The Doctor is a Time Lord, an ancient alien race, and in many ways he resembles humans, however the Time Lords have the unique ability of regeneration. Basically, when a Time Lord’s current body undergoes significant amounts of damage he or she will begin to regenerate into a new body. This change often includes an entirely new body, an entirely new appearance, new likes and dislikes, a new voice, the new incarnation can be many years younger or older than the previous, etc. At first glance one might be inclined to say that this new figure cannot possibly still be the Doctor, in fact on several occasions the companions he travels with have seen him regenerate and are terrified because they have no idea who this new person is. However, despite the fact that regeneration causes the Doctor to undergo what seems like a complete physical and psychological change, he is still and always will be the Doctor; this is because he still possesses all of the memories from his previous incarnations. The fact he has a different sense of humor, no longer likes fish finger and custard, or he wears a bowtie now are all coincidental properties, none of them are definitive of the
The Doctor is a Time Lord, an ancient alien race, and in many ways he resembles humans, however the Time Lords have the unique ability of regeneration. Basically, when a Time Lord’s current body undergoes significant amounts of damage he or she will begin to regenerate into a new body. This change often includes an entirely new body, an entirely new appearance, new likes and dislikes, a new voice, the new incarnation can be many years younger or older than the previous, etc. At first glance one might be inclined to say that this new figure cannot possibly still be the Doctor, in fact on several occasions the companions he travels with have seen him regenerate and are terrified because they have no idea who this new person is. However, despite the fact that regeneration causes the Doctor to undergo what seems like a complete physical and psychological change, he is still and always will be the Doctor; this is because he still possesses all of the memories from his previous incarnations. The fact he has a different sense of humor, no longer likes fish finger and custard, or he wears a bowtie now are all coincidental properties, none of them are definitive of the