The Power of Three dating controversy

"The Power of Three dating controversy" is a title based upon conjecture.

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The The Power of Three dating controversy stems from a narrative featured throughout the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who, which is noticeable primarily from information given in the 2012 television story The Power of Three. Unlike his predecessor, Russell T Davies, Moffat was vaguer on what was considered "present day" during his time as head writer, noticeably after series 6.

In DWM 477, Steven Moffat was asked about this discrepency. Specifically, the question was brought up about how Kate Stewart could meet the Eleventh Doctor and Clara in 2013 if she first met the Doctor in, logically, July 2016 in The Power of Three. He replied:

"Ah, yes, well, good point. Some may think that question has no good answer. But as I believe I mentioned earlier, I'm on fire this month and can answer ANYTHING, oh yes. Sadly, however, I've run out of space..."Steven Moffat

Dating information

Television

Series 5

• In The Eleventh Hour (2010), 21-year-old Amy Pond joins the Eleventh Doctor in the TARDIS after waiting for him for fourteen years. Later references would have her leaving in 2010, which would put her meeting as a 7-year-old in 1996, and the Atraxi incident in 2008. However, Rory Williams, who was born in 1989 according to The Broken Man (2012), was issued his identification badge for the Royal Leadworth Hospital on 30 November 1990.
• In The Beast Below (2010), Amy's age is given as being 1308 in 3295, placing her year of birth as 1987, and would have made her 9-years-old in 1996.
• In Flesh and Stone (2010), the Doctor refers to 26 June 2010 as "Amy's time".
• In The Vampires of Venice (2010), Rory claims that he will marry Amy " four-hundred-and-thirty years" after 1580, placing the year of their wedding in 2010.
• In The Hungry Earth (2010), Amy and Rory see their future selves waving at them during a trip to 2020, though the following episode, Cold Blood (2010), establishes that their future can still be changed.
• In The Pandorica Opens (2010), the Doctor's TARDIS explodes on 26 June 2010.
• In The Big Bang (2010), Amy directly states that it was 1996 the year she (was meant to have) met the Doctor at age 7. Finally, after rebooting reality back together, Amy and Rory marry on 26 June 2010, and then leave with the Doctor for their honeymoon.

Series 6

• In The Impossible Astronaut (2011), the Doctor fakes his assassination at Lake Silencio. Later references would date the assassination as taking place at 5:02PM on 22 April 2011.
• In The God Complex (2011), the Doctor leaves Amy and Rory on contemporary Earth. In the next episode, Closing Time (2011), the Doctor sees Amy and Rory, apparently after he had left them on Earth, while at a shopping centre on 19 April 2011. Amy has taken up modelling as a career.

Series 7

• In The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (2011), the Doctor visits Amy and Rory for Christmas. Amy claims that it has been two years since they last saw the Doctor, which would set this as Christmas 2013.
• In Pond Life (2012), the Doctor remains in contact with Amy and Rory throughout April, May, June, and July, which would be in the year 2014.
• In Asylum of the Daleks (2012), Amy and Rory almost divorce after an argument that occurred in August that year, but the Doctor helps them get back together.
• During Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (2012), Amy mentions not seeing the Doctor for ten months, which would place their reunion at June 2015 at the earliest.
• In The Power of Three (2012), the Shakri cubes arrive in July, and remain dormant for a whole year, which would have the Year of the Slow Invasion starting in 2015 and ending in 2016. Kate Stewart is implied to be meeting the Doctor for the first time here, needing to identify him by his binary vascular system, and is surprised when he mentions he knows her father is Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. However, in The Day of the Doctor (2013), which is set in 2013, Kate is already familiar with the Doctor.
• In The Bells of Saint John (2013), Clara Oswald joins the Doctor. In Deep Breath (2014) Strax states that Clara is 27-years-old during a medical examination, which, as her date of birth is given as 23 November 1986 in Death in Heaven (2014), would set her travels with the Doctor starting in 2013, and The Time of the Doctor (2013) as happening during Christmas 2013.
• In The Name of the Doctor (2013), Clara receives a letter from Madame Vastra, who calculated the date of the letter's arrival to be 10 April 2013.

Series 8

• In Into the Dalek (2014), Danny Pink starts teaching at Coal Hill School, but it is not clarified if it is a new school year, or if he is joining at the start of the Winter term.
• In The Caretaker (2014), the Twelfth Doctor takes a temporary job at Coal Hill School. Courtney Woods' mother implies that Danny was at a previous Parent's Evening.
• In In the Forest of the Night (2014), the Doctor makes an analogy of planting an acorn in 1795 that would grow to be an oak tree in 2016, and speaks as if he is referring to the present date.
• In Dark Water (2014), Danny Pink is killed. And then in Face the Raven (2015), Clara Oswald in killed. In For Tonight We Might Die (2016), both are listed as deceased at the bottom of the Coal Hill School Roll of Honours Board, making their deaths a recent event by 14 October 2016.

Series 10

• In The Pilot (2017), Bill Potts becomes the Doctor's student at St Luke's University, and begins travelling with him after the Christmas break. As later events would place her leaving with the Doctor in 2017, this would set their meeting in September 2016 at the earliest, and the Christmas they share as Christmas 2016.
• In Knock Knock (2017), the Doctor notes that the Landlord abducts students every twenty years, with his previous victims being taken in 1997, which would place this story in 2017.
• In The Pyramid at the End of the World (2017), Bill's age is 26-years-old according to the sonic sunglasses. Given the 2017 setting, this would place her year of birth as being 1991.
• In The Lie of the Land (2017), the Monks are repelled after a six month occupation. As Bill is still regarded as the Doctor's student after the invasion, this would place the rebellion at June 2017 at the earliest.

Comics

• The Fractures (2015), which takes place between The Caretaker and Dark Water, gives the year as 2014.
• The Hyperion Empire (2015), which takes place between Last Christmas and The Magician's Apprentice, gives the date as summer 2015.
• Clara Oswald and the School of Death (2016), which takes place between The Witch's Familiar and Face the Raven, gives the date as September 2015.
• Witch Hunt (2016), which takes place after Danny's death in Death in Heaven, gives the date as October of an unspecified year, with Clara being alive to see the opening of the new IT suite in Danny’s memory, a few months later.
• The Great Shopping Bill (2017), which takes place after The Lie of the Land, gives the date as 2017.
• The Clockwise War (2018), which takes place sometime between Thin Ice and World Enough and Time, gives the date as 2018.

Prose

• In The Persistence of Memory, the Twelfth Doctor mentions that Clara is absent from the TARDIS due to attending an end-of-term Christmas party. Since the two were not traveling together in Last Christmas, this would logically be the Christmas after.