Theory:Timeline - Susan Foreman

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This page lists appearances of Susan Foreman in the order in which she experienced them. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories. From these observations we have attempted to build a concise timeline. It is assumed, much like its TV story counterparts that for each novel, comic story and audio series their published/numbered order is the order they occur in. This does not apply to short stories which are often ambiguous about their placement. There are also many gaps between stories.

The layout of this timeline is in part based on the observations on Doctor Who Reference Guide and Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, as well as information in Lance Parkin's AHistory which allow us to make observations on placement of stories, such as Doctor Who Reviews, The History of Doctor Who, The Discontinuity Guide, Clive Banks Databank, the Big Finnish forums, The Whoniverse and the Divergent Universe forums. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Additionally there are statements on the back of Virgin Missing Adventures and BBC Past Doctor Adventures novels that state between which TV stories the novel takes place between. These can be used to narrow the field, and should be viewed as the only placing for these novels.

Timeline

Life on Gallifrey

The Doctor brings Susan to watch him and a group of Prydonians performed a ritual in Arcadia.
The Doctor still has superior ranking on Gallifrey.
Traveling back in time, the Doctor rescues Patience and her granddaughter from a danger on Gallifrey.

Leaving Gallifrey

Due to conflicting accounts, each telling of the Doctor's fateful escape have been listed in order of release.
In a story told by the Tremas Master, the Doctor decides to leave Gallifrey in the midst of a civil war. He enters a TARDIS alone, and finds a young lady inside, who he adopts as his granddaughter.
The Doctor and Susan escape from an explosion on Gallifrey, determent to keep the Hand of Omega safe.
After an argument with his cousin, Glospin, the Doctor leaves Gallifrey with the Hand of Omega, and travels back to the Old Time, where he adopts Susan, the granddaughter of the Other.
Set during The Beginning: The First Flight, after Susan step inside the first TARDIS, and before the Doctor takes her into a second one.
The Doctor, already with Susan and wearing Victorian era clothing, is being pursued by the Chancellery Guard whilst fleeing Gallifrey with a flying trunk containing the Hand of Omega.

First flight

The Doctor has just escaped Gallifrey. Susan is exploring the TARDIS for the first time.
This is the Doctor and Susan's first experience with humanity. Controversially, it even sees them take the names of "the Doctor" and "Susan".
Already going by "the Doctor" and "Susan", the wanderers have their first experience with humanity during their first trip to the Solar system.

Wanderers in the fourth dimension

"El Jefe" has quickly become disillusioned after leaving the "Lords Temporal", but after " Alison" steals Iris Wildthyme's diaries, he is inspired.
The Doctor is telling a bedtime story to Susan.
Susan feels enough familiarity with the TARDIS to begin calling it home.
The chameleon circuit is operational.
The Doctor and Susan land in London, much to the Doctor's chagrin. The Doctor recognises the Cybermen.
The Doctor and Susan visit Jabalhabad.
The Doctor and Susan are familiar enough with Earth to debate whether or not the Great Wall of China is visible from space.
Learning that a dictator would cause Earth's destruction, the Doctor and Susan go back in time to kill the dictator as a baby. However, the Doctor drops his weapon and is forced to flee before he even sees the baby.
The chameleon circuit is operational.
The chameleon circuit is operational. The Doctor and Susan have been on Earth several times by now.
The Doctor is familiar enough with human pop culture to reference Harry Potter, Blake's 7 and Artemis Fowl.
The Doctor is relatively familiar and comfortable with humanity, but he and Susan have not yet settled in 1960s London.
The Doctor and Susan attend the coronation of Elizabeth II.
Set "4 or 5 journeys" before The Edge of Destruction. The chameleon circuit is operational. The Doctor believes Susan needs friends her own age, stability and teachers.
The chameleon circuit is operational. At the end of the story, the Doctor says that he and Susan will "put down some roots" for a while, implying that the next stop may be 1963.
The Doctor and Susan have already had many adventures in the 20th century, but have not seen much of the latter half of the century. The Doctor is looking for a place for him and Susan to settle down for a while.
The Doctor takes a brief trip to 1997 to check if the United Kingdom will remain a safe place to stay in the times to come.

Hiding on Earth

The Doctor arrives in 1960s London, and Susan begins attending Coal Hill School. The TARDIS is damaged by the Blessing Star.
The Doctor has only recently arrived in London 1963, and Susan is already in education.
Set on 1 April 1963. The Doctor and Susan have been on Earth for some time, Susan is attending school and something breaks when the Doctor journeys in the TARDIS, forcing him to fix it using 20th century parts. The Doctor begins to take an interest in protecting the human race.
As the Doctor walks through 1963 Shoreditch, he thinks of where to hide the Hand of Omega, setting this before he buried it during late October.
The Doctor begins calling himself "Dr. Foreman".
Set on 22 October 1963.
The Doctor and Susan have been on Earth for four months, setting it one month prior to the events of An Unearthly Child.

Meeting Ian and Barbara

In an alternate timeline created by Rassilon and the Cybermen, the Doctor is captured by the Cyberman immediately before the events of An Unearthly Child.
On 22 November 1963, Susan's curious teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, follow her home and force themselves into the TARDIS, and the Doctor flies the ship in a panic, bringing the teachers with him and Susan to 100,000 BC. Ending leads directly into The Daleks.
The Doctor encounters the Daleks and the Thals for the first time. He also explains that he can't properly fly the TARDIS and can't return to 76 Totter's Lane. Ending leads directly into The Edge of Destruction.
The TARDIS' sentience is brought up for the first time. After realising that his paranoia got the best of him, the Doctor makes amends to better himself in the future. Ending leads directly into Marco Polo.
The Doctor explains how the TARDIS works to Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, setting this during The Edge of Destruction: The Brink of Disaster .

Further adventures

The TARDIS crew have just left China, setting this immediately after Marco Polo.
Ian and Barbara are still trying to grasp some of the more alien concepts in their travels, and the Doctor is not yet on a first name basis with them.
The Doctor is using the cane he received from Kublai Khan in Marco Polo. Ian has changed out of his Chinese gown.
Set before The Aztecs, as the idea of changing history is new to Ian and Barbara.
Set directly after Farewell, Great Macedon, with the events from The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance being mentioned.
The Doctor warns Barbara about the consequences of altering the course of history.
Susan unlocks a deeper telepathic ability than the Doctor thought she had. Barbara has fully recovered from her ordeal from The Aztecs.
Set explicitly between The Sensorites and The Reign of Terror.
Starts from where The Sensorites left off, with the Doctor still arguing with Ian and Barbara.
Ian refers to the events from The Reign of Terror as the travellers' latest trip.
Ian remembers the Doctor saying that the travellers' "destiny is in the stars", which he said in The Reign of Terror. Barbara and Ian still believe that history can't be changed.
Susan knows of Barbara's familiarity with Cortez and the Mexican civilisations, setting this after The Aztecs.
Barbara refers to the Doctor's warning about interfering with history from The Aztecs.
Susan is writing a letter for Ian and Barbara to read after she's gone. She mentions the Doctor's warning of the immutability of history from The Aztecs, but feels the need to explain that it's wrong, presumably setting this before The Library of Alexandria and The Flames of Cadiz.
Ian refers to the events from The Transit of Venus. He and Barbara begin to think that the Doctor has been deceitful with them about changing history.
Ian refers to his encounter with Captain James Cook from The Transit of Venus. He and Barbara aren't surprised when the Doctor thinks that history can be changed.
Barbara refers to her attempts to save the Aztecs.
Barbara and Susan are mentioned, setting this before The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
Set shortly before Planet of Giants.
Sequel story to The Keys of Marinus.
Though he is currently separated from them, the Doctor is travelling with Susan, Ian, and Barbara.
Susan mentions the human-colonised planet from The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The removal of the life pod from the TARDIS begins to affect its dimensional stability, setting this shortly before Planet of Giants.
Susan is still troubled with the telepathic powers she demonstrated in The Sensorites, and Ian and Barbara's experiences during The Reign of Terror are mentioned.
Susan is beginning to realise she will need to leave the Doctor soon and make her own life.
The TARDIS begins suffering from space pressure, leading directly into Planet of Giants.
Set immediately after Planet of Giants.
The Doctor encounters the Daleks for the first time since The Daleks. Susan falls in love with rebel David Campbell, and the Doctor decides to leave her behind so she can grow into her own person.

Post-Invasion

An older Susan is briefly reunited with the First Doctor as well as meeting three future incarnations.
Susan meets the Eighth Doctor.
Returning to Earth, the Doctor finds that Susan has a son, Alex Campbell.
Susan and Alex have Christmas dinner with the Doctor and Lucie Miller in the TARDIS.
Susan is caught up in a second Dalek invasion in which Alex and Lucie are killed.
Susan is living in a block of flats Coal Hill School eventually became when she discovers Hypercube messages left by the Time Lords, who are fighting a great war against the Daleks. Despite the Doctor's attempt to distract and convince her not to leave, Susan answers the call and is picked up by a TARDIS.
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