Doctor Whohas a rich, extensive history that reaches all the way back to 1963, often making it difficult for new audiences to know exactly where to start. While this long history is usually a great thing, as there are so many classic episodes that audiences can explore and learn about, it also means that certain episodes have either been lost over time or are missing parts. There have been plenty of bumps in the road throughoutDoctor Who’s many episodes, and that’s resulted in a handful of frustrating gaps in the story.
One of the most noteworthy omissions fromDoctor Who’s catalog is theSecond Doctor’s unusual regeneration scene. At the time of filming,the producers didn’t have a replacement in mind for Patrick Troughtonand couldn’t reliably film a regeneration as they had for William Hartnell. As such, they merely replaced him in the first episode ofDoctor Who’s seventh season with Jon Pertwee. It wasn’t a huge problem at the time, as there wasn’t much precedent for replacing the actor, but when the show continued to show every Doctor’s regeneration, Troughton’s became one of the only transformations that was missing.
Doctor Who’s Remastered Version Of “The War Games” Includes The Second Doctor’s Regeneration
The Newly Edited Episode Fixes The Problem
Thankfully, a remastered version of the Second Doctor’s final episode “The War Games” has finally worked around this issue and created a loose version of the character’s regeneration. A condensed, colorized version of this popular story was released in 2024 in an effort to help bring the show’s most beloved classic stories to new audiences, in the same way that “The Daleks” was remastered the year before. However, one of the biggest changes in this new editused footage from Jon Pertwee’s episodes to reverse-engineer Patrick Troughton’s regeneration.
Doctor Who’s New Companion Is Repeating How Ian & Barbara Joined The TARDIS In 1963
Doctor Who season 15 features a new companion, played by Varada Sethu, and she’s repeating a very familiar story that dates back to 1963.
Instead of merely ending with the Second Doctor’s departure as the episode was initially released,“The War Games”’ new remasterincludes a brief clip from Pertwee’s era and some enhanced visual effects to create the illusion of regeneration. While slightly controversial among fans, this decision helps fill an important gap inDoctor Who’s history in a way that helps newcomers fully experience the character’s backstory.
Doctor Who Previously Filled In Other Missing Regenerations
The War Doctor’s Absence Was Quickly Explained
Although Troughton’s regeneration was the last that needed to be filled in, it certainly wasn’t the first.Doctor Who’sshocking season 7 finale “The Name of the Doctor” revealed thatanother incarnation of the Time Lord existedwhich audiences had never seen before, and the show wasted no time filling in those gaps. A six-minute short titled “The Name of the Doctor” brought Paul McGann back to explain how the Eighth Doctor regenerated into the newly-named War Doctor, and “The Day of the Doctor” offered a brief glimpse of this incarnation transforming into Christopher Ecclestone’s Ninth Doctor.
Doctor Who
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An alien from the planet Gallifrey travels through time and space to explore, solve problems and fight injustice while also making friends with human beings. His spaceship, called TARDIS, resembles a police box, but it is much more than it appears to be.
