60th Anniversary Countdown (feature)

60th Anniversary Countdown
Key crew
Writers:	Darren Fitzjohn, ChatGPT
Release details
Printed in:	Worlds Apart Discord
Release date:	25 September 2023 - 20 November 2023
Worlds Apart promotional material
Next →	Incoming Transmission - February Update Video

The 60th Anniversary Countdown was a regular feature released on the Worlds Apart Discord in promotion of Worlds Apart ^[+]Loading...["Worlds Apart (video game)"] in 2023.

Its installments were paragraphs of text riffing on the titles of cards from the game, but not always the actual subject of the card and often without regard to the factual details. Having no distinction between (often inaccurate) real world information, textual analysis, and information presented as in-universe, the text was in a style reminiscent of machine generated writing, with the author Darren Fitzjohn at one point claiming to have accidentally left on an AI feature which amended their text, specifically ChatGPT, with installments of the feature being posted by a ChatGPT Discord bot which made other posts in the same writing style.

Official synopsis

@here in the countdown to the 60th anniversary of our beloved Doctor Who!

There will be a series of daily posts featuring artwork from the game and their lore/backstory!

Big love to @LegoCurator [The Collector] and @ZygonWhoBoy03 [The Infiltrator] for making this happen and leading us head long into a countdown like no other!

Come along for the ride!

Allons-y companions [emoji of Tenth Doctor saying “hello” in TV: Partners in Crime ^[+]Loading...["Partners in Crime (TV story)"]]

Summary

Day 59: Davros the Betrayer

to be added

Day 56: Sea Devil Emerges

to be added

Day 55: Ravenous Pting

to be added

Day 38: Renegade Dalek

to be added

Day 37: Pirate Sea Devil

to be added

Day 36: Arboreal Migration

to be added

Day 35: Cybershade

to be added

Day 34: Doctor’s Rebels

to be added

Day 31: Exodus Cybermen

to be added

Day 29: Ko Sharmus

to be added

Day 28: Mondasian Cyberman

to be added

Day 27: Pigmen Hybrids

to be added

Day 24: Racnoss Empress

to be added

Day 23: Telosian Controller

to be added

Day 22: Silurian Paralyser

to be added

Day 21: Wooden King

to be added

Day 17: Wooden Queen

to be added

Day 16: Cyberium

to be added

Day 15: Necros Dalek

to be added

Day 14: Cyberwoman

to be added

Day 13: Dalek Ambasador

to be added

Day 10: Cardiff Rift

to be added

Day 9: Davros the Betrayer

to be added

Day 8: River Song

to be added

Day 7: Seventh Doctor

to be added

Day 3: Third Doctor

to be added

Characters

to be added

Worldbuilding

• The Pirate Sea Devils are a faction of time- and space-travelling Sea Devils.
• The Renegade Daleks are described as a "cult" based on Skaro.
• The Division is described as a secretive organisation associated with the Time Lords, (…) tasked with conducting covert operations, intelligence gathering, and enforcing the will of Gallifrey".
• The Dalek Ambassador is discussed using the singular they.
• Davros is dubbed Davros the Betrayer.
• River Song's diary is also known as "her 'Spoilers' diary".

Notes

• Two separate descriptions of "Davros the Betrayer" were released which gave different analyses of the character.
• Despite the "Doctor's Rebels" card being specifically about the Doctor's rebel group from TV: The Lie of the Land ^[+]Loading...["The Lie of the Land (TV story)"], its description here indicates "Doctor's Rebels" to be a general concept of everyone the Doctor has inspired.
• The card called "Dalek Ambassador", which depicted the Daleks acting ambassadorially in AUDIO: The Enemy of My Enemy ^[+]Loading...["The Enemy of My Enemy (audio story)"], is interpreted in this feature to be about an individual Dalek called the Dalek Ambassador. In November 2023, this card was renamed "Dalek Time Squad".
• The original description of the Seventh Doctor presented the Doctor's name as being "Dr. Maxwell 'Max' Caldwell". Darren Fitzjohn, the alleged writer of the text, did not recognise the name and attributed this to AI hallucination.

Continuity

• The Renegade Daleks, as first seen in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)"], are explicitly described as having been loyal to "the Dalek Prime instead of Davros", as per PROSE: War of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["War of the Daleks (novel)"].
• The living trees from TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)"] are featured, identified as "the Arboreal Migration" or "the Treeborg", with "Treeborg" being a term from TV: Flesh and Stone ^[+]Loading...["Flesh and Stone (TV story)"].
• The Mondasian colony ship from TV: World Enough and Time ^[+]Loading...["World Enough and Time (TV story)"]/The Doctor Falls ^[+]Loading...["The Doctor Falls (TV story)"] is reframed as part of a wider "mass exodus from Mondas" on the part of the early Mondasian Cybermen, comprising a number of "colossal spaceships or arks". Cybermen born on these arks are dubbed Exodus Cybermen, echoing the "Operation Exodus" of the televised two-parter, a name which would recur in WC: Incoming Transmission - February Update Video ^[+]Loading...["Incoming Transmission - February Update Video (webcast)"].
• Ko Sharmus from TV: Ascension of the Cybermen ^[+]Loading...["Ascension of the Cybermen (TV story)"]/The Timeless Children ^[+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"] is featured, and revealed to have originally been a Gallifreyan operative of the Division in the "distant past" before questioning their authority and escaping to become a heroic figure. Though the Division was also discussed at some length in The Timeless Children, no connection was made between it and Ko Sharmus in the original serial, with the Cybermen's assumption that Ko Sharmus is human going unquestioned.
• The Mondasian Cybermen as depicted in TV: The Tenth Planet ^[+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"] get a card, whose associated blurb acknowledges their origin on Earth's twin planet Mondas, though it is here claimed that Mondas was Earth's twin "in an alternate universe", strangely echoing the alternative origin of the Cybermen given in TV: Rise of the Cybermen ^[+]Loading...["Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)"] for the Cybermen of Pete's World, who originated on the Earth of a parallel universe.
• The Pigmen Hybrids from TV: Daleks in Manhattan ^[+]Loading...["Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)"]/Evolution of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Evolution of the Daleks (TV story)"] are featured.
• The Racnoss Empress is featured, and her showdown with the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble as seen in TV: The Runaway Bride ^[+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"] is briefly summarised.
• The Telosian Controller from TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen ^[+]Loading...["The Tomb of the Cybermen (TV story)"] is featured, likewise acknowledging his "dramatic confrontation" with the Second Doctor in sparse detial.
• The Silurian Paralyser card depicts a Silurian of the classic design first seen in TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians ^[+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)"], and purports to explain the Silurians' "third eye", here depicted as a technology-based implant.
• The Cyberium's blurb goes over the plots of TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati ^[+]Loading...["The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)"].
• The Necros Daleks' blurb summarises the premise of TV: Revelation of the Daleks ^[+]Loading...["Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)"], including Davros's scheme at Tranquil Repose.
• The events of TV: Cyberwoman ^[+]Loading...["Cyberwoman (TV story)"] are summarised in the Cyberwoman's blurb.
• Davros's mechanical hand, introduced in AUDIO: The Juggernauts ^[+]Loading...["The Juggernauts (audio story)"] and prominently seen on television from TV: The Stolen Earth ^[+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"] onwards, is cited as one of his trademark attributes alongside his "eye stalk".
• River Song's original encounter with the Tenth Doctor in TV: Silence in the Library ^[+]Loading...["Silence in the Library (TV story)"] and subsequent encounters with the Eleventh Doctor are referenced. Her character art depicts her battling Silents as she did in TV: Day of the Moon ^[+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"].