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From: mom@sfmag.UUCP (M.Modig)
Newsgroups: net.tv.drwho
Subject: Re: How do you kill a Time Lord?
Message-ID: <806@sfmag.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Dec-85 00:00:55 EST
Article-I.D.: sfmag.806
Posted: Thu Dec 12 00:00:55 1985
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> In _The_Five_Doctors_, one of the members of the high council on Gallifrey
> was killed by one of the guards.  Why didn't he regenerate?  In 
> _Arc_of_Infinity_ another person on Gallifrey was killed and did not 
> regenerate; aren't all Gallifreians Time Lords?
> 
All Gallifreyans are NOT Time Lords.  The general consensus seems to
be that you have to at least graduate from the Academy to really be
considered one.

As far as regenerations go, it really depends on what you are
willing to go along with.  There are several cases where the Doctor
probably should have started regenerating-- "The Leisure Hive" comes
to mind-- the Doctor's body should have reacted to the enforced
aging of the recreation generator by trying to regenerate.

Regeneration appears to be at least somewhat a conscious process in
that a Gallifreyan with proper training can initiate and control the
process.  This means that if you drop a 16 ton weight on a
Gallifreyan they probably won't regenerate because there is no
consciousness left to initiate and control the regeneration.  When
you consider the Doctor's regenerations, it also comes to mind that
(excepting Troughton --> Pertwee) they were all due to some cause
which was serious, but was gradual in effect [I'm not going to argue
about Tom Baker's fall here; I think a fall from that height would
kill anyone, but he was conscious, though dying, after impact],
as opposed to a blast
of energy that damages the target all at once.  Thus there was time
to begin and control the process before death actually occurred.

The fact that regeneration is a conscious and controllable process,
more or less, also suggests that there is probably some portion of
the brain responsible for it.  Damage to this area would result in
regnerative failure.

> I must confess I don't know much about the Doctor's race.  Would
> someone enlighten me please ??
> Thanks in advance.

Not a great deal is known about Gallifrey, but what is known would
probably put this group back in the Top 25 Newsgroups list for a few
weeks, at least.  There are many shows involving Gallifrey and
Gallifreyans.  Several come to mind almost immediately:

The War Games
Brain of Morbius
Invasion of Time
Arc of Infinity
Three Doctors
Five Doctors
Terror of the Autons
Genesis of the Daleks
The Deadly Assassin
Colony in Space
The Armaggedon Factor
The Time Meddler
The Daleks' Master Plan

...plus, of course, episodes featuring The Master and Romana

I'll leave the summary to some one else, since I am usually terribly
long-winded, and just say that these episodes form the basis of what
we know about Gallifrey.  A fairly good summary of Gallifrey can be
found in the first Peter Haining book, "Doctor Who:  A Celebration".