Regenerating into a body with only one arm, or one eye, or even no hearing presented obstacles that could be overcome one of the Time Lords’ strongest rules of society was you played the hand you were dealt. There had been cases of Time Lords regenerating with major deformities and physical issues. Time Lords often changed skin colour, too the fact the Doctor had been Caucasian each of his lives so far was more a case of odds than anything else. For some it was just an annoyance and a price one paid for near-immortality, while others such as Missy and the Corsair embraced the change. Some Time Lords even ended up changing gender from time to time. Blond, brunette, ginger - you never knew what you were going to get. Regeneration was, as one of his earlier selves so accurately put it, a lottery. Officially, it was known as the Regeneration Abort Failsafe.

That was because the idea of a suicide button, while sound, was simply too dangerous.Īt least, that’s what he and his fellow campaigners had called it. The Doctor vaguely remembered being a member of that group. The old Type 40s had it as standard issue, until a campaign by a group of Time Lords had resulted in it being removed from the specs of all future TARDISes. It was a big red button that wasn’t listed in the manual. And if she would ever forgive him if he did. The Doctor stared at the big red button, glimmering on the TARDIS’ console, and wondered if he could ever live with himself if he pushed it.

Doctor who red button gif