Segment of Time

Segment of Time was a time measurement used by people who left Earth on the Ark.

The Daleks were said to be part of the First Segment of Time. (DW: The Ark) The First Doctor was said to look like an inhabitant of the First Segment of Time. (VD: Tarnished Image)

Based on the Doctor's appearance, this may correspond to the 20th century.

All knowledge of the common cold virus was lost during the Primal Wars of the Tenth Segment of Time. (DW: The Ark)

Unsuccessful time travel experiments took place in the 27th Segment of Time. (DW: The Ark)

This may correspond to Magnus Greel's efforts in the 51st century.

During the 57th Segment of Time, the last Humans left on Earth and Monoids evacuated the planet on the Ark to colonize Refusis II. (DW: The Ark)

Before learning of the historical circumstances, the Doctor speculated that they had traveled 10,000,000 years into the future. However, with the Earth being swallowed up by the Sun, it is more likely that this time period is c. 5,000,000,000 AD. An alternative explanation is that Earth was not completely destroyed in The Ark, and that the National Trust's renovations were more extensive than the Doctor told Rose.

During the 58th Segment of Time, the planet Metralubit was discovered by Human settlers. (MA: The Well-Mannered War)

If all of these suppositions are correct, then the segments are not equal length like years or centuries, but rather referring to historical periods, much as we refer to periods like "The Stone Age" or "The Renaissance".

External links

• Dating the Segments of Time from the BBC website