Season 6B: Difference between revisions

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'''Season 6B''' — also known as '''Season 6b''' and '''Season 6 (b)''' — is the narrative space between the end of ''[[The War Games]]'' and the beginning of ''[[Spearhead from Space]]''.
{{you may|Series 6 (Doctor Who 2005)|n1=the second half of Series 6}}
'''Season 6B''' — also known as '''Season 6b''' and '''Season 6 (b)''' — is the narrative space between the end of the televised ''[[Doctor Who]]'' stories ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]'' (which concludes [[Season 6 (Doctor Who 1963)|season 6]]) and the beginning of ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'' (the opener to [[Season 7 (Doctor Who 1963)|season 7]]).


It arose because the [[regeneration]] between [[Patrick Troughton|Troughton]] and [[Jon Pertwee|Pertwee]] was never explicitly shown on television. Instead, viewers were left only with the impression that the Doctor had been sentenced to two fates: enforced regeneration and [[exile on Earth]]. The "gap" contains stories in which the [[Second Doctor]] is living under the ''threat'' of these two sentences. Depending on the story involved, he may be [[Exile on Earth|exiled to Earth]] or not. But all stories in this period have him waiting to be forcibly regenerated.  
== Explanation ==
The gap exists because the [[regeneration]] of the [[Second Doctor]] (played by [[Patrick Troughton]]) into the [[Third Doctor]] (played by [[Jon Pertwee]]) was never explicitly shown on television — although the Second Doctor's face is shown beginning to change and contort, and then disappear, as he spins away into the void. Instead, viewers were left only with the impression that the Doctor had been sentenced to two fates: enforced regeneration and [[exile on Earth]]. Season 6B thus contains stories in which the Second Doctor is living under the ''threat'' of these two sentences. Depending on the story involved, he may be living on Earth or not, but all stories in this period have him waiting to be forcibly regenerated.


Season 6B is regarded as a theory or [[fanon]] by those fans who hold that ''only'' the televised stories are "proper" or "[[canon]]ical", but it has been the backdrop to many officially licensed, if un-televised, stories. Because this wiki takes the view that all officially licensed stories are of equal value, the basic notion that the Second Doctor had many adventures after ''The War Games'' is regarded here as a "truth" of the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]].  
Season 6B is regarded as a theory or [[fanon]] by those fans who hold that ''only'' the televised stories are "proper" or "[[canon]]ical", but it has been the backdrop to many officially licensed, if untelevised, stories. Because this wiki takes the view that all officially licensed stories are of equal value, the basic notion that the Second Doctor had many adventures after ''The War Games'' is regarded here as a "truth" of the [[Doctor Who universe|''Doctor Who'' universe]].
==Origins==
The idea of a gap of time between ''War Games'' and ''Spearhead'' dates back to [[1969]], the very year [[Patrick Troughton]] left the series. 


When [[William Hartnell|Hartnell]] had regenerated into Troughton, things had been relatively easy for ''TV Comic'', the official ''[[Doctor Who]]'' comic licensees.  There had been precisely a one-week gap between Hartnell and Troughton on TV, and ''[[TV Comic]]'', a weekly publication, had easily followed suit.  In 1969, though, Troughton was leaving at the end of the season ''and'' there would be a significant break as ''Doctor Who'' cut its annual episode output almost in half.  In fact, it was almost six months between the end of ''War Games'' and the beginning of ''Spearhead''.
== Origins ==
The idea of a gap of time between ''The War Games'' and ''Spearhead'' dates back to 1969, the year [[Patrick Troughton]] left the series.


Not wanting to ''stop'' publication of their ''Doctor Who'' comic strip, they did what the narrative of ''War Games'' allowed: they kept on publishing Troughton stories. They said that the [[Second Doctor]] had indeed been [[Exile on Earth|exiled to Earth]], but that he was awaiting his [[Time Lord]]-imposed [[regeneration]]. For a period of time, then, the Second Doctor lived the high life as a celebrity based in [[London]]'s swanky [[Carlton Grange Hotel]]. ([[TVC]]: ''[[Action in Exile]]'' He then travelled the Earth, responding to calls for help, with nary a [[UNIT]] soldier in sight. ([[TVC]]: ''[[The Mark of Terror]]'', ''[[The Brotherhood]]'', ''[[U.F.O.]]'')
When the [[First Doctor]] ([[William Hartnell]]) had regenerated into the Second (Patrick Troughton), things had been relatively easy for [[Polystyle Publications, Ltd.|Polystyle Publications]], the official ''[[Doctor Who]]'' comic licensees. There had been precisely a one-week gap between Hartnell and Troughton on TV and their ''[[TV Comic]]'', a weekly publication, had easily followed suit. In 1969, though, Troughton was leaving at the end of the season. To make matters worse, there would be a significant break as ''Doctor Who'' cut its annual episode output almost in half. It was almost six months between the end of ''War Games'' and the beginning of ''Spearhead'', easily the longest gap between new televised episodes of ''Doctor Who'' up to that time.
[[file:SecondRegen.jpg|thumb|right|The only licensed image of the actual regeneration of the Second Doctor. ([[TVC]]: ''[[The Night Walkers]]'')]]
[[File:SecondRegen.jpg|thumb|left|The only licensed image of the actual regeneration of the Second Doctor. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Night Walkers (comic story)|The Night Walkers]]'')]]
One day — conveniently around the time ''Spearhead'' launched on TV — he was a celebrity panelist on ''[[Explain My Mystery]]'', a game show of sorts that asked experts to explain supernatural phenomena. Unable to diagnose the caller's mystery over the phone, the Doctor went out into English countryside to a farm. There, in the deep of night, [[scarecrow]]s animated by the Time Lords captured him and forced him to regenerate.  Then, they sent [[the TARDIS]] on one last journey, leaving the reader to believe that when the Doctor arrived, he'd fall out of the TARDIS in [[Oxley Woods]] as [[Jon Pertwee]], just as he did in ''Spearhead''. ([[TVC]]: ''[[The Night Walkers]]'')  
Not wanting to stop publication of their ''Doctor Who'' comic strip, Polystyle kept on publishing stories featuring the Second Doctor; however, the decision was made ''not'' to set the interregnum stories prior to ''The War Games'', but rather after. In the stories, the Doctor has indeed been [[Exile on Earth|exiled to Earth]], but was awaiting his [[Time Lord]]-imposed [[regeneration]]. For a time, the Second Doctor lived the high life as a celebrity based in [[London]]'s swanky [[Carlton Grange Hotel]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Action in Exile (comic story)|Action in Exile]]'') He travelled the Earth, responding to calls received via the Carlton Grange switchboard, with nary a [[UNIT]] soldier in sight. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Mark of Terror (comic story)|The Mark of Terror]]'', ''[[The Brotherhood (comic story)|The Brotherhood]]'', ''[[U.F.O. (comic story)|U.F.O.]]'')
 
Season 6B began as a theory, then became [[fanon]], and then became a part of the narrative of several [[BBC Books]] adventures.
To account to continuity discrepancies, [[Paul Cornell]] proposed the theory in ''[[The Discontinuity Guide]]'' which he wrote with [[Martin Day]] and [[Keith Topping]].


The theory could explain the following continuity problems:
One day, conveniently around the time ''Spearhead from Space'' aired on TV, he was a celebrity panellist on ''[[Explain My Mystery]]'', a game show of sorts that asked experts to explain supernatural phenomena. Unable to diagnose the caller's mystery over the phone, the Doctor went into the English countryside to a farm. There, in the deep of night, [[Animated scarecrow (The Night Walkers)|scarecrows]] animated by the Time Lords captured him and forced him to regenerate. Then, they sent [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] on one last journey, leaving the reader to believe that when the Doctor arrived, he'd fall out of the TARDIS in [[Oxley Woods]] as the Third Doctor, just as he did in the first episode of ''Spearhead from Space''. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Night Walkers (comic story)|The Night Walkers]]'')


* How the [[Third Doctor]] had several items not possessed by him before his trial ([[DW]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'').
These comic strips, however, were soon forgotten. In an internet-less age, it wasn't easily possible for fans in possession of the comic strips to share them with the broader fanbase. They laid outside of fans' grasp for another few decades.
* How the [[Second Doctor]], in [[DW]]: ''[[The Five Doctors]]'', was aware that the Time Lords had erased the memories of [[Jamie McCrimmon]] and [[Zoe Heriot]] when he met apparations of the two in the [[Death Zone]] - even though the erasure took place immediately before the Doctor's apparent regeneration. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Five Doctors]]'')
* Why the Second Doctor and [[Jamie]] appear noticeably older in their appearance in [[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'' (especially the Second Doctor, who sports grey hair in the story).
* Why [[Jamie McCrimmon]] can know about the Time Lords in [[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]''.
* How the Second Doctor could be working, apparently willingly, for the Time Lords in both [[DW]]: ''[[The Three Doctors]]'' and [[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]''.
* How the Second Doctor could possess a TARDIS recall device of a type the [[Sixth Doctor]] does not possess ([[DW]]: ''[[The Two Doctors]]'').
*How the Second Doctor's TARDIS has a different design in [[DW|DW:]][[The Two Doctors| ''The Two Doctors'']].
*How the Second Doctor mentions that he is "a bit of an exile" in ''The Two Doctors'', meaning that he WAS on exile and hadn't regenerated, and it WAS after ''The War Games''.
According to the Season 6B theory, rather than undergoing the regeneration shown starting at the end of ''The War Games'', the [[Second Doctor]] was recruited to work for the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]], a branch of the Time Lords. During this time, the Second Doctor apparently regains Jamie and [[Victoria Waterfield]] as companions, acquires a [[Stattenheim remote control]] device to summon [[the Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]], and undertakes an unknown number of missions, including that depicted in ''The Two Doctors''. Eventually, either the Time Lords tire of keeping the Doctor on a leash, or the Doctor rebels and attempts to escape once more. This results in the exile which begins in ''Spearhead from Space'' (and presumably Jamie and Victoria were returned to their original times).


To explain why the [[Sixth Doctor]] does not remember his own past in ''The Two Doctors'', it is also suggested that the Time Lords wiped the Second Doctor's memory of the events of Season 6B (the Third Doctor did claim significant memory loss in ''Spearhead from Space''). Alternate explanations have been made possible with the series revival, as the episode [[DW]]: ''[[School Reunion]]'' strongly implies that the Doctor retained no memory of the events of ''The Five Doctors'', and the two-Doctor story [[DW]]: ''[[Time Crash]]'' implies the Doctor's memory of having met an earlier incarnation is triggered by the ringing of the [[cloister bell]]. Both of these can be used in support of suggesting the Doctor's memory of meeting himself in ''The Two Doctors'' was suppressed.
== Fans start to ponder things ==
In the meantime, [[Patrick Troughton]] returned to ''Doctor Who'' as the Second Doctor, each time looking a little older. At the same time, it became easier to get home video of early serials such as ''The War Games'' and ''Spearhead from Space''. Fans began to question what they were seeing. Amongst the questions asked were:
* Why does the Third Doctor begin ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'' with several items that the Second Doctor didn't have at the end of ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]'', such as a ring, a bracelet and a [[TARDIS homing watch]]?
* How, in ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'', does the Second Doctor know that the Time Lords had erased the memories of [[Jamie McCrimmon]] and [[Zoe Heriot]]?
* Why do the Second Doctor and Jamie appear older in ''[[The Two Doctors (TV story)|The Two Doctors]]''?
* How does Jamie know about the Time Lords in ''The Two Doctors'' unless ''The Two Doctors'' comes after ''The War Games'' for him?
* Why is the Second Doctor working, apparently willingly, for the Time Lords in both ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'' and ''The Two Doctors''?
* Why does the Second Doctor possess a TARDIS recall device of a type the [[Sixth Doctor]] does not have in ''The Two Doctors''?
* In ''The Two Doctors'', why is the Second Doctor's [[TARDIS control room]] of an obviously different design to that which he used prior to his trial?
* Possibly related to the above: How can the Second Doctor be confident of his ability to retrieve [[Victoria Waterfield|Victoria]] after ''The Two Doctors'' when he could never control the TARDIS during his own era?
* Why is [[the Doctor's recorder]] in the second [[console room]] in ''[[The Masque of Mandragora (TV story)|The Masque of Mandragora]]''?
These questions were given detailed consideration in ''[[The Discontinuity Guide]]'' by [[Paul Cornell]], [[Martin Day]] and [[Keith Topping]]. A theory grew from this book which was quickly embraced by fandom. Indeed, it eventually became "[[fanon]]". When the [[BBC]] started printing excerpts from the ''Guide'' on their website, it crossed over from fanon into essentially BBC "policy". As of 2011, "season 6B" remains [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/season6b.shtml a part of the official BBC episode guide]. The full text of the official position on 6B is more extensive, but the core of the idea goes something like this:


The feasibility of Season 6B is helped by the fact that at the end of ''The War Games'', the Doctor is not actually shown physically changing appearance, unlike most other regenerations save the [[Eighth Doctor]] to the [[Ninth Doctor|Ninth]]. Nor is any change depicted at the start of ''Spearhead from Space''. (Note: it can by extension be speculated that the Doctor's aged appearance in ''The Two Doctors'' may also be the result of an interrupted regeneration.)
:Rather than undergoing the regeneration shown starting at the end of ''The War Games'', the Second Doctor was recruited to work for the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]], a clandestine Time Lord organisation shown to exist in ''[[The Deadly Assassin (TV story)|The Deadly Assassin]]''. During this time, the Second Doctor regained Jamie and Victoria as companions, acquired a [[Stattenheim remote control]] device to summon [[the Doctor's TARDIS|his TARDIS]] and undertook an unknown number of missions, including that depicted in ''The Two Doctors''. Eventually, the Doctor's association with the CIA ended for reasons not known and his full ''War Games'' sentence was executed at the beginning of ''Spearhead from Space''.


==Televised stories in references to Season 6B==
== Established as narrative fact ==
===''[[The Three Doctors]]''===
''[[TV Comic]]'' had long established an actual, ''narrative'' period of time where the Second Doctor was exiled on Earth. But for a while, ''[[The Discontinuity Guide]]''{{'}}s notion of the post-''War Games'' Second Doctor working for the CIA had remained purely theoretical. It was just a way to explain the discontinuity. It took [[Terrance Dicks]] to put the theory into action. Dicks' "[[Player]]s trilogy" pressed the theory into service, making it explain the presence of the Second Doctor in the novels ''[[Players (novel)|Players]]'' and ''[[World Game (novel)|World Game]]''. The latter novel, in fact, walks the reader from the end of ''The War Games'' into the beginning of the Doctor's association with the CIA and into his first adventure on their behalf.
The Second Doctor is called on by the Time Lords to help the [[Third Doctor]]. But the fact that gives this away is that the Doctor is alone so it could be placed before ''The War Games'' but if this is so then when the Third Doctor makes contact with the Second, then the Second should know about his trial, his exile and regeneration(otherwise, this would prove that Time Lords have the power to send messages very carefully and not mention any events if the above is true). If this takes place after it, then this contradicts the aftermath of ''The War Games'', as he is seen regenerating but otherwise, these events could have been prevented by the CIA.


===''[[The Five Doctors]]''===
Thus, this final Second Doctor [[BBC Past Doctor Adventures|novel]], published after [[David Tennant]] had made his first appearance as the [[Tenth Doctor]], effectively rewrote the book on the Second Doctor's era. It had taken more than thirty years since people first started scratching their heads at the adventures of the Second Doctor in colour, but at last there was something in print, bearing a BBC logo, that actually explained it all.
As noted above, the Second Doctor claims that Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot should not recognise the Brigadier, as they had their memories wiped. (Although they were just illusions, so Rassilon might have done it as a trap.) Some evidence in dialogue confirm that this story happens after ''The Three Doctors''. Since the Second Doctor would not be aware of the memory wipe if he was taken before ''The War Games'', there is no easy way that he can know this, and still be the Second Doctor.<sup>1</sup>


===''[[The Two Doctors]]''===
Season 6b, in pretty much all the detail that Cornell and company had envisaged, was no longer just a theory, but the narrative explanation embraced by [[Terrance Dicks]] — the man who had created most of the discontinuity in the first place given that he: co-wrote ''The War Games'', was script editor at the time ''The Three Doctors'' was produced, and wrote ''The Five Doctors''.
''The Two Doctors'' shows an aged Second Doctor traveling with Jamie on a mission for the Time Lords. The Time Lords have also built a device into the TARDIS console that gives them dual control. The Second Doctor states that working for them is the price he pays for his freedom. However, Jamie was not aware of the Time Lords until ''The War Games'' and a major plot point in that story is that the Second Doctor is and has for all previous stories been on the run from the Time Lords (This was confirmed as an error by the ''The Two Doctor'''s writer, [[Robert Holmes]].) The aged appearance of the two actors also suggests it is after ''The War Games''. The later ''[[Time Crash]]'', however, attempted to rationalize the age differential issue but in fact does not as we see the Second Doctor and Jamie prior to meeting the Sixth Doctor and they are still aged.


The Doctor refers to Victoria as being part of the TARDIS crew, indicating the Doctor has been allowed to have her as a companion again. In [[World Game]], however it is stated that this is a false memory given to Jamie by the Time Lords to explain her absense.
However, a different explanation for the inconsistencies in ''The Two Doctors'' was given by [[Simon Guerrier]] in the 2015 [[Big Finish Productions]] ''[[The Early Adventures|Early Adventures]]'' story ''[[The Black Hole (audio story)|The Black Hole]],'' that [[The Monk (The Black Hole)|the Monk]] manipulated the Doctor while claiming to be a Constable of the Time Lords, seemingly shortly after ''[[The Ice Warriors (TV story)|The Ice Warriors]].'' In 2022 however Big Finish revisited 6B, providing their own take on events immediately following ''The War Games'' in ''[[Beyond War Games (audio anthology)|Beyond War Games]]'', where the Second Doctor is extracted from his timeline by a member of the CIA called [[Raven (The Final Beginning)|Raven]] "a quantum of a second" before his exile & forced regeneration and, similarly to ''World Game'', being recruited and sent on missions.


==Stories taking place during this period==
== Stories possibly taking place during this period ==
===Novels===
All stories listed are a part of season 6B from the perspective of the [[Second Doctor]].
*''[[Players (novel)|Players]]'' (a [[Sixth Doctor]] novel featuring a flashback to the Season 6B period]
{| {{prettytable}}
*''[[World Game]]'' (set just before the Second Doctor's part of ''[[The Two Doctors]]'' from the point of view of the Second Doctor)
! Medium !! Series !! Story Title !! Notes
|-
|rowspan="2"|Television
|rowspan="2"|''[[Doctor Who]]''
|''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]''
|The Second Doctor remembers his trial and Zoe and Jamie having their memory wiped.
|-
|''[[The Two Doctors (TV story)|The Two Doctors]]''
|A visibly aged Second Doctor works with Jamie for the Time Lords. Mentions of Victoria. Retroactively made part of season 6B by stories in other media, notably ''[[World Game (novel)|World Game]]'' - although ''[[The Black Hole (audio story)|The Black Hole]]'' offers an alternative account.
|-
|rowspan="3"|Novels
|rowspan="3"|[[BBC Past Doctor Adventures]]
|''[[Players (novel)|Players]]''
|rowspan=3|Some aspect of season 6B positively referenced.
|-
|''[[Independence Day (novel)|Independence Day]]''
|-
|''[[World Game (novel)|World Game]]''
|-
|rowspan="3"|Comics
|rowspan="3"|''[[TV Comic]]''
|''[[Invasion of the Quarks (comic story)|Invasion of the Quarks]]'' – ''[[Martha the Mechanical Housemaid (comic story)|Martha the Mechanical Housemaid]]''
|[[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]] and the Doctor are re-united, after explicitly separating. Some chronologies, like the [http://www.doctorwho.guide Doctor Who Reference Guide] figure that the Second Doctor's entire TVC run happen after ''[[The War Games (TV story)|The War Games]]'' and thus in 6B. This leads to some problems with the Doctor claiming to have never seen the Quarks before, although he also claims to know of them, so he may be specifically referring to never having met them as an autonomous force before.
|-
|''[[The Duellists (comic story)|The Duellists]]'' – ''[[Operation Wurlitzer (comic story)|Operation Wurlitzer]]''
|The Doctor is travelling alone, but he still has use of his TARDIS. This story features the Second Doctor travelling alone, and so is logically assumed to be a part of 6B. The televised Second Doctor in his regular run didn't have enough control over his TARDIS to drop off companions and pick them back up later. Thus, any instance of the Doctor travelling alone is deemed to take place after ''The War Games''.
|-
|''[[Action in Exile (comic story)|Action in Exile]]'' – ''[[The Night Walkers (comic story)|The Night Walkers]]''
|The Second Doctor is explicitly in [[exile on Earth]] and we actually see him begin to [[regeneration|regenerate]] by [[Time Lord]] fiat at the end of the story cycle. Some aspect of season 6B positively referenced.
|-
|rowspan="14"|Short stories
|rowspan="11"|''[[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]]''
|''[[The Time Eater (short story)|The Time Eater]]''
|Jamie gets his first look at the [[Stattenheim remote control]]. Some aspect of season 6B positively referenced.
|-
| ''[[All of Beyond (short story)|All of Beyond]]''
|rowspan=6|This story features the Second Doctor travelling alone, and so is logically assumed to be a part of 6B. The televised Second Doctor in his regular run didn't have enough control over his TARDIS to drop off companions and pick them back up later. Thus, any instance of the Doctor travelling alone is deemed to take place after ''The War Games''.
|-
| ''[[That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking for a Dress (short story)|That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking for a Dress]]''
|-
| ''[[Mother's Little Helper (short story)|Mother's Little Helper]]''
|-
| ''[[Scientific Adviser (short story)|Scientific Adviser]]''
|-
|''[[Reunion (ST short story)|Reunion]]''
|-
| ''[[Dust (short story)|Dust]]''
|-
|''[[The Steward's Story (short story)|The Steward's Story]]
|The incarnation in this story is vague. It could be the Second Doctor or the [[Seventh Doctor]]. If the Second, then it's a 6B story.
|-
|''[[Golem (short story)|Golem]]
|rowspan=2|This story features the Second Doctor travelling alone, and so is logically assumed to be a part of 6B. The televised Second Doctor in his regular run didn't have enough control over his TARDIS to drop off companions and pick them back up later. Thus, any instance of the Doctor travelling alone is deemed to take place after ''The War Games''.
|-
|''[[Blue Road Dance (short story)|Blue Road Dance]]''
|-
|''[[The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas (short story)|The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas]]
|Some aspect of season 6B positively referenced.
|-
|''[[Doctor Who Yearbook 1994]]''
|''[[Loop the Loup (short story)|Loop the Loup]]''
|This story features the Second Doctor travelling alone, and so is logically assumed to be a part of 6B. The televised Second Doctor in his regular run didn't have enough control over his TARDIS to drop off companions and pick them back up later. Thus, any instance of the Doctor travelling alone is deemed to take place after ''The War Games''.
|-
|''[[Brief Encounter]]''
|''[[Time, Love and TARDIS (short story)|Time, Love and TARDIS]]''
|The TARDIS states that the Time Lords want him to use a newer model so he is of more use to them, suggesting that this is placed possibly during Season 6B.
|-
|''[[The Target Storybook (anthology)|The Target Storybook]]''
|''[[Save Yourself (short story)|Save Yourself]]''
|The Second Doctor is explicitly on a mission for the [[Celestial Intervention Agency|CIA]] in return for his freedom, following the Doctor's trial, and it is revealed that he has been on many such missions before, getting his memories wiped each time.
|-
| rowspan="4" |Audio
|''[[The Companion Chronicles]]''
|''[[Helicon Prime (audio story)|Helicon Prime]]''
|The Doctor and Jamie are travelling alone, and Victoria is said to be studying graphology. This is the same as her mention in ''The Two Doctors''. According to ''World Game'', this was a false memory planted in Jamie's mind upon his rejoining the Doctor.
|-
|[[Main Range]]
|''[[Colony of Fear (audio story)|Colony of Fear]]''
|[[Tarlos]] recounts his time as a companion of the Second Doctor to the Sixth Doctor whose memory of it was wiped.
|-
|rowspan=2|[[The Second Doctor Adventures]]
|''[[Beyond War Games (audio anthology)|Beyond War Games]]''
|''[[The Final Beginning (audio story)|The Final Beginning]]'' and ''[[Wrath of the Ice Warriors (audio story)|Wrath of the Ice Warriors]]'' are set immediately after ''The War Games''.
|-
|''[[James Robert McCrimmon (audio anthology)|James Robert McCrimmon]]''
|Occurring directly after the previous box set in the series, a much older Jamie is reunited with the Doctor after an adventure set up by the CIA, intended to bring them together for the sake of keeping the Doctor satisfied during his missions.
|-
|Video games
|
|''[[Destiny of the Doctors (video game)|Destiny of the Doctors]]''
|The Doctor recognises {{Ainley|n=the Tremas Master}} thus placing his encounter after [[TV]]: ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'', a Season 6B story. Additionally, the Master sends Graak on a mission to find the [[Stattenheim remote control]] (In the Second Doctor's TARDIS), which he was given by the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[World Game (novel)|World Game]]'', [[TV]]: ''[[The Two Doctors (TV story)|The Two Doctors]]'')
|-
|Not Valid
|
|''[[Devious (home video)|Devious]]''
|The Doctor goes on an adventure mid-regeneration as the Second-and-halfth Doctor
|}
{{TitleSort}}
[[pt:Temporada 6B]]


===Short stories===
[[Category:Fan terminology]]
*[[Mother's Little Helper]]
*[[Scientific Adviser]]
*[[Reunion]]
 
===Audiobook===
*[[Helicon Prime]] (with Jamie)
 
==Other information==
*The idea of a post-''The War Games'' Second Doctor, as Cornell acknowledges, had already been introduced in ''[[TV Comic]]''. In ''[[Action in Exile]]'', the Doctor arrives in [[London]] without his TARDIS and checks into the luxurious [[Carlton Grange Hotel]]. From this base, he proceeds to have five Earth-bound adventures, culminating in ''[[The Night Walkers]]'', in which the Doctor investigates tales of walking [[scarecrow]]s. He discovers that the scarecrows have been animated by the Time Lords to capture him, as the Doctor had escaped from the Time Lords before they could complete his sentence of a forced change of appearance. The scarecrows take him into the TARDIS and proceed to trigger his regeneration, leading directly into ''Spearhead from Space''. (The scarecrows get a brief mention in the [[Doctor Who Unbound]] audio play ''[[Exile]]'', and a variation is featured in the televised episodes ''[[Human Nature (TV story)|Human Nature]]'' and ''[[The Family of Blood]]'', which were written by Cornell.)
*Aside from Jamie and Victoria, one other companion is known to have worked with the Doctor during Season 6B, a female Time Lord named [[Serena]], who appears in [[PDA]]: ''[[World Game]]''.
*The early ''Doctor Who'' comic strips featuring the Second Doctor had him reuniting with [[John and Gillian]], his grandchildren from the First Doctor comic strips, and sharing several adventures with them. As it's hard to rationalize where in the Second Doctor's TV timeline such travels might have occurred (given Jamie was with him for almost his entire life), it's possible these adventures also took place during Season 6B, although none of the stories make any reference to the CIA (suggesting they may have been part of the "on the run" storyline in ''TV Comic'').
 
==Notes==
1. The actual explanation is a re-write. The original plan was to have Zoe and [[Victoria Waterfield]] as the two illusions, and Victoria would give it away by naming the Brigadier, as she only met him as "Colonel" in [[The Web of Fear]].
==See also==
*[[Exile on Earth]], for an in-universe time-line that incorporates various elements of the Season 6b theory
 
==External Links==
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/season6b.shtml The original Season 6B essay]
 
{{Wikipedia|Season_6B}}
[[Category:Canon and continuity]]

Latest revision as of 20:50, 3 November 2024

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You may be looking for the second half of Series 6.

Season 6B — also known as Season 6b and Season 6 (b) — is the narrative space between the end of the televised Doctor Who stories The War Games (which concludes season 6) and the beginning of Spearhead from Space (the opener to season 7).

Explanation[[edit] | [edit source]]

The gap exists because the regeneration of the Second Doctor (played by Patrick Troughton) into the Third Doctor (played by Jon Pertwee) was never explicitly shown on television — although the Second Doctor's face is shown beginning to change and contort, and then disappear, as he spins away into the void. Instead, viewers were left only with the impression that the Doctor had been sentenced to two fates: enforced regeneration and exile on Earth. Season 6B thus contains stories in which the Second Doctor is living under the threat of these two sentences. Depending on the story involved, he may be living on Earth or not, but all stories in this period have him waiting to be forcibly regenerated.

Season 6B is regarded as a theory or fanon by those fans who hold that only the televised stories are "proper" or "canonical", but it has been the backdrop to many officially licensed, if untelevised, stories. Because this wiki takes the view that all officially licensed stories are of equal value, the basic notion that the Second Doctor had many adventures after The War Games is regarded here as a "truth" of the Doctor Who universe.

Origins[[edit] | [edit source]]

The idea of a gap of time between The War Games and Spearhead dates back to 1969, the year Patrick Troughton left the series.

When the First Doctor (William Hartnell) had regenerated into the Second (Patrick Troughton), things had been relatively easy for Polystyle Publications, the official Doctor Who comic licensees. There had been precisely a one-week gap between Hartnell and Troughton on TV and their TV Comic, a weekly publication, had easily followed suit. In 1969, though, Troughton was leaving at the end of the season. To make matters worse, there would be a significant break as Doctor Who cut its annual episode output almost in half. It was almost six months between the end of War Games and the beginning of Spearhead, easily the longest gap between new televised episodes of Doctor Who up to that time.

The only licensed image of the actual regeneration of the Second Doctor. (COMIC: The Night Walkers)

Not wanting to stop publication of their Doctor Who comic strip, Polystyle kept on publishing stories featuring the Second Doctor; however, the decision was made not to set the interregnum stories prior to The War Games, but rather after. In the stories, the Doctor has indeed been exiled to Earth, but was awaiting his Time Lord-imposed regeneration. For a time, the Second Doctor lived the high life as a celebrity based in London's swanky Carlton Grange Hotel. (COMIC: Action in Exile) He travelled the Earth, responding to calls received via the Carlton Grange switchboard, with nary a UNIT soldier in sight. (COMIC: The Mark of Terror, The Brotherhood, U.F.O.)

One day, conveniently around the time Spearhead from Space aired on TV, he was a celebrity panellist on Explain My Mystery, a game show of sorts that asked experts to explain supernatural phenomena. Unable to diagnose the caller's mystery over the phone, the Doctor went into the English countryside to a farm. There, in the deep of night, scarecrows animated by the Time Lords captured him and forced him to regenerate. Then, they sent the TARDIS on one last journey, leaving the reader to believe that when the Doctor arrived, he'd fall out of the TARDIS in Oxley Woods as the Third Doctor, just as he did in the first episode of Spearhead from Space. (COMIC: The Night Walkers)

These comic strips, however, were soon forgotten. In an internet-less age, it wasn't easily possible for fans in possession of the comic strips to share them with the broader fanbase. They laid outside of fans' grasp for another few decades.

Fans start to ponder things[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the meantime, Patrick Troughton returned to Doctor Who as the Second Doctor, each time looking a little older. At the same time, it became easier to get home video of early serials such as The War Games and Spearhead from Space. Fans began to question what they were seeing. Amongst the questions asked were:

  • Why does the Third Doctor begin Spearhead from Space with several items that the Second Doctor didn't have at the end of The War Games, such as a ring, a bracelet and a TARDIS homing watch?
  • How, in The Five Doctors, does the Second Doctor know that the Time Lords had erased the memories of Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot?
  • Why do the Second Doctor and Jamie appear older in The Two Doctors?
  • How does Jamie know about the Time Lords in The Two Doctors unless The Two Doctors comes after The War Games for him?
  • Why is the Second Doctor working, apparently willingly, for the Time Lords in both The Three Doctors and The Two Doctors?
  • Why does the Second Doctor possess a TARDIS recall device of a type the Sixth Doctor does not have in The Two Doctors?
  • In The Two Doctors, why is the Second Doctor's TARDIS control room of an obviously different design to that which he used prior to his trial?
  • Possibly related to the above: How can the Second Doctor be confident of his ability to retrieve Victoria after The Two Doctors when he could never control the TARDIS during his own era?
  • Why is the Doctor's recorder in the second console room in The Masque of Mandragora?

These questions were given detailed consideration in The Discontinuity Guide by Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping. A theory grew from this book which was quickly embraced by fandom. Indeed, it eventually became "fanon". When the BBC started printing excerpts from the Guide on their website, it crossed over from fanon into essentially BBC "policy". As of 2011, "season 6B" remains a part of the official BBC episode guide. The full text of the official position on 6B is more extensive, but the core of the idea goes something like this:

Rather than undergoing the regeneration shown starting at the end of The War Games, the Second Doctor was recruited to work for the Celestial Intervention Agency, a clandestine Time Lord organisation shown to exist in The Deadly Assassin. During this time, the Second Doctor regained Jamie and Victoria as companions, acquired a Stattenheim remote control device to summon his TARDIS and undertook an unknown number of missions, including that depicted in The Two Doctors. Eventually, the Doctor's association with the CIA ended for reasons not known and his full War Games sentence was executed at the beginning of Spearhead from Space.

Established as narrative fact[[edit] | [edit source]]

TV Comic had long established an actual, narrative period of time where the Second Doctor was exiled on Earth. But for a while, The Discontinuity Guide's notion of the post-War Games Second Doctor working for the CIA had remained purely theoretical. It was just a way to explain the discontinuity. It took Terrance Dicks to put the theory into action. Dicks' "Players trilogy" pressed the theory into service, making it explain the presence of the Second Doctor in the novels Players and World Game. The latter novel, in fact, walks the reader from the end of The War Games into the beginning of the Doctor's association with the CIA and into his first adventure on their behalf.

Thus, this final Second Doctor novel, published after David Tennant had made his first appearance as the Tenth Doctor, effectively rewrote the book on the Second Doctor's era. It had taken more than thirty years since people first started scratching their heads at the adventures of the Second Doctor in colour, but at last there was something in print, bearing a BBC logo, that actually explained it all.

Season 6b, in pretty much all the detail that Cornell and company had envisaged, was no longer just a theory, but the narrative explanation embraced by Terrance Dicks — the man who had created most of the discontinuity in the first place given that he: co-wrote The War Games, was script editor at the time The Three Doctors was produced, and wrote The Five Doctors.

However, a different explanation for the inconsistencies in The Two Doctors was given by Simon Guerrier in the 2015 Big Finish Productions Early Adventures story The Black Hole, that the Monk manipulated the Doctor while claiming to be a Constable of the Time Lords, seemingly shortly after The Ice Warriors. In 2022 however Big Finish revisited 6B, providing their own take on events immediately following The War Games in Beyond War Games, where the Second Doctor is extracted from his timeline by a member of the CIA called Raven "a quantum of a second" before his exile & forced regeneration and, similarly to World Game, being recruited and sent on missions.

Stories possibly taking place during this period[[edit] | [edit source]]

All stories listed are a part of season 6B from the perspective of the Second Doctor.

Medium Series Story Title Notes
Television Doctor Who The Five Doctors The Second Doctor remembers his trial and Zoe and Jamie having their memory wiped.
The Two Doctors A visibly aged Second Doctor works with Jamie for the Time Lords. Mentions of Victoria. Retroactively made part of season 6B by stories in other media, notably World Game - although The Black Hole offers an alternative account.
Novels BBC Past Doctor Adventures Players Some aspect of season 6B positively referenced.
Independence Day
World Game
Comics TV Comic Invasion of the Quarks – Martha the Mechanical Housemaid Jamie and the Doctor are re-united, after explicitly separating. Some chronologies, like the Doctor Who Reference Guide figure that the Second Doctor's entire TVC run happen after The War Games and thus in 6B. This leads to some problems with the Doctor claiming to have never seen the Quarks before, although he also claims to know of them, so he may be specifically referring to never having met them as an autonomous force before.
The Duellists – Operation Wurlitzer The Doctor is travelling alone, but he still has use of his TARDIS. This story features the Second Doctor travelling alone, and so is logically assumed to be a part of 6B. The televised Second Doctor in his regular run didn't have enough control over his TARDIS to drop off companions and pick them back up later. Thus, any instance of the Doctor travelling alone is deemed to take place after The War Games.
Action in Exile – The Night Walkers The Second Doctor is explicitly in exile on Earth and we actually see him begin to regenerate by Time Lord fiat at the end of the story cycle. Some aspect of season 6B positively referenced.
Short stories Short Trips The Time Eater Jamie gets his first look at the Stattenheim remote control. Some aspect of season 6B positively referenced.
All of Beyond This story features the Second Doctor travelling alone, and so is logically assumed to be a part of 6B. The televised Second Doctor in his regular run didn't have enough control over his TARDIS to drop off companions and pick them back up later. Thus, any instance of the Doctor travelling alone is deemed to take place after The War Games.
That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking for a Dress
Mother's Little Helper
Scientific Adviser
Reunion
Dust
The Steward's Story The incarnation in this story is vague. It could be the Second Doctor or the Seventh Doctor. If the Second, then it's a 6B story.
Golem This story features the Second Doctor travelling alone, and so is logically assumed to be a part of 6B. The televised Second Doctor in his regular run didn't have enough control over his TARDIS to drop off companions and pick them back up later. Thus, any instance of the Doctor travelling alone is deemed to take place after The War Games.
Blue Road Dance
The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas Some aspect of season 6B positively referenced.
Doctor Who Yearbook 1994 Loop the Loup This story features the Second Doctor travelling alone, and so is logically assumed to be a part of 6B. The televised Second Doctor in his regular run didn't have enough control over his TARDIS to drop off companions and pick them back up later. Thus, any instance of the Doctor travelling alone is deemed to take place after The War Games.
Brief Encounter Time, Love and TARDIS The TARDIS states that the Time Lords want him to use a newer model so he is of more use to them, suggesting that this is placed possibly during Season 6B.
The Target Storybook Save Yourself The Second Doctor is explicitly on a mission for the CIA in return for his freedom, following the Doctor's trial, and it is revealed that he has been on many such missions before, getting his memories wiped each time.
Audio The Companion Chronicles Helicon Prime The Doctor and Jamie are travelling alone, and Victoria is said to be studying graphology. This is the same as her mention in The Two Doctors. According to World Game, this was a false memory planted in Jamie's mind upon his rejoining the Doctor.
Main Range Colony of Fear Tarlos recounts his time as a companion of the Second Doctor to the Sixth Doctor whose memory of it was wiped.
The Second Doctor Adventures Beyond War Games The Final Beginning and Wrath of the Ice Warriors are set immediately after The War Games.
James Robert McCrimmon Occurring directly after the previous box set in the series, a much older Jamie is reunited with the Doctor after an adventure set up by the CIA, intended to bring them together for the sake of keeping the Doctor satisfied during his missions.
Video games Destiny of the Doctors The Doctor recognises the Tremas Master thus placing his encounter after TV: The Five Doctors, a Season 6B story. Additionally, the Master sends Graak on a mission to find the Stattenheim remote control (In the Second Doctor's TARDIS), which he was given by the Celestial Intervention Agency. (PROSE: World Game, TV: The Two Doctors)
Not Valid Devious The Doctor goes on an adventure mid-regeneration as the Second-and-halfth Doctor
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