Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Doctor Who - Christmas Special - Moffat on the Numbering Issue


    Enable Dark Mode!

  • What's HOT
  • Premiere Calendar
  • Ratings News
  • Movies
  • YouTube Channel
  • Submit Scoop
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Privacy Policy
Support SpoilerTV
SpoilerTV.com is now available ad-free to for all premium subscribers. Thank you for considering becoming a SpoilerTV premium member!

SpoilerTV - TV Spoilers

Doctor Who - Christmas Special - Moffat on the Numbering Issue

25 Nov 2013

Share on Reddit
Officially until now, Matt Smith has been the 11th Doctor, meaning fans have started to wonder what will happen in 5-10 years time when we reach 13 after Peter Capaldi.

But Moffat has moved the goalposts, or perhaps more aptly stuck his own sonic screwdriver into the history of the show and given it a big twist.

On Saturday he told me Matt is actually the 13th and final doctor. John Hurt is officially now a doctor and David Tennant used up an extra regeneration during his stay.

In essence, the end of Matt at Christmas should mean the end of Doctor Who.

Where this leaves Peter Capaldi is unclear. But what Moffat would say is: "The 12 regenerations limit is a central part of Doctor Who mythology - science fiction is all about rules, you can't just casually break them.

"So if the Doctor can never change again, what's Peter Capaldi doing in the Christmas special?"

The other thing I know is that Matt's Doctor will talk of "dying" in an emotional speech on December 25.

Source: Radio Times

30 comments:

  1. This is the problem with Moffat. Just casually renumbering everyone when we all know Eccleston is 9, Tennant is 10, and Smith is 11. Don't give me this crap, Moffat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting, Moff also made this point in the current DWM so I think it will be important in the episode. I don't think my heart is going to take Smith giving an emotional dying speech :( Capaldi's Doctor will surely have to explore why he's regenerated again next series? Maybe we'll get an explanation as to why he turned up in the 50th :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well people will still call them 9, 10, 11 etc so that won't change.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well I hope whatever his idea is, that it will mean the Doctor can regenerate at least 8 or 9 more times.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmm. Strange. No idea what'll happen then. Forgot about the false regeneration.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Doctor will continue to regenerate as long as the show remains popular and makes money for the BBC. Like John Barrowman said, they'll find a way to extend the 13 (or 12 like some are saying) regeneration limit.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think that's probably what he is doing. Playing with the numbers so he can later increase the number of regenerations.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I must say I'm not very happy with him messing with the mythology of the show.

    ReplyDelete
  9. maybe the reason why saved the time lord's planet so they could continue with the doctor maybe someone on the planet does something so he can to continue to be the doctor unless they go a different route and have River Song come along with a kid and the doctor's kid calls himself the doctor in honor of his or her father

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is the biggest non-issue in TV today.

    I hope the limit solution makes sense. Failing that, I hope the solution is entertaining. In the end, all this regeneration math is just background noise on the Doctor Who train moving full-speed ahead. Personally, I don't care if The Doctor was granted an additional baker's dozen regenerations by a talking unicorn. Besides the potential entertainment value of the solution, it's really not a big deal. This is just an ongoing plot point that needs a resolution.



    As far as the numbering goes, the fans eventually will land on something resembling a consensus so that is something that will work itself out.

    ReplyDelete
  11. So let me toss this into the works...If Doctor 8 died in the webisode (and it was implied back in "Left Turn" of the Doctor dies to quickly for the regeneration to kick in -- thats it), and got brought back to life with a regeneration -- that would make Peter C Doctor 5 now? (McGann 8, Hurt 1, Eccelson, 2, Tennant 3, Smith 4, Capaldi 5)


    =)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Except he's not. AT ALL. Since the beginning of the reboot, everyone has been talking about the whole 12 regenerations rule (to make 13 Doctors) He's STICKING to the mythology if anything. We had all the numbered Doctors, the WarDoctor who we've just found out about who never went by the name of the Doctor (by himself or later incarnations) and we had the regeneration 10 used when he created the DoctorDonna and the Meta-crisis Doctor. Ever since people found out about JohnHurt Doctor and Peter Capaldi we've all been wondering what's going to happen. All this means is we're getting this answered NOW instead of waiting for a few more Doctors to regenerate and ask the same question.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This also means we might be getting some Valeyard action this series (if they don't do some crazy twist and make Capaldi The Valeyard)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm actually glad that he is addressing the thing now instead of just stretching it, like this is IT.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Timelords somehow gave The Master a second set of regenerations in the old series, it can be done. And with Gallifrey and the Time Lords possibly coming back.....

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh, oh... I see what you getting at. Eight died and was brought back by other means, could that mean his regeneration counter got reseted?


    I personally think it will be more related to Gallifrey.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Agreed, I don't get what messing about people think Moffat is doing, all he's doing is explaining the situation. The numbers that fans use will stay the same, and Hurt is called the War Doctor, it's pretty simple stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  18. That could be one possibility. To be honest, it doesn't really matter to me how they do it, as long as it makes sense with the story, like they did with the 50th episode. What I'm most looking forward to see is the search for Gallifrey and where that leads to.

    ReplyDelete
  19. You're right, better get it over with and continue with the Doctor's journey.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Actually the idea is 12 regenerations - 13 incarnations. Which Moffat has just messed up;

    William Hartnell - 1st Incarnation
    1st Regeneration
    Patrick Troughton - 2nd Incarnation
    2nd Regeneration
    John Pertwee - 3rd Incarnation
    3rd Regeneration
    Tom Baker - 4th Incarnation
    4th Regeneration
    Peter Davison - 5th Incarnation
    5th Regeneration
    Colin Baker - 6th Incarnation
    6th Regeneration
    Sylvester McCoy - 7th Incarnation
    7th Regeneration
    Paul McGann - 8th Incarnation
    8th Regeneration
    John Hurt - 9th Incarnation
    9th Regeneration
    Christopher Eccleston - 10th Incarnation
    10th Regeneration
    David Tennant - 11th Incarnation
    11th Regeneration
    Matt Smith - 12th Incarnation
    12th Regeneration (Creates Valeyard)
    Peter Capaldi - 13th Incarnation
    Death

    Counting the David Tennant 'healing' during The Stolen Earth and Journeys End will mess up this continuity.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I'm guessing the way Moffat will get out of this is by having the Doctor's death split him into a darker and darker side - leaving his final incarnation Peter Capaldi and The Valeyard - while his 'corpse' becomes the timestream that we saw Clara and the Doctor enter (Explaining why they don't see future incarnations in the Time Stream)

    ReplyDelete
  22. That means nothing. The idea was always 12 regenerations. 13 incarnations simply logically followed so of course everyone thinks that's the rule. Ten using 2 is simply a precedent and was a sneaky way of getting around changing faces.

    ReplyDelete
  23. That's pretty much a perfect way to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh and as an added bonus;

    The Valeyard would be revealed to be the reason the Silence are trying to kill the Doctor - having met the Doctor for the first time at the battle (Christmas 2013)

    The Valeyard would be revealed as the one who destroyed the Tardis - with the Time Cracks being formed due to a future part of the Doctor trying to destroy a past part of the Doctor (Explaining season 5 and 6)

    ReplyDelete
  25. You forget - seeing as we've seen Capaldi it doesn't matter whatever Moffat does - as we know Capaldi must be the final incarnation.

    We know this by asking the simple question "How many Doctors came to save Gallifrey?"

    ReplyDelete
  26. Yeah, but the Capaldi cameo was just fanservice. We both know it's not going to end with him. They couldn't have every Doctor appear, because even THEY don't know how many there will be.

    ReplyDelete
  27. InvestedInYourFuture26 November 2013 at 01:16

    I am still waiting for the Plot Tweest, wen Capaldi's doctor discovers that he is not actually "next regeneration" but Valeyard.

    ReplyDelete
  28. It is logic, that Doctor will get extraregenerations in the anniversry year. But now we're having problem with numeration. Typical Moffat.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hold on, the curator/Tom Baker... wasn't a future Doctor? When 11th says to him 'I never forget a face' he says 'I know you don't, and in years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few'. Then he says 'Perhaps I WAS you, of course... Or perhaps you are me'.

    ReplyDelete

NOTE: Name-calling, personal attacks, spamming, excessive self-promotion, condescending pomposity, general assiness, racism, sexism, any-other-ism, homophobia, acrophobia, and destructive (versus constructive) criticism will get you BANNED from the party.