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by **Strict31** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:00 pm

nietoperz wrote:She would age very slowly. The first Doctor collapsed due to old age, but he was many centuries old by that point despite only looking like a relatively old human.

So do they age normally as children until they reach...what, puberty? Or do they age slowly all through their lives?

by **The Old Doctor** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:01 pm

Strict31 wrote:I have a question:

So in this episode, Melody Pond is in her early twenties when she regenerates, and takes on the appearance of a woman in her late 40s.

She has no more regenerations allowed to her.

Ignoring for a moment her death in the Library, in theory, would she live out the lifespan of a person in her 20s? Or would she live out the lifespan of a person in her late 40s? Would she visibly and physically age? Or would she remain the same appearance and at the same level of physical ability throughout the rest of her Time Lord lifespan?

I don't really have a grasp on how Time Lords age.

I've long taken it that Time Lords physically age slowly, but based on the physical. So as a 40something, she'd have a shorter life then as a 20something, yet this is still described in hundreds of years.

She still had regenerations at that point. She gave up her remaining to heal/revive the Doctor. There were machines for this to control it that was a plot device in an adventure of the fifth Doctor. Also, the regeneration of the third to the fourth was begun externally by another Time Lord. So I'd say this was something similar. Plus, River was not a true Time Lord, so things could have been a bit different for her.

by **Strict31** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:05 pm

I'm pretty sure she's got a time-head too.

by **The Old Doctor** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:05 pm

nietoperz wrote:She would age very slowly. The first Doctor collapsed due to old age, but he was many centuries old by that point despite only looking like a relatively old human.

That and the Cyber energy thing had that effect.

by **PDH** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:06 pm

Strict31 wrote:I have a question:

So in this episode, Melody Pond is in her early twenties when she regenerates, and takes on the appearance of a woman in her late 40s.

She has no more regenerations allowed to her.

Ignoring for a moment her death in the Library, in theory, would she live out the lifespan of a person in her 20s? Or would she live out the lifespan of a person in her late 40s? Would she visibly and physically age? Or would she remain the same appearance and at the same level of physical ability throughout the rest of her Time Lord lifespan?

I don't really have a grasp on how Time Lords age.

In the episode, River said that she was going to gradually reduce her age just to freak people out, or something like that. I'm guessing this was Moffat's way of explaining why she is younger in the earlier episodes like Silence in the Library despite being technically older by that point.

So, it seems like she has a bit of control over it, or at least her appearance of age.

by **The Old Doctor** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:07 pm

Strict31 wrote:I'm pretty sure she's got a time-head too.

She appears to be linked to the TARDIS. That seems to be why. That and being like a Time Lord, but not. She was conceived and born by humans.

I honestly thought though, it was contrived how she changed from psycho to goodheart type. Too easy.

by **The Old Doctor** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:08 pm

PDH wrote:
In the episode, River said that she was going to gradually reduce her age just to freak people out, or something like that. I'm guessing this was Moffat's way of explaining why she is younger in the earlier episodes like Silence in the Library despite being technically older by that point.

So, it seems like she has a bit of control over it, or at least her appearance of age.

Women... the older they are, the younger they want to look and be thought of. :roll:

by **PDH** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:08 pm

Cat-Scratch wrote:
She appears to be linked to the TARDIS. That seems to be why. That and being like a Time Lord, but not. She was conceived and born by humans.

I honestly thought though, it was contrived how she changed from psycho to goodheart type. Too easy.

Her transformation might not be quite finished yet. Someone has to kill him yet, don't forget.

by **The Old Doctor** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:10 pm

PDH wrote:
Her transformation might not be quite finished yet. Someone has to kill him yet, don't forget.

If it was really him and not a doppelganger or something similar.

by **Chris** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:51 pm

False Prophet wrote:
No I mean the Doctor too, considering what happens in The Impossible Astronaut.

No. He did begin to regenerate. He was killed again before he could.

If you're killed in the middle of a regeneration cycle, you die completely.

by **Chris** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:53 pm

Cat-Scratch wrote:The spanner is that it appears as though there are now only a limited number of regenerations again.

Do you mean for the Doctor??

by **The Old Doctor** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:18 pm

Leviticus Payne wrote:
Do you mean for the Doctor??

Yes, it seems possible that we're back to him also having a limited number again.

I'd prefer to see though, that he's now capable of an indefinite number of them, given he's the last of his race. Maybe even reveal it as some sort of a "curse" from Rasalon during or at the end of the war. Have some future version, like a 100th Doctor come back and try to alter it. Yes it's ripping off the Futurejack story from Grimjack, but I think it'd fit nicely. More so for when Matt leaves the role.

by **Chris** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:29 pm

Cat-Scratch wrote:
Yes, it seems possible that we're back to him also having a limited number again.

I'd prefer to see though, that he's now capable of an indefinite number of them, given he's the last of his race. Maybe even reveal it as some sort of a "curse" from Rasalon during or at the end of the war. Have some future version, like a 100th Doctor come back and try to alter it. Yes it's ripping off the Futurejack story from Grimjack, but I think it'd fit nicely. More so for when Matt leaves the role.

I was under the impression that River sacrificing all of her regenerations to save him, gave the Doctor all her regens.

by **The Old Doctor** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 3:42 pm

Leviticus Payne wrote:
I was under the impression that River sacrificing all of her regenerations to save him, gave the Doctor all her regens.

That could be an answer. How many she had left is hard to say.

by **Chris** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:28 pm

Cat-Scratch wrote:
That could be an answer. How many she had left is hard to say.

I would say she only used a couple. Once that we saw when she was a little kid in New York. Then I'm assuming one we didn't see, because Mels was not old enough to have been alive in 1970. And the one that turned her into Mels. And the River Song one.

So I would guess four were used up.