10 Doctor Who Fan Theories That Became Fact

Even though it's been around since the earliest days of the show, the rules of regeneration have never been explicitly defined. This has led to a long-running fan theory that Time Lords might actually be capable of regenerating into something different – something that isn't humanoid.

While the show has rarely strayed from its "Time Lords look like humans" stance, there is some evidence that supports the notion of a Time-Lord-to-animal regeneration. There’s the fact that the Doctor often checks their body when they regenerate, sometimes appearing relieved that they've got two arms, two legs, teeth, and other humanoid features.

The Eleventh Doctor also told Clyde in The Sarah Jane Adventures that “I could be anything”, while we also saw Romana briefly assume the forms of a giant goddess and a small blue alien, indicating that some Time Lords can indeed choose their next forms.

Even though those two details alone would seem to make it quite clear that the Doctor could feasibly take any form they chose, it wasn’t until the 2020 webcast The Secret of Novice Hame – which was penned by Russell T Davies and featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor – that an animal Doctor was explicitly mentioned.

This story stated that the Doctor has had "hundreds of faces and forms", including men, women... and animals.

While the canonicity of a lockdown webcast can’t be taken completely at face value no matter how many Tennants and RTDs you throw at it, there’s little reason to doubt that the Doctor could indeed become an animal if they chose. It’s not like we’ll ever see this happen for an extended period of time anyway – maybe for a quick gag, but never for a full episode or series – so it’s a harmless theory to confirm.

Maybe extended media would be a better place for something like that. A Dog-tor Woof boxset, anyone?