Planet (An Unearthly Child): Difference between revisions

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{{Cleanup|This page should potentially be merged into [[the Doctor's home]] or be renamed to [[the Doctor's home planet]], with details surrounding the planet refereneced in "[[The Pilot Episode]]" and the scattered references to it from ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'' and ''[[Escape Velocity (novel)|Escape Velocity]]'' remaining on this page. Further details can be found at [[Talk:Planet (An Unearthly Child)|the talk page]].}}
{{Infobox Location
{{Infobox Location
|name           = Planet
|name             = Planet
|aka           = [[Venus]], [[Gallifrey]]
|aka             = [[Gallifrey]]
|natives       = [[Dr. Who (An Unearthly Child)|Dr. Who]], [[Susan Foreman|Susan]]
|type            = Planet
|first mention   = An Unearthly Child (TV story)
|natives         = [[Dr. Who (An Unearthly Child)|Dr. Who]], [[Susan Foreman|Susan]]
|first mention cs = An Unearthly Child (TV story)
|clip            = Reconstruction First TARDIS scene - An Adventure in Space and Time - Doctor Who 50th Anniversary
}}
}}
{{big toc}}
{{big toc}}
The original '''home planet''' of [[the Doctor]] and [[Susan Foreman|Susan]] in the [[49th century]] was one [[The Doctor's early life|of many potential origins]] among many due to shifting [[timeline]]s and alterations to [[biodata]].
The original '''home planet''' of [[the Doctor]] and [[Susan Foreman|Susan]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|An Unearthly Child (TV story)|namedep=An Unearthly Child (1)}}) was unclear due to the Doctor's shifting [[timeline]]s and alterations to their [[biodata]], thus giving the planet [[The Doctor's early life|many potential identities]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Unnatural History (novel)}})
 
The Doctor's home planet was as distant as a night [[star]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Marco Polo (TV story)|namedep=Rider from Shang-Tu (5)}}) although generally similar to [[Earth]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sensorites (TV story)|namedep=A Desperate Venture (6)}}) However, some accounts actually identified the Doctor's home planet as [[Earth]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Dream Masters (short story)}}, {{cs|The Lair of Zarbi Supremo (short story)}}) while many later accounts identified it as [[Gallifrey]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Warrior (TV story)}}, {{cs|Gridlock (TV story)}}, etc.)
 
Susan, upon travelling with [[Marco Polo]], felt that she had had many homes. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Marco Polo (TV story)|namedep=The Roof of the World (1)}})


== References ==
== References ==
When [[Barbara Wright]] asked if the TARDIS was Susan's home, Susan replied: "yes... well, at least, it's the only home I have now." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child (novelisation)|Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child]]'') Later in the same conversation, Susan told [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]] and Barbara of her and the Doctor's origins, telling them that "[she] was born in another time, another world". ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|An Unearthly Child]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child (novelisation)|Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child]]'')
When [[Barbara Wright]] asked if the TARDIS was Susan's home, Susan replied: "yes… well, at least, it's the only home I have now." ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child (novelisation)}}) Later in the same conversation, Susan told [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]] and Barbara of her and the Doctor's origins, saying "[she] was born in another time, another world". ([[TV]]: {{cs|An Unearthly Child (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child (novelisation)}}) The [[First Doctor]] and Susan were [[exile]]s from their own world, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|An Unearthly Child (short story)}}) cut off without friends or protection. ([[TV]]: {{cs|An Unearthly Child (TV story)}})
 
According to one account, the Doctor told [[Ian Chesterton]] and [[Barbara Wright]] that he and Susan were wanderers who were cut off from their planet and separated from it by millions upon millions of years. Later, Ian wondered if the planet that the Doctor and Susan came from practised customs such as [[marriage]], after contemplating what would happen if Susan would stop travelling in [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the Tardis]] in favour of marriage. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (novelisation)}})
 
On [[Skaro]], the Doctor told [[Alydon]] that he was once a [[pioneer]] among his own people. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Daleks (TV story)|namedep=The Rescue (7)}})
 
Susan told [[Ping-Cho]] that her home was as "far away as a night [[star]]", relative to [[Cathay]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Marco Polo (TV story)|namedep=Rider from Shang-Tu (5)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Marco Polo (novelisation)|chaptnum=11|chaptname=Rider from Shang-Tu}})
 
Susan later mentioned that her and the Doctor's home planet was similar to [[Earth]], but at [[night]] the [[sky]] was a [[burnt orange]] and the [[tree]]s had [[silver (colour)|silver]] [[leaf|leaves]]; ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sensorites (TV story)|namedep=A Desperate Venture (6)}}) Susan even wished to return to her home eventually, speaking of her home with melancholic nostalgia,  having left a "very long time ago". This account, however, also contained a difference regarding the Doctor's species, as the Doctor did not refer to himself as human.{{note|In {{cs|The Sensorites (TV story)}}, the Doctor indentifies himself as human when explaining that [[cat]]s can see better than humans. This line of dialogue is slightly altered in {{cs|The Sensorites (novelisation)|the novelisation|noital=1}}, as the Doctor explains the eyesight of cats without speaking of his own species.}} ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Sensorites (novelisation)|chaptnum=4, 11|chaptname=The Unwilling Warriors, The Secret of the Caves}}) Later accounts, however, identified this planet as [[Gallifrey]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Gridlock (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Sound of Drums (TV story)}}, etc.)


According to one account, [[Dr. Who (An Unearthly Child)|the Doctor]] told [[Ian Chesterton]] and [[Barbara Wright]] that he and Susan were wanderers who were cut off from their planet and separated from it by millions upon millions of years. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (novelisation)|Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks]]'')
[[Steven Taylor]] once asked the Doctor if he and [[first Monk|the Monk]] came from the same planet, which the Doctor confirmed, however regretfully. He added that he had left fifty years before the Monk. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Time Meddler (TV story)|namedep=Checkmate (4)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Time Meddler (novelisation)|chaptnum=9|chaptname=The Monk's Master Plan}}) Steven himself thought the Doctor and the Monk behaved "exactly like a couple of old codgers discussing vintage cars." ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Time Meddler (novelisation)|chaptnum=9|chaptname=The Monk's Master Plan}})


Susan later mentioned that her and the Doctor's home planet was similar to [[Earth]], but at [[night]] the [[sky]] was a [[burnt orange]] and the [[tree]]s had [[silver (colour)|silver]] [[leaf|leaves]]; ([[TV]]: "[[A Desperate Venture]]") Susan even wished to return to her home eventually. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Sensorites (TV story)|The Sensorites]]'') Later accounts, however, identified this planet as none other than [[Gallifrey]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Gridlock (TV story)|Gridlock]]'', ''[[The Sound of Drums (TV story)|The Sound of Drums]]'', et al.)
When Steven stormed out of the TARDIS after learning that the Doctor did not take an opportunity to spare [[Anne Chaplet]] from the [[St Bartholomew's Day massacre]], the Doctor suggested to himself that, having lost so many of his travelling [[companion]]s, that he should return to his home planet, but acknowledged that he could not. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Massacre (TV story)|namedep=Bell of Doom (4)}})


After the [[Eighth Doctor]] made a deal with [[Boy (Unnatural History)|a boy]] of [[Faction Paradox]], a [[memory]] for a memory, so that the Doctor could locate [[Griffin (Unnatural History)|Griffin]], he realised that the boy had not only taken a memory, but altered his [[biodata]].
Whilst a [[prisoner]] of the [[Dalek]]s on [[Skaro]] during [[Operation Human Factor]], the [[Second Doctor]] briefly mused that he could take [[Jamie McCrimmon]], [[Victoria Waterfield|Victoria]] and [[Edward Waterfield]], and [[Theodore Maxtible]] with him to his home planet. At this point, the Daleks believed that the Doctor had become "more than human" as a result of having "travelled too much through time". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Evil of the Daleks (TV story)}})


The boy, along with various versions of himself from the relative future by his side, mocked the Doctor by mentioning his shifting past; one of the versions of the boy mentioned that "maybe you originally came from some planet in the [[49th century|forty-ninth century]]. Fleeing from [[the Enemy]] who’d overrun your home –". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'')
After the [[Eighth Doctor]] made a deal with [[Boy (Unnatural History)|a boy]] of [[Faction Paradox]], a [[memory]] for a memory, so that the Doctor could locate [[Griffin (Unnatural History)|Griffin]], he realised that the boy had not only taken a memory, but altered his [[biodata]]. The boy, alongside various versions of himself from the relative future, mocked the Doctor for his shifting past. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Unnatural History (novel)}})


After the Eighth Doctor was stripped of his memories of the [[Time Lord]]s and [[Gallifrey]], he theorised that he may have been an exile from the forty-ninth century. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Escape Velocity (novel)|Escape Velocity]]'')
{{Quote|Maybe you didn't use to have a father. Maybe you're living in the middle of a time war. Maybe there's an Enemy out there who's rewriting you when you're not looking! Maybe you weren't always half human. But now you've become always half human. Maybe you weren't always a Time Lord. But now you’ve always been a Time Lord. Maybe you [[Original palimpsest universe|originally]] came from some planet in the forty-ninth century. Fleeing from the Enemy who'd overrun your home and you've just been written and rewritten and overwritten, ever since.|The [[Boy (Unnatural History)|boy]]|Unnatural History (novel)}}


== Other universes ==
After the Eighth Doctor lost his memories of the [[Time Lord]]s and [[Gallifrey]], he theorised that he may have been an exile from the forty-ninth century. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Escape Velocity (novel)}})
In a [[parallel universe (Deadline)|parallel universe]], [[Martin Bannister]] was uncertain whether or not to make it explicit that [[Doctor Who (Deadline)|Doctor Who]] and [[Susan (Deadline)|Susan Who]] came from [[Venus]] in the 49th century. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Deadline (audio story)|Deadline]]'')
 
=== Other realities ===
In a [[parallel universe (Deadline)|parallel universe]], [[Martin Bannister]] was uncertain whether or not to make it explicit that [[Doctor Who (Deadline)|Doctor Who]] and [[Susan (Deadline)|Susan Who]] came from [[Venus]] in the 49th century. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Deadline (audio story)}})


== Behind the scenes ==
== Behind the scenes ==
The unnamed planet in the 49th century, the home of Dr. Who and Susan, was first mentioned in ''[[The Pilot Episode]]'', where it was explicitly mentioned as the origin of the characters; in the [[An Unearthly Child (episode)|the televised story]], this line is removed and made more ambiguous,<ref>[http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2017/06/a-brief-history-of-time-travel.html ''A Brief History of Time Travel: An Unearthly Child'' on Tony's Musings]</ref> although it should be noted that some of the dialogue still reflects the origin, even though it was never spoken about in so many words. Vague allusions to the Doctor's home, typically inferring that he and Susan were simply humans from another planet, were made over the course of the First and Second Doctor's eras, until the Time Lords were established in [[TV]]: ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]'' with their development being initiated in the Third Doctor's era to evolve into the generally accepted "[[Time Lord]]" backstory of the Doctor.
The unnamed planet in the 49th century, the home of the Doctor and Susan, was first mentioned in the so-called "[[The Pilot Episode]]", where it was explicitly mentioned as the origin of the characters; in [[An Unearthly Child (episode)|the televised episode]], this line is less specific.<ref>[http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2017/06/a-brief-history-of-time-travel.html ''A Brief History of Time Travel: An Unearthly Child'' on Tony's Musings]</ref> The First and Second Doctors' eras contained several vague allusions to the Doctor's home, typically inferring that he and Susan were simply humans or humanoids from another planet, until the "[[Time Lord]]" backstory was fully established in the serial ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]'' and developed significantly in the Third Doctor's era and beyond.


Since then, despite the Doctor having numerous origins being an accepted and oft-mentioned part of the character's backstory, this origin has been very rarely referenced, with the only two references to it outside of the First and Second Doctor's eras being [[PROSE]]: ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'' and [[PROSE]]: ''[[Escape Velocity (novel)|Escape Velocity]]'' (though the planet was referenced in [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Deadline (audio story)|Deadline]]'', which isn't set in the "main" Doctor Who universe), even then only entertaining it as a possibility as opposed to directly confirming it as ''a'' backstory. Other stories, such as [[PROSE]]: ''[[Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (novelisation)|Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks]]'' usually play with the general ''idea'', albeit a different take upon it.
Since then, despite the Doctor having numerous origins being an accepted and oft-mentioned part of the character's backstory, this origin has been very rarely referenced, with the only two references to it outside of the First and Second Doctor's eras being the [[BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures|BBC ''Eighth Doctor Adventures'']] novels ''[[Unnatural History (novel)|Unnatural History]]'' and ''[[Escape Velocity (novel)|Escape Velocity]]'' (though the planet was referenced in the ''[[Doctor Who Unbound]]'' audio drama ''[[Deadline (audio story)|Deadline]]'', which isn't set in the "main" ''Doctor Who'' universe), even then only entertaining it as a possibility as opposed to directly confirming it as ''a'' backstory. Other stories, such as the novelisation of ''[[The Daleks (TV story)|The Daleks]]'', ''[[Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (novelisation)|Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks]]'', usually play with the general ''idea'', albeit a different take upon it.


It was originally intended for Susan to be a [[princess]] from her home planet, which interestingly would've been established as a ''separate'' planet from the Doctor's.<ref>[http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-unbelievably-precious-forgotten-1764029 ''Mysteries of Doctor Who explained: "Unbelievably precious" Doctor Who scripts lost for 50 years discovered in Kent'' on The Mirror]</ref> Thereafter, she was envisioned as a fugitive from the Doctor's home planet. It was [[Anthony Coburn]] who altered the character so that Susan became the Doctor's granddaughter, instead of being a biologically unrelated female teenager travelling with an old man.<ref>''[[The Tribe of Gum (script)]]'', "Doctor Who – The Beginning"</ref>
One of [[Anthony Coburn]]'s early scripts would have established that Susan had been a [[princess]] on her home planet, which would have been different than Doctor Who's world.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-unbelievably-precious-forgotten-1764029
|title=Mysteries of Doctor Who explained: "Unbelievably precious" Doctor Who scripts lost for 50 years discovered in Kent
|publisher=The Mirror
|date of source=14 March 2013
|author=Rob Leigh
}}</ref> Thereafter, Susan was envisioned as a fugitive from the Doctor's home planet. Coburn later altered the character to be the Doctor's granddaughter, to avoid having a biologically unrelated female teenager travelling with an old man.<ref>''[[The Tribe of Gum (script)]]'', "Doctor Who – The Beginning"</ref>


In [[TV]]: ''[[The Sensorites (TV story)|The Sensorites]]'', Susan's description of her home planet was reminiscent of [[Venus]], albeit with a science-fiction spin. Venus being the homeworld Susan and the Doctor was later referenced in [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Deadline (TV story)|Deadline]]''. However, this description was later retroactively applied to [[Gallifrey]], becoming part of the well known design as seen in the post-2005 of ''Doctor Who''. Due to how the concept of this planet was changed to become Gallifrey, it is quite reminiscent of [[Jewel (planet)|Jewel]].
In the [[1964 (releases)|1964]] ''[[Doctor Who (TV series)|Doctor Who]]'' television serial ''[[The Sensorites (TV story)|The Sensorites]]'', Susan's description of her home planet was reminiscent of [[Venus]], albeit with a science-fiction spin. ''[[Marco Polo (TV story)|Marco Polo]]'', broadcast earlier in 1964, had Susan explicitly say that her home planet was "as far away as a night star"; taken literally, this would preclude identifying the planet as Venus, located much closer to the Earth than actual stars, although in pre-Enlightenment times, Venus was thought of as "the morning star". Although never formally linked with the 49th-century-planet notion, the idea of Venus being the original home of the Doctor and Susan was referenced in the [[2003 (releases)|2003]] [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]] ''[[Doctor Who Unbound|Unbound]]'' audio drama ''[[Deadline (audio story)|Deadline]]'', although this story was set in [[Parallel universe (Deadline)|a parallel universe]] where the Doctor was only [[Doctor Who (Deadline)|fictional]]. Regardless, Susan's description of her home planet having orange skies at night with silver trees was later applied to [[Gallifrey]], becoming part of the well known design as seen in the post-2005 of ''Doctor Who'', although Gallifrey's skies were typically depicted as being orange, even during the day.


In the unaired 1960s audio drama ''[[Journey into Time (audio story)|Journey into Time]]'' starring [[Peter Cushing]], that version of the Doctor mentions that his civilisation was actually Earth, but three thousand years in Mike's future (who came from the mid-twentieth century.
In the unaired 1960s audio drama ''[[Journey into Time (audio story)|Journey into Time]]'' starring [[Peter Cushing]], that version of the Doctor mentions that his civilisation was actually Earth, but three thousand years in Mike's future (who came from the mid-twentieth century).
 
As part of the ''[[Reconstructions (series)|Reconstructions]]'' series, a series of reenactments of 1960s ''Doctor Who'' scenes by the cast of ''[[An Adventure in Space and Time (TV story)|An Adventure in Space and Time]]'', included a recreation of the first scene set in the TARDIS from "{{cs|The Pilot Episode|noital=1}}", including the dialogue where Susan tells Ian and Barbara of her and the Doctor's origins in the 49th century.


A behind the scenes note on the [[Second Doctor]] had this to say about his origin:
A behind the scenes note on the [[Second Doctor]] had this to say about his origin:
{{quote|[Dr. Who] is the eternal fugitive with a horrifying fear of the past horrors he has endured. (These horrors were experienced during the galactic war and account for his flight from his own planet.)|[https://doctornolonger.tumblr.com/post/169142934804/i-was-born-in-the-49th-century-susan-in-the 49th century on the Fringes of War, Nate Bumber's Tumblr]}}
{{quote|He is the eternal fugitive with a horrifying fear of the past horrors he has endured. (These horrors were experienced during the galactic war and account for his flight from his own planet.)|[https://doctornolonger.tumblr.com/post/169142934804/i-was-born-in-the-49th-century-susan-in-the 49th century on the Fringes of War, Nate Bumber's Tumblr]}}
 
Years later, in [[SPACE BABIES and THE DEVIL'S CHORD (ODWP episode)|the episode]] of ''[[The Official Doctor Who Podcast]]'' dedicated to {{cs|Space Babies (TV story)}} and {{cs|The Devil's Chord (TV story)}}, presenter [[Shabaz Ali]] highlighted how Gallifrey wasn't named originally, until around ten years later.


== Footnotes ==
== Footnotes ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}
=== References ===
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Planets visited by the Doctor]]
[[Category:Planets visited by the Doctor]]
[[Category:Homes of the Doctor]]
[[Category:Homes of the Doctor]]
[[Category:Homes of the Doctor's companions]]
[[Category:Homes of the Doctor's companions]]

Latest revision as of 23:34, 23 June 2024

This article needs a big cleanup.

This page should potentially be merged into the Doctor's home or be renamed to the Doctor's home planet, with details surrounding the planet refereneced in "The Pilot Episode" and the scattered references to it from Unnatural History and Escape Velocity remaining on this page. Further details can be found at the talk page.

These problems might be so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Talk about it here or check the revision history or Manual of Style for more information.

The original home planet of the Doctor and Susan (TV: "An Unearthly Child" [+]Part of An Unearthly Child, Loading...{"namedep":"An Unearthly Child (1)","1":"An Unearthly Child (TV story)"}) was unclear due to the Doctor's shifting timelines and alterations to their biodata, thus giving the planet many potential identities. (PROSE: Unnatural History [+]Loading...["Unnatural History (novel)"])

The Doctor's home planet was as distant as a night star, (TV: "Rider from Shang-Tu" [+]Part of Marco Polo, Loading...{"namedep":"Rider from Shang-Tu (5)","1":"Marco Polo (TV story)"}) although generally similar to Earth. (TV: "A Desperate Venture" [+]Part of The Sensorites, Loading...{"namedep":"A Desperate Venture (6)","1":"The Sensorites (TV story)"}) However, some accounts actually identified the Doctor's home planet as Earth, (PROSE: The Dream Masters [+]Loading...["The Dream Masters (short story)"], The Lair of Zarbi Supremo [+]Loading...["The Lair of Zarbi Supremo (short story)"]) while many later accounts identified it as Gallifrey. (TV: The Time Warrior [+]Loading...["The Time Warrior (TV story)"], Gridlock [+]Loading...["Gridlock (TV story)"], etc.)

Susan, upon travelling with Marco Polo, felt that she had had many homes. (TV: "The Roof of the World" [+]Part of Marco Polo, Loading...{"namedep":"The Roof of the World (1)","1":"Marco Polo (TV story)"})

References[[edit] | [edit source]]

When Barbara Wright asked if the TARDIS was Susan's home, Susan replied: "yes… well, at least, it's the only home I have now." (PROSE: Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child (novelisation)"]) Later in the same conversation, Susan told Ian and Barbara of her and the Doctor's origins, saying "[she] was born in another time, another world". (TV: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"], PROSE: Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child (novelisation)"]) The First Doctor and Susan were exiles from their own world, (PROSE: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (short story)"]) cut off without friends or protection. (TV: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"])

According to one account, the Doctor told Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright that he and Susan were wanderers who were cut off from their planet and separated from it by millions upon millions of years. Later, Ian wondered if the planet that the Doctor and Susan came from practised customs such as marriage, after contemplating what would happen if Susan would stop travelling in the Tardis in favour of marriage. (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks [+]Loading...["Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (novelisation)"])

On Skaro, the Doctor told Alydon that he was once a pioneer among his own people. (TV: "The Rescue" [+]Part of The Daleks, Loading...{"namedep":"The Rescue (7)","1":"The Daleks (TV story)"})

Susan told Ping-Cho that her home was as "far away as a night star", relative to Cathay. (TV: "Rider from Shang-Tu" [+]Part of Marco Polo, Loading...{"namedep":"Rider from Shang-Tu (5)","1":"Marco Polo (TV story)"}, PROSE: Marco Polo [+]Loading...{"chaptname":"Rider from Shang-Tu","chaptnum":"11","1":"Marco Polo (novelisation)"})

Susan later mentioned that her and the Doctor's home planet was similar to Earth, but at night the sky was a burnt orange and the trees had silver leaves; (TV: "A Desperate Venture" [+]Part of The Sensorites, Loading...{"namedep":"A Desperate Venture (6)","1":"The Sensorites (TV story)"}) Susan even wished to return to her home eventually, speaking of her home with melancholic nostalgia, having left a "very long time ago". This account, however, also contained a difference regarding the Doctor's species, as the Doctor did not refer to himself as human.[nb 1] (PROSE: The Sensorites [+]Loading...{"chaptname":"The Unwilling Warriors, The Secret of the Caves","chaptnum":"4, 11","1":"The Sensorites (novelisation)"}) Later accounts, however, identified this planet as Gallifrey. (TV: Gridlock [+]Loading...["Gridlock (TV story)"], The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"], etc.)

Steven Taylor once asked the Doctor if he and the Monk came from the same planet, which the Doctor confirmed, however regretfully. He added that he had left fifty years before the Monk. (TV: "Checkmate" [+]Part of The Time Meddler, Loading...{"namedep":"Checkmate (4)","1":"The Time Meddler (TV story)"}, PROSE: The Time Meddler [+]Loading...{"chaptname":"The Monk's Master Plan","chaptnum":"9","1":"The Time Meddler (novelisation)"}) Steven himself thought the Doctor and the Monk behaved "exactly like a couple of old codgers discussing vintage cars." (PROSE: The Time Meddler [+]Loading...{"chaptname":"The Monk's Master Plan","chaptnum":"9","1":"The Time Meddler (novelisation)"})

When Steven stormed out of the TARDIS after learning that the Doctor did not take an opportunity to spare Anne Chaplet from the St Bartholomew's Day massacre, the Doctor suggested to himself that, having lost so many of his travelling companions, that he should return to his home planet, but acknowledged that he could not. (TV: "Bell of Doom" [+]Part of The Massacre, Loading...{"namedep":"Bell of Doom (4)","1":"The Massacre (TV story)"})

Whilst a prisoner of the Daleks on Skaro during Operation Human Factor, the Second Doctor briefly mused that he could take Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria and Edward Waterfield, and Theodore Maxtible with him to his home planet. At this point, the Daleks believed that the Doctor had become "more than human" as a result of having "travelled too much through time". (TV: The Evil of the Daleks [+]Loading...["The Evil of the Daleks (TV story)"])

After the Eighth Doctor made a deal with a boy of Faction Paradox, a memory for a memory, so that the Doctor could locate Griffin, he realised that the boy had not only taken a memory, but altered his biodata. The boy, alongside various versions of himself from the relative future, mocked the Doctor for his shifting past. (PROSE: Unnatural History [+]Loading...["Unnatural History (novel)"])

Maybe you didn't use to have a father. Maybe you're living in the middle of a time war. Maybe there's an Enemy out there who's rewriting you when you're not looking! Maybe you weren't always half human. But now you've become always half human. Maybe you weren't always a Time Lord. But now you’ve always been a Time Lord. Maybe you originally came from some planet in the forty-ninth century. Fleeing from the Enemy who'd overrun your home and you've just been written and rewritten and overwritten, ever since.The boy [Unnatural History (novel) [src]]

After the Eighth Doctor lost his memories of the Time Lords and Gallifrey, he theorised that he may have been an exile from the forty-ninth century. (PROSE: Escape Velocity [+]Loading...["Escape Velocity (novel)"])

Other realities[[edit] | [edit source]]

In a parallel universe, Martin Bannister was uncertain whether or not to make it explicit that Doctor Who and Susan Who came from Venus in the 49th century. (AUDIO: Deadline [+]Loading...["Deadline (audio story)"])

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The unnamed planet in the 49th century, the home of the Doctor and Susan, was first mentioned in the so-called "The Pilot Episode", where it was explicitly mentioned as the origin of the characters; in the televised episode, this line is less specific.[1] The First and Second Doctors' eras contained several vague allusions to the Doctor's home, typically inferring that he and Susan were simply humans or humanoids from another planet, until the "Time Lord" backstory was fully established in the serial The War Games and developed significantly in the Third Doctor's era and beyond.

Since then, despite the Doctor having numerous origins being an accepted and oft-mentioned part of the character's backstory, this origin has been very rarely referenced, with the only two references to it outside of the First and Second Doctor's eras being the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novels Unnatural History and Escape Velocity (though the planet was referenced in the Doctor Who Unbound audio drama Deadline, which isn't set in the "main" Doctor Who universe), even then only entertaining it as a possibility as opposed to directly confirming it as a backstory. Other stories, such as the novelisation of The Daleks, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks, usually play with the general idea, albeit a different take upon it.

One of Anthony Coburn's early scripts would have established that Susan had been a princess on her home planet, which would have been different than Doctor Who's world.[2] Thereafter, Susan was envisioned as a fugitive from the Doctor's home planet. Coburn later altered the character to be the Doctor's granddaughter, to avoid having a biologically unrelated female teenager travelling with an old man.[3]

In the 1964 Doctor Who television serial The Sensorites, Susan's description of her home planet was reminiscent of Venus, albeit with a science-fiction spin. Marco Polo, broadcast earlier in 1964, had Susan explicitly say that her home planet was "as far away as a night star"; taken literally, this would preclude identifying the planet as Venus, located much closer to the Earth than actual stars, although in pre-Enlightenment times, Venus was thought of as "the morning star". Although never formally linked with the 49th-century-planet notion, the idea of Venus being the original home of the Doctor and Susan was referenced in the 2003 Big Finish Unbound audio drama Deadline, although this story was set in a parallel universe where the Doctor was only fictional. Regardless, Susan's description of her home planet having orange skies at night with silver trees was later applied to Gallifrey, becoming part of the well known design as seen in the post-2005 of Doctor Who, although Gallifrey's skies were typically depicted as being orange, even during the day.

In the unaired 1960s audio drama Journey into Time starring Peter Cushing, that version of the Doctor mentions that his civilisation was actually Earth, but three thousand years in Mike's future (who came from the mid-twentieth century).

As part of the Reconstructions series, a series of reenactments of 1960s Doctor Who scenes by the cast of An Adventure in Space and Time, included a recreation of the first scene set in the TARDIS from "The Pilot Episode [+]Loading...{"noital":"1","1":"The Pilot Episode"}", including the dialogue where Susan tells Ian and Barbara of her and the Doctor's origins in the 49th century.

A behind the scenes note on the Second Doctor had this to say about his origin:

He is the eternal fugitive with a horrifying fear of the past horrors he has endured. (These horrors were experienced during the galactic war and account for his flight from his own planet.)49th century on the Fringes of War, Nate Bumber's Tumblr

Years later, in the episode of The Official Doctor Who Podcast dedicated to Space Babies [+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"] and The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"], presenter Shabaz Ali highlighted how Gallifrey wasn't named originally, until around ten years later.

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. In The Sensorites [+]Loading...["The Sensorites (TV story)"], the Doctor indentifies himself as human when explaining that cats can see better than humans. This line of dialogue is slightly altered in the novelisation [+]Loading...{"noital":"1","1":"The Sensorites (novelisation)","2":"the novelisation"}, as the Doctor explains the eyesight of cats without speaking of his own species.

References[[edit] | [edit source]]