Forum:Battle of Canary Wharf/Torchwood series 1 dating

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The Battle of Canary Wharf page states that it occured in July 2007. However, the Torchwood Institute page's section for Torchwood One staff says it's 2006. In The New World, the CIA files also state that Gwen Cooper joined Torchwood in October 2006, and she couldn't have joined before the battle. So, which is correct? What was the 2007 date based on? Well, if it's definitely 2007, we can just assume that the CIA files were wrong. Ausir^(talk) <staff/> 11:20, July 9, 2011 (UTC)

The dates are like this because since Aliens of London, Doctor Who was a year ahead of its airdate. There were some 07/08 date confusions in the Martha year as well. And TW has done this before, too. But yes, chronologically, Gwen had to join in late 2007, and Ianto earlier that year. So, our "in-universe" compromise would be to say,

Gwen actually joined in 2007

or

The CIA mistakenly believes she joined in 2006

But she didn't/couldn't. It's possible that Davies saw the continuity error but that scene was meta: it was describing to new viewers when the show Torchwood began. They're also assuming no one keeps tight track of the continuity like we do. The gap between TWs1 and s2, and before 3, and before 4, means that the continuity is back in parallel with real time again.Liam Mars 11:49, July 9, 2011 (UTC)

Yep, this is certainly THE biggest continuity hiccup in the history of Doctor Who. These hiccups don't stop, so you keep dissolving sugar in your mouth because your grandad told you thats how you get rid of the hiccups. Your blood sugar level becomes dangerously high and you die of a heart-attack. Basically, Miracle Day tells us that Everything Changes happened in October 2006. The problem, Ausir, is that The End of Time features the Doctor visiting Rose on 1 January 2005, stating that they will first properly meet later that year. Their first proper meeting occurs in Rose, thus confirming that Rose takes place in 2005. In Aliens of London, the Doctor returns Rose to her home-time, only to find he has overstepped by 12 months, placing this story in 2006. Jackie and Mickey feature in Aliens of London and again in The Christmas Invasion, which takes place on 25 December. This means that it'd have to take place on 25 December 2006. Then we have a series of stories that, due to the presence of Jackie and Mickey, have to occur after 25 December 2006, including School Reunion, Rise of the Cybermen, Love & Monsters and Doomsday. Due to The Runaway Bride containing references to the events of Doomsday, this means those stories could take place anywhere between 25 December 2006 and 25 December 2007. Everything Changes, in which Gwen Cooper joins Torchwood, features indirect references to the events of Doomsday, as does Cyberwoman, Fragments and Utopia, practically confirming that Everything Changes and the rest of Torchwood Series 1 takes place between 25 December 2006 and 25 December 2007. Except Miracle Day states that Everything Changes occurs in October 2006. So, somehow, Everything Changes takes place a considerable amount of time after December 2006, yet in October 2006. I have no idea how to solve this. Hopefully someone will discover some ingenious loophole that will solve everything, but until then we're stuck with saying that either the CIA files were corrupted as early symptoms of Torchwood being erased online or the Sycorax tricked everyone into thinking it was Christmas as some unseen part of their evil plan when it was really February. Though it probably doesn't matter to most fans, Doctor Who: The Time Traveller's Almanac states that Rose happened in 2005, Aliens of London in 2006, Doomsday in 2007, Smith and Jones in 2008 and Journey's End in 2009. Bigredrabbit

The UNIT dating controversy is far worse, being off by many years in places. The only logical explanation is some corruption in the CIA's file. Or alternatively some Torchwood protocol lists the date members join as months earlier to prevent connecting that member's joining with a specific event, or something. TemporalSpleen 16:37, July 10, 2011 (UTC)

Maybe we should have an article about the inconsistent treatment of 2006-2007, just like we do on the UNIT controversy? Ausir^(talk) <staff/> 19:10, July 10, 2011 (UTC)

I agree, but what we call it. No one has given it a name, aside from 'One year ahead theory'. The UNIT dating controversy had been given that name long before this wiki used it. Also, I think we should create a page for the whole year-ahead thing. How it came to be, how The Next Doctor solved it, the inconsistency risen by Miracle Day and the Planet of the Dead vs. Beautiful Chaos fiasco. Bigredrabbit 23:48, July 10, 2011 (UTC)