Regenerations: Hollywood Special Effect or Time Lord Invasion?

First, I would like to thank John Thompson for writing the first article for the blog. It was great to have him work on the blog and I love this piece. I hope to have him write for the blog again in the future.
- T. McNerd

You might have heard that Batman is back on the big screen.  Seems like big news and for good reason.  I thought George Clooney killed Batman in the 90s.  Apparently, Bruce Wayne is a Time Lord and regenerated in 2005.

Spiderman jumped the shark in “Spiderman 3”.  Even Peter Parker said in that movie, “I can’t handle all these guys by myself” or something like that.  Right you are, Peter.  Even you couldn’t climb out of the shark tank carrying all that plot on your back.  Yet, I swear I just saw a movie called “The Amazing Spiderman.”   Time Lord traces are all over this one.   Not only did Spiderman clearly regenerate, Stan Lee’s favorite nerd is played by a Brit who once hung out in Depression-era New York with everyone’s favorite Gallifreyan.

Everything and everyone seems to be regenerating these days.  Apparently, The Doctor is not the last of the Time Lords after all.  Rasillon’s progeny are all over the cinema (Superman is on at least his third incarnation, Spock and “Star Trek” have regenerated, somehow Arnold Schwarzeneggar regenerated into Colin Farrell for a new “Total Recall” and Professor X has hair!), TV (Steve McGarrett is back with “Hawaii Five-0”, Sherlock Holmes is now living two 21^st century lives and I could swear “The Bionic Woman” turned into a gorgeous Brit just a few years ago but I blinked and she was gone) and let’s not get started about all the comic book regenerations. 

Of course, the continuing presence of The Incredible Hulk in Hollywood does not count as regeneration despite poor reviews of pre-Whedon versions.  Everyone knows you can’t kill The Hulk.  But, I digress.

Doctor Who gave us regeneration as a plot device in the 1960s.  It’s no coincidence that the James Bond franchise – also born in 60s Britain – shrugged off the departure of numerous actors over the years, never fearing regeneration.  Regeneration is now a media business model.  It’s a wonderful thing, regeneration.  Great ideas need not die from bad situations or poor execution.  Yet, only a few – Christopher Nolan’s Batman and the most recent incarnation of James Bond come to mind – have cracked the code on the real Time Lord secrets. 

It’s not enough to regenerate.  You need a new reason to live.

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You can find John Thompson and his latest adventure story here.

Thanks for reading, and go forth and nerd.