A Study of Regeneration: Lord or Lady?
Guest contributor Andrew Bohman examines gender change in regeneration.
After fifty years of ambiguity, what is perhaps Doctor Who’s most controversial question has been not only answered, but tackled full on. Ever since William Hartnell became Patrick Troughton, people have been speculating, campaigning, and bickering over whether or not our John Smith could ever become Jane Smith. Nearly every time a Doctor’s departure is announced, we make a commotion over whether or not his shoes will be filled by a woman. The idea of a Time Lord (or Lady) changing his or her sex is one of obvious controversy, raising questions of politics, viewership, plot effectiveness, science, and any sort of details one could debate over. But now this dispute has been thrust into the limelight once more with the Series 8 finale revealing that the Master, the Doctor’s old arch-nemesis and undoubtedly the most prominent Time Lord within the show apart from the Doctor, has regenerated into a Time Lady called Missy. Many are thrilled by this, many are horrified by this, and many don’t see what the big deal is. While it’s not the Doctor who has become a woman, it’s the next-best/next-worst thing. While I certainly have opinions on the matter just as anyone else does, I want to pause for a moment and set my sights on how it works in the philosophy and science of regeneration itself, from as neutral a standpoint as I can place myself.
Some Perspective: What We Know (and Think We Know)
Last year I wrote a short series of articles (linked at the bottom) pertaining to the philosophy of regeneration itself, and many of the ideas introduced there will be brought up within this discourse. To summarize my standpoint on regeneration theory, I presented the general idea that regeneration is like death—be it a literal death and rebirth of the mind or a feeling of death resulting from the shock of complete change—but that each incarnation of a Time Lord shares a continuity of memory with the previous, hence each individual regeneration is separate and unique but still part of the same mind and organism with the same core values and personality. It was also brought up that one can regenerate either in an emergency situation, repairing all the damaged cells by replacing them with new ones, or willingly for the sake of changing appearance and rejuvenating. In the latter, the regeneration is controlled and the individual can change their specific appearance to their liking, but the former must happen rapidly to heal and hence seems random.
Let’s look at what we know about Time Lords changing sex in the canon of the show. Of course we know the Master did it, and before that there were two canonical mentions of the concept. The first was in The Doctor’s Wife in which we learned of a renegade Time Lord called the Corsair who was normally male but had at least one female regeneration. The second was in The Night of the Doctor in which the Eighth Doctor is offered a controlled regeneration by the Sisterhood of Karn, in which Ohila offers that he can choose to be “man or woman.” So, it is clear that there are instances when Time Lords have changed and can change sex in regeneration. But, an obvious question pops up—if a regeneration is always random and “male” and “female” are two equally weighted characteristics, why doesn’t it happen more often? If it’s a 50/50 chance, why do Time Lords or Ladies tend to regenerate into a specific sex all the time?
Putting Together the Pieces: A Theory
My theory to answer that question is this: Time Lords can only change sex in a controlled regeneration. In other words, they will only be able to deviate from their initial sex if they want to. That would explain why the Doctor has always been a man, because he has never decided to change his sex. In addition, he almost always had uncontrolled regenerations, hence he would always be a man. Time Lords seem to gravitate towards a certain set of characteristics which stay relatively constant throughout each regeneration—they are characteristics fundamental to identity. This would mean that Time Lord sex changes are relatively rare and wouldn’t be commonplace among them, perhaps much like human sex changes are relatively rare.
So what support would there be for this theory apart from the evidence we have of Time Lords repeatedly regenerating into the same sex? Scientifically, for one, perhaps it’s harder. There is much more biological difference to compensate for and hence it would likely expend more energy than a same-sex regeneration, as new cells and organs have to be created rather than just replaced (I’ll leave it at that). It would hence make sense that not bothering to change sex would be the fastest, most efficient way to regenerate. While on that subject, could an emergency regeneration possibly result in a sex change? Maybe, but if that were to happen I would say it would somehow be a quirk in the regeneration, as obviously it does not happen often.
A Question of Identity – Male or Female?
This may be controversial, but it should be mentioned that sex plays a huge role in the personality and identity of an individual. I have to tread carefully here; I understand there are some who may disagree with me and I respect that. Of course physically there are universal differences between men and women, there’s no question of that, but there are also differences metaphysically. Males and females have different hormones and different constructions of the brain which obviously result in many variances in how they tend to act and think. I’ll clarify that I am not saying any sort of stereotypes between the sexes exist with no exceptions (there are always exceptions) and this is by no means implying any sort of inequality between men and women. One can be perfectly equal in status but possessing some differences with another at the same time. This simply all goes to say that sex is a key part of one’s identity, and changing from man to woman is not like changing from black to white or from tall to short, in which the differences are merely superficial. While a Time Lord’s memories would remain fully intact, a key part of his identity would be changed if he suddenly became a Time Lady (or vice versa). So how would their identity be affected? Would they be fully of the opposite sex, or would they be of a single sex in the body of the opposite sex?
Let’s approach the question by asking if we should refer to the Master as “him,” “her” or “him/her.” The Eleventh Doctor gives a hint when he says regarding the Corsair, “Fantastic bloke. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. Didn’t feel like himself unless he had the tattoo. Or herself, couple of times. Ooh, she was a bad girl.” Missy is also clearly a woman inside and out, based in part on how she referred to herself as a Time Lady. So it seems each incarnation is of their own individual gender, rather than the Time Lord/Lady’s primary gender in the body of the opposite sex.
However, if you’re like me, I’d find it a pain to have to say “he/she” every time we mention the Master, so I will offer this explanation to satisfy myself and anyone else who may feel the same. The Master is a male Time Lord, with a single female incarnation. I would say a Time Lord should be referred to by their primary sex (in this case, “he”) and only their specific opposite-sex incarnations should be referred to by the opposite. Missy is a female deviation of the Master, and while she possesses the memories and values of her male predecessors and is in essence the same individual, I would label her an “anomalous regeneration” just as the War Doctor is. Hence she is not defining to the Master’s overall person, just as the War Doctor does not define the Doctor (contribute to, yes, but define, no). The War Doctor has a different name— a different identity—than his other incarnations, as does the Mistress. Note that this is not saying that Missy is an anomaly simply because she is a woman (I would say the same if a Time Lady regenerated into a man), but rather because she does not fall under the title of Master and, more importantly, varies on a major component of his identity.
Conclusion
So there are my personal insights on this new change, specifically in relation to their ramifications within the scope of the Whoniverse. I considered presenting my own opinion from outside the show, but I’ll save that for a follow-up article, possibly. In summary, I believe the Mistress is an entirely female incarnation of the Master, but even though they may be the same individual, she is an anomalous version and hence doesn’t necessarily change the Master’s overall identity or past as male. This event has surely changed regeneration theory forever, and whether or not it’s for the better is for each of us to decide for ourselves.
Catch-up on other articles in this series:
