Doctor Who fanon?

[kerravonsen]

There are a few things I've seen popping up repeatedly in New Who fanfic that I'm almost certain are fanon, because I don't recall seeing/hearing anything about them in canon. If I'm mistaken, I'd like to know where in canon it was mentioned. If I'm not mistaken, I'd like to know how they became fanon.

1) Time Lords have a different body-temperature to humans (usually cooler)
2) Time Lords don't have counterparts in other universes.

Comments

[1-and-the-many.livejournal.com]

both 3rd and 4th doctors mention their body temperatures are cooler than a human's - I always assumed that this meant they evolved from a predominantly lizard-like species, as opposed to simians, but the new series cast aspersions on that theory

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Thermoregulation exists in many creatures and I'm pretty sure that they don't all have the same core temperature as humans (but I'll see if I can find some confirmation of that) so the lizard theory would seem unnecessary ... and even if Time Lords started out as essentially "human" I'm sure if we think hard enough we can come up with some pseudo-justification for the lowered temperature :-)

how about ... body temperature exists for a reason ... but first, to the Wikipedia! (fx: batman spinny music!!)

Low body temperature increases lifespan

It was long theorised that low body temperature may prolong life. On November 2006, a team of scientists from the Scripps Research Institute reported that transgenic mice which had body temperature 0.3-0.5 C lower than normal mice (due to overexpressing the uncoupling protein 2 in hypocretin neurons (Hcrt-UCP2), which elevated hypothalamic temperature, thus forcing the hypothalamus to lower body temperature) indeed lived longer than normal mice. The lifespan was 12% longer for males and 20% longer for females. Mice were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. [17] [18] [19] The effects of body temperature on longevity have not been studied in humans.

Wikipedia article on thermoregulation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_temperature#Low_body_temperature_increases_lifespan)

And it goes on to say that lowered body temperature can lead to heart instability, slow blood flow and (?hence?) to confusion and drowsiness; so the obvious fix might be to add a second heart to help keep up bloodflow to the brain and internal organs ...

He's 903 years old you know ... so if the Time Lords were, at some point, basically human, then genetic manipulation to increase hypothalamus temperature would lower body temperature and increase lifespan (theorhetically at least!) and the extra heart would help balance out the blood flow issues of the lower body temperature.

Ta-da!

:-)

[1-and-the-many.livejournal.com]

or MAYBE Timelords evolved from lizards

I'm a huge Doctor Who fan but I don't think too hard about it since its, you know, fictional

[kerravonsen]

Ah, but some fans are interested as to whether Science Fiction is internally consistent. It's Playing The Game to figure out logical explanations for things. Being fiction doesn't exempt it from being internally consistent.

[kerravonsen]

Very cool explanation! Though New Series explicitly states that a Time Lord can manage with only one heart working -- but I guess it's less than optimal.

[drednort.livejournal.com]

Lower body temperature is mentioned in Spearhead from Space IIRC.

[kerravonsen]

Ah! That would explain it.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

And the "Time Lords don't have counterparts" was hinted at in "Rise of the Cybermen", and stated outright in the Confidential, if you count that as canon.

[kerravonsen]

Ah. No, I don't count Confidentials as canon, but that explains why some people think that it's canon.

(that is a very creepy icon)

[knight-random.livejournal.com]

If it is canon, there's no possible way to make sense of Doctor Who "continuity," is there?

[knight-random.livejournal.com]

And now I remember: for what it's worth, this was explicitly contradicted by one of Lawrence Miles's novels, the one that had the pocket universe where the NAs allegedly took place in.

[kerravonsen]

The NAs took place in a pocket universe? Really? That must have been stated after I'd stopped keeping up with them.

[knight-random.livejournal.com]

That was a retcon in the 8DAs to explain why they contradicted each other at first but then NA references started creeping into the 8DAs. I'm not sure how I remember these things.

[infiniteviking]

In... 'Invasion', I think it was, the Third Doctor goes to that alternate universe where the Brigadier has an eyepatch, and there doesn't seem to be any counterpart of himself about. Same thing happens in the new series: everyone except him meets their counterparts. I don't know, however, whether the question was ever referred to on screen.

[kerravonsen]

Well, lack of evidence isn't evidence of lack.

[infiniteviking]

Exactly. :)