Then Again: The Early Twenty-Second Century

 

The Two Irises   Audio drama, released 2009                                     Doctor: 0

Featuring Iris Wildthyme

Written by Simon Guerrier.

Takes place in principally in Malaga, a port on the south-eastern coast of Spain; self-dated 2108 CE.


Transit   Novel, published 1992                                                              Doctor: 7

featuring Allen Road, Benny, Kadiatu, with Lethbridge-Stewart (glimpse), and the Time Lords, Australia, the Ice Warriors, the Earth Reptiles (informative mention)

Written by Ben Aaronovitch.

Takes place on Pluto, Titan, Mars and the Moon, in China, West Africa, London, Kent Iceland and Greece; dated 2109 CE by Parkin in Ahistory. Kadiatu leaves linear time by building her own time-machine, thank you very much.


Talking With Spores   Short story, published 2014                                  Doctor: 0

Featuring Iris Wildthyme

Written by Juliet Kemp.

Informed guess Takes place on Mars, not long before the Human-Martian Treaty of 2118. This story suggests that the Tellurian expansion into interstellar space depended on collaboration with an intelligent fungal life-form native to Mars. This life-form is not mentioned anywhere else. On the other hand, from my viewpoint the date works pretty well, so I’ll go with it.


Down the Rabbit Hole   Comic story, published 2006                            Doctor: 10

Featuring Rose

Written by Davey Moore.

Informed guess Takes place on Earth, after 2025 CE, at a time of sophisticated animatronics.


When Johnny Comes Marching   Short story, published 2021             Doctor: 0

Written by Simon Bucher-Jones.

Takes place in Paradise Towers, self-dated twenty-five years after its inauguration. A large part of the point of this story is how unknowable the structure’s history is to its inhabitants, so this chronology is doing it no favours. It does seem that they think they are on a planetary surface, which I cannot really accommodate, although their hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that five Tellurian soldiers have wandered into Paradise Towers from the outside. I suggest that an artificial habitat in space constructed shortly after The Seeds of Death, as I surmise, would have a T-mat terminal on it, and it would make sense to have it “outside” the enclosed residential areas in order to keep it a secret from the inhabitants. I suggest that the Tellurian veterans have arrived via T-mat, possibly without realising it.


The Quiz Book of Space   Game book, published 1983                   Doctor: 5        

featuring Tegan, Turlough

Written by Michael Holt.

Takes place variously, including on the Moon; the latest date given is 2111 CE. A non-humanoid Trakenite is featured, suggesting that not all of Nyssa’s civilisation was destroyed in 1980 CE.


Safe Haven   Comic story, published 2017                                                  Doctor: 0

Featuring the Daleks

Written by George Mann.

Informed guess Takes place on Skaro, some considerable time after Genesis of the Daleks, but from the clothing of the Thals, also after Genesis of Evil and not too long before The Daleks.


Martha in the Mirror   Novel, published 2008                          Doctor: 10

Featuring Martha

Written by Justin Richards.

Takes place on an unnamed planet inhabited by humanoids; dated 2112 CE by Parkin in Ahistory.


Something Terribly Important   Charity short story, published 2001  Doctor: 3

featuring Zoe

Written by Evan Eaters.

Informed guess Takes place in the Solar System; some time after The Tip of the Mind.


Carnage Zoo, Flight and Fury, The Living Ghosts and Extermination of the Daleks   

                    Comic story, published 2008                                                         Doctor: 10

featuring the Daleks

Written by Stephen Cole.

Informed guess Takes place on Earth; self-dated the 22nd century CE. These are pretty explicitly post-Time War Daleks, and their activities presumably unconnected with the Golden Emperor on contemporary Skaro.


Pex Rides Again   Fictional document, published 2021                       Doctor: 0

Written by Sean Mason.

Informed guess This takes the form of a screenplay, based on events in the life of Pex of Paradise Towers, something I suggest could only have been written after the reintegration of Paradise Towers with the rest of what I will start calling Tellurian space, the network of Tellurian settlements beyond the planet Earth.


The Cruel Sea   Comic story, published 2005                                            Doctor: 9

Featuring Rose

Written by Robert Shearman.

Informed guess Takes place on Mars; self-dated the early 22nd century CE. The planet has not been fully Terraformed.


Why? Because We Like You   Short story, published 2009                    Doctor: 0

Featuring Iris Wildthyme

Written by Jonathan Dennis.

Informed guess Takes place somewhere very similar to Disneyworld; semi-sentient animatronics have existed for “decades”.


The Art of Destruction   Novel, published 2008                      Doctor: 10

Featuring Rose

Written by Stephen Cole.

Takes place in Chad, a landlocked republic of north central Africa, northeast of Nigeria; self-dated April 2118. Chad seems to have missed out on the prosperity suggested elsewhere in Africa in Transit.


Faster Than Light   Comic story, published 2012                                      Doctor: 11

Featuring the Earth Reptiles, Amy or an Amy ganger, Rory

Written by Trevor Baxendale.

Informed guess Takes place in space: it is the first time that Earth Reptiles, and by implication Tellurians, have travelled faster than light. In Waters of Mars it is established that Susie Fontana Brooke captains Earth’s first lightspeed ship, but not, evidently, on its first lightspeed voyage.


Under the Lake and Before the Flood   TV story, broadcast 2015  Doctor: 12

Featuring Clara

Written by Toby Whithouse, script supervised by Steven Moffat.

Takes place in Caithness, a peninsula of northeastern Scotland; mostly self-dated 2119 CE.


Echoes of Grey   Audio drama, released 2010                                      Doctor: 2

Featuring Jamie, Zoe

Written by John Dorney.

Informed guess Takes place in central Australia; I’m assuming that the same number of years have passed for Zoe as Wendy Padbury, so, say, 2122 CE.


The Memory Cheats   Audio drama, released 2011                           Doctor: 2

Featuring Jamie, Zoe

Written by Simon Guerrier.

Informed guess Takes place in Central Australia, soon after Echoes of Grey. The earlier sections take place in Uzbekistan, a landlocked republic of central Asia, north of Afghanistan.


The Uncertainty Principle   Audio drama, released 2012             Doctor: 2

Featuring Jamie, Zoe

Written by Simon Guerrier.

Informed guess Takes place in Central Australia, after The Memory Cheats.


Second Chances   Audio drama, released 2014                                   Doctor: 2

Featuring Jamie, Zoe

Written by John Dorney.

Informed guess Takes place in the Solar System, after The Uncertainty Principle.


Sold Out   Short story, published 2005                                                       Doctor: 6

featuring Mel

Written by Danny Oz.

Informed guess Probably takes place in the Solar System; not too far from the early 21st century CE, but the presence of an AI means after Transit, say ten or fifteen years, to allow for the development of skulljacking.


The Almost People and The Rebel Flesh   TV story, broadcast 2011

                                                                                               Doctor: 11

Featuring Amy, Rory

Written by Matthew Graham, script supervised by Steven Moffat.

Informed guess Takes place on an island on Earth; self-dated the 22nd century CE. The dialogue places it before Tellurian expansion into interstellar space.


Christmas on the Moon   Short story, published 2005                           Doctor: 6

featuring Evelyn

Written by Simon Guerrier.

Informed guess Takes place on the Moon; the framing action takes place at Christmas, about three decades into the 22nd century CE.


The Face-Eater   Novel, published 1999                                          Doctor: 8

Featuring Sam

Written by Simon Messingham.

Takes place on Proxima 2; self-dated 2132 CE. Proxima 2, we are told, is Earth’s first interstellar colony, being settled in 2128 CE, which is useful to know. As far as I know, this is the only story that explicitly states that the Doctor needs to urinate.


The 57th   Short story, published 2005                                                         Doctor: 5

featuring Nyssa

Written by John Binns.

Informed guess Takes place on Fraternity in the early days of Tellurian interstellar colonisation; self-dated the 22nd Century CE.


The Power of the Daleks   TV story, broadcast 1966              Doctor: 2

featuring the Daleks, Polly, Ben

Written by David Whitaker, script edited by Gerry Davis.

Informed guess Takes place on Vulcan in the early days of Tellurian interstellar colonisation. The Daleks presented here are time travellers from the future rather than from contemporary Skaro: they have been in the mercury swamp for at least two centuries and recognise the Doctor.

Why I Respectfully Disagree With Lance Parkin’s Dating

Lance Parkin accepts a very contrived location for Vulcan in the Solar System, to make this story comply with its traditional, Radio Times, date of 2020 CE.


The Garden Rebellion   Comic story, published 2009                            Doctor: 10

Featuring Heather

Written by Christopher Cooper.

Informed guess Takes place in London; plausibly in the early 22nd century CE.


Far Away in a Manger   Short story, published 2007                               Doctor: 5

featuring Peri, Erimem

Written by Iain McLaughlin.

Informed guess Takes place on a Tellurian colony at Christmas time. It seems to be the early days of interstellar colonisation; the conflict the Doctor predicts could be the Dalek occupation of the Solar System in the later 22nd century.


K9 and the Beasts of Vega   Illustrated short story, published 1980      Doctor: 0

featuring K9 I, with the Time Lords (informative mention)

Written by David Martin.

Informed guess Takes place in the Vega system, in the early days of Tellurian interstellar colonisation.


Urrozdinee   Illustrated short story, published 1994                                 Doctor: 1

featuring Susan

Written by Mark Gatiss.

Takes place outside Paris; self-dated 2134 CE.


The Doctor Strikes Back   Comic story, published 1967                         Doctor: 2

featuring the Daleks, Gillian, John

Written by Roger Noel Cook.

Takes place on a Dalek colony world; self-dated 2135 CE. The Doctor’s assertion that the Daleks had a military garrison on almost every planet in the universe at this time would appear to be an exaggeration. Unless he has violated the protocols of linearity by entering the Last Great Time War, which is perhaps the sort of thing he might conceivably do in his second incarnation, without telling anybody.


Mission to Venus   Game book, published 1986                                 Doctor: 6

featuring Peri, with the Time Lords (informative mention)

Written by William Emms.

Informed guess Takes place on Venus and in the inner Solar System generally; the 22nd century is mentioned, not very reliably, but before the terraforming of Venus seen in Invasion of the Daleks; the retro style of the spacemen suggests not far from The Hijackers of Thrax.


No One Goes to Halfway There   Short story, published 1997              Doctor: 0

featuring the Forrester Family

Written by Kate Orman

Informed guess Takes place on and above Halfway There, a few years after the start of Tellurian interstellar colonisation and implicitly, given the structure of Decalog 4, the anthology in which it appeared, in the twenty-second century CE.


St.Anthony’s Fire: Prelude   Illustrated short story, published 1994     Doctor: 0

Written by Mark Gatiss.

Informed guess Takes place on Betrushia, less than fifteen years before St Anthony’s Fire.


The Murder Game   Novel, published 1997                                  Doctor: 2

featuring Polly, Ben, the Ockorans

Written by Steve Lyons.

Takes place in Earth orbit; self-dated 2136 CE.


Fifty Light Years From Now   Charity drabble, published 1993           Doctor: Unbound

Written by David B Wake.

Informed guess Takes place fifty light years away, when Tellurians have managed to get fifty light years away.


The Scarecrow   Comic story, published 2010                                           Doctor: 11

Featuring Amy

Written by Eddie Robson.

Informed guess Takes place at the Wormhole of Calibri, at a time when interstellar exploration is being  undertaken by regional Tellurian organisations like the Unified South American Space Agency.


Pitter-patter   Illustrated short story, published 2005                                 Doctor: 9

Featuring Rose

Written by Robert Shearman.

Informed guess Takes place on Earth and a Tellurian colony world, in the early days of interstellar colonisation.


Exotron   Audio drama, released 2007                                                  Doctor: 5

featuring Peri

Written by Paul Sutton.

Informed guess Takes place on the planet of the Farakosh. in the early days of a Tellurian colony. The low level of technology and the existence of an interstellar arms market, suggest a time near The Murder Game.


Deus Ex Food Machine   Charity short story, published 2016                 Doctor: 1

Featuring Susan, Barbara, Ian

Written by Roy Gill.

Arbitrary placement Takes place in an unidentified environment inhabited by humanoids.

 

Moon Zero Two (1969) is set on a Lunar colony with artificial gravity in 2021. I think that train has already left, but much of Doctor Who canon has been overoptimistic about technological advance, particularly in the matter of faster-than-light travel, so I have adopted a stratagem out of which I intend getting plenty of use. The calendar that is used in Love and War (Galactic Standard) gives 2570 CE as 2450. My suggested explanation for this is a Tellurian commercial consortium, organising interstellar colonisation, declaring the year its programme started (2120 CE) as The Year Two Thousand, which still has a cultural cachet as the year of Futuricity. I am taking 2021 here as a Galactic Standard date, making it 2141 CE.

 

Lintel   Short story, published 2021                                                  Doctor: 0

Written by Rachel Redhead.

Informed guess Takes place in Paradise Towers, some decades after its inception.


Mercury   Short story, published 2005                                                     Doctor: 2           

featuring Jamie, Zoe

Written by Eddie Robson.

Informed guess Takes place on Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System; plausibly in the early twenty-second century.


Deceit: Prelude   Illustrated short story, published 1993                            Doctor: 0

featuring the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Ice Warriors, the Draconians (informative mention)

Written by Peter Darvill-Evans.

Informed guess Takes place on Arcadia, at least fourteen years after its settlement in the very first wave of Tellurian interstellar colonisation.


The Road to Conflict   Comic story, published 1967                                 Doctor: 0

featuring the Daleks

Written by Angus Allan, Alan Fennel, Terry Nation and David Whitaker.

Informed guess Takes place on Skaro, after the introduction of Tellurian interstellar passenger ships, at least ten and a half years before GodEngine.


Repeat Offender   Audio drama, released 2016                                        Doctor: 5

Featuring Turlogh

Written by Eddie Robson.

Takes place in Reykjavik, a port of western Iceland, and its capital city; self-dated February 2144 CE.


Spider-God   Comic story, published 1981                                                  Doctor: 4

Written by Steve Moore.

Informed guess Takes place on UX-4732, at least twenty years after an early Tellurian interstellar exploration programme has started.


The Underwater War   Novella, published 2011                                Doctor: 11

Featuring Amy, Rory

Written by Richard Dinnick.

Informed guess Takes place on and above Hydron, plausibly during the early days of Tellurian expansion into space.


Return of the Elders   Comic story, published 1997                                 Doctor: 0

featuring the Daleks

Written by John Lawrence.

Informed guess Takes place in the outer Solar System; between The Road to Conflict and Lucifer Rising. I suggest that the Elders in this story who watch over the Earth are the Vervallachenoonan mentioned by the Doctor in the 1991 illustrated short story The Deal.


Lucifer Rising: Prelude   Illustrated short story, published 1993            Doctor: 0

Written by Andy Lane and Jim Mortimore.

Takes place on the Pacific coast of Canada; self-dated nine years before Lucifer Rising.


St.Anthony’s Fire   Novel, published 1994                                    Doctor: 7

featuring Ace, Benny

Written by Mark Gatiss.

Takes place on Massatori and on and above Betrushia; self-dated 2148 CE. The global importance of the Order of St Anthony is conceivably overstated.


Pawns of the Zenith, Swarm of the Zenith, Prey of the Zenith and Lair of the Zenith

Comic story, published 2008                                                                        Doctor: 10

Featuring Donna

Written by Neil Corry.

Informed guess Takes place in London; self-dated the 22nd century. London has a population of twenty-three million, suggesting this is set before the Dalek plague.


The Space Pirates   TV story, broadcast 1969                               Doctor: 2

featuring Jamie, Zoe

Written by Robert Holmes, script edited by Derrick Sherwin.

Takes place around and on Ta; the first Tellurian generation into (interstellar) space are in late middle-age.


An Ocean of Sawdust   Audio short story, released 2019                                    Doctor: 8

Written by Paul Starkey.

Arbitrary placement Takes place on the planet of the Kestrians.

 

 

 

 

Total Stories Considered             4610

Proportion Written By Women 11%                                       

 

Top Docs

4                 387 stories                   

7                 363 stories 

3                 327 stories

8                 315 stories 

10               315 stories Climber! 

11               309 stories 

5                 288 stories         

1                 273 stories 

6                 268 stories  

2                 247 stories         

12               144 stories

Unbound  107 stories

9                 81 stories  

13               66 stories           

War           47 stories                     

 

 

Top Twenty Recurring Elements

 

London                                                              1116 stories                

Regional England                                            785  stories        

UNIT                                                                  464 stories  

Alastair, Kate, Kadiatu, Lucy Weston and the Lethbridge-Stewart family                                                                            451 stories  

The Time Lords                                               443 stories 

Continental Europe                                         407 stories 

North America                                                 402 stories  

The Daleks and Davros                                  265 stories Climber! 

Wales                                                                  261 stories

Torchwood                                                        252 stories  

The Master, including Missy                         250 stories  

Sarah Jane                                                        242 stories  

Ace                                                                      214 stories 

At Sea                                                                 212 stories  

The K9s                                                              207 stories 

Captain Jack                                                    201 stories

Amy and Rory                                                  184 stories 

Asia                                                                     182 stories

Christmas                                                          175 stories 

Romana                                                             173 stories 

 

 

Top Decades

 

The Teens                                                          1976 stories

The Noughties                                                  1184 stories       

The Nineties                                                      434 stories

The Twenties                                                     388 stories

The Eighties                                                      223 stories Climber!   

The Seventies                                                    221 stories         

The Sixties                                                         114 stories

(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde and William Hope Hodgson)                                                                                      70 stories  

 

 

And Top Twenty Years

 

2016                                                          275 stories

2018                                                          245 stories 

2020                                                          223 stories  

2017                                                           219 stories       

2015                                                          214 stories 

2008                                                          206 stories  

2019                                                          191 stories

2010                                                          187 stories Climber!   

2011                                                          187 stories Climber!   

2013                                                          186 stories  

2009                                                          176 stories 

2021                                                          166 stories

2014                                                          144 stories   

2001                                                          141 stories  

2007                                                          135 stories 

2012                                                          129 stories  

2004                                                          123 stories  

2006                                                          122 stories 

2005                                                          113 stories

1993                                                          92 stories

                            

         

 

 

 

Total Writers (including showrunners, script editors, anthology linking material writers)                                     1056

Proportion of Female Writers                17%      

 

Top Twenty Writers

 

Terrance Dicks                                       129 stories

James Goss                                              129 stories           

Justin Richards                                       121 stories 

Russell T Davies                                     117 stories  

Paul Magrs                                              94 stories  

Steven Moffat                                         83 stories   Climber!   

Jonathan Morris                                    83 stories            

Matt Fitton                                              66 stories  

John Dorney                                            65 stories  

Eddie Robson                                          62 stories   Climber!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle                         60 stories           

Gareth Roberts                                       54 stories           

Robert Holmes                                        53 stories   Climber!   

Alan Barnes                                             52 stories  

David Whitaker                                      52 stories   Climber!   

Steve Lyons                                             50 stories  

Eric Saward                                            49 stories  

David Llewellyn                                      48 stories  

Gary Russell                                            48 stories  

Guy Adams                                              47 stories=

Andrew Cartmel                                     47 stories=

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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