Then Again: The Vulgar End of Time
I am indebted to Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman
for the phrase “the Vulgar End of Time” (The One Doctor). I am using it
to describe that huge proportion of the universe’s duration (though still less
than half) with which the Time Lords are unable or disinclined to interact. It
may be that the Great Houses are wary of an assigning an identity to the Enemy
because whatever ostensible enemy they may face on any particular field
(however metaphorical) of battle, the underlying Enemy of the Chronarchy is simply
scale itself.
Untitled No.22 Short story,
published 2018 Doctor: 0
Featuring Iris Wildthyme
Written by Cody Schell.
Arbitrary placement Takes place in an unknown environment, containing an art gallery.
Emsone’s Castle Comic story, published 1978 Doctor: 4
featuring
Leela, with the Time Lords (informative mention)
Written by the World Distributors Annual 1979 crew.
Arbitrary placement
Takes place on Zarko.
Emsone knows of Time Lords and evidently considers them his fighting-weight.
Beauty and the Beast Illustrated short story,
published 1985 Doctor: 6
featuring Peri, the Time Lords (informative mention)
arbitrary placement Takes place on
an unnamed planet inhabited by humanoids who have heard of the Time Lords.
It is estimated
that by 1.5 x 1011 in the future, all the galaxies in the local
group will have been absorbed by the Andromeda/Mutters Spiral supergalaxy.
Lady of the Snows Short story,
published 2007 Doctor: 8
featuring Charley, with Prague (informative mention)
Written by James
Swallow.
Takes place
millions of light-years from Earth and self-dated a trillion years after the
Humanian Era.
Spiral Scratch Novel, published 2005 Doctors: 6, Unbound 6s
featuring Mel, Unbound Mels, with Unbound Frobisher, Unbound Evelyns (glimpse)
Written by Gary
Russell.
Informed guess Takes place
mostly on Carsus, in a region of space where a trillion years have passed, and
implicitly several. The end of Spiral Scratch contradicts
several other accounts; it seems likely that the Doctor and Mel principally
featured in this book are not from our reality (our Doctor is nonetheless one
of the survivors of the battle with the Lamprey). This would explain why Mel
doesn’t recognise Evelyn.
Time and the Rani TV Story, broadcast 1987 Doctor: 7
featuring the Rani, Mel
Written Pip and
Jane Baker, script edited by Andrew Cartmel.
Informed guess Takes place on
Lakertya. Spiral Scratch places this in
the same system as Carsus; the implication is that it takes place immediately
afterwards.
The Rani Reaps the
Whirlwind Novelisation of an audio drama, published 2021 Doctor: 0
Featuring the Rani
Adapted by Micah K Spurling from a script
by Pip Nad Jane Baker.
Takes place on Tetrapryarbus and in
London; the later sections, I think, shortly after Time and the Rani.
Sojourner & Ellie Online short
story, published 2017 Doctor: 0
Featuring Faction
Paradox
Written by Blair Bidmead.
Takes place on Pluto, some
years before Weapons Grade Snake Oil.
Weapons Grade Snake Oil Novel, published 2017 Doctor: 0
Featuring Faction
Paradox, the Second War in Heaven, with the Cybermen, Iris Wildthyme (glimpse)
Written by Blair Bidmead.
Takes place partly in Post-Human space, self-dated 5097043,
which I take to be approximately 5 x 1013. I am assuming the Inanem
Magnanime Milites are in point of fact Cybermen.
Simon Spurrier’s comic series Lobster Random appeared in 2000 AD between 2003 and 2008. Random,
whose name and facial appearance seem bizarrely to have been inspired by once
mildly-celebrated West Country charlatan clairvoyant T Lobsang Rama, lives in
an unidentified milieu of humanoid and non-humanoid interstellar travel. At the
end of the last strip, to date, a near omnipotent being named Warathaal is
released into the universe with the intention of reducing it to chaos. This may
help me with an upcoming problem I have with Utopia.
Utopia TV
Story, broadcast 2007 Doctor:
10
Featuring the
Master, Captain Jack Harkness, Martha
Written by Russell T Davies.
Takes place in Cardiff, and
mainly on Malcassairo; self dated 1014CE.
Room With a Deja View Comic story, published 2009 Doctor: 10
Written by Rich Johnston.
Informed guess Takes on a space station. The Counters may represent an attempt to flee
the end of the universe, which is believed to be approaching.
The characters in Greg Bear’s 2008 novel City at the End of Time believe
themselves to be living on Earth in 1014 CE. This may be the planet
featured in The Dying Earth,
although at that point the universe was about a four thousandth of the age it
is by now, so who knows. They find themselves besieged by a near-omnipotent
being called Typhon, who has reduced the rest of the universe to chaos. This
sounds very much like Warathaal from Lobster
Random, and might even be an iteration of the mad tyrant Typhon from
The Solar Cycle. And,
this is a universe-ending level event near the same time as Utopia, fitting in nicely. Reassuringly,
Typhon is caused to implode and history is restored. I suggest that because
this is so unlikely an event, the subsequent 1033 years of the
universe (near as) are very difficult for the TARDIS, and other time machines
from the beginning of the universe, to access. It can be done, but not very
often.
Are You Listening? Comic story, published 1994 Doctor: 1
featuring Vicki, Steven
Written by Scott
Gray, as Warwick Gray.
Arbitrary placement Takes place in
Xenith, a very old and large artificial intelligence.
Younger and Wiser Comic story, published 1994 Doctor: 7
featuring Benny
Written by Scott
Gray, as Warwick Gray.
Takes place in
Xenith, an indeterminate time after Are You Listening?.
The Sands of Tymus Illustrated short story, published 1977 Doctor: 4
featuring Sarah Jane
Written by the
World Distributors Annual 1978 crew.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on
Tymus.
Once Bitten Comic story, published 2014 Doctor:
12
Featuring Clara
Written by Andrew Cartmel.
Arbitrary placement Takes place in an unknown environment.
The Key of Vaga Illustrated short story, published 1981 Doctor: 5
featuring Adric
Written by the
World Distributors Annual 1982 crew.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on
Vaga in the Eighth Dimension, where physics are so different that the suns
orbit planets.
Virus Comic story, published 1976 Doctor:
4
featuring Sarah Jane, with the Time Lords (informative mention)
Written by John
Canning.
Informed guess Takes place in
space; the TARDIS’s failure to translate between its passengers and the
Bendriggans is perhaps an indication of how far in the future it is.
The Wings of a Butterfly Charity short story, published 2001 Doctor: 6
featuring the Time Lords
Written by Colin
Baker.
Informed guess Takes place on
Byxor, in or not long before the ninth quintillennium. If a quintillennium
bears the same relationship to a millennium as a quintillion does to a million,
it is 7 or 8 followed by eighteen other digits, which seems a long way in the
future for a Time Lord to be taking an interest in. The volatile nature of
Byxor’s ontological status is arguably consistent with this, however.
Warzone Audio drama, released
2019 Doctor: 5
Featuring
Nyssa, Tegan, Marc, with the Cybermen (informative
mention)
Written by Chris Chapman.
Arbitrary
placement Takes
place on Samotis.
Question Marks Audio drama, released
2011 Doctor: 6
Featuring Peri
Written by Philip Lawrence.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on a damaged spaceship
The Psychic Jungle Comic story, published 1975 Doctor: 4
featuring Sarah Jane, Harry
Written by the
World Distributors Annual 1976 crew.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on
an unnamed planet.
The One Doctor Audio drama, released 2001 Doctor: 6
featuring Mel
Written by Gareth
Roberts and Clayton Hickman.
Informed guess Takes place in
the Gennerios system; self-dated the Vulgar End of Time.
The Trauma Deception Short story, published 2020 Doctor: 0
Featuring
Chris
Written by James Wylder.
Arbitrary
placement Takes
place indeterminately.
Tick-Tock World Audio drama, released 2019 Doctor: 1
Featuring
Susan, Barbara, Ian
Written by Guy Adams.
Arbitrary
placement Most
of this story ends up not taking place at all, but if it had taken place, it
would have taken place on a planet in a galaxy known to the Time Lords as
Cleaver’s Square (although the Doctor may be bullshitting on this point). The
time is indeterminate and perhaps indeterminable.
Sands of Time Illustrated short story, published 1980 Doctor: 4
featuring K9
II, Sharon
Written by Jenny O’Connor.
Informed guess Takes place on Desar VII, the inhabitants of which
are crystalline and have been for a very long time.
Bad Vibrations Comic story, published 2010 Doctor:
11
Featuring Amy
Written by Eddie Robson.
Arbitrary placement
Takes place in the Echo Sphere.
The Unwelcome Visitors Comic story, published 2010 Doctor:
10
Featuring Heather
Written by Eddie Robson.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on an unnamed planet inhabited by horned monocular bipedal
pentapods.
Vanguard Audio drama, released 2018 Doctor: 7
Featuring Roz, Chris
Written by Steve Jordan.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on Vanguard.
Purgatory 12 Audio drama, released 2020 Doctor: 4
featuring
K9 II, Romana, Adric
Written by Marc Platt.
Arbitrary
placement Takes
place on Purgatory 12, in E-space.
Valhalla Must Fall! Short story, published 2020 Doctor: Unbound
Written
by Adityar Bidikar.
Arbitrary
placement Takes
place indeterminately.
Secret of the Bald Planet Illustrated short story, published 1976 Doctor: 4
featuring Sarah Jane, Harry
Written by the
World Distributors Annual 1977 crew.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on
Paras.
Peach Blossom Heights Audio drama, released 2020 Doctor: 0
Featuring
Captain Jack Harklness, Captain John
Written by David Llewellyn.
Arbitrary
placement Takes
place in Peach Blossom Heights.
The Planet That Slept Comic story, published 2012 Doctor: 11
Featuring Amy
or an Amy ganger, Rory
Written by Trevor Baxendale.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on an unnamed planet inhabited by humanoids.
Missy’s Magical Mystery Mission Short story, published 2020 Doctor: 0
Featuring
Missy
Written by Jacqueline Rayner.
Arbitrary
placement Takes
place on an unnamed planet inhabited by humanoids.
When Starlight Grows Cold Illustrated short story, published 1967 Doctor: 2
featuring Polly, Ben
Written by the
World Distributors Annual 1968 crew.
Informed guess Takes place in
intergalactic space, possibly when the galaxies are significantly further away
from each other than now.
China Mieville’s 2011 novel Embassytown sees humanoids of apparently Terrestrial descent living
alongside non-humanoids on a planet situated in a region of universal
strangeness, plausibly in the very far future.
Lesser Evils Audio short
story, released 2020 Doctor: 0
Featuring
the Master, the Kotturuh
Written by Simon Guerrier.
Arbitrary
placement Takes
place on Alexis, dated “the far future” in The Time Lord Victorious
Timeline
in DWM556, and if it’s past Utopia and City At the End of Time,
it’s quite possible the Kotturuh have simply reoccurred.
The Mind Runners and The Demon Rises Audio drama, released 2018 Doctor: 4
Featuring Leela, K9 I
Written by John Dorney.
Arbitrary placement Takes place on Chaldera.
Mastermind of Space Illustrated short story, published 1968 Doctor: 2
featuring Jamie, Victoria
Written by the
World Distributors Annual 1969 crew.
Informed guess Takes place in
an indeterminate environment created by super-evolved intelligences. It is
implied that a new cycle of creation will result from the events of this story
and what Victoria says, and out here in the depths of futurity, there is plenty
of time for that.
The Well-Mannered War Novel, published 1997 Doctor: 4
featuring the Chellonians, K9 II, Grace technology, Romana, Menlove Stokes
Written by
Gareth Roberts.
Takes place on
Metralubit and Barclow, half way to the end of the universe. This is given as
about 1033 CE in The Infinity Doctors, so halfway
will be about 5 x 1032 CE.
Time to Exist Short story,
published 2013 Doctor:
0
Featuring Iris
Wildthyme
Written by Andrew Smillie.
Informed guess Takes place in the Great
Abyss of Perpetual Nothing, the middle of everything. I’m taking that to mean
in the middle of the universe’s duration, as well.
By this time, I think it statistically unlikely that any Tellurian-descended
humanoids are descended from an unbroken chain of natural reproduction, as
opposed to having been rebooted from preserved genetic material, skipped a
significant passage of time by means of time travel, or reevolved from
posthuman stock in an environment similar to Earth in the Holocene.
Total
Stories Considered 6552
Proportion
Written By Women 10%
Top
Docs
4 597
stories
7 544
stories
10 498
stories
11 490
stories
8 441
stories
6 413
stories
3 393 stories
5 393 stories Climber!
1 389
stories
2 358
stories
12 205
stories
Unbound 142 stories
9 97 stories
13 90 stories
War 48 stories
Top
Twenty Recurring Elements
London 1175
stories
Regional
England 832
stories
The
Time Lords 563
stories
The
Daleks and Davros 505 stories
UNIT 472
stories
Alastair,
Kate, Kadiatu, Lucy Weston and the Lethbridge-Stewart family 468
stories
Continental
Europe 444
stories
North
America 436
stories
Benny 323
stories
The
Master, including Missy 313
stories
Sarah
Jane 303
stories
The
K9s 294
stories Climber!
Ace 294
stories
Amy
and Rory 293
stories
Wales 262
stories
Torchwood 257
stories
Peri 236
stories
At Sea 234
stories
Romana 228
stories
Jamie 227
stories
Top
Decades
The
Teens 2629
stories
The
Noughties 1746
stories
The
Nineties 657
stories
The
Twenties 537
stories
The
Eighties 356
stories
The
Seventies 319
stories
The
Sixties 238
stories
(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde and
William Hope Hodgson) 70
stories
And
Top Twenty Years
2018 335
stories
2016 323
stories
2020 317
stories
2008 291
stories
2015 287
stories
2017 271
stories
2011 258
stories
2009 253
stories
2013 252
stories
2010 251
stories
2019 245
stories
2007 235
stories
2021 222
stories
2014 220
stories
2001 194
stories
2012 193
stories
2006 181
stories
2004 160
stories
2005 148
stories
2003 127
stories
Total
Writers (including showrunners, script editors, anthology linking material
writers) 1207
Proportion
of Female Writers 17%
Top
Twenty Writers
Justin
Richards 168 stories
James
Goss 156
stories
Terrance Dicks 148
stories
Russell
T Davies 131 stories
Jonathan Morris 125
stories
Eddie
Robson 113
stories
Steven Moffat 107
stories
Paul
Magrs 98 stories
Matt Fitton 92
stories
Simon
Guerrier 91
stories
Terry
Nation 90
stories
Nicholas
Briggs 88
stories
John
Dorney 88
stories
David Whitaker 85 stories
Steve Lyons 82
stories
Trevor Baxendale 79 stories
Gareth Roberts 73 stories Climber!
Guy Adams 71
stories Climber!
Alan
Barnes 71
stories
Eric Saward 67
stories
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