User:OZOO/Sandbox/DWC

''This is a Sandbox article in OZOO's userspace, and may be edited by anyone. The stating page was a copy and paste of Chronology of the Doctor Who universe diff, with the History here''

This is a list of Doctor Who episodes in the chronological order they occur in. The Doctor Who universe comprises many television stories in related series Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. The main series, Doctor Who, features a primary element of time travel, with many stories taking place on disparate dates across a wide-spanning fictional timeline.

The majority of these stories feature a renegade Time Lord, the Doctor, and various travels in the TARDIS, his time machine and spaceship. Spin-off series Torchwood occasionally delves into time travel and flashbacks, usually centred around former Doctor Who character Captain Jack Harkness, a time travelling companion of the Doctor originally from the 51st century. The Sarah Jane Adventures features Sarah Jane Smith, another of the Doctor's companions in stories taking place in a contemporary setting. The list also encompasses the singular pilot episode of K-9 and Company, a 1981 spin-off centring on robot companion K-9.

Not all of these stories have a definite date. A number of adventures in Doctor Who pertaining to the fictional UNIT organisation contain hints to various settings between the 1960s to the 1980s, with different writers suggesting different dates, and as such there is some noted controversy over their placement, testament to the significance of the series' continuity and chronology within its fandom. Other stories take place on the timeless fictional planet of Gallifrey; stories set there occur in a distinctly chronological order but may take place at any time within the universe's history. Similarly, stories set on other alien worlds, such as the fictional planet Skaro, have no distinctly recognisable chronological place within the series' timeline.

Historical
At the earlier points in the history of the universe - known as "The Dark Times", it was a smaller, more chaotic place of "blood and magic". At this time, it was home to races such the Racnoss, Nestenes, Great Vampires, Weeping Angels and Carrionites as well as beings left over from the previous universe "before time" such as The Beast. Beings outside of or with control of time such as the Time Lords and Eternals also make appearances in this era.

19th Century
This era sees the formation, in 1879, of the Torchwood Institute by Queen Victoria, perhaps the earliest instance of a government response to extraterrestrial and paranormal threats and to the Doctor himself. During the following years, Queen Victoria expands her organisation.

UNIT Adventures (late 20th Century)
The adventures that revolve around UNIT have been a highly discussed issue for decades. There is no clear evidence as to when all of these adventures took place, apart from the late 20th century (see also UNIT dating controversy). Below is a list, in order of transmission, of those adventures:

2000s
Most of the episodes in this era are set approximately a year after their airdate. The early 21st century is described by the Doctor and Jack Harkness as when the course of humanity changes.


 * Spring 2004 ; Toshiko Sato is inducted into Torchwood. (Fragments)


 * Early March 2005 ; The Ninth Doctor arrives in London and meets Rose Tyler. After they defeat the Nestene Consciousness and the Autons, she becomes his companion. (Rose) Elton Pope is also present at the events. (Love & Monsters)


 * 21 February 2006 ; Owen Harper is inducted into Torchwood. (Fragments)


 * 6 March 2006 ; The Ninth Doctor and Rose return to London a year after the left. They foil a plot by the Slitheen to bring down the British government, destroying Big Ben and 10 Downing Street in the process. Harriet Jones becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (Aliens of London and World War Three) Elton Pope is also present at the events. (Love & Monsters)
 * 6 September 2006 ; The Ninth Doctor and Rose arrive in Cardiff to refuel, and prevent a Slitheen from using a nuclear power station to destroy the city. (Boom Town)


 * Autumn 2006 ; Rose is sent back to 21st century London by the Ninth Doctor for a brief period during the events on Satellite 5 in the year 200,100. (The Parting of the Ways)


 * 24-25 December 2006 ; The newly-regenerated Tenth Doctor and Rose arrive back on Earth for Christmas; A Sycorax invasion ship appears over London and the doctor defeats its leader in a duel. The ship is later destroyed by Harriet Jones using a Torchwood weapon, which leads to the Doctor to sow the seeds of her demise. (The Christmas Invasion) Elton Pope is also present at the events. (Love & Monsters)


 * Shortly afterwards ; The Tenth Doctor and Rose leave Earth. (New Earth)


 * Sometime in 2007 ; The events of Blink (Blink)


 * January 2007 ; The Tenth Doctor and Rose meet up with Sarah Jane Smith at a school and they team up to prevent the Krillitanes from using the school to gain complete control over time and space. Mickey Smith joins the Doctor. (School Reunion)


 * 1 February 2007 (alternate timeline) ; The Tenth Doctor, Rose and Mickey crash-land on a parallel version of Earth, meeting Rose's parallel family and foiling a plot by John Lumic to convert the world into Cybermen. Mickey stays behind. (Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel)


 * 1 February 2007; The Tenth Doctor and Rose return to Earth to inform Jackie of Mickey's departure. (The Age of Steel)


 * March-April 2007 ; After an encounter with a Hoix where he is saved by the Doctor, Elton Pope joins a group of people called LINDA obsessed with finding him. When it is taken over by a man who later reveals himself as the Abzorbaloff, the Doctor and Rose turn up to defeat it. (Love & Monsters)
 * June 2007 ; Donna Noble meets Lance, and three times asks him to marry her. (The Runaway Bride)


 * Summer 2007 ; A Dalek void ship appears in the Torchwood Institute in London, causing a breach that allows Cybermen to pass through from the parallel Earth. The Daleks and Cybermen end up fighting in a battle that destroys the Torchwood headquarters and traps Rose on the parallel Earth away from the Tenth Doctor. (Army of Ghosts and Doomsday)


 * Afterwards ; Ianto Jones is inducted into Torchwood Three, now the organisation's primary base of operations. (Fragments)


 * September-November 2007 ; Gwen Cooper is inducted into Torchwood Three, and joins them in the first eight major encounters, involving a resurrection gauntlet, a sex-addicted alien, a machine that gives visions of the past, a half-Cyberwoman, malevolent fairies, cannibalistic villagers, a telepathic pendant and the resurrection of a serial killer. (Everything Changes to They Keep Killing Suzie)

Future
The Doctor Who series gives consistent speculation into the future of the universe. By the late 21st century, humankind is able to colonize nearby planets and satellites - for example, The Wheel in Space, set near 2100, is set entirely on a scientific base in deep space. Development is implied to be continuous - Terror of the Vervoids is set in the year 2986 on the interstellar ship Hyperion III, and the events of "42" are described by the Tenth Doctor to be "half a universe [from Earth]".

Of the episodes that are set hundreds of thousands of years in the future, several are grouped together in story arcs - the arc spanning "The Long Game", "Bad Wolf", and "The Parting of the Ways" is of a strategic Dalek infiltration of Earth in the 2001st century, while "The End of the World", "New Earth", and "Gridlock" explore a dying Earth and the effects of humanity dispersing and interbreeding across the universe.

Even among episodes that do not share a common story arc, there are general trends in each time period. Episodes ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years in the future reveal at least four successive "Great and Bountiful Human Empires" which span multiple galaxies. Episodes taking place millions of years in the future all show that humanity has abandoned a dying Earth for other planets.

Trillions
According to the Doctor, no Time Lord has ever travelled this far in time. It is during this time period that the current universe comes to an end; all the stars have burnt out and humanity slowly evolves onward to a cannibalistic species. The Doctor says that humans pass through many forms in their long evolution, frequently returning to the form of contemporary humanity, which exists once again in this time period. Reference is made to the existence of a post-stellar cosmology that involves "dark matter reefs". Finally, reality is "collapsing", although what that implies is never made clear.

Unknown date
Many of the stories and episodes do not give sufficient information to determine at what date they were set, though they can often be seen to be set at some period in the future.

Inside the TARDIS
The TARDIS' nature as a time travel machine makes it impossible to definitively date such adventures set solely in the ship to a certain date and locale - however, all three adventures occur while the ship is in transit between two specifically mentioned locations.

Adventures on, or dealing with, Gallifrey
The time period in which these adventures is not specifically stated in dialogue. The television movie suggests that the fictional planet Gallifrey is set in the "Rassilon Era", while Earth is set in the "Humanian Era". Additionally, tie-in audio series suggest that the Laws of Time forbid Time Lords from travelling into either Gallifrey's past or future; however, the canonicity of these series is disputed.

References and notes

 * General
 * Howarth, Chris & Steve Lyons, Doctor Who: The Completely Useless Encyclopedia (London: Virgin Books, 1996), ISBN 0-426-20485-9
 * Lofficier, Jean-Marc, Doctor Who: The Terrestrial Index (London: Virgin Books, 1991), ISBN 0-426-20361-5
 * Miles, Lawrence & Tat Wood, About Time 3: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who — 1970–1974, Seasons 7 to 11 (New Orleans, LA: Mad Norwegian Press, 2004), ISBN 0-9725959-2-9
 * Parkin, Lance and Lars Pearson, A History: An Unauthorised History of the Doctor Who Universe (Des Moines, Iowa: Mad Norwegian Press, 2006), ISBN 0-9725959-9-6
 * Richards, Justin & Andrew Martin, Doctor Who: The Book of Lists (London: BBC Books, 1997), ISBN 0-563-40569-4


 * Specific