just on how regeneration was established.
please elaborate.
Not counting the EU, the classic series established 12 regenerations, no more no less, and then that was the end. While the closest thing a Time Lord could control was their appearance; Night of the Doctor comes along claiming to engineer the Doctor to a “warrior” and that the ninth, tenth, and eleventh incarnations were in name only.
With the 2013 Christmas special, the long awaiting of looking forward to the final thirteenth incarnation where his death would be on Trenzalore, the prophecy of
"the oldest question in the universe would be asked…" (Clara read the book w/ the Doctors name in Journey to the Center of the TARDIS then had flashbacks of it in The Name of the Doctor) with the Silence, and the Doctors future encounter with Lorna Bucket was all thrown in the trash when the BBC made the changes in the 50th anniversary special. It was a sorry excuse of trying to wrap it all up.Well they kinda had to do something about a timelord having only 12 regenerations. If they did not, the Doctor would eventually die and the show would be over.
The show was supposed to end after 12.
It was??? I’ve never heard this before.
IIRC, regeneration was written into the show because it wasn’t supposed to end. I mean, if the only reason to have a show is for it to end, why didn’t Who end in 1966?
The show didn’t end in 1966 because the process of replacing an actor with another one in the same role was a very common solution back then even to this day (James Bond, Darrin Stephens, Lily Munster). They used the concept of “regeneration” to explain the change so that it would make more sense to the viewer especially for a sci-fi show (although for Patrick Troughton it was explained that the TARDIS reversed the Doctor’s clock making him younger). Then The Deadly Assassin established 12 regenerations total for 13 incarnations after which a Time Lord would suffer permanent death. This meant that at the end of the Doctor’s thirteenth incarnation he would suffer a permanent death and no mention of getting a whole new cycle was made till Steven Moffat and the BBC retconned it so that they could keep the show going on forever.
Honestly, Matt Smith was made to be the last regeneration because Moffat wanted to solve the problem himself. He’s introduced so many characters and ideas that are intended to be the most important things in the Doctor’s being (River Song, Clara, “that sound is the parking brake”, regenerating into different races/genders, the 50th, etc. etc.) that it’s only natural he would want to tackle that problem too.
I’m only speculating, though.
It was not his place to tackle the problem. I remember an interview with Peter Davidson, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy where Peter Davidson said when he met Steven Moffat after the specials aired he shook his hand then whispered into his ear “What have you done?”.