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Believe it or not, that's all the same guy.
Fifth Doctor: I'm the Doctor, who are you? Tenth Doctor: Yes, you are! You are the Doctor! Fifth Doctor: Yes I am, I'm the Doctor. Tenth Doctor: Ohh, good for you, Doctor! Good for brilliant ol' you! Fifth Doctor: Is there something wrong with you?
Some element of a show's Applied Phlebotinum causes a character's appearance and voice to change completely. On Speculative Fiction shows, this can be almost anything. On real-world shows, this is almost always Magic Plastic Surgery - which, on TV, works much better than it does in reality.
This is a catch-all for the recasting of a character using an in-continuity explanation. It takes its name from Doctor Who, whose titular Doctor is an alien capable of "regenerating" into a new form whenever the lead role needs re-casting.
Compare to: Jonas Quinn (which introduces a totally new character much like the old one), and The Other Darrin, aka Sister Becky (where the actor is replaced without explanation).
Examples:
Film
- Rogue Assassin had the whole point of the mystery of the titular Assassin having plastic surgery to remain unknown. Partially subverted because we don't actually see any of the titular Assassin's face and instead the one we THINK is the Assassin was actually his last target who took over his identity
- The Oracle's actress exchange in The Matrix's third movie gets a Hand Wave big enough to cover a small city.
- (Though this troper hardly noticed it even through multiple viewings of the whole series. The new actress' looks and mannerism are almost eerily similar to the original's!)
- This troper felt it would've been best either as an Other Darrin, or with a bolder change in the character's appearance (all of age, race, and gender).
- Heath Ledger's death will be dealt with in his unfinished movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus this way. Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell will play his character in different dimensions.
- When George Lazenby replaced Sean Connery as James Bond, the producers considered including a dialogue saying Bond went under plastic surgery in order to fool his enemies, but then changed their minds to "different, but doesn't need explanation".
- Parodied in the animated film Bolt. When Penny decides to quit being an actor, the TV show she works for replaces her and explains her change in appearance as the result of reconstructive plastic surgery.
- Parodied in the 2008 Get Smart movie. Agent 99 is shown to have undertaken extensive plastic surgery after her cover was blown. She used to look like a 50 year old blond woman. Now, she's Anne Hathaway.
Live Action TV
Western Animation
- Exception: Transformers often upgrade, and occasionally mutate, into newer, more powerful bodies. The degree to which their new looks resemble their previous style tends to vary, and sometimes they even change their name, as Hot Rod did on becoming Rodimus Prime in The Movie, or like Overhaul did when he became Leobreaker in Cybertron. The voice actors tend to stay the same when this happens, as this is more about selling toys than about recasting.
- Lampshaded in Beast Wars. Optimus Primal demonstrates all the toys and weapons in his new "Optimal" body, prompting Cheetor to remark that he learns his new bodies fast. Rattrap then remarks (staring directly at the camera) "Why not? He changes them often enough," accompanied by a Rim Shot.
Radio
- To replace the late Peter Jones in the Tertiary Phase of The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, the guide receives an "update" during the first scene of the play. Thanks to some clever editing, the voice of the Guide changes in mid-sentence, and occasionally reverts back for a second, using recycled audio from the original series.
Web Original
- Spoofed twice in the Cheat Commandos cartoon "The Next Epi-Snowed
". When Gunhaver's voice actor Crack Stuntman suddenly decides he wants to voice another character, Crackotage, instead, an in-story explanation is hastily concocted whereby a mishap of some sort caused Crackotage and Gunhaver's voices to become switched. Later, it is implied that Stuntman will be replaced when the Gunhaver character is said to have been sent on "a secret mission to the moon for an undisclosed period of time, and that when he gets back his voice might have changed."
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