Pop Culture Safari!

According to Doctor Who mythology, time lords can only regenerate (in other words, be played by different actors) 12 times. But the show's current creators have upped the ante, essentially saying the number of regenerations is unlimited.

Naturally, this has upset some fans. But, y'know, we're now on Doctor 11 and it's a pretty fun series. I'm ok with bending the rules.

Not that, despite what's claimed in this story from the Guardian, the creators don't say the Doctor is immortal, merely that there's no limit on regenerations. I think there's a difference here. There's been a time or two when the Doctor has been so bad off it wasn't certain he'd live long enough to regenerate. The conditions need to be right for him to shed his old face and skin switch into a new body. So, if the show's rating ever get bad enough again...

Here's what the Guardian says:

Fans have always thought that the 13th doctor would be the last, thanks to a 1976 Doctor Who episode, The Deadly Assassin, featuring Tom Baker as the Doctor in his fourth incarnation, and revealing for the first time the regeneration limit. But a passing comment in a children's television programme later this month is set to rewrite history and cast the Doctor, iconic hero of the world's most successful and longest-running science fiction series, as immortal.

The moment comes in the CBBC spin-off show, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which stars former companion Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. Matt Smith, who plays the current Doctor Who, guest stars in a two-part episode called The Death of the Doctor, to be screened on October 25 and 26. While the Doctor and Clyde Langer, played by Daniel Anthony, are in the process of outwitting spooky vulture undertakers the Shansheeth, Clyde asks how many times he can regenerate. The Doctor indicates that there is no limit. The action continues.