Doctor Who - "The Deadly Assassin" - About, Regeneration - Spoilers!
Doctor Who - The Deadly Assassin - Spoilers!
by Robert Holmes
[Part 1 - Discussion about regeneration.]It's been a long while since I've watched a Classic Doctor Who show. Some time in the 1970's would have been the last time. However, there was information in "The Deadly Assassin" which I've read about on the internet that I wanted to confirm personally, rather than taking what I'd read on the internet, entirely on trust.
The short series is made up of 4 episodes, each episode running for a little over 20 minutes.
CAST: The Doctor - Tom Baker; The Master - Peter Pratt; Cardinal Borusa - Angus MacKay; Castellan Spandrell - George Pravda; Chancellor Goth - Bernard Horsfall; Commander Hilred - Derek Seaton; Commentator Runcible - Hugh Walters; Co-ordinator Engin - Erik Chitty; Gold Usher - Maurice Quick; Solis - Peter Mayock; The President - Llewellyn Rees; Time Lord 1 - John Dawson; Time Lord 2 - Michael Bilton; Voice - Helen Blatch
Save for a few of the above characters' titles, anyone reading the list would be justified in believing that the episode took place on planet Earth but, as it happens, most of the action takes place on the Doctor's home planet of Gallafrey and all people who appear in this show are Gallafreyan. With an interesting piece of intel made available, namely that the Doctor is a Pygorian, and there are various nationalities(?) of Time Lord. Of the Pygorians Chancellor Goth says: "We simply see a little further ahead than most".
But what I wanted to confirm, first hand, were the the number of regenerations a Time Lord could undergo with an understanding that only 12 regenerations are possible. Meaning, 13 incarnations in total.
Letting the cat out of the bag and telling the story out of order, in this show the subject of Time Lord regeneration is spoken about because The Master, who has secretly lured the Doctor to Gallafrey for his own nefarious reasons, is on his last regeneration.
Peter Pratt's awful depiction - not the actor's fault, I might add - of the Master would be due to this fact. I recall how well-tailored Roger Delgrado was in his interpretation of the Master between 1971 and 1973 (he died in '73).
So it came as a shock in this story, that the Master's appearance is grotesque. But his physical form is degenerating. He is heavily clothed, mostly covered save for his hands (still with skin) and his skull, on which there is no skin. He still has eyes to see with but these quivver like jelly in his eye sockets. It is gross.
This building an impression, however, that the Master's corporeal form is close to the point of falling to pieces.
The Master, then, has already reached his 12th regeneration while the Doctor (Tom Baker), is on his 4th regeneration, and yet it's generally agreed that they are contemporaries. The Master has, thus, been using his regenerations in a cavalier manner and he is desperate to live on. Notwithstanding that this will result in the wholesale destruction of anything up to 100 inhabited planets. And the Master never did do anything in an understated way.
In the show, the Doctor has said that the Master has a plan.
Co-ordinator Engin, an elderly, benign and altogether pleasant man, says: "After the 12th regeneration there is no plan that will postpone death."
And, actually, that's all that's said about the limit of regeneration, one sentence and by a minor character.
Which sentence has, however, had a big impact on Who fans and Who writers alike because (as mentioned in an earlier blog) the current Doctor Who (Matt Smith) used up the 13th regeneration in 2010 when taking over from David Tennant.
So, ironically, the Doctor in 2013 is seen to be in the same boat as the Master in 1976, with all 13 incarnations done and dusted.
And yet, in the Xmas Special, there likely will be no similarity of a decidedly uncool deteriorating physical condition by Mr Cool, Matt Smith, when the bell tolls for him.
We can at least hope not.
by Robert Holmes
[Part 1 - Discussion about regeneration.]It's been a long while since I've watched a Classic Doctor Who show. Some time in the 1970's would have been the last time. However, there was information in "The Deadly Assassin" which I've read about on the internet that I wanted to confirm personally, rather than taking what I'd read on the internet, entirely on trust.
The short series is made up of 4 episodes, each episode running for a little over 20 minutes.
CAST: The Doctor - Tom Baker; The Master - Peter Pratt; Cardinal Borusa - Angus MacKay; Castellan Spandrell - George Pravda; Chancellor Goth - Bernard Horsfall; Commander Hilred - Derek Seaton; Commentator Runcible - Hugh Walters; Co-ordinator Engin - Erik Chitty; Gold Usher - Maurice Quick; Solis - Peter Mayock; The President - Llewellyn Rees; Time Lord 1 - John Dawson; Time Lord 2 - Michael Bilton; Voice - Helen Blatch
Save for a few of the above characters' titles, anyone reading the list would be justified in believing that the episode took place on planet Earth but, as it happens, most of the action takes place on the Doctor's home planet of Gallafrey and all people who appear in this show are Gallafreyan. With an interesting piece of intel made available, namely that the Doctor is a Pygorian, and there are various nationalities(?) of Time Lord. Of the Pygorians Chancellor Goth says: "We simply see a little further ahead than most".
But what I wanted to confirm, first hand, were the the number of regenerations a Time Lord could undergo with an understanding that only 12 regenerations are possible. Meaning, 13 incarnations in total.
Letting the cat out of the bag and telling the story out of order, in this show the subject of Time Lord regeneration is spoken about because The Master, who has secretly lured the Doctor to Gallafrey for his own nefarious reasons, is on his last regeneration.
Peter Pratt's awful depiction - not the actor's fault, I might add - of the Master would be due to this fact. I recall how well-tailored Roger Delgrado was in his interpretation of the Master between 1971 and 1973 (he died in '73).
So it came as a shock in this story, that the Master's appearance is grotesque. But his physical form is degenerating. He is heavily clothed, mostly covered save for his hands (still with skin) and his skull, on which there is no skin. He still has eyes to see with but these quivver like jelly in his eye sockets. It is gross.
This building an impression, however, that the Master's corporeal form is close to the point of falling to pieces.
The Master, then, has already reached his 12th regeneration while the Doctor (Tom Baker), is on his 4th regeneration, and yet it's generally agreed that they are contemporaries. The Master has, thus, been using his regenerations in a cavalier manner and he is desperate to live on. Notwithstanding that this will result in the wholesale destruction of anything up to 100 inhabited planets. And the Master never did do anything in an understated way.
In the show, the Doctor has said that the Master has a plan.
Co-ordinator Engin, an elderly, benign and altogether pleasant man, says: "After the 12th regeneration there is no plan that will postpone death."
And, actually, that's all that's said about the limit of regeneration, one sentence and by a minor character.
Which sentence has, however, had a big impact on Who fans and Who writers alike because (as mentioned in an earlier blog) the current Doctor Who (Matt Smith) used up the 13th regeneration in 2010 when taking over from David Tennant.
So, ironically, the Doctor in 2013 is seen to be in the same boat as the Master in 1976, with all 13 incarnations done and dusted.
And yet, in the Xmas Special, there likely will be no similarity of a decidedly uncool deteriorating physical condition by Mr Cool, Matt Smith, when the bell tolls for him.
We can at least hope not.