"...the best advice to be given to those readers who brook little disagreement with their own views of how the fictional Whoniverse should be arranged, is: read no further, go write your own book."
Jean-Marc Lofficier, THE UNIVERSAL DATABANK (1992)
Much as I adored Jean-Marc Lofficier's original two-part programme guide published in 1981, which gave my infant self access to the TV series' history, J-ML's outrageously arrogant comment in his jazzed-up 1992 edition, 'THE UNIVERSAL DATABANK', struck me as waving a red flag at a bull. And here we are.
The only real answer to the question, "Is (story X) canon?" is "If you think so!". On the following pages is a very selective approach to creating a canon of one's own, with the original TV series as the basic framework, drawing from the spin-off 'past Doctor' books and audio, together with creative use of comic strips and annual stories. This is an exercise in how I see the Doctor's travels across various media might fall into place from my own point of view. The aim is to see how the events seen in the various spin-offs fit into the established history of the TV series, and enjoy the flexibility of the 'Whoniverse' and is completely open to interpretation by you the reader.
This is a work of fiction and should be treated as such. I have presented it in the form of a biographical dossier on the life of a renegade Time Lord known as the Doctor, pieced together by a third party from a variety of sources. Thus, certain placements are pretty loose, unless a story's narrative gives specific pointers. I have not had firsthand of every single story, audio and book so if any details are erroneous, please correct me so I can make the neccesary changes and acknowledge your contribution.
I have created a page explaining the conventions adopted in this chronology, the reasoning behind some of my continuity placements outside of the TV stories, and my use of sources - if any part of this site raises any eyebrows, hopefully CONTINUITY PLACEMENTS AND CONVENTIONS USED should answer any questions.
As a kind of appendix I have also compiled a FUTURE EARTH HISTORICAL TIMELINE - this does not include every future Earth incident, nor is it meant to. The idea was simply to provide a chronological overview of future events, to give this canon guide an extra dimension. The dates have been drawn from a variety of sources - onscreen information, the novels, and educated guesses! It's a bit of a pot-pourri, and hardly competition for Lance Parkin's 'HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE', but it does give the Doctor's world a satisfying sense of scale, and helps key in isolated stories into a bigger picture. I am grateful for Paul Cornell (whom I still owe a pint), Martin Day and Keith Topping's 'DISCONTINUITY GUIDE' for being a useful resource, and Jean Marc Lofficier's original 'PROGRAMME GUIDE VOLUME TWO - WHAT'S WHAT AND WHO'S WHO'.
This is not a definitive list for reference purposes - for more reliable continuity sources, check out the following sites, you won't regret it.
- The definitive guide to the canon in all its shapes and forms can be found at The Canon Keepers Guide at Outpost Gallifrey.
- A more detailed account of Doctor Who adventures, with its own very interesting alternative placements of secondary sources, can be found at EYESPIDER's The Complete Adventures.
- The Importance of Being Canon from the BLACK ORCHID site takes a similar approach to canonicity as these pages, and is worth a look.
- The Discontinuity Guide articles at the BBC's Doctor Who site is also worth dipping into.
- The DiscContinuity Guide provides a similar fucntion to the above for the Big Finish audio dramas.
- Stripping Down is a brilliant guide to the Doctor Who comic strips, and a real labour of love by its compiler. I cannot describe how useful this site was when I came to tackle the DWM strips!
- Who's Dr Who? is an inexhaustive 'biography' of the Doctor, and far more comprehensive than this site could ever hope to be! Absolutely fascinating. Sadly its compiler, Allen Robinson, has passed away, but is being dedicatedly curated by his close friend Louise Lobinske.
I've tried not to take it too seriously in places, some of it is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Some parts are just downright contentious. On the whole it's meant to be fun, and hopefully an interesting read. Please feel free to e-mail your comments, I'm very open-minded. Now, read on...
