The Show Must Go On

Ever since Peter Capaldi has been announced to be the 12th Doctor (and Hurt's non-Doctor assumedly increasing the number of used regenerations by one) the question of how Moffat (or the then showrunner in charge) is going to avoid the 12 regenerations rule has been on fans' minds.  After all, nobody expects the show to drop dead when Peter Capaldi will decide to bid his farewells.

And while it's not difficult to come up with an explanation of why the Doctor could have more than 12 regenerations, it's difficult to find an option without changing the show itself. 

Because the problem with saying that the Time Lords were in charge of the 12 regenerations rule and with them gone, the Doctor can have as many regenerations as he pleases is not that it's terribly unoriginal (at least for the Mighty Moff's standards) - well, that too - but that it would grant the Doctor immortality, at least in the right circumstances. And when dying stops having consequences (important consequences, I'm not saying that getting a new *body* is not a consequence, but there may be more important ones, erm, like ending a life) then dangerous situations stop being dangerous. Life is the most valuable thing someone can have. And as soon as it stops being at stake people simply tend to care a lot less than before.

Unfortunately, even Neil Gaiman's idea is failing to address the problematical immortal part of this issue:

MY OPINION (which is not Canon) is that the regeneration limit is a lot like the speed limit. You can break it, but things get a lot more dangerous if you do. The Time Lords were the traffic cops: they enforced the limit. With them gone, the Doctor can keep regenerating beyond 13, but with consequences.

On the plus side, he suggests that regenerating more than 12 times should have 'consequences' but apparently in his opinion dying should not be one of them. And that's not a good point to be at as a writer.

Let's not forget that we already had an immortal character, the famous Captain Jack Harkness. Plot-wise I do not think it did him any good. And that Torchwood isn't running anymore just emphasises the point.

One of the most important things from which Moffat's episodes derive their suspense is that the Doctor can die. Not only in an 'oh River*, put that gun down'-way, but that he can run out of regenerations. He is not immortal. Dying matters to him. Not only because it makes him change, but also because every regeneration brings him one step closer to his maximal 'life expectancy'. Unlike Superman, or Spiderman he has one. Unfortunately, the moment the Doctor stops having a life-expectancy the biggest difference between him and Marvel's superheroes stops to exist. And I'm not sure if we'd like to see the Doctor being turned into a superhero.
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* or taking the 11th Doctor into account that may read *oh Doctor* instead