FIXING CONTINUITY GLITCHES: REGENERATION RECOVERY - PART 2: WHY IS IT SO ROUGH FOR THE DOCTOR?

We're trying something a little different, now. We're sticking to the same topic but moving it into a new category. "Regeneration Recovery" started as an ANALYTICAL essay but it's shifting to FIXING CONTINUITY GLITCHES. 

There seems to be a strange inconsistency that exists between the Doctor and other Time Lords when it comes to regeneration. It's definitely a continuity glitch of some sort. So we're going to see if we can fix it...




THE PROBLEM:

After listing all the different sorts of side effects that occur when the Doctor goes through a regeneration, it's time to address the Elephant in the Room. I attach this sort of title to the problem but I wonder if it's accurate. I seem to actually be the only person noticing it. In all my long years of fandom, I've never seen it discussed by anyone. Yet it seems to be so glaringly obvious.

The Doctor does seem to have a terrible time regenerating. At the very least, he/she goes through extended periods of unconsciousness after the process. At the very worst, he goes nearly mad and tries to strangle companions.

We've watched other Time Lords regenerate over the years. The first time we saw it happen was when the Doctor's Mentor regenerated in Planet of Spiders. His new body seemed ever-so-slightly shaky for his first few seconds. He even briefly stumbles through a line. But then he's fine.

And then there's Romana's regeneration. It's more like someone trying on different outfits than going through a turbulent metabolic process. To say the Time Lady deals with the transition with relative ease would be an understatement. She takes on Lady Astra's form, then a few other bodies and then goes back to Astra. Easily, the most complicated of all regenerations on the show. There should be all kinds of side-effects from something like that. But she moves on from the process with no hassle or fuss.

We might almost say that Azmael had a pretty rough regeneration in Twin Dilemma. After all, he doesn't survive it. But this only happens because he was in his last incarnation. So it's not truly a regeneration so much as it is a conscious willing of himself to death!

New Who shows us quite a bit of other Time Lords regenerating. After watching him steal several bodies in the Classic Series (and still experience little or no complications from it), the Master finally has a "proper" regeneration in Utopia. Technically, of course, he shouldn't be able to regenerate. Like Azmael, he had run out of lives back in the original run of the show. We can safely assume, though, that the Time Lords gave him a whole new cycle when they resurrected him for the Time Wars. The Doctor was pretty unsteady on his feet when he was given the same gift. He stumbled around all over the place during Deep Breath and acted very erratic. The Master seems to experience no real problems, though.

Then there's River Song (aka Mels) going through her regenerations with little or no complications. Yes, she does need some bed rest when she saves the Doctor at the end of Let's Kill Hitler but it's a pretty unusual scenario. She induces a second regeneration after only going through the process a few hours previously. She also uses up all her remaining lives to rescue the Doctor from certain death. That's bound to create some problems of some sort. But when she regenerates from that stray bullet earlier in the episode, she's doing just fine. We also get the impression she had no real issues with her first regeneration at the end of Day of the Moon.

Finally, there's the General getting shot at point-blank range by a staser in Hell Bent. He simply induces a regeneration, gets back up and dusts herself down as if she'd had an embarassing slip and fall rather than lost a life.

Are we seeing my point, yet? When the Doctor regenerates, it's this turbulent process that seems to almost put him/her through a physical and psychological meat grinder. He/she deals with all kinds of vicious side effects. But when other Time Lords go through the experience, they seem to do it with all the casualness and ease that one might have when changing their shirt!

Why does this happen? Why does the Doctor have so much trouble regenerating when other Time Lords don't?

There are a few arguments to explore...



FIRST ARGUMENT

The most obvious answer to this inconsistency is that the Doctor's regenerations are, oftentimes, very different from how other Time Lords regenerate. Most Time Lords live a quiet, sedate life in the Panopticon. They age very gracefully and just reach a point, from time to time, where the current body has grown too old and it's time to put on a new one. Whereas the Doctor, for the most part, induces regenerations because he's suffering from some type of fatal poisoning or has had a nasty fall or other such violent causes. If he/she wasn't regenerating under such extreme circumstances, things would probably go much easier for him/her.

Unfortunately, dismissing this argument comes far too easily. There are, at least, three occasions where the Doctor regenerates from old age. During two of those circumstances, he even declares that his current body is "wearing a bit thin". Which definitely implies that it's the passing of time that is prompting the latest change - not radiation from an arrangement of Metebelis crystals or some other such nasty situation.

On all three occasions, he experiences side effects after the regeneration. Doctor Nine's side effects seem the least obvious (he does appear to be behaving erratically during Rose but, admittedly, it's difficult to say). Doctors Two and Twelve, however, definitely seem to struggle through some problems. You might say that Two has a hard time because this is his first regeneration and he's just not used to the process, yet. You could also claim that Twelve's problems might stem from the fact that he is the first incarnation in a new cycle. But I would gauge these to be just extra influences that aggravate the situation. That, at the core of it all, the Doctor still struggles from the regeneration even when it occurs under more natural conditions.

On top of that, other Time Lords have been subjected to violent extremes that have precipitated a regeneration and they've not had complications. K'anpo/Cho-je got blasted by the mental energy of a Spider from Metebelis Three and walked away pretty unscathed. The General was shot by the Doctor but got back up from the regeneration and went on with her duties as if little had happened.

So the idea that the Doctor's regenerations are more complicated because they happen under difficult circumstances doesn't hold much water for me. I think there has to be another reason.



SECOND ARGUMENT

Our second argument actually ties in nicely with the first but adds an extra layer of its own.

There's quite an interesting implication that goes on during Deadly Assassin when the Doctor runs into Runcible at the Lord President's Retirement Ceremony. We get the impression both he and Runcible are about the same age. Runcible has heard something about the Doctor falling out of favor with Time Lord society and then asks him if he's had a face lift. This seems to insinuate that he doesn't believe that the Doctor can regenerate. That he was never granted the ability because he never actually became a Time Lord. The Doctor corrects him and explains that he has actually regenerated several times, now. The gesture backfires, however. Runcible seems a bit aghast that the Doctor has transformed so often. After all, he has a good idea of how old his former schoolmate is - he shouldn't have regenerated so much, already. "Well, if you will live such a rackety life!" he pronounces harshly.

Could this rackety life be part of the cause? As mentioned earlier, most Time Lords live out a quiet life on Gallifrey. Could all this mad running around that the Doctor does contribute to the problem? It wouldn't just be the stress of it all, of course. We also watch the Doctor put his/her body through all kinds of punishment. For instance: we've seen him expose himself to the vacuum of space without proper protective gear on during, at least, three different occasions (Four to Doomsday - The Doctor, The Widow, The Wardrobe - Oxygen). That's bound to put some real wear and tear on a body. And when the body must, at last, turn into a new one - could that sort of wear and tear make the whole process more difficult?

Tie that in with the idea that several regenerations have happened under violent circumstances and this theory really starts getting some traction. It's the Doctor's overall lifestyle choices that make regeneration so difficult for him/her. Had he just listened to Runcible, this wouldn't be such a problem!

Unfortunately, we've met a few other Time Lords (or half-Time Lords) who have also lived rackety lives. The Master being the best example of this. In fact, he's probably done worst things to himself/herself than the Doctor has. We've even seen him get shot during Utopia and recover from the regeneration with relative ease.

We can say much the same thing for River Song and all the punishment she puts herself through. Her love of excesses (sex and drinking) might also put greater strains on her body than what the Doctor has gone through. She's had violent regenerations, too. Hitler caused one of them by accidentally shooting her. Again, she emerges from the process with no real ill effects.

Argument Number Two also seems to be going down the plug-hole. Let's see if we can come up with something else.



ARGUMENT THREE:

This one has the most obscure reasoning. But it might just be the one that makes most sense.

It all stems from that great little row he and Romana had when they first met in Ribos Operation. Turns out Romana was, somehow, granted access to the Doctor's academic records. She points out, quite haughtily, that she graduated from the Academy with excellent marks. Whereas the Doctor scraped by with 51% on his second attempt.

We have also seen the Master gloat over the fact that he did better at the Academy than the Doctor. The Delgado Master picks on Three for getting weaker marks in their studies of Cosmic Science. "I was a late bloomer!" - the Doctor excuses himself feebly.

Could this be the real cause of the problem? Could it be that Time Lords do receive very special training on how to handle the whole regeneration process while they're studying at the Academy but the Doctor wasn't paying much attention?

We can safely assume that most Time Lords do graduate with honors. That the Doctor might be the only one we've ever seen that just barely made it through school. This does seem to be the one great difference between the Doctor and his/her peers. So it could be entirely possible that his poor study habits are the cause of his turbulent regenerations. The two do, sort of, corroborate enough to make a legitimate connection.

River Song might be the only factor that clouds this particular argument. She never actually studied at the Academy. But the Silence may have gleaned all kinds of secret knowledge about Time Lords and some of it may have been comprehensive training on regeneration recovery. During the harsh conditioning she was put through to make her psychotic, she may have also been taught how to handle regeneration well.

Yes, rackety living and violent regenerations might contribute to the problem, but I do think the Ultimate Determining Factor for this is one of education. Had the Doctor paid better attention at school, regeneration might have been a far smoother process.

It really is as simple as that.

ANALYTICAL: REGENERATION RECOVERY - PART 1: COMMON SYMPTOMS

Well, after a fun little POINT OF DEBATE, it's time to get back to work on that ANALYTICAL essay I was promising:

After multi-incarnation adventures, regeneration is the next aspect of the series that seems to fascinate me most. I love watching the stories where the Doctor transforms into a new body. It's quite the emotional roller-coaster, really. We're sad to see someone go but excited to see what the next one will be like. And it's just really cool to see how the whole event will be handled. All of it just completely draws me in and I adore the whole process. 

I recently watched all the stories where the Doctor regenerates (not the first time I've done this, actually - more like the thirtieth!). As some of you may recall in another essay I did about regeneration (a BOOK OF LISTS  I did a long time ago https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-book-of-lists-ranking-regenarations.html), I tend to consider the first story of the new Doctor to be part of the whole regeneration process. So that means I watched how each new Doctor recovers from such a traumatic metabolic process. I couldn't help but notice some interesting patterns...   



REGENERATION RECOVERY

The Doctor has now dealt with regeneration fourteen times. Two more times than a Time Lord is meant to. We've seen this process take him (and now, her) through all sorts of side effects. Some of those side-effects are frequent. Some only manifest themselves now and again.

It's particularly noteworthy that bodily regeneration always seems to go fairly smoothly. Everything seems to work just fine from the neck down after a regeneration. We never see the Doctor becoming temporally crippled, for instance, cause his new legs aren't working well, yet.Twelve once joked with Davros that he might end up missing an arm in the future because of the regeneration energy he used to save him, but this has yet to happen. As turbulent of a process as regeneration might be, the Doctor's new body always seems to be okay after it springs into existence.

Mentally, however, the regeneration experience can do all sorts of short-term damage (some might even speculate long-term damage, in some instances). Any number of nasty things seem to happen to the Doctor's brain as he recovers from his latest transformation. These side-effects break down into two distinct categories. Each category, of course, has several different symptoms.

Quite by accident, the most extreme example of each of these categories is displayed in consecutive regenerations. The Fifth Doctor shows us the full extent of physical side effects. While Six provides us with the strongest example of the psychological damage such a process can cause.


1: Physical Side Effects:

Admittedly, since both categories are the results of mental trauma, it is a bit difficult to distinguish between the two. But, to me, there are certain problems that occur to the Doctor's mind that have more of a physical effect on him than psychological.

As the Doctor is stumbling around in the corridors of his TARDIS in Episode One of Castrovalva, we see these negative physical symptoms to their fullest extent. He even explains that his synapses are on a sort of overload, right now. That he must isolate himself from outside influences for a time so that they can heal. A very physical cure for a physical problem. Much of the maladies that he displays as he tries to work his way to the Zero Room seem to be the result of these neurological imbalances affecting him in a more direct manner. Or, a more physical manner. A neurologist would be needed to help him with these issues rather than a psychologist.

About the only thing he does that doesn't fit this model is when he starts impersonating previous incarnations. This seems more of an identity crisis. But the problem is pretty short-lived. Otherwise, he seems to experience issues that are of a more physical nature. Even when he's acting very neurotic, it comes across more as a result of synapses being over-stimulated than something psychological.


2: Psychological Side Effects:

When he regenerates next, we see the pendulum swing in a completely different direction. The Doctor could definitely use a therapist as he moves through all sorts of violent mood swings. He is a manic barometer, this time (someone even calls him that!). Some even like to claim that it was insanity that caused him to pick the outfit he ended up wearing. Once he did finally stabilize, he was just too proud to admit how crazy the choice had been and kept wearing it!

As with Five, not all of this Doctor's symptoms are purely psychological. We do see him pass out once or twice. Something that I label more of a physical side effect. However, we also see him go into such a fit of pique that he becomes incapacitated but doesn't actually lose consciousness. Which, again, strikes me more as a complete psychological breakdown rather than something physical. 




Special Note: 
As mentioned, both these incarnations are showing the most extreme version of these two categories. This might actually be the two occasions when damage from a regeneration had a long-term effect.

For instance: Doctor Five was very weak when he first emerged from his regeneration. Many attribute this to the sense of vulnerability or even fallibility that he continues to show throughout the rest of his era. He was in a very delicate state when he was first called into existence and this seems to persist throughout the rest of his life.

While Doctor Six is quite mercurial during his span. Which could be because he's so psychologically damaged from the regeneration that creates him. I would even claim that it takes an extremely long time for his particular side effects to fully die down. I still think he's very unstable from regeneration until about halfway through Vengeance on Varos. A problem that persists for so long is bound to have that kind of long-term effect on his personality.

In the case of most other incarnations, stability is usually achieved by the end of their first story. Also, the severity of the side effects experienced by these other incarnations is usually not as intense as Five and Six had it.. So I would say only these two versions were legitimately forged  by the nature of their regeneration. The personalities of other Doctors were not influenced so greatly in such a manner.




PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS:

Again, we see several of these on display during the Fifth Doctor's crisis. But other Doctors show these symptoms, too. Quite a few, in fact. These first two symptoms that I'm listing, here, are actually the most common of them all. With almost every Doctor struggling with them at some point.


Loss of consciousness:
No doubt, regeneration must be a very exhausting process. Which means some serious napping is required after the event. The need for rest is so severe that, quite often, the Doctor doesn't actually make it to a place where he can have a proper lie-down. He tends to just pass out where he stands. In stories like Spearhead from Space, Christmas Invasion and Deep Breath, he emerges from his TARDIS after regenerating and hits the ground within seconds.

In some situations, he does actually make it to a bed or a couch or something of that nature before nodding off. Stories like Robot or The Woman Who Fell to Earth show this happening. But even when the Doctor manages this, the need for sleep is very intense. They tend to go into a pretty heavy slumber.

It is with great exception that a new Doctor doesn't pass out for, at least, a bit after he/she is created. We didn't see the War Doctor or Doctor Nine exhibit these symptoms at all when they first emerged (I like to believe Rose.happens only moments after the War Doctor transitions into Nine - the Doctor seeing his face for the first time in a mirror is a strong indicator that he is fresh from the regeneration) But then, we didn't really see much of either of these regenerations. It could be that they still "caught some zzzz's" during an untelevised moment.

Memory Loss
Another very common symptom. Quite frequently, the Doctor legitimately forgets who he/she is for a while.

This seems more like a physical symptom to me than psychological. The Doctor could lie forever on a therapist's couch and try to draw these memories out and nothing will be effective. The brain just needs some time to heal. No amount of psychological aid is going to make a difference. Just look at how the Thirteenth Doctor describes a whole series of  physiological influences that gets her to remember who she is as she faces down Tzim-Sha (or Tim Shaw).

The first time we really see this displayed is in Castrovalva. The Doctor is climbing up a mountain and he hears Tegan and Nyssa calling out "Doctor!" over and over. "I wonder who he is." is his response. He experiences this problem several more times in later incarnations. In The 96 Telemovie, it's a crucial element of the plot. If the Doctor doesn't remember in time who he is, the Earth will be destroyed. It also serves as a convenient way to re-introduce the show's premise to a new audience.

It should be noted that, on some occasions, he has a different memory problem. In some cases, his memories get scrambled a bit rather than completely lost. The newly-formed Fourth Doctor does a strange summary of the Third Doctor's last season during his first few bits of conversation. Five believes during certain moments of Castrovalva that Vicki and K9 are still around. And Doctor Six keeps calling Peri by different names during Attack of the Cybermen.

Even more interesting to note is that there are instances where the Doctor has experienced memory loss and, because it happens so frequently, he blames his amnesia on regeneration. When, in truth, something else caused it. The Rani actually injects him with a chemical that affects his memory in Time and the Rani, knowing that he'll just think he's experiencing a regeneration side effect. We can also assume that the Ninth Doctor blames regeneration amnesia for why he probably doesn't have a very clear memory of what he did with the Moment during the Time War. In truth, he can't recall what happened because he had a multi-incarnation experience and the timelines became too tangled for him to retain things.


PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS

While there aren't a whole lot of common symptoms in the physical spectrum - they do tend to happen with far greater frequency. We see a slightly greater variance in psychological drawbacks to the process but they don't happen quite as often as the physical stuff.

Erratic Behavior
This is the most common of the psychological issues. K'anpo Ripoche (or Cho-Je or just The Mentor) flat-out warns Sarah Jane and the Brigadier that the Doctor will be acting just a bit weird after he regenerates. That the turbulence of the whole process can make the Doctor behave oddly for a while. The way he chooses some completely inappropriate new outfits for his latest incarnation is a great example of this. Someone has to be barking mad to think running around on 20th Century Earth as a Viking or a court jester is a good idea. But, because he's fresh from the regeneration, it makes sense to him.

We can see this happen a bit with Doctors Two and Seven, too. In truth, of course, it's the lead actor playing up the comedy a little too hard before settling into the role. But we can stretch things a bit and say it's the regeneration getting them to behave erratically.

In the New Series, Twelve is definitely acting strange for a while when he's first created. His erratic behavior may even let him off the hook for, pretty much, murdering a cyborg (unless he jumped - but I doubt it!). I even get the impression that Nine was suffering a bit from this in Rose and during some of End of the World. Up until Jabe expresses her condolences and triggers a deep sadness in him, the Doctor seems a bit "goofier" than he acts for the rest of the series. I'll be the first to admit, this particular observation is highly subjective. But that's how it appears to me. Again, if this is the case, it has more to do with Eccleston finding the character. But it's also a fun way to justify the whole thing!

Identity Crisis
This is one we see from time-to-time. More often in New Who than Classic.

The most prominent example of it was in The Christmas Invasion. The Doctor brings the whole confrontation with the Sycorax Leader to a grinding halt to agonize over the fact that he has no idea what he's going to be like, now. He wanders about quite madly in his bathrobe describing character attributes that he may or may not have. Complaining about the uncertainty of it all. After a moment, he gives his head a shake and gets back to saving the world!

Thirteen delivers that almost haunting monologue describing how difficult it is to latch on to a new personality. Again, it seems like a legitimate moment where she needs to stop and try to figure out who she might be. It almost seems to paralyze her for a bit before she can get on with dealing with a dangerous alien that has come to Earth.

We do see lesser examples of this in Classic Who. That moment in Time and the Rani where the Doctor declares: "Perhaps this is my new personality: sulky and bad-tempered! You don't understand regeneration, Mel. It's a lottery - and I've drawn the short plank!". It is a  far swifter instance of this whole problem. His identity crisis on this occasion seems very short-lived - but it's still affects him for a moment.

Legitimately Abusive Behavior
In some ways, it's erratic behavior taken to an ultimate extreme. But it deserves its own category. There are some much deeper consequences when it occurs. People just find the Doctor silly when he's erratic - but things get far more tense when this symptom manifests.

The clearest example of this is with Six, of course. Many like to site the strangulation scene with Peri in Twin Dilemma as being the greatest example of this. Forgetting that he makes a similar attack on Azmael a few episodes later. What we are seeing in these instances is the regeneration driving the Doctor so mad that he is acting completely out of character. Doing things he would never do. His extreme panic attack in the service tunnels of Titan Three is actually another incident of this nature. It's been stated several times over the years that he is never cruel or cowardly - but he becomes ridiculously fearful when the Jocundans start pointing guns at him.

There are some lesser examples of this in a few other incarnations. Twelve gets pretty verbally abusive during Deep Breath. He harasses the hell out of that poor hobo. His pudding brain accusations also seem extra venomous (this does become a term he uses in a later story or two but he seems less harsh about it, then). And, again, there's that cyborg he may or may not have murdered.

Even Seven gets just a bit too surly with the Rani (who he believes to be Mel, at the time) as they try to fix the damage she's done to her latest invention.

These all seem like instances where the regeneration is causing the Doctor to be abusive.

Flashbacks
This one also bears similarities to another symptom but merits a separate classification. Rather than struggling with his/her identity, the Doctor is reverting to an old one.

The clearest example is in Castrovalva, of course. Peter Davison's impressions of previous Doctors is near-famous, these days. But it's important to note that, as he goes through them, he breaks away from time-to-time and makes panicked declarations to the nature of: "The regeneration is failing!". It's almost like trying to revert to a previous incarnation might be a sort of default setting when the current regeneration did too much damage to the psyche.

We see a more watered-down version of this as the Seventh Doctor makes his costume choices in Time and the Rani. Again, he might be having trouble with asserting his new personality so he starts intentionally picking outfits other incarnations wore.

While I labeled the Doctor's scrambled memories as being physical, there might be a psychological implication to this problem, too. Six calling Peri by all those wrong names or Four summarizing Season Eleven might also represent the slight desire to go back to a more stable time in his lives. Again, I will admit this is fairly subjective. But, one must admit, it's an interesting concept...




And there we have a fairly comprehensive list of the various symptoms the Doctor has experienced after regenerating. As you can see, the process can take a heavy toll. 

I'm going to write a second part to this essay. But we're switching from ANALYTICAL to FIXING CONTINUITY GLITCHES to accomplish this. There is something about the Doctor's regenerations that doesn't seem to quite line up with how we've seen other Time Lords regenerate. We're going to try to work out why that inconsistency happens. 

Here's another essay I wrote on regeneration. Just in case you're as fascinated with it as I am: 
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/08/analytical-weird-regenerations-it.html