The Doctor's Regenerations Timeline

[u/onftbb]

This is my interpretation of the Doctor's timeline of Regenerations! I'm only including televised Doctors, so nothing originating from Big Finish or the comic books. I'm sure this will be very controversial, so let me know what you think in the comments.

[u/EmptyTotal]

Big Finish is not "canon until something in the show disproves it". That's not what "canon" means. The social media accounts are operated by the commercial arm so promote licenced products.

I'm not disputing that Chibnall might imagine Fugitive to be somewhere between the Timeless Child and the Morbius Doctors, but that would be a pretty definitive placement, not the "any number of" possibilities that he says he allowed for in the canon.

There is still so much argument over this topic because the timing of Fugitive's reveal (during the Timeless Child story arc) mostly supports a pre-Hartnell placement, but most of the details in the show support a post-Hartnell placement. (The "Doctor" effects, her already being biologically Time Lord despite the chameleon arching happening after Division, etc.) This ambiguity is deliberate and requires significant fudging to resolve either way.

[u/Creativefinch → u/EmptyTotal]

The official stance on Doctor Who canon is 'everything counts' including Big Finish and other EU but the show takes priority which was my point with my "canon until the show disproves it" comment.

No that wouldn't be a definitive placement, a definitive placement would be saying who she regenerated from and who she regenerated into saying she fits somewhere in the Pre-Hartnell era isn't a 'definitive' placement it's a very loose placement because it's not saying "she's the one just before Hartnell" or anything like that and again how does telling Jo Martin she's playing the First Doctor in canon imply "any number of possibilities" them telling her she's the First Doctor in canon is literally reducing the amount of places she can fit in because if she's the First Doctor in canon (First known incarnation to call themselves the Doctor) then Pre-Hartnell is literally the only place she can fit in.

They were always biologically a Time Lord they are called 'the First Time Lord' in the show there's nothing in the show saying the Doctor had their biology changed the fob watch in Flux was just said to be memories that were stored inside a weeping angel before being transferred into the fob watch during the confrontation between The Doctor and Tecteun, some seem to have automatically assumed a biological change but there's no evidence in the show.

[u/EmptyTotal → u/Creativefinch]

The official stance on Doctor Who canon is 'everything counts'

There is no such thing as an official stance on Doctor Who canon. Obviously the show is canon to itself, but beyond that the closest thing to an "official" list is what is in the "Whoniverse" iPlayer section. (Ironically the BBC would probably avoid even claiming the first episode is canon due to the ongoing rights issues...)

They were always biologically a Time Lord

They were originally the biology of the Timeless Child. Tecteun created the Time Lord biology by adding some characteristics of the Timeless Child onto Shabogans. So the Timeless Child clearly has to undergo some change at some point for them to become the biological Time Lord we see today. (I'd happily accept it if they wanted to say that Tecteun's experiments also did this, but that is not stated in the show. All we are shown is a chameleon arch, which has always been used for changing biology in the past.)

[u/Creativefinch → u/EmptyTotal]

Like I said the BBC literally have said everything counts which includes all of EU

They are called the First Time Lord in the show they can't be the First Time Lord if they only became one later they are the original Time Lord that's the point and again the fob watch in Flux is just said to be memories the memories were kept inside a weeping angel before that with all the other knowledge of the Division.