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doctor who - Why didn't Rose turn into a baby girl when she looked into the heart of TARDIS?


Once a Slitheen looked into the heart of TARDIS, she became an egg (I am unable to find the episode name).



But, when Rose looked into the heart of TARDIS, she possessed the entire Time Vortex and literally became a god (2005 season 1 finale).


What's the catch? Why is the rule different? Why didn't Rose turn into a baby girl?



Answer



In "Boom Town", the episode where the Slitheen (Margaret) turned into an egg, it wasn't because becoming younger was a generic result of looking into the heart of the TARDIS, but rather because the TARDIS is telepathic, and it seems to have read her secret desire to start her life again with a clean slate. Consider the following bits of dialogue from the transcript of "Boom Town" here:



MARGARET: I promise you I've changed since we last met, Doctor. There was this girl, just today. A young thing, something of a danger. She was getting too close. I felt the blood lust rising, just as the family taught me, I was going to kill her without a thought. And then I stopped. She's alive somewhere right now. She's walking around this city because I can change. I did change. I know I can't prove it


DOCTOR: I believe you.


MARGARET: Then you know I'm capable of better.



...




MARGARET: In the family Slitheen, we had no choice. I was made to carry out my first kill at thirteen. If I'd refused, my father would have fed me to the Venom Grubs. If I'm a killer, it's because I was born to kill. It's all I know.



...



DOCTOR: No, I don't think she's dead.


ROSE: Then where'd she go?


DOCTOR: She looked into the heart of the Tardis. Even I don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic, like I told you, Rose. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts.


(The Doctor finds a large egg with dreadlocks on the top inside the bodysuit.)


DOCTOR: Here she is.



ROSE: She's an egg?


DOCTOR: Regressed to her childhood.


JACK: She's an egg?


DOCTOR: She can start again. Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be all right!



So presumably when Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS, it telepathically read her desire to find some way to save the Doctor, and gave her the time vortex energy she would need to be able to do that.


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