Making Time Lords

[Oh-Wise-One]

Am I the only one who thought the explanation for how the Baby became a Time Lord was a bit lame? If its that easy to reignite a race surely the Doctor could just get a load of people onboard for a bonk and start things from scratch.

[Roranicus]

As soon as it was brought into question in the episode it seemed like the conversation turned all fast paced and jumpy as though to confuse us or something, but I aint buying it. If that was possible the Doctor surely would have known about it and it can't be that easy to create a Time Lord. I think this will end up being an incorrect theory and another reason will be given.

[Exterminate]

While I doubt the Doctor will be instigating orgies in the TARDIS, the possibilities that this could open up could potentially be pretty exciting. At the moment though I am not keen on the whole idea and I am hoping it will be explained further when the show returns

[Nyki]

Well, the Doctor's immediate reaction was that it's impossible, so I suspect there's going to be a bit more to it.

[Roranicus]

Well, the Doctor's immediate reaction was that it's impossible, so I suspect there's going to be a bit more to it.

I agree. There has to be more to it. This just seemed a bit of a silly explanation

[Tardis-Console]

I really hope that this turns out to be an incorrect theory. I'm all for River being a Time Lady but I really don't like the way it was explained away

[Joshua]

The explanation is kind of weak, but I personally don't think we'll be getting a better one.

What kind of explanation would satisfy you?

[DAK]

Am I the only one who thought the explanation for how the Baby became a Time Lord was a bit lame? If its that easy to reignite a race surely the Doctor could just get a load of people onboard for a bonk and start things from scratch. 

LOL  True, but I'd think he'd want to choose the parents of future Time Lords very carefully. 

I thought it was kind of lame too; maybe the TARDIS herself had something to do with it?

[Nyki]

OK, having rewatched, this is the actual exchanged about it between the Doctor and Vashtra (I think it's accurate):

"You can't just cook yourself a Time Lord."
"No, but you gave them one hell of a start, and they've been working really hard ever since."

That makes it quite clear that being conceived in the TARDIS isn't enough, and Madame Kovarian has been genetically altering Melody through the pregnancy.  Someone in another thread suggested she could be the Rani, which would actually explain a lot - it would mean she'd have had her own  Time Lord DNA to splice into Melody.  I doubt if that'll be the explanation, though.

[Jamdog]

Someone in another thread suggested she could be the Rani, which would actually explain a lot

I like this theory, but mostly cuz I'm a bit of a Rani fan, and think she should come back.

If you look at each time the Doctor encountered another Timelord/Timelady though, the general pattern is that he recognises them immediately as being Gallifreyan, possibly even who they are, simply by looking at them even if he's never seen their current face.  This seems especially true for members of The Deca (the group of 10 friends from the Prydon Academy on Gallifrey), which included The Doctor, The Master, The Rani, The Celestial Toymaker, The War Chief and The Monk.

The 2nd Doctor's encounter with the War Chief in War Games is a perfect example, they both recognised each other immediately and the Doctor ran.

The Doctor didn't recognise Professor Yana as The Master because he was using the Chameleon Arch, and The Doctor knew for a fact that he was the only Timelord in the universe, so wasn't expecting it.

If Madame Kovarian was the Rani, wouldn't the Doctor have worked it out by now?

[davecabs]

I agree it was a very poor theory and hopefully it is not true - in the same vein that hopefully River Song is not the baby.  There's been no indication in the past that exposure to the time vortex has any effect on an individual, until the new series and Rose ingesting the time vortex (another very silly idea).  There's just no logical reason that I can see why someone conceived in the tardis should automatically become a time lord - so we will see if SM has a few tricks up his sleeve. 

[Jamdog]

Actually, I have just worked out the Madame Kovarian is an anagram of Rani Make Mad Ova - this could be a clue that it is the Rani, experimenting on human eggs!

Of course, it's also an anagram of Rani me a Vodka, Ma! which has very little meaing in the context of AGMGTW...

[Nyki]

Actually, I have just worked out the Madame Kovarian is an anagram of Rani Make Mad Ova - this could be a clue that it is the Rani, experimenting on human eggs!

Of course, it's also an anagram of Rani me a Vodka, Ma! which has very little meaing in the context of AGMGTW...

Yes, the Time Lord recognition thing is the main argument against the Rani.  Another example is Runcible recognising the Doctor in The Deadly Assassin.  In Planet of the Spiders, Kanp'o clearly has the power to keep himself incognito, yet even so the Doctor keeps thinking he recognises him.