On screen, the strongest clues about Steven’s era come from The Daleks’ Master Plan. In episode six, Sara (originating from the year 4000) says that “Gravity force as a source of energy was abandoned, centuries ago”, to which Steven replies, “We were still using it.” In itself, this isn’t an indicator that Steven is from only “centuries” before Sara’s time, as gravity force could have been discontinued long after his era. But in the same episode, Steven says to Sara, “The technology of my age may be hundreds of years behind yours and the Doctor’s, but there are still some things I can handle.” He could be speaking colloquially, as he seems to be saying that the Doctor’s technology is only centuries ahead of his - but if he really were from thousands rather than hundreds of years behind Sara’s time, he could have said exactly that and been just as colloquial where the Doctor was concerned.
Without a clear directive as to when Steven’s era takes place, the tie-in stories have been of split minds about it. In The First Wave, writer Simon Guerrier assumed a later dating for Steven, claiming in the story that Steven once lived in a dwelling which was already “two centuries old” by the time he resided there, and was made using technology far in advance of the present day. Conversely, Salvation by Steve Lyons implied a much earlier dating, establishing (p58) that Steven saw the “rubble, the wasteland... the suffering of those... whom rebuilding had left behind” of New York following the Daleks devastating it in the mid-twenty-second century (The Dalek Invasion of Earth). This could just mean, however, that a portion of New York never recovers from the Dalek onslaught and is still in ruin in Steven’s time - a better restored part of the city might contain the popular waterways mentioned in Fear Itself (PDA), or it’s possible that these are different cities entirely (in accordance with The End of the World establishing that at least fifteen cities bear the name “New York”).
Previous editions of Ahistory erroneously reported that Steven said in The Daleks’ Master Plan that he was from “thousands of years” before the year 4000, which doesn’t appear to be the case. It was also reported that Salvation directly stated that Steven was from the “mid twenty-third century”, which isn’t (apologies again) true either.
Until a story comes along that cuts through the fog surrounding this topic and resolutely states that “Steven Taylor is from the X century”, it seems best to assume by default that mention in The Daleks’ Master Plan of Steven being from “hundreds of years” before the year 4000 does actually mean “hundreds of years” rather than millennia, hence the relocation in this guidebook of The Chase to the year 3565.
[1202] Cold Equations
[1203] The Perpetual Bond
[1204] The Daleks’ Master Plan
[1205] The First Wave
[1206] Salvation
[1207] Frostfire
[1208] The Empire of Glass
[1209] War of the Daleks, and presumably the same class of Mechanoids seen in The Chase.
[1210] Dating The Chase (2.8) - No date given, but this is Steven’s native time. See the Steven Taylor sidebar.
The TARDIS Logs suggested a date of “3773 AD”. The first and second editions of The Programme Guide set dates of “2150” and “2250” respectively, The Terrestrial Index settled on “early in the twenty-seventh century”. The American Doctor Who comic suggested a date of “2170”. “A History of the Daleks” in DWM #77 claimed a date of “3764 AD”, The Discontinuity Guide suggested that Steven fought in “one of the Cyber Wars, or the Draconian conflict”. Timelink suggests “3550”, About Time “2200 - 2400”.
There’s no indication that the Daleks are in their native time when they fight the Mechanoids at the end of the story, but the Daleks have fought the Mechanoids before. We saw this happen in the TV Century 21 strip, in “Eve of the War”, but there’s a problem - that story is set very soon after the Daleks started space exploration, explicitly centuries before mankind could have built the Mechanoids. Additionally, the Mechanoids in the strip are far more inventive and advanced.
There are a number of possibilities. A rather messy one is that there are two, near identical, robot races out there - “Mechonoids” built by humans to colonise Mechonous, and “Mechanoids” built by a far more advanced race of outer space robot people from the planet Mechanus. Or, given that they look the same, perhaps the Mechanoids the humans sent out were based on alien technology, possibly acquired after some unseen Mechanoid attack on Earth (again, no evidence - and it doesn’t explain why both come from Mechanus). Another alternative is that perhaps the ones that fight the Daleks in the strip are time travellers (although there’s absolutely nothing to indicate that). While there’s no evidence for it, the simplest answer of all is... that the Mechanoids have lied to Steven about their origins, and that they are a powerful spacefaring alien race who have fought the Daleks in the past.
The end credits of episode five and six of The Chase spell the name as “Mechanoid” and “Mechonoid” respectively. The script spells the name of the planet as “Mechonous”; the comic strip prefers “Mechanus”.
[1211] Dating Palace of the Red Sun (PDA #51) - It is five hundred years after the previous part of the story.
[1212] Dating The First Wave (BF CC #6.5) - Steven says that they’re “somewhere a little after” his own time, as he’s largely familiar with the technology at hand, but some improvements have been made to gravity and atmosphere control. Oliver Harper previously appeared in The Perpetual Bond and Cold Equations.
[1213] Dating The Resurrection of Mars (BF BBC7 #4.6) - The Monk says that he and Tamsin have travelled “one thousand years into the future”, presumably referring to their previous location on Deimos rather than Tamsin’s native era. The transformed Halcyon is separate from the Martian colony planet Nova Martia (i.e. New Mars, one of the founding members of the Federation), which is settled after the Thousand-Day War according to GodEngine.
[1214] Dating “Art Attack!” (DWM #358) - It’s “the thirty-seventh century”.
[1215] Dating The Song of the Megaptera (BF LS #1.7) - No year given. The back cover text says that it’s “deep space in the distant future”. The participants are aware of humanity, use Earth whaling terms and seem human themselves. A Terran warship inside the pilot Ghaleen has “Eat lead, Dalek scum” written on its side, so it’s after humanity’s conflicts with the Daleks.
Environmentalists hold influence on some colony planets, suggesting it’s not the time of the less-than environmentally minded (to put it mildly) Earth Empire. The whale-hunters have some awareness of the Ghaleen’s temporal abilities - such as measuring the depths to which they dive in “millenniums” - but lack the ability to follow, which rules out the time-tech-riddled fifty-first century. It’s a guess, but the fourth millennium seems like a good compromise, when humanity’s technology is developed enough to hunt space whales, but prior to its having time tech.
This audio story was adapted from the continually delayed and rewritten The Song of the Space Whale by Pat Mills, which in one phase of development was designed to introduce Turlough (who debuted instead in Mawdryn Undead). The Ghaleen seem different from the space whales seen in The Beast Below and TW: Meat, in that they can navigate through time as well as space.
[1216] Dating Weapon of Choice (Gallifrey #1.1) - The year is given. “Black light” was first mentioned as a power source in The Mysterious Planet.
[1217] The contest in Bang-Bang-A-Boom! is the 308th.
[1218] “Centuries” before the forty-first century portion of “Hotel Historia”.
[1219] A Device of Death. There’s a discussion of the history on p31. No date is given, but Kambril has been in charge for “eighteen years” (p90).
[1220] Davros
[1221] “Three millennia” before Return of the Krotons.
[1222] “A few hundred years” after Paradise 5.
[1223] Dating Interference (EDA #25-26) - It’s the “thirty-eighth century” (p306) and “several centuries” after The Monster of Peladon. The Foreman/bott
le universe story occurs some time after the main events on Dust.
[1224] The bottle next appears in The Ancestor Cell.
[1225] Dating A Device of Death (MA #31) - No date is given, but this is a time of isolated Earth colonies, and it’s fifteen hundred years since Landor was colonised. The implication that the robots are the Movellans, seen in Destiny of the Daleks, would seem to contradict War of the Daleks.
[1226] Dating Earth Aid (BF LS #2.8) - No year given. Earth Aid is, presumably, either based on Earth or chiefly composed of humans; either way, it’s after man’s expansion into space. Spaceship technology is advanced enough that Earth Aid shipments appear to reach their destinations in time to actually provide relief, without decades spent in transit (a concern in humanity’s early colonial age). The Vancouver and Lilliput both have “jump” capabilities, but the Vancouver’s primary weaponry is nothing more fancy than cannons and missiles. There’s not even mention of a transporter or T-Mat.
As there’s no mention of a major war or its aftermath being of any concern, it’s unlikely to be during the Dalek Invasion of Earth or the Dalek Wars (where the latter is concerned, the Vancouver, a warship, isn’t said to be part of Spacefleet). With all of that in mind, thinking that Earth Aid happens at some point in the fourth millennium rings reasonably true, especially if the spaceships’ “jump” capabilities relate to the hyperspace paths in use prior to The Daleks’ Master Plan (see The Guardian of the Solar System). The Metatraxi homeworld was “decimated” by the Krotons prior to 2068 (Alien Bodies), but might not have been outright destroyed.
[1227] Only Human
[1228] “Two centuries” before Placebo Effect.
[1229] The Curse of Peladon, with much elaboration given in Legacy - a book that incorporates some details from The Curse of Peladon novelisation.
[1230] Neverland. The Sensorian Era was mentioned but not defined in Doctor Who - The Movie.
[1231] Dating The Curse of Peladon (9.2) - There is no dating evidence on screen. The story takes place at a time when Earth is “remote”, has had interstellar travel for at least a generation (King Peladon is the son of an Earthwoman) and has an aristocratic government.
It’s not set between 2500 and 3000, when Earth has a powerful galactic empire according to fellow Pertwee stories The Mutants and Frontier in Space. Its sequel is set fifty years afterwards, and galactic politics is in much the same position as in the previous story.
Although the Federation seems to be capable of intergalactic travel at the time of The Monster of Peladon, Gary Russell suggested in the New Adventure Legacy that Galaxy Five was a mere “terrorist organisation” (p27). Legacy is set “a century” after The Curse of Peladon.
Remarkably, given the lack of on-screen information, there has been fan consensus about the dating of this story and its sequel: The Programme Guide set the story in “c.3500”, and made the fair assumption that the Federation succeeded the collapsed Earth Empire. The Terrestrial Index revised this slightly to “about 3700”. The TARDIS Logs suggests “3716”. Timelink suggests “3225”, About Time “at least a thousand years in the future”.
While that seems reasonable, another possibility is that this story is set very early in Earth’s future history, when Earth’s just starting to explore the galaxy. It’s at least a generation after interstellar travel. But other than that, the aliens here and in The Monster of Peladon are all near neighbours - Mars, Alpha Centauri, Arcturus and Vega. On the evidence of the TV series alone, The Curse of Peladon could comfortably be set in the late twenty-second century, before the Earth Empire forms.
Arcturus
We have seen at least three different alien races come from Arcturus over the course of Doctor Who, and it has been the site of a large number of events, although all of these have alluded to rather than depicted.
The Curse of Peladon shows us an Arcturan that resembles a shrunken human head with some sort of tendrils growing from it, which needs a bulky life support system to survive in places suitable for humans. The criminal Arktos (The Bride of Peladon) was one of this species, and his nickname “the Scourge of the Nine Worlds” might indicate the extent of the Arcturan system. It’s this species of Arcturan that seems most common, and in the far future, they become members of the Galactic Federation - along with Earth and their arch enemies, the Ice Warriors.
UNIT fought an Arcturan with sinister intent (Verdigris), but in the late twenty-first century, the relationship with Arcturus became very fruitful for Earth. Earth picked up an Arcturan signal with enough information to build a working transmat (Cold Fusion). Earth’s first diplomatic agreement with an alien race was the Arcturan Treaty of 2085 (The Dying Days). Humans gained much from contact with Arcturans, including scientific information (Lucifer Rising).
Arcturus was the location of early human colonies. The interstellar Stunnel, a transmat corridor, was planning to reach Arcturus II (Transit). Arcturus Six is habitable by humans, and was reached early on in human spacefaring days (Love and War). A Von Neumann probe landed on Arcturus and started to build a city, oblivious to the fact the planet was already inhabited (The Big Hunt). Humans settled Sifranos in the Arcturus Sector, although that colony was wiped out by the Daleks (Lucifer Rising). There were soon civil wars in the Earth colonies in Arcturus (GodEngine).
The Arcturans were at war with the Ice Warriors, who had fled Mars for Nova Martia, beyond Arcturus (GodEngine). A great Cyber fleet crashed on A54 in the Arcturus system (“Junkyard Demon”). The Sontarans fought the Battle of Arcturus (Sontarans: Conduct Unbecoming).
Arcturans helped to fund Checkley’s World (The Highest Science) and won the Galactic Olympic Games on at least one occasion (Destiny of the Daleks). They were obsessed with profits and thought to be selfish (Interference). During the height of the Earth Empire, some Arcturans lived in the Overcities on Earth (Original Sin). They had only a few records of the Doctor (The Doctor Trap), although the Doctor, Rose and an Arcturan once “shared an experience” in a cellar (The Day of the Troll). The Navarinos named one model of time machine the “Arcturan Ultra-Pod” (The Tomorrow Windows). In the Terraphile Era, one popular reconstructed world is the howling terrace of Arcturus-and-Arcturus (The Coming of the Terraphiles).
Arcturus is twice mentioned in short stories not included in this chronology... “Only a Matter of Time” (Doctor Who Annual 1968) says that Arcturus is a swollen star, and that one fleet of hundreds of ships left the dying solar system “many thousands of years” ago. These Arcturans were an entirely peaceful race of frail four-armed birdlike creatures who could no longer fly due to gravity fluctuations. More whimsically, “The Mystery of the Marie Celeste” (Doctor Who Annual 1970) details how Greek god-like beings from Arcturus studied Earth and abducted the Marie Celeste.
[1232] Dating The Prisoner of Peladon (BF CC #4.3) - It’s been five years since The Curse of Peladon. The seventh Doctor says in Legacy (p90) that he’s visited Peladon on “two occasions” - an acknowledgment of only the TV Peladon stories, not this story or The Bride of Peladon.
[1233] Specified as “two thousand years” after J&L: Chronoclasm.
[1234] Dating The Pirate Loop (NSA #20) - It is repeatedly said to be the “fortieth century”. However, when the tenth Doctor and Martha visit the planet Hollywood in the late twenty-fifth century (in Peacemaker), the Doctor suggests (jokingly or otherwise) that their movie-watching options include The Starship Brilliant Story.
[1235] The Only Good Dalek. See the dating notes on this story for possible reasons why other stories seem to contradict this.
[1236] “Three for four generations” before The Judgment of Isskar.
[1237] “Several centuries” after the latter part of Cobwebs, and a possible reference to the Kilbracken technique referred to in The Invisible Enemy.
[1238] The Invisible Enemy. Clones are seen or referred to before this date in a number of subsequent stories such as Heritage, Deceit, Trading Futures, Project: Lazarus, The Also People and So Vile a Sin. Pro
fessor Marius distinguishes between the Kilbracken Technique, which instantly creates a “sort of three-dimensional photocopy”, and a true clone that would take “years” to produce. Heritage also suggests cloning keeps periodically falling into disuse, whereupon another scientist will come forward and claim to have perfected the science for the “first” time.
[1239] Dating The Resurrection Casket (NSA #9) - No date is given, although Galactic Seven spacecraft went out of service a century before the story. References to trisilicate would seem to place it around the time of the Galactic Federation (although trisilicate is also mentioned in The Price of Paradise, set in the twenty-fourth century). This date coincides with the space piracy prevalent in The Infinite Quest.
[1240] Dating The Infinite Quest (Totally Doctor Who animated story) - Balthazar is “scourge of the galaxy and corsair King of Triton in the fortieth century”.
[1241] Dating Sontarans: Conduct Unbecoming (BBV audio #27) - Maria, a fugitive of Haigen V, says, “To think... I’m a sophisticated fortieth century woman, and I’m reduced to throwing rocks.” Later on, President Forrest claims that as prisoners, he and Maria should be treated according to the “Terran Treaty of 21,000”, which we can only assume can’t be a date.
[1242] “Seventy years” before The Daleks: “The Destroyers”. This seems to go against Cory’s claim in The Daleks’ Master Plan that the Daleks “haven’t been active in our galaxy for some time now”, although it’s debatable as to what exactly constitutes “active”, and whether Cory would be informed concerning (or think it relevant to mention) every minor Dalek incident.
[1243] “Two hundred years” before Planet of the Ood. That story is set during the time of the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire, but these events seem to predate it. The Doctor says it’s an Empire “built on slavery”, so perhaps this is one of the first steps in that process. The Sense-Sphere is the home of the titular characters from The Sensorites.
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