Then Again: The Late Fifth Millennium

 

 

The First Son   Audio drama, released 2021                                          Doctor: 10

Featuring the Daleks, River Song, Ann/Anya, the Movellans

Written by Lizzie Hopley.

Takes place in Mto; self-dated 4500 CE.


Paydirt   Short story, published 2002                                                     Doctor: 0

featuring Unbound Benny

Written by Lance Parkin.

Informed guess Takes place on an unnamed planet, almost two millennia after the early twenty-seventh century CE.


The Lost Resort   Audio drama, released 2021                        Doctor: 5

Featuring Nyssa, Tegan, Marc

Written by A K Benedict.

Informed guess Takes place on Soresia, in Tellurian space.


Match of the Day   Novel, published 2005                                   Doctor: 4

featuring Leela

Written by Chris Boucher.

Informed guess Takes place on a long-settled Tellurian colony.


Saturn   Short story, published 2005                                                           Doctor: 5

featuring Nyssa

Written by Alison Lawson.

Takes place on Saturn; self-dated the Forty Seventh century CE.


Universal Monsters   Comic story, published 2008                                 Doctor: 10

Featuring Martha

Written by Ian Edgington.

Informed guess Takes place on a terraformed planet: there are plenty of hints that it is in Tellurian space. In fact, the Xhosa, who fought a war fifty generations previously, could be the Tellurian nation of that name risen to interstellar eminence following their emergence as imperial aristocracy in the late third millennium. If they then fought the Cyrene for “centuries”, the present story fits comfortably in the late fifth millennium.


The Same Old Road   Charity short story, published 2018                       Doctor: 0

Featuring Susan

Written by Ian Potter.

Informed guess Takes place on Earth; Susan regenerates for at least the second time. She and David Campbell are in a wilderness: the implication is that the Earth is still recovering from the Dalek occupation of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. But how long does a Time Lord’s incarnation last? In the entry for The Deadly Assassin, I suggested an average Time Lord lifespan of thirty thousand years. The Doctor is mocked for stretching his first incarnation out, regenerating at about four hundred and fifty years, so we may assume that the first, single-hearted incarnation is a lot shorter than the twelve subsequent ones. Let’s average them out at about two and a half millennia. If this marks the beginning of Susan’s third incarnation and she has spent most of her life living linearly on Earth, the second half of the fifth millennium is a reasonable placing for this story. Susan, we are told, has aged from “rebuilding the Earth”, which might well be considered over this length of time a perennial activity. David Campbell, of course, dies in Legacy of the Daleks, set in the late twenty-second century. We may infer from this story that Susan does something about that, not only finding a version of him to carry on living with, but conferring on him a longevity comparable to her own.


The Golden Door   Short story, published 1994                                  Doctors: 1, 6

featuring Steven, Dodo

Written by David Auger.

Informed guess Takes place on Bukol, “thousands” of years after The Tenth Planet.


The Secret of the Emperor   Comic story, published 1966                   Doctor: 0

featuring the Daleks

Written by Brad Ashton and Terry Nation.

Informed guess Takes place variously, including in France and above Uranus, but principally on Skaro, some time before Doctor Who – The Evil of the Daleks. The latter specifies that the Dalek emperor featured is the original Dalek Prime; I speculate that the Dalek Prime took over direct control of the Daleks after the death of the then Emperor in The Exterminator, anointing himself emperor prior to this story.


Urban Myths   Audio drama, released 2007                                       Doctor: 5

featuring the Time Lords, Peri

Written by Paul Sutton.

Informed guess Takes place principally on Earth and Poytee. Goulash is a popular dish throughout Mutter’s Spiral.


Present Tense   Short story, published 2004                                       Doctor: 4

featuring K9 II, Romana

Written by Ian Potter.

Takes place, by report, on Pseudolonica VII, in the Forty Ninth century CE; also in the TARDIS at Christmas.


Shockwave   Audio drama, released 2013                      Doctors: 7, with 11 (glimpse)

Featuring Ace

Written by James Swallow.

Takes place in the Tarsus system; self-dated the Forty Ninth century CE.


At the Beach   Charity short story, published 2001                 Doctors: Unbound 2, 3

featuring the Master, Jamie, Zoe, and the Time Lords, Jo (informative mention)

Written by Simon Bucher-Jones.

Informative guess Takes place in the Block; and involves the characters from Blake’s Seven, so not too long before Corpse Marker. The programmes and spun-off stories of the BBC Television series Blake’s Seven may be inserted here if, unlike me, you are prepared to wade through them. The Federation uses “the third calendar”, perhaps seeking to minimise the importance of Earth implied in the Common Era and the Imperial Space Years.


The Robots of Death   TV story, broadcast 1977                        Doctor: 4

featuring Leela, Kaldor

Written by Chris Boucher, script edited by Robert Holmes.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, about six years before Corpse Marker.


Robophobia   Audio drama, released 2011                                        Doctor: 7        

Featuring Liv, with Kaldor (informative mention)

Written by Nicholas Briggs.

Takes place in Kaldorian space, shortly after The Robots of Death.


Mortal Beloved   Comic story, published 2009                                         Doctor: 10

Featuring Majenta

Written by Dan McDaid.

Informed guess Takes place in the Proxima System. The use of Laserson Probes suggests a time near The Robots of Death.


The Traitor  Audio drama, released 2014                                              Doctor: 8

Featuring the Daleks, Liv

Written by Nicholas Briggs.

Takes place on Nixyce VII, not long after Robophobia, and about a thousand years before Time’s Horizon. The Daleks occupying Nixyce VII are time-active, unconnected to contemporary Skaro.


Prequel to The Robots   Audio drama, released 2019                             Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written anonymously, oddly enough.

Takes place on Kaldor, not long after The Traitor.


The Robots of Life   Audio drama, released 2019                              Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by Roland Moore.

Takes place on Kaldor, not long after Prequel to The Robots.


Toos and Poul   Audio drama, released 2020                                      Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor

Written by Andrew Smith.

Takes place on Kaldor, “a month” after The Robots of Life and “some years” after The Robots of Death .


The Sentient   Audio drama, released 2019                                          Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by Robert Whitelock.

Takes place on Kaldor, after The Robots of Life.


Love Me Not   Audio drama, released 2019                                           Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by John Dorney

Takes place on Kaldor, after The Sentient.


The Robots of War   Audio drama, released 2020                             Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by Roland Moore.

Takes place on Kaldor, after Love Me Not.


Do No Harm   Audio drama, released 2020                                          Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by Sarah Grochala.

Takes place on Kaldor, after The Robots of War.


Circuit Breaker   Audio drama, released 2020                                    Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor

Written by Guy Adams.

Takes place on Kaldor, after Do No Harm.


The Mystery of Sector 13   Audio drama, released 2020                 Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by Robert Whitelock.

Takes place on Kaldor, after Do No Harm and five months after The Sentient.


A Matter of Conscience   Audio drama, released 2020                   Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by Lisa McMullin.

Takes place on Kaldor, after The Mystery of Sector 13 and four months after Circuit Breaker.


Closed Loop   Audio drama, released 2021                                   Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor

Written by Guy Adams.

Takes place on Kaldor, after A Matter of Conscience.


Off Grid   Audio drama, released 2021                                          Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by Sarah Grochala.

Takes place on Kaldor, after Closed Loop.


The Janus Deception   Audio drama, released 2021                    Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, Liv

Written by Robert Whitelock.

Takes place on Kaldor, after Off Grid.


Escape From Kaldor   Audio drama, released 2018                          Doctor: 8

Featuring Kaldor, Liv, Helena

Written by Matt Fitton.

Takes place on Kaldor, ending after The Janus Deception and a Kaldorian year after Prequel to the Robots.


Corpse Marker   Novel, published 1999                                         Doctor: 4

featuring Leela, Kaldor

Written by Chris Boucher.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, three years before Kaldor City: Checkmate.

Why I Respectfully Disagree With Lance Parkin’s Dating

Parkin dates this as 2887, but this chronology has Earth as the centre of the First Terran Empire in the 29th century CE. Carnell is established as a psychostrategist of the Federation here, and in Metafiction, Iag will also speak of Earth as a stronghold of the Federation. However, let us suppose, whimsically, that Mr Parkin got hold of some evidence assigning this story and The Robots of Death Imperial Space Years, which he took to be dates of the Common Era. 2887 plus 1956 is 4843 CE, with which I have no problem.


Kaldor City: Occam’s Razor   Audio drama, released 2001           Doctor: 0

featuring Kaldor

Written by Alan Stevens and Jim Smith.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, two years after Corpse Marker .


Skulduggery   Charity short story, published 2008                                   Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor

Written by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, shortly after Kaldor City: Occam’s Razor.


Metafiction   Audio drama, released 2012                                                 Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor

Written by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, leading into Kaldor City: Death’s Head.


Kaldor City: Death’s Head   Audio drama, released 2002             Doctor: 0

featuring Kaldor

Written by Chris Boucher.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, after Kaldor City: Occam’s Razor.


Kaldor City: Hidden Persuaders   Audio drama, released 2002    Doctor: 0

featuring Kaldor

Written by Jim Smith and Fiona Moore.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, after Kaldor City: Death’s Head.


Kaldor City: Taren Capel   Audio drama, released 2003                Doctor: 0

featuring Kaldor

Written by Alan Stevens.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, after Kaldor City: Hidden Persuaders.


Kaldor City: Checkmate   Audio drama, released 2003                 Doctor: 0

featuring Kaldor, the Fendahl

Written by Alan Stevens

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, after Kaldor City: Taren Capel.


Kaldor City: The Prisoner   Audio drama, released 2004                      Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, the Fendahl

Written by Alan Stevens and Fiona Moore.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, three days after Kaldor City: Checkmate.


Kaldor City: Storm Mine   Audio drama, released 2004                Doctor: 0

Featuring Kaldor, the Fendahl

Written by Daniel O’Mahoney.

Informed guess Takes place on Kaldor, eighteen months after Kaldor City: Checkmate. It may be assumed that the Fendahl is experimenting with states more complex than life and death.


Frank Reade Jr’s Electric Time Canoe   Short story, published 2011        Doctor: 0

Featuring Iris Wildthyme

Written by Steve Mollman.

Takes place partly on Kepzyr; partly dated the forty-ninth century.


Death’s Deal   Audio drama, released 2013                   Doctors: 10, with 11 (glimpse)

Featuring Donna

Written by Darren Jones.

Informed guess Takes place on Death’s Deal; self-dated the Forty Ninth Century CE.


The Day of the Troll   Audio story, released 2009                     Doctor: 10

Written by Simon Messingham.

Informed guess Takes place in Hampshire, during an “ice age” which doesn’t sound like an actual glaciation; the one that was still underway in the fifty-first century (The Talons of Weng Chiang) seems a likely candidate.


Spirits of the Jungle   Comic story, published 2015                                  Doctor: 12

Featuring Clara

Written by Jonathan Morris.

Informed guess Takes place on Unnamed BX-4, in presumably Tellurian space, not obviously near any identifiable events.


Under Reykjavic   Illustrated short story, published 1991                         Doctor: 4

featuring Romana

Written by Warren Ellis, with thanks to Matt Ginn.

Takes place under Reykjavic, in the late Fiftieth century CE.


Tautology   Illustrated short story, published 1992                                    Doctor: 0

featuring K9 I, and K9 IV (informative mention)

Written by Glenn Langford.

Takes place on Earth, self-dated 4997 CE.

 

 

 

Total Stories Considered             5539

Proportion Written By Women 11%                                       

 

Top Docs

4                 471 stories                   

7                 452 stories 

10               386 stories 

11               374 stories  

8                 373 stories 

3                 359 stories

5                 338 stories         

6                 332 stories    

1                 321 stories 

2                 287 stories         

12               165 stories

Unbound  123 stories

9                 89 stories  

13               70 stories           

War           47 stories                     

 

 

Top Twenty Recurring Elements

 

London                                                              1148 stories                

Regional England                                            808 stories

The Time Lords                                               504 stories

UNIT                                                                  466 stories  

Alastair, Kate, Kadiatu, Lucy Weston and the Lethbridge-Stewart family                                                                             460 stories  

Continental Europe                                         435 stories 

North America                                                 421 stories  

The Daleks and Davros                                  405 stories

Benny                                                                 299 stories

The Master, including Missy                         274 stories

Wales                                                                  261 stories

Sarah Jane                                                        260 stories 

Torchwood                                                        254 stories  

Ace                                                                      251 stories 

The K9s                                                              241 stories 

At Sea                                                                 228 stories

Amy and Rory                                                  227 stories 

Captain Jack                                                    205 stories

Christmas                                                          200 stories

Peri                                                                     195 stories= 

Romana                                                             195 stories= Re-entry!

 

 

Top Decades

 

The Teens                                                          2234 stories

The Noughties                                                  1499 stories       

The Nineties                                                      587 stories

The Twenties                                                     449 stories

The Eighties                                                      262 stories

The Seventies                                                    260 stories         

The Sixties                                                         178 stories

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

 

 

And Top Twenty Years

 

2016                                                          290 stories

2018                                                          275 stories 

2020                                                          259 stories  

2015                                                          248 stories 

2008                                                          244 stories  

2017                                                           232 stories       

2011                                                          223 stories 

2013                                                          217 stories 

2009                                                          214 stories  Climber! 

2010                                                          213 stories

2019                                                          210 stories 

2007                                                          198 stories 

2021                                                          191 stories

2001                                                          170 stories   Climber!    

2014                                                          170 stories 

2012                                                          161 stories  

2006                                                          149 stories

2004                                                          144 stories

2005                                                          135 stories

2003                                                          111 stories   Re-entry!

                            

         

 

 

 

Total Writers (including showrunners, script editors, anthology linking material writers)                                     1131

Proportion of Female Writers               17%      

 

Top Twenty Writers

 

Justin Richards                                       145 stories

Terrance Dicks                                       144 stories

James Goss                                              140 stories   

Russell T Davies                                     121 stories  

Jonathan Morris                                    101 stories 

Paul Magrs                                              97 stories  

Eddie Robson                                          93 stories  

Steven Moffat                                         92 stories  

Terry Nation                                           89 stories  

David Whitaker                                      81 stories  

John Dorney                                            79 stories  

Matt Fitton                                              73 stories  

Simon Guerrier                                       66 stories  

Steve Lyons                                             65 stories 

Gareth Roberts                                       63 stories

Gary Russell                                            61 stories  

Alan Barnes                                             60 stories  

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle                       60 stories           

Robert Holmes                                        58 stories

Guy Adams                                              57 stories=  Re-entry!

Stephen Cole                                           57 stories=

Eric Saward                                            57 stories=

 

 

 

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