Why didn't the War Chief regenerate?

[shada pavlova]

I don't mind accepting the good ones as canon, but the trouble is that opens the door to being forced to accept tripe like Divided Loyalties, which would be just madness

But the whole War-Chief-regenerating-thing was in Timewyrm: Exodus, Not Divided Loyalties.

[Andrew Curnow]

I realise that - but my point is, if you're making a case that you should accept the books because they're 'official' then you've got to accept them all. And too many of them are too bad for me to want to do that!! Divided Loyalties (since it's come up) is just awful, and the absolute worst bit of it is the flashback to the Academy where every damn Timelord we've ever met is in the same class. It's just awful, awful, awful, yeuch!!

And so is The Scarlet Empress!

[shada pavlova]

Divided Loyalties may be a terrible story, but at least it's got buckets of continuity. And some of us thrive on the stuff.

Scarlet Empress did not only make no sense, it also did not relate to anything meaningful at all, within itself or in the wider DW universe.

Oh, and whilst I'm ranting about Paul Magrs, WHY WASN'T IRIS WILDTHYME IN SICK BUILDING?!?!?!?!!?

[Andrew Curnow]

Divided Loyalties may be a terrible story, but at least it's got buckets of continuity

I'd replace "but at least" with "not least because". Oh, and I might have put "sick" in front of "buckets"...

Anyway, I feel obliged, in respect of the Modlike powers entrusted to me, to point out that we're wondering off topic. Going back to the War Chief, then, who, as we've established, did not regenerate - one wonders whether when devising the Master just 12-18 months later, Terrance didn't think about just bringing back the War Chief rather than inventing the Master (not least because as co-creator of the character, he'd probably be in line for a penny or two in copyright royalties)!

[shada pavlova]

Grrr...damn your Modlike powers...just when I was getting all worked up...Pip, don't say a word!

If the mighty Tewwance ever comes across this, he'll probably start kicking himself.

[SiHart]

I think judging by his comments about The War Games on the DVD he may have been trying to forget it ever happened!

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

Anyone got any theories as to the significance of the War Chief's mysterious pendant? It's very large and shiny. Maybe it was a force field and he was only playing dead?

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

He seems to wave it about as if it somehow signifies 'the power of space-time travel which only my people*** have' at various times. Maybe it's a nattier version of those clunky film cans they use in TOATL, to carry around secrets. I have visions of the War Chief sleeping with it under his pillow, to make sure nobody steals it.








***plus the Daleks, and the Sontarans to a degree, and whoever made that ship the Cybermen nicked in Attack, plus...

[SiHart]

I think he stole it from Delegate Zephon from The Daleks Masterplan...

Si xx

[Wayne]

Just to go back & annoy any over-zealous mods.

I've never read any Who books (Targets aside) but there must be so many of them out there by now that i wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some that contradicted others when trying tie stuff together from the tv series?
In that were the case, which one are you supposed to believe?
Motto being: None of them really count.

[Jon Masters]

Just to go back & annoy any over-zealous mods.

I've never read any Who books (Targets aside) but there must be so many of them out there by now that i wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some that contradicted others when trying tie stuff together from the tv series?
In that were the case, which one are you supposed to believe?
Motto being: None of them really count.

But to incur the wrath of the Mods further, the same could be said for some of the televised stories, so on its own that shouldn't be a reason for discounting them.
Despite the best attempts of many, we just have to accept that there is no written-in-stone, can't ignore it, makes other ideas wrong, continuity for DW - a painful fact that many fans refuse to accept.

Apologies for being

[Wayne]

But to incur the wrath of the Mods further, the same could be said for some of the televised stories, so on its own that shouldn't be a reason for discounting them.

I can't think of any examples offhand, But then i'm not that sort of fan.

[Andrew Curnow]

Fear the wrath of the Mods, fear it...

[shada pavlova]

I think the War Chief's pendant was just a name tag of sorts. I mean, we know the War Lords had psychic powers, so perhaps they would be able to sense that he wasn't one of them, so the pendant was just to identify him as a figure of authority?

[Andrew Curnow]

Medallion Man!

[Rob McCow]

1. The WAR CHIEF didn't regenerate because he was the Valeyard with a beard.

2. The Pendant is the sixth and most important segment of the Key To Time, which he stole from delegate Zephon. The Valeyard was on a quest from the Black Guardian to find the other segments, but he got bogged down when the War Lord took possession of his tracer. That is why he is working for the aliens, in an attempt to get it back.

3. The Sarah Jane Smith Comic Relief story was not canonical. It was b*llocks.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Divided Loyalties may be a terrible story, but at least it's got buckets of continuity.

That's why TV stories like Gridlock get loads more kudos than they deserve, just because they have the word "Macra" in them. Or whichever episode had the Venom Grub reference in it (even though they were called larvae guns). Or even, for that matter, School Reunion which, if you strip out K9 and Sarah Jane, is just utter bilge.

Okay... I may be shooting myself in the foot by criticising stories people like here. But if continuity matters to you more than storyline (to the extent where you're happy to read a "terrible story" (in your own words) just for the continuity), then why not just write down a list of all your favourite Doctor Who characters and races and just read that over and over? Possibly whilst rocking back and forth.

[Si Hunt]

One thing that gets me - if the Time Lords are so powerful, how come they didn't miss all those SIDRAT's that the War Chief stole?

Also the Doctor notes that you can't alter the dimensions of a time capsule without drastically reducing its runtime, which is suspect when you consider that the TARDIS can change its interior shape and seems to last forever.

Si.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

One thing that gets me - if the Time Lords are so powerful, how come they didn't miss all those SIDRAT's that the War Chief stole?

Also the Doctor notes that you can't alter the dimensions of a time capsule without drastically reducing its runtime, which is suspect when you consider that the TARDIS can change its interior shape and seems to last forever.

Si.

I thought the War Chief had built the SIDRATs for the War Lords? Hence why they are SIDRATs and not TARDISes in the first place? I also thought it was the remote control which reduced their lifespan, not the changing dimensions. But then you've probably just watched the DVD, and I haven't seen it for a couple of years, so what would I know

[Jason Thompson]

School Reunion which, if you strip out K9 and Sarah Jane, is just utter bilge.

Umm, isn't that a bit like saying Star Trek II is bilge if you strip out Khan? Sarah Jane and K9 are the main thrust of School Reunion. It's about what happens to the companions when they go back to a normal life after leaving the Doctor. It's not just a continuity fest by any means.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Well that's why I went on to say that I was shooting myself in the foot by criticising stories people like, as it detracted from what I was actually saying, which was the second paragraph really.

[Stuart Wallis]

Also the Doctor notes that you can't alter the dimensions of a time capsule without drastically reducing its runtime, which is suspect when you consider that the TARDIS can change its interior shape and seems to last forever.

I always took that line to be referring to SIDRATs in particular, rather than TARDISes, which seem to be rather more complex, with several rooms, controls that don't resemble fridge magnets, on-board computers etc. We're led to believe as late as The Deadly Assassin that only the Doctor and the Master refer to TARDISes as such; perhaps SIDRATS became known on Gallifrey as such in the Doctor's absence, hence his not referring to them as such.

[shada pavlova]

Perhaps the War Chief dismantled his own TARDIS to make the SIDRATS.

[Pip Madeley]

Or maybe he got them from Radio Rentals.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

We're led to believe as late as The Deadly Assassin that only the Doctor and the Master refer to TARDISes as such.

I'd heard that before and believed it was true too, until I last watched it and heard Goth say TARDIS several times. I think it's one of those urban Who legends that grew up because they start off using the term "TT capsule", but they also use the term TARDIS in the same story, before the Doctor has even spoken to anyone. And don't the Time Lords at the end of The War Games say something about "taking the secret of the TARDIS" from the Doctor too?