the problem with time, for our timelord?

so i was watching the key to time the other day and i noticed something weird is going on. the doctor has lived 750 years between his birth to tom baker. thats right 750 plus years. then between tom and matt smith hes lived roughly 150-200. soooooo how long does a regeneration last? has this ever been addressed? i'm curious now, i never really thought about it before.

Well, the Doctor in his second body, said he was 450, and was still recent when he regenerated, so I'd say 400 is a pretty good number to go by for the Doctor's original form. I'd like to see some pictures of Willian Hartnell as a young man, so we could have an idea as to what the Doctor looked like through out his life. I also say the longest time he stayed in one form was his original form.

But RTD SCREWED UP BIG TIME by saying the Doctor was 900 by the time of his ninth form, he was 900 during his sixth form. Right now, I'd say the Doctor is about 1,200 or so. My explanation, story wise, is that the Doctor did not want Rose to think he was old, so he lied about his age, and 900 is probably fairly young. In The Deadly Assassin, we heard Pandack III, who was a former Time Lord president, reigned for 900 years. Pandack had to at least be a couple of hundred years old when he was elected president, since Spandrel said most presidents are from senior positions, and that tells me that Pandack was most likely serving as some other high ranking political position, and for quite some time, a few centuries at least, before he became president. I'd say Timelords could probably live for thousands of years, not counting the dangerous life style the Doctor lives.

I'd like the idea that the Doctor hasn't kept track of how old he is, and just threw out an age that felt right to him. However, since the Ninth incarnation, he's been pretty consistent...

A point to remeber was WIlliam Hartnell regeneration was done due to his body wearing out. Patrick Troughtons regeneration was a forced by the Time Lords otherwise he would have lived longer in that body. Jon Pertwee and all other regenerations were do to radation, / falling of a satelite Dish, poisioning ect. If all of those Doctors havd lived longer the Doctor whould be much older but still in a younger regeneration.

And If you count the Big Finish Audios as cannon then the 5th - 8th Doctors each have had extended lifes/

Bob1963 wrote:

A point to remeber was WIlliam Hartnell regeneration was done due to his body wearing out. Patrick Troughtons regeneration was a forced by the Time Lords otherwise he would have lived longer in that body. Jon Pertwee and all other regenerations were do to radation, / falling of a satelite Dish, poisioning ect. If all of those Doctors havd lived longer the Doctor whould be much older but still in a younger regeneration.

And If you count the Big Finish Audios as cannon then the 5th - 8th Doctors each have had extended lifes/

Plus the Ned Adventures and Lost Adventures stories. I think the gap between Hand of Fear-Deadly Assassin, Deadly Assassin-Face of Evil, Invasion of Time-The Ribos Operation could have been decades for all we know. Same with Survival-TV Movie, and TV Movie-Rose.

jaredofmo wrote:

I'd like the idea that the Doctor hasn't kept track of how old he is, and just threw out an age that felt right to him. However, since the Ninth incarnation, he's been pretty consistent...

That's cause it was convenient to RTD.

Bob1963 wrote:

And If you count the Big Finish Audios as cannon then the 5th - 8th Doctors each have had extended lifes/

There was a single BF 8th story where he stayed on a moon for 600 years!

I personaly count the Big Finish audios as they feature the origional actors playing the roles. So Colin Baker for example had his time line greatly expanded. Same with Sylvester McCoy the audios with Ace and Hex can run for years until Big Finish finaly decide to regenerate him into Paul McGann. Paull McGann had at least 5 or six 26 episode seasons before I lost count.

Now I agree there is plenty of room for Tom Baker to do audios between "The Deadly Assasin" and "The Face of Evil". The same applys with "The Invasion of Time" and "The Ribos Operation".

A pity the BBC did not do more when they had Jon Pertwee back in the 1990's . They started by inserting storys between "The Time Warrior" and "Invasion of the Dinosaurs"

Bob1963 wrote:

I personaly count the Big Finish audios as they feature the origional actors playing the roles. So Colin Baker for example had his time line greatly expanded. Same with Sylvester McCoy the audios with Ace and Hex can run for years until Big Finish finaly decide to regenerate him into Paul McGann. Paull McGann had at least 5 or six 26 episode seasons before I lost count.

Now I agree there is plenty of room for Tom Baker to do audios between "The Deadly Assasin" and "The Face of Evil". The same applys with "The Invasion of Time" and "The Ribos Operation".

A pity the BBC did not do more when they had Jon Pertwee back in the 1990's . They started by inserting storys between "The Time Warrior" and "Invasion of the Dinosaurs"

Or Green Death and The Time Warrior.

The BBC Radio 5 Jon Pertwee storys featured Elizabeth Sladen and the first one was set between her debut story and the Dinosaurs, the next was was set after "Death to the Daleks" as there are continuity references to the TV storys in both audio adventures

i always liked the idea that he lied about his age but in the key to time romana knows his age from looking at his records which i would say could be false but she knows his real test scores which anger him. lol

i googled hartnell pics and found a really awesome one of him young! but i sadly am not smart enough to post pics.

The Doctor's age has never been consistantly stated. As has been stated, the Second Doctor gave his age as 450. In his Third Body, he announced he'd been a scientist for thousands of years. The Sixth Doctor gave his age as 900 "more or less". The Seventh Doctor inputted his age as the door code: "973".

To blame RTD is pointless. All he did was firmly decide on an age based on the contradictions of the past. Personally, as a Time Traveller, his age would be hard to figure out by that point.

Oh,wow, great pictures!! Especially the bottom one!

I have always assumed about 500 years for a incarnation,baring accidents. But, of course, Pertwee gave his age in thousands of years, but with him,he may have just been bragging and bending the truth, since 4 said he was 750. Unseen adventures(books and audios) can more than make up for the differences,giving each Doctor a longer life.

I have been hoping for an episode with a very young Doctor on Gallifrey for a while,and think it would be great to see as part of the 50 anniversary.

CGren123 wrote:

The Doctor's age has never been consistantly stated. As has been stated, the Second Doctor gave his age as 450. In his Third Body, he announced he'd been a scientist for thousands of years. The Sixth Doctor gave his age as 900 "more or less". The Seventh Doctor inputted his age as the door code: "973".

To blame RTD is pointless. All he did was firmly decide on an age based on the contradictions of the past. Personally, as a Time Traveller, his age would be hard to figure out by that point.

This.

rdks wrote:

Ron's right. This is an awesome pic. Thanks, rdks!

rdks wrote:

hitman hart wrote:

i googled hartnell pics and found a really awesome one of him young! but i sadly am not smart enough to post pics.

i love the jon and bill pic!

What is that from,anyway?

"Will Any Gentlemen...?"

rdks wrote:

That's great!

that was awesome!

Indeed! Wonderful clip! Thanks for finding it, rdks!