Kistler's History of the Time Lords

This article is part of my Doctor Who Guide.

This is a discussion of the Time Lords as has been officially established in the new and classic TV series. Although several novels have gone into further detail concerning the beginnings of Time Lord history, these will not be discussed in great detail since their canonical status is in question. If that bothers you, sorry. It's just how I do things.

GALLIFREY & THE TIME LORDS

When he first appeared, the Doctor said only that he was an exile and was from "another world, another time." In the Second Doctor's adventure "The War Games", six years after the first episode had aired, we learned his people were called Time Lords.

As the Doctor explained in that story: "The Time Lords are an immensely civilized race. We can control our own environment. We can live forever, barring accidents, and we have the secret of space-time travel. Well, we hardly ever use our great powers. We get sent simply to observe and gather knowledge." The Doctor explained further that it was forbidden for a Time Lord to interfere with the lesser races of the universe (though we would later learn that exceptions were made to this rule).

It was not until "The Time Warrior" (TV story 70), over ten years after the show's first episode had aired, that we learned the Time Lords lived on a planet called Gallifrey. Years later, in the Fourth Doctor adventure "Pyramids of Mars" (TV story 82), he revealed that the planet Gallifrey was located "in the constellation of Kasterborus." In "The Invasion of Time" (TV story 97), it was indicated by the cover piece on the Eye of Harmony (more on the Eye later) that Gallifrey was one of six planets in its solar system.

In the TV story "The Sensorites", the Doctor's granddaughter Susan talked about her home world and said "The sky is orange. And the leaves on the trees are silver." The Doctor made a similar statement in the new series in the episode "Gridlock" when he described his home to a companion. The Doctor also mentioned that the planet definitely had mountains, as he had grown up near or on the mountains of South Gallifrey (established in the TV stories "The Time Monster" and "State of Decay").

In "Gridlock", the Doctor described his planet in further detail: "[On Gallifrey,] the sky's a bunt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty, glass dome shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of beat-red grass capped with snow ... The second sun would rise in the south and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver and when they caught the light every morning it looked like the forest was on fire."

In the TV story "The Sound of Drums", the Doctor again described his home world: "We used to call it the shining world of the seventh system. And on the continent of Wild Endeavor, in the mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords ... The oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch."

As we learned more about the Time Lords, it was obvious that the Doctor had been exaggerating (as he often does) when he said that his people could live forever. Though they were gifted with the power to regenerate their form, they could only do this 12 times and each body would eventually wear out. For this reason, certain Time Lords sought to achieve true immortality, such as the Master and another Time Lord featured in the TV special "The Five Doctors."

In "The Deadly Assassin" and "The Invasion of Time", there were references to a transduction barrier and a quantum force-field around Gallifrey that seemingly prevented invasion and presumably also kept anyone from traveling to Gallifrey's past (an understandable precaution from a society of time travelers).

IN THE BEGINNING ...

But how did the society of Time Lords begin? Well, it truly started with the scientists Omega and Rassilon.

"A long time ago, on my home planet of Gallifrey, there lived a stellar engineer called Omega ... It was Omega who created the supernova that was the initial power-source for Gallifreyan time travel experiments. He left behind him the basis on which Rassilon founded Time Lord society.And he left behind the Hand of Omega ... Not his hand literally, no, no.It was called that because Time Lords have an infinite capacity for pretension. The Hand of Omega is a mythical name for Omega's remote stellar manipulator, a device used to customize stars with." - The Seventh Doctor, from "Remembrance of the Daleks"

Omega's device caused the star to erupt like a supernova and then collapse into a black hole. Rassilon stabilized this into a power source strong enough to make time travel possible. It seemed that Omega was destroyed in the same explosion, but later it was discovered that he had survived, taken through the event horizon and into an anti-matter reality.

In "The Three Doctors" (TV story 65), we heard some of the story from Omega's own words. "It was an honor! Or so I thought then. I was to be the one to find and create the power source that would give us mastery over time itself ... I was sacrificed to that supernova. I generated those forces and for what? To be blown out of existence into this black hole of anti-matter? My brothers became Time Lords, while I was abandoned and forgotten!"

This last remark is not entirely true, as the Doctor noted that Omega's name is very famous in Time Lord history as a pioneer and a hero, overshadowed only by Rassilon apparently. Concerning how Rassilon used Omega's newly-created black hole to create time travel, the Time Lords had this following legend (as revealed in the TV story "The Deadly Assassin"):

"And Rassilon journeyed into the black void with the great fleet. Within the void, no light would shine and nothing of that outer nature continued in being except that which existed within the Sash of Rassilon. Now Rassilon found the Eye of Harmony, which balances all things, that they may neither flux nor wither nor change their state in any measure. And he called the Eye to be brought to the world of Gallifrey, wherein he sealed this beneficence with the Great Key. And the people rejoiced ..."

After hearing this old legend, it didn't take the Doctor long to figure out its true meaning, thus discovering another secret about his own people that others had allowed to be forgotten from history.

The Doctor: "[The Sash of Rassilon] is a technological masterpiece. It protects its wearer from being sucked into a parallel universe. Don't you realize what Rassilon did, what the Eye of Harmony is? Remember? 'That which balances all things.' It can only be the nucleus of a black hole ... All the power of the Time Lords devolves from it. 'Neither flux nor wither nor change their state.' Rassilon stabilized all the elements of a black hole and set them in an eternally dynamic equation against the mass of the planet [Gallifrey]."

In that same TV story, the Eye of Harmony (also called "Rassilon's star") was later discovered to be hidden beneath the Time Lord Panopticon. It resembled a large black obelisk.

Years later in the Doctor Who television movie, also known as "The Enemy Within", a structure inside the Doctor's TARDIS was also referred to as the Eye of Harmony. This structure resembled a giant stone eye and was surrounded by staffs that were decorated with one of Rassilon's faces.

Though it was not explained in film, screen-writers and later producers explained that this structure was a link to the true Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey and that, indeed, all TARDISes have a satellite Eye that provides the Heart of each TARDIS with its power (the Heart of the TARDIS was first introduced in "The Edge of Destruction" (TV story 03) and was mentioned again years later in "Boom Town"). Though never fully explained in the show, this idea is considered canon and was mentioned on the Doctor Who official website.

Rassilon's influence was great and it is clear that he (or the Time Lords in their early days) spread his influence into other places of the universe. In "Revenge of the Cybermen", the Seal of Rassilon (also known as the Seal of the Time Lords) appears in the architecture of the alien world Voga.

It's been implied that Rassilon was not the greatest of guys. For once thing, he built the Dark Tower (inspired by the Robert Browning poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came") that stood in the middle of his "Death Zone" and was first seen in "The Five Doctors". Using a time-scoop, warriors and people from various worlds and times would be collected at random and deposited in different areas of the Death Zone. They would have to fight a collection of traps, and each other, in order to get to the Dark Tower first and win their survival. This became known as the "Game of Rassilon." When Rassilon finally died, his body was placed in the Dark Tower, which was renamed the Tomb of Rassilon, and he lay various traps there for any who would try to enter and learn more of his secrets and of the powerful object he had hoarded for himself.

In the audio play "Zagreus", a character stated that the reason so many life forms in the universe have evolved into the humanoid form is because Rassilon, being a humanoid himself, saw this as the perfect form and believed other sentient life should follow it. Thus, according to this account, he used his mastery of time and space to release a virus on various worlds, forcing them to evolve into life forms who would be similar to Gallifreyans in appearance. Those life forms that couldn't conform would be killed by the same virus. Whether this story is true or not remains to be seen.

So what started the Time Lords' vow of non-interference? In the TV adventure "Underworld", the Fourth Doctor explained to his companion Leela that, in their early days, the Time Lords tried to help the primitive people of the planet Minya, giving them medical and scientific aid. But after a while, the Minyans forced these time traveling "gods" to leave and began fighting amongst themselves, using their new technologies to eventually engage in atomic warfare and destroy themselves.

Sickened by this behavior, the Time Lords decided to stay out of the affairs of "lesser races" who obviously were not wise enough to handle their secrets and power.

Despite this vow of non-interference, villains emerged on Gallifrey who would seek to dominate the lesser races of the universe. The most famous of these is the Doctor's arch-enemy the Master. But centuries before his birth, another villain on Gallifrey was the Time Lord named Morbius. As explained in "The Brain of Morbius" (TV story 84), this Time Lord was once President of the High Council and believed that his people should be rulers rather than custodians of the universe. He led an army of Time Lords and mercenaries who were promised eternal life, Morbius laid waste to main civilizations before he was finally defeated by the Time Lords and the Sisterhood of Karn (who are discussed later herein).

After he was captured, Morbius was taken back to Gallifrey and his body was disintegrated in a "dispersal chamber" in order to prevent regeneration.

Another famous Time Lord villain was the man called Salyevin (who the Doctor referred to as a sort of hero from his childhood). Salyevin was imprisoned for "mind crimes." What this means exactly is not known, but perhaps it involved an abuse of his telepathic abilities. He was send to the Time Lord prison known as Shada, but later escaped and found a way to block the memory of Shada from the Time Lords. All of this (and more) is discussed in the uncompleted TV story "Shada", which later became the 8th Doctor audio play of the same name.

The next renegades of Gallifrey that we know about all appeared centuries later. These included: The Monk, the Rani, Azrael, the Master and the Doctor.

THE OLD TIME AND DARK TIMES

Concerning the early history of the universe, the Doctor has sometimes spoken of the Dark Times. In the animated adventure "The Infinite Quest", he explained:

"There are things out there in space ... things that predate our reality. Relics from the Dark Times ... There was a time when the universe was so much smaller than it is now. A darker, older time of chaos. Creatures like the Racnoss, the Nestenes and the Great Vampires rampaged through the void."

Interestingly, it's possible the Doctor took a trip back to this ancient past. In the TV story "Silver Nemesis", an enemy stated that she knew about the Doctor and a secret he had that was connected to "the Old Time ... the time of chaos." Sounds very much like the Doctor's description of the Dark Times.

In the TV special "The Runaway Bride", we learned that the Time Lords destroyed almost the entire Racnoss race, before the planet Earth had even formed. The Racnoss were conquerors who fed on other life forms, not caring if they were sentient or not.

Though we've never heard of any ancient battles between the Nestenes and the Time Lords, Nestenes have fought the Doctor on occasion when they've come to Earth and attempted to take over. Nestenes have not acted directly in these missions, choosing instead to use their mental control over plastic-like matter to create soldiers they call Autons. Autons are usually mannequins and dolls that Nestenes bring to life while rearranging their internal structure in order to arm them with built-in guns.

In the "Pyramids of Mars", we learned about the Osirans, a race of beings who possessed more raw power than the Time Lords and were seemingly older than they. The Osirans inspired many cultures, such as the people of Earth's ancient Egypt, who worshiped the Osirans as gods. As a rule, the Osirans believed that to take the life of another, no matter was the circumstance, was a horrible crime and would not even execute its worse criminals. The greatest villain of the Osiran Empire was Sutekh, who was also worshiped under the name of "Set."

Another group of beings who were clearly identified as older and more powerful than the Time Lords were the Guardians. The White Guardian seemed to be an avatar of order and peace while the Black Guardian seemed to be a cosmic incarnation of chaos and death. Both had enough power to manipulate parts of reality and capture a wandering TARDIS with ease, but both also adhered to certain codes of conduct that prevented them from directly interfering in the universe, forced to act through agents instead. The Doctor first met the legendary Guardians when the White Guardian recruited him to seek out the "The Key to Time", a mission that spanned six stories.

During his Fifth incarnation, the Doctor also met a race of beings called "The Eternals" who lived outside of physical reality and predated the mortal or "ephemeral" races of the universe. Though each Eternal could read minds and control matter and energy at their will, they evidently lacked simple creativity and imagination. Thus, they relied on mortals to give them purpose, identity and entertainment.

In the novels, it was said that a few Eternals had been worshiped as gods by ancient Gallifrey. One of these Eternals called herself Death and took to the role quite willingly. In several of the books and one of the audio plays, the Seventh Doctor encountered Death who saw him as an enemy and threatened that he would die alone and without purpose (which is indeed how the seventh incarnation of the Doctor came to an end, but perhaps she meant his true, final death instead).

During the events of the Last Great Time War, the Eternals were so shocked by the violence they saw that they left our universe entirely. This was stated in the Doctor Who Magazine Annual of 2006 in an article written by Russell T. Davies himself.

In the TV story "State of Decay", we learned that vampires referred to Time Lords as "the Ancient Enemy" (a phrase which, in the novels and radio plays, is also what the Time Lords use to refer to vampires). In that same adventure, the Doctor explained how his people had first encountered the original Great Vampires.

DOCTOR: " ... a race of giant vampires. They came out of nowhere ... They swarmed all over the universe ... Anyway, according to the story, we Time Lords hunted them down across the universe in a war that was so long and so bloody, that we were sickened of violence forever."
ROMANA: "... When was all this supposed to have happened?"
DOCTOR: "Oh, in the misty dawn of history ... when even Rassilon was young."

In that same story, it was said that an emergency instruction by Rassilon was installed in certain time vehicles, including Type 40 TARDISes, such as the Doctor's own ship. When the Doctor found this "record of Rassilon", it revealed further information. According to the record:

"So powerful were the bodies of these great creatures and so fiercely did they cling to life, that they were impossible to kill - save by the use of bow-ships. Yet slain they were - and to the last one - by the Lords of Time. However, when the bodies were counted, the King Vampire, mightiest and most malevolent all, had vanished, even to his shadow, from time and space. Hence, it is the directive of Rassilon that any Time Lord who comes upon this enemy of our people and of all living things shall use all his efforts to destroy him. Even at the cost of his own life.

"Energy weapons were useless because the monsters absorbed and transmuted the energy, using it to become stronger. Therefore Rassilon ordered the construction of bow-ships: swift vessels that fired a mighty bolt of steel that transfixed the monsters through the heart. For only if his heart be utterly destroyed will a vampire die."

In that same story, the Doctor pointed out that vampire legends could be found on every habitable planet. Since the vampire wars spanned the universe itself, it seems possible and likely that the blood-drinkers fed on inhabitants from many inhabited worlds and could have transformed the natives into new generations of their kind. If vampires found a way to spread their genes to different worlds in this way, creating new sub-species with differing abilities and weaknesses, it could explain the differences between the various vampiric creatures the Doctor has encountered in his travels. In his fourth incarnation, the Doctor fought human-turned-vampires who feared sunlight while in his seventh incarnation, the Doctor encountered "hemovores" who were unaffected by sunlight but could be warded off by a person's faith in a higher power. And during his tenth incarnation, the Doctor came across a plasmovore, a humanoid creature who needed to feed on blood regularly and in doing so was able to adopt their basic genetic structure (she seemed to have no supernatural abilities beyond this).

In the audio play "Project Twilight", the Doctor said that the original Great Vampires only came into our universe because the early Time Lords had been experimenting with portals into other dimensions. One portal had allowed the Great Vampires entry into our reality from whatever place it was they called home. This responsibility on behalf of the Time Lords could explain why Rassilon deemed it so important that his people destroy any and all vampires they came across.

In the audio play "Zagreus", a vampire named Lord Tepesh stated that the original Great Vampires had lived peacefully in our universe, feeding only on animals they kept as food supplies, before Rassilon and his people attacked them because he considered them freaks who needed to be exterminated. According to Lord Tepesh, his people only began feeding on sentient life forms when their own food supply became scarce. It's not known how much (if any) of Tepesh's story is true.

THE SISTERHOOD

These folks were introduced in "The Brain of Morbius" (TV story 84). On the planet Karn, there lived a Sisterhood of mystics who had a long-time association with the Time Lords, whom they did not trust. The Sisters of Karn were said to be equal to the Time Lords in mental prowess. Despite their dislike of the Time Lords, the Sisters regularly provided Gallifrey with samples of their "elixir of life", a chemical which allowed the Sisters to have extended life-spans and which Time Lords could use to ease the process of difficult regenerations. The elixir owed its existence to the Sacred Flame of Life, which the Sisters guarded with their lives.

The Sisterhood of Karn aided the Time Lords in defeating Morbius, but not before the villainous Time Lord had destroyed much of their civilization. This could certainly explain their ongoing suspicion that the Time Lords would one day attempt to steal their secret powers. In the novels, a further explanation was given. The novels proposed that the Sisterhood had originally lived on Gallifrey, ruled under a woman called Pythia, and that they had been exiled from the planet by Rassilon who saw his technology as superior to their magic (and who, perhaps, did not like that he could not understand how the Sisterhood accomplished all its tricks).

TIME LORD SOCIETY

The TV story "The Deadly Assassin" revealed that the Time Lords were divided into different clans, each of which comprised various houses and chapters. Clans were led by various Cardinals who also acted as teachers to the younger generations.

The clans we saw in that story were the Arcaleians (who wore green), the Patrexans (who wore heliotrope) and the Prydonians (who wore either scarlet or orange colors). "Plebian classes" were also mentioned, though none were present at the official Time Lord ceremony. Instead, they watched the ceremony via a television-like broadcast.

The Doctor, the Master and the Time Lord founder Rassilon were all of the Prydonian clan. Prydonians prided themselves on cleverness and cunning and other clans feared them for their often manipulative natures. It was stated in the TV adventure "The Deadly Assassin" that to leave the Prydonian clan was so shocking and disturbing to its members that you would, in effect, be giving up "everything", including your birthright and status.

A person's birth name could be considered part of his birthright. This could explain why even the Time Lords always referred to the Doctor by his chosen title and not by the Gallifreyan name he was born with. Likewise, they always referred to the Master solely as "the Master" rather than calling him by his birth name. In the TV story "The Armageddon Factor", the Doctor revealed that he did not like even to be called by his old nickname of "Theta Sigma", possibly because it reminded him of his childhood and the past he left behind.

In "The Deadly Assassin", we saw that Time Lords were ruled by a High Council, the heads of which were the President and the Chancellor. Though the President was originally seen as more of a figurehead than a leader (established in "The Deadly Assassin"), this changed when President Borusa took office and was far more proactive in the use of his power (as seen by his actions in "Arc of Infinity" and "The Five Doctors").

Each President of the High Council was awarded the Sash of Rassilon and the Rod of Rassilon, also known as the Great Key. Over thousands of years, the original power behind the Sash and the Key were lost to history and legend and they were believed to only be ceremonial items until the Doctor discovered their true purposes in "The Deadly Assassin."

The President, along with the rest of the High Council, lived in the Capitol, housed within their great Citadel. In the Capitol, a Time Lord known as the Castellan served as the head of security and commanded the Chancellory Guard, who wore red armor with white cloaks and were armed with "staser" weapons that could instantly kill, thus preventing regeneration. Official matters and ceremonies of the High Council took place in a central chamber of the Citadel known as the Panopticon, referencing the notion that Time Lords were observers of the reality that lay around them (and, perhaps in their mind, beneath them).

Eventually, the Time Lords created a system called the Matrix. The Matrix of Gallifrey was a computer network composed of the downloaded memories/impressions of Time Lords who had died. Thus, the Matrix not only recorded Time Lord history but also could be fairly accurate in predicting future events. If one wished and they had authorized access, they could enter the Matrix and find themselves in a surreal world that was several steps above virtual reality. One could do this either via a mental/computer link-up (such as the President's crown) or they could enter the Matrix directly through a "Matrix door" which acted as a portal into the network and its reality.

The computer banks connected to the Matrix of Gallifrey contained "bio-data" on all Time Lords, alive and dead. This bio-data included a complete history of the person and biological information and each was color-coded to indicate the clan that Time Lord belonged to. To tamper with or steal bio-data was considered a grave offense. The only known case where this happened concerned the Master, who erased his bio-data completely so that the Time Lords could not easily track him, ensnare him or predict his behavior.

CELESTIAL INTERVENTION AGENCY

In "The War Games", the Doctor was finally captured by the Time Lords after having spent years as a fugitive and he was put on trial for interfering with lesser races. After arguing his case, the Doctor was not executed and at some later point he wound up on Earth, forced to serve a temporary exile.

During this exile and for years afterward, the Doctor was occasionally forced into a mission by the Time Lords, his TARDIS taken to a time and place where he was confronted by a situation that threatened the entire universe or Gallifrey itself. In these stories ("Colony in Space", "The Mutants", "The Curse of Peladon", "The Brain of Morbius"), no Time Lords were seen but the Doctor mentioned that he knew they had manipulated him into these situations, that they wanted him to take care of something so they wouldn't "dirty their lily-white hands." In "Genesis of the Daleks" (TV story 78), a Time Lord dressed in black with no symbols of office forced the Doctor to journey to when the Dalek race was just being born. He stated that the Daleks would one day threaten all of reality, including Gallifrey, and that he wished for the Doctor to either sabotage the beginnings of their race or possibly prevent their existence entirely. The mysterious Time Lord dressed in a black cloak reminded the Doctor: "You enjoy the freedom we allow you. In return, occasionally ... we ask you to do something for us."

At the time, this all seemed very strange behavior for a Time Lord, who should have believed in non-interference and in simply maintaining the status quo. In "The Deadly Assassin", we learned the truth. Separate from the High Council was a group of Time Lords known as the Celestial Intervention Agency, led by a "Coordinator." The CIA was implied to be a black ops group whose existence was public but whose duties were often secret and involved manipulative techniques. In "The Deadly Assassin", it was specifically said that the Celestial Intervention Agency was responsible for the Doctor not being executed when he had been put on trial by the Time Lords in "The War Games", on the condition that he become their agent. Hence all the times the Doctor had been forced into a mission for the Time Lords, he was actually working for the CIA. The Time Lord who dressed in black and had no symbols of clan or office was clearly a CIA operative.

This idea that the CIA was behind these missions was confirmed in "The Two Doctors" (TV story 141), where we saw that the Second Doctor (following his trial and some time before his next regeneration) was (forcibly) sent as a representative of the Time Lords to investigate the time travel experiments of other races. It seems then that the CIA is not only concerned with the general security of Gallifrey but also make sure to keep track of any other races that may become rivals as "Lords of Time." The CIA was seen attempting to stifle the progress of other emerging time travel races in the audio play "The Apocalypse Element."

Considering the events of these missions, and in particular "Genesis of the Daleks" and "The Two Doctors", it is clear that, unlike most Time Lords, the Celestial Intervention Agency does not mind interfering with other races and with history if it means preserving their race and society. The CIA was also implied to have manipulated the Sixth Doctor's presence during the events of "Attack of the Cybermen" (TV story 138). In the audio play "Neverland", it was said that the CIA even had its own method of executing home-grown threats to Gallifrey: the Oubliette of Time, which not only disintegrated you but erased your existence from history. Only files kept in a "zero vault" held any record that you'd ever existed.

In some of the novels, the Celestial Intervention Agency was said to have originally been formed as Rassilon's personal guard and operatives. This could explain why the CIA seems to see itself as above the authority of the High Council.

BECOMING A TIME LORD

From the TV stories "The Deadly Assassin" and "The Invasion of Time", it is clear that not all the people of Gallifrey are Time Lords (remember the "Plebian classes" remark). Rather, it seems that the Time Lords are the noble classes of Gallifreyan society. In several TV stories ("The Deadly Assassin", "The Ribos Operation", "The Armageddon Factor"), the Time Lord Academy was mentioned. The Time Lord known as Romana had only recently graduated the Academy when she was around the age of 124. The Doctor confirmed in the TV story "The Sound of Drums" that "children of Gallifrey are taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy."

The Doctor further explained that novices are initiated by being taken to the Untempered Schism, a "gap in the fabric of reality through which can be seen the whole of the [space-time] vortex." Each novice is forced to look into the Untempered Schism before they begin their full training, so that they may understand the nature and raw power of time. "Some would be inspired, some would run away ... and some would go mad."

So obviously Gallifreyans must study to officially become Time Lords, which must mean that there are those who never graduate (and perhaps there are even those who never attended the Academy since they were born without privilege). In "The Armageddon Factor", the Doctor ran into a classmate who had failed out of the Academy. We also know from "The Invasion of Time" that there are people on Gallifrey who live outside the main cities, people called "Shabogans" who the Time Lords see as savage ruffians. Likewise, Time Lords who break the laws may be exiled into the wastelands outside the main city and are referred to as "Outsiders."

This brings up another interesting point. The Doctor has often stated "only Time Lords regenerate." Not "only Gallifreyans." It would seem then that the ability to regenerate is one that is given to Time Lords once they have completed their training and officially achieved their rank. This seems to be confirmed when in "The Five Doctors", the President of the High Council of Time Lords offers an imprisoned criminal a "new set of regenerations", implying once again that the power of regeneration is a product of technology and not something a Gallifreyan is naturally born with.

This also explains a scene from the TV story "The War Games", where the Doctor is put on trial by the Time Lords and is offered a choice of what his next incarnation will look like. The Doctor has repeatedly shown that he has no control over what he will look like with each regeneration and is always surprised by his new faces. But if regeneration is a technologically-imbued ability, then the Time Lords on Gallifrey would likely be able to control it better since they would have access to the same machines that create the ability.

The fact that certain Time Lords have sought cosmic power sources in order to gain immortality or have sought other means of cheating the 13th life rule means that a Time Lord can't just get another set of regenerations if they are running low. The aforementioned Time Lord criminal who was offered a new set of regenerations was an exception to this since he was no longer in possession of his original Time Lord body, having placed his consciousness into a new, non-Gallifreyan body which, naturally, had never been injected with regenerations before.

Well, folks, that about wraps it up. Hope you enjoyed this. If not, why did you read until the end?

Cheers.

Comments

[Jim]

Well done, Alan. Nice synopsis that I wouldn't imagine would lose anyone.