regeneration or just a method to age a being forwards or backwards. It's another "grey area" where the regeneration is so weird - it might not actually be one!

The Kastrians, on the other hand, seemed to have perfected the process of regeneration all on their own. Eldrad claims no assistance from the Time Lords in developping the skill. There is a machine that facilitates the process but a Kastrian really only needs radiation and the genetic code implanted in the rings they wear (similar, perhaps, to the Kamelion Arches we've seen used in the New Series?) to induce a regeneration. And it is much truer to the idea of a Time Lord regeneration - the Kastrian seems to get a new appearance when it's induced. Unlike the Time Lords, however, a Kastrian is far more resilient. They can receive massive amounts of damage and still regenerate if the necessary ring and radiation factors are still in place. Thus making them one of the most indestructible alien species in the Universe. However, I would say that a Kastrian regeneration resembles the Time Lord method enough that I wouldn't label it as weird. They're the only aliens who actually follow the same basic guidelines of a normal regeneration.

The only other alien species that seems to be able to regenerate is, perhaps, the Xeraphin. In Time Flight, they claim to be regenerating from a single organism that they had infused with the consciousness of their entire race.  This process, however, does not seem to resemble the Time Lord method of regeneration in any way shape or form. As far aliens go, these guys have the weirdest of all the weird regenerations.


THE DOCTOR'S OWN WEIRD REGENERATIONS

By my own definition, some corners of fandom might claim that the Doctor's very first regeneration would be a weird one. It's the only time the Doctor's clothes change along with his body. Also, the Doctor doesn't refer to the process as regeneration. Rather, he calls it a rejuvenation.

While the experience does vary slightly from other regenerations - I wouldn't call it a fully-fledged weird regeneration. I'm more inclined to think that the first and last regeneration of a Time Lord contains a lot of excess energy. In Part Two of The End of Time, the Doctor can't contain that energy and it ends up wrecking the console room (there's a second issue affecting that regeneration that I'll go into in a later essay). In Part One of Power of the Daleks, the Doctor is able to better restrain the energy and uses it to change his clothes along with his body.

The fact that he's using the term rejuvenation rather than regeneration is merely a way to simplify the explanation to Ben and Polly. His first incarnation does seem to age to death and the man who replaces him is considerably younger. So it was just easier to label it a rejuvenation to his companions rather than getting into something that would've been far more complicated to explain.

Which means, in my terms of reference, the first genuinely weird regeneration happens when Fourth turns into Fifth. Inspired by what his Mentor did during his last change, the Doctor is able to create a Shayde of his own. This is not something a Time Lord normally does during such a time of transition. But it does come in handy when you want to pick up a new companion from Traken or take companions out of Time and Space to protect them whilst still trying to fix a chamelion circuit and form an alliance with a greatest enemy in order to save the Universe. If nothing else, Shaydes are very handy for multi-tasking!

Our next weird regeneration happens as the Eigth Doctor transforms into the War Doctor. Seventh to Eighth gets a bit weird because the Doctor is in a death-like state for quite some time. But in Night of the Doctor, he is well and truly dead. If the Sisterhood of Karn hadn't resurrected him, that would've been the end of our favorite Time Lord. The fact that he is then able to choose what his next form will be truly pushes the whole regeneration into legitimate weirdness. He's never been able to control what he will be in his next incarnation before. When we saw Romana doing the same thing, I applied the same label. So this regeneration should also get that title. Particularly since it's a controlled regeneration that takes place after a limited resurrection.

Of course, the weirdest of the Doctor's regenerations happens at the end of Stolen Earth and the beginning of Journey's End. In order to heal from the wounds inflicted on him by Dalek firepower, Doctor Ten induces a regeneration. But there is no change at all in his physical form (there might be some slight character changes as he becomes extra angsty for the rest of his era!). The regeneration simply repairs the damage done to the body. The remaining regeneration energy is syphoned off into the Doctor's spare hand where it is eventually used to create an instaneous biological meta crisis. I think, even if Romana had witnessed that one, she would have said: "Wow! That's a weird regeneration!"

And our last weird regeneration is the Doctor's last regeneration. If nothing else, it's weird because it was never meant to happen. The Doctor had regenerated twelve times and was meant to die on Trenzalore (we'd even seen the after-effects of his death in Name of the Doctor) but the Time Lords granted him a whole new life cycle. Like the First Doctor and the War Doctor, Doctor Eleven (who was, truly, the thirteenth incarnation) had worn his body out with old age. Which meant he was looking very elderly as he reached the end of his existence. The regeneration becomes truly weird when he temporarily regresses to a younger version of himself before changing into Doctor Twelve (or, more appropriately, his fourteenth incarnation).   We'd never seen a Time Lord do that before. But, apparently, that's what happens when you get an extra regeneration cycle. You go on a sort of "factory re-set" before truly transforming into a new body. Of course, it also allows you to do a really touching farewell scene without having to wear heavy prosthetics!

REGENERATION ENERGY

We can't really wrap this up unless we mention the way regeneration seems to be working very differently in the New Series. In Classic Who, regeneration was visually depicted in all kinds of different manners but the process has become quite standardized since it's returned in 2005. Along with the afore-mentioned CGI transition, a Time Lord's body becomes bathed in a golden glow as regeneration occurs. Or, at least, this happens to their hands and face. Presumably, it's happening all over but we don't see it beneath clothing.

That golden glow has come to be known as regeneration energy. We've not really seen it before the New Series but it seems to have had a strange effect on the way Time Lords regenerate, these days.

Apparently, even after the new body has stabilized, lots can be done with the regeneration energy that is coursing through a Time Lord. We see this right on the very first occasion that regeneration is displayed on the show. The newly-formed Tenth Doctor appears to be expelling excess regeneration energy that attracts the interest of intergalactic scavenger androids. He also reveals near the climax of The Christmas Invasion that within thirteen hours of a regeneration he still has the ability to replace severed appendages. The Sycorax Commander cuts off his hand.  Within a mysterious golden glow, a new hand materializes.

This continues on when Ten finally transforms into Eleven. This time, the regeneration energy rages out of control and seems to do some legitimate damage to the TARDIS. But things are even more violent as Eleven turns to Twelve. The regeneration energy takes out some Daleks that are floating around in their hovercrafts and then completely destroys a Dalek mothership
.
We also see River Song using her regeneration energy aggressively against some Nazis in Let's Kill Hitler after they attempt to mow her down. One even has to wonder if Donna Noble's transformation from the Meta-Crisis has given her a bit of regeneration energy that she's able to use as a defence mechanism during Part 2 of The End of Time.

As a quick footnote, we should add that regeneration energy in New Who isn't just aggressive. We've also seen the Eleventh Doctor and River Song use it to heal each other in Let's Kill Hitler and Angels Take Manhatten.

The big question is: where did regeneration energy come from? We've never really seen it until the New Series. It seems very mulit-purpose. We've seen it re-shape a Time Lord's body even after the regeneration seems complete. It can also heal the wounds of other Time Lords and can even be used as a sort of weapon.

With respect to post-regeneration body re-shapement, we may have seen hints of it in the Classic Series. Romana might have been using regeneration energy at the beginning of Destiny of the Daleks (okay, a possible third explanation for the sequence) and I love the idea that something of this nature was also happening to the Fifth Doctor's hair when he first sprang into existence (a way to compensate for the fact that he had different hair lengths throughout his first few stories because they were filmed out of sequence). But we've never seen Time Lords wreck stuff with their regenerative energy or use it to mend each other's wounds. That is totally new.

Which leads me to believe that the Time Lords re-engineered themselves' slightly when the Time Wars began. In the Classic Series, regeneration made a Time Lord vulnerable for a period of time. No doubt, regenerations were going to happen on the battlefield and there was no time for vulnerability. So now a Time Lord can use the excess regeneration energy as an actual form of attack while they're trying to recover from the process. Time Lords could also now trade small amounts of regeneration energy to help with minor wounds (or even major wounds - but it might mean that the Time Lord giving the energy would lose the ability to regenerate any further). Another useful trait to have on the battlefield.  This is why regeneration, in general, seems very different from the way it worked in the Classic Series. Certain alterations were somehow made to the process during the Time Wars. So these aren't, necessarily, weird regenerations. But, rather, the way regeneration now works.



It would seem that the rules of regeneration work in much the same way that the rules of french grammar do. There are certain patterns that are followed somewhat regularly. But for every legitimate rule that gets established - there are a slew of exceptions that present themselves'.

For example:

A new incarnation is random. Except for when Romana regenerated or when the 8th Doctor transformed into the War Doctor.

or

Regeneration produces an entirely new body, it is not a form of revitalization. Except for the Minyans or the way the Doctor changes in Time of the Doctor

or

If a Time Lord is well and truly dead, he won't regenerate. Except for Jenny's regeneration or 8th to the War Doctor.

And so on...

Regeneration is an awesome concept that kept the show alive at a time when it should've died. It continues to keep the show fresh, even now. Replacing the lead every few seasons is a great way to hold an audience's interest and never let anything get too stale. Like all good science fiction, there must be certain rules to how something like this works. And the show has done a fairly good job of establishing these rules.

But in the same way that regeneration keeps the show interesting, weird regenerations add that extra little bit of spice. They keep us guessing about how exactly the process really works and cause us to make all kinds of wild speculation.

On a good day, they can even get us to write pretentious essays.