Attention! The following contains SPOILERS for the Doctor who episode “The Doctor’s Power”. Read at your own risk!
Doctor who Her farewell episode of Jodie Whittaker’s The Doctor recently aired, and in my opinion, the BBC franchise did the right thing with its latest actress. The episode was a thrill loaded to the brim with cameo cameos from previous cast members, some of whom we didn’t know before it aired. Plus, it didn’t do anything to rule out showrunner Chris Chibnall’s polarizing Timeless Child arc, and I think that’s a good thing.
“The Power of the Doctor” justified Timeless Child’s arc, which is impressive since it doesn’t even mention him directly. As these fans shouldn’t be upset, the episode didn’t find an opportunity to restore it, or campaign for Russell T. Davies to do it on the 60th anniversary or for Ncuti Gatwa’s run in the season. the following should help clarify why this is not necessary.
First, let’s recap the child’s timeless arc and what has changed
The Timeless Child story arc revealed that the Doctor was found as a child by a Shabogan scientist, Tecteun, on another planet. Once Tecteun discovered the Doctor’s ability to regenerate, he was able to design the trait so that all Gallifreans could receive the ability as well. The Shabogans have become “Lords of Time” and although a strict limit of regeneration has been instilled, the Doctor is believed to have an unlimited number of regenerations. The Doctor erased his memory, so he only realized it when the Master unlocked the memory.
Timeless Child’s story arc reconnected a lot Doctor whoThe original origin story and, apparently, former showrunner Steven Moffat’s original solution to the Doctor’s regeneration problems. “The Time Of The Doctor” showed the Time Lords granting the Eleventh Doctor a new cycle of regeneration, but according to this new story, it was completely useless. This, of course, unless the Time Lords send something different and it will be dealt with at a later time.
The Timeless Child premise, coupled with the twisted plots, created a super polarizing twist for Doctor who. Well, for some people anyway, since they definitely agree for a variety of reasons.
There are spells worse than death for the doctor
A common argument I’ve heard against the Timeless Child story arc is that suggesting the Doctor doesn’t have a respawn limit has removed the stakes from Doctor who. If the Doctor can regenerate himself indefinitely every time he dies, can he really be defeated? “The Power of the Doctor” proved that there are far worse fates for someone like the Doctor of Death, especially when you can’t die.
In the episode, the Master teamed up with the Doctor’s greatest enemies and managed to capture him and initiate the “forced regeneration” process. This is similar to what happened to the second doctor , even if the Master has changed his plan. He managed to invent a device that would transmit his consciousness into the Doctor’s body, thus transforming him into the Doctor.
And while the Doctor probably found a way out, the premise was pretty terrifying. The Master intended to destroy all the goodwill his rival had done over the centuries across the galaxy and throw the world into chaos. If the Doctor took too long to return, he would return to a world he would not recognize and would be universally hated.
Things obviously didn’t work out for The Master in his latest storyline, but it just proves that there are ways to injure and incapacitate the Doctor without killing him. I can’t imagine between one and a thousand years being a prisoner of my own body as someone walks through it and then having to deal with whatever happens next. Undoubtedly, there are fates worse than death.
Realistically, fans must recognize that the Doctor “will never die”.
fans say it Doctor who The need to implement strict regeneration limits in The Doctor has always seemed silly to me, especially since sticking to them is unrealistic. Instead Doctor who is operational, the Doctor will never truly die. The whole beauty of the regeneration trait is that the series can change song smoothly without raising too many eyebrows like other series might, and it’s not like the series suddenly decided to end if it was forced to kill the main character.
The idea that the Doctor only had a limited number of regenerations has always been more of a limiting than a liberating narrative. Showrunners in the series’ history were forced to tweak, reconfigure, and re-explain why the Doctor regenerated more or less from time to time. Sure enough, everyone was passing it on to the next person to deal with, and Chris Chibnall ultimately handled it with the “Timeless Child” arc.
Even when Doctor who was canceled in 1989, The Doctor was still alive. It makes sense that if the BBC ever ends the franchise in the future, which seems unlikely any time soon thanks to this new Disney + offer , The Doctor will live forever through other projects. In short, there doesn’t seem to be a reality where the character actually dies, which makes Timeless Child a more valid idea than past regeneration stories.
The story of a timeless child is likely to have little long-term impact on the franchise.
Doctor who Fans might get mad at Timeless Child’s story arc, but it’s actually hard to imagine this change having a huge impact on the franchise in the long run. In addition to establishing that the Doctor can never die, the character ultimately remains more or less the same. You live no more than two thousand years and there are at least some adventures that are more exciting than becoming immortal. Hell, I’m sure fans have forgotten a lot of story arcs from the past and how weird they were, probably because the show rocked things and introduced even weirder story arcs.
Stories like Timeless Child are what makes a show seem Doctor who interesting for decades. Shows that don’t change the status quo are bound to end, especially if they’re scripted. we should applaud Doctor whoand Chris Chibnall, for taking a big turn when it came to a retcon of this magnitude. While not everyone agrees now, perhaps future fans will appreciate the long-term decision better. Or you may be completely wrong and you will become one of the more controversial decisions in the history of the series, although after looking at the current roster, I think it’s pretty much immune to that scrutiny.
Doctor who is on hiatus at the moment, but will return in 2023 with the 60th anniversary specials and also the debut of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor. The future of the franchise looks very bright, so maybe now is the time to get one Disney + subscription to prepare new episodes next year.
Source: Cinemablend
