If Dr Who always regenerates at death how come he is the only one left. Where are rest of his planet?

Question

If Dr Who always regenerates at death how come he is the only one left. Where are rest of his planet?

Answer 1

I have watched Dr Who since the very first episode featuring William Hartnell. When William became ill (and eventually died)  they had to find a way of replacing him seamlessly so the regeneration scheme was worked out. Over the years this happened every time a new actor was introduced. It was explained in an early episode that all Time Lords from Gallifrey (the Doctor;s home planet) went through this metamorphosis which explained their longevity. They also have two hearts which is why it is not easy to kill them. The Doctor's evil counterpart, The Master, was also a Time Lord who regenerated when Roger Delgado, who played him, died in real life so an alternative actor had to be brought in as his regeneration.

Answer 2

Gallifrey, the home planet of the Time Lords, was destroyed in the Time War against the Daleks; the Doctor has hinted more than once that he is responsible for ending the war by destroying Gallifrey himself, in the hope that the Daleks would be annihilated as well.

My thought is that Gallifrey and almost all Daleks were  removed from Time and Space entirely; otherwise, the Doctor could simply go back to a time before Gallifrey was destroyed...it wasn't very long ago, relative to his personal time.

Answer 3

whaaat? i never really thought about that one! good question. oh dunno my mam told me he can only regenerate 12 times and then he'll be dead froever but i doubt the daleks would have been able to kill every single time lord twelve time except for the doctor who is on his tenth regenertation...hmm. no idea.

Answer 4

Doctor Who is a Time Lord from a planet that no longer exists. Time Lords can regen 13times. His whole planet and all the other Time Lords (except the Master) battled the Daleks in the Time War. He never gives specifics but some how he ended the war and his planet and all the Daleks were killed.

Answer 5

It has been worked in to the story line for many years that the Doctor was more than just a time lord but one of the three. Rassalon, Omega, and the Other, the Doctor being the Other. When the time War was ended he used his knowledge of the secrets of the past to destroy the Daleks as they took over Galifrey and removed them from all of time and Space, watched the Planet Burn as he put it. there was no way to restore what was gone, the Daleks home world of skaro was destroyed by the Doctor in the 25th Anniversary season by the Hand of Omega, and the same device may have been used on his own people.  Perhaps they will tell but I'm not going to bet on it.

Answer 6

He was not just from a lucky planet (superman style) - he was also a Time Lord which is where the regeneration came from. Periodically he explains himself.

Answer 7

As CC of Oz noted:  Note: According to the classic Doctor Who series, Time lords are limited to 12 regenerations, then they die.

Additionally, "regeneration" is not completely "fool-proof" -- Time lords have two hearts, and their regeneration appears to be more-or-less "self-resuscitation."  If they are "killed again" between their "death" and their regeneration they will die - completely.  So, obviously, if they are blown up or their bodies are otherwise completely destroyed (I think that would be included decapitation), they cannot regenerate.  

Also, they are rather weak and disoriented (perhaps comparable to a butterfly fresh from the cocoon -- fully matured, but fragile) when they first regenerate, and, could easily be killed again in this state.  (This explains why/how the Dalek's all but erradicated the Time Lords in war.)

As for the 12 regeneration limitation.  For those who have also watched Torchwood (Captain Jack Harkness also appeared in Doctor "Who Last of the Timelords" episode) -- I suspect that the creators/writers have "built-in" an exception to that limitation via the "Bad Wolf" episode of Doctor Who.

Answer 8

well first of all the master chose not to regenerate

in the time-war in which the timelord fought against the daleks, the timelord's home planet (Galifrey) was destroyed also

if the timelords managed to survive the time-war, (which they probably could of), then there would be no story to tell - it would just be a happy timelord family; which would mean the Dr would no longer be the only one so in a way he would not be as significant because he wouldn't therefore be the LAST timelord

the writer, (Russel T Davies) said it himself - they reason that they ended series 4 the way they did was to go back to the heart of the show - a lonely Dr

if there was more than one then life would be so much easier for the Dr

Answer 9

Note to Rich Z

Good point but didn't they do the same thing in Dallas / Dynasty etc without even bothering to explain why the same character now looks completely different (or even in one case why the character was dead for the whole previous series but has now reappeared)

Answer 10

The Doctor is from a race of people called the Time Lords.  Their home planet was Gallifrey.   At the start of the New series of Doctor Who it was stated that there was a time war between the Daleks and the Time Lords in which the Doctor took part.   The Doctor was believed to be the only survivor of his race from that war.   In a later season it was revealed his biggest Time lord adversary, the Master, had also survived.

Note:  According to the classic Doctor Who series, Time lords are limited to 12 regenerations, then they die.  The Master had already used his regenerations up by the time of the classic episode "The keeper of Traken".   He resorted to stealing another body in order keep regenerating.    The Doctor is up to his 9th regeneration.  It remains to be seen how this will be dealt with in future episodes.