Time Lord Victorious (series)
- You may be looking for the title taken by the Doctor.
Time Lord Victorious was a multi-platform story released between 17 August 2020 and 16 April 2021. The series was set in and around the Kotturuh crisis and featured the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Doctors, as well as Rose Tyler, Brian the Ood, and the Dalek Restoration Empire.
Overview
The series was first teased online by Big Finish Productions and Doctor Who social media on 26 April 2020,[1][2] with first details of the storyline being announced on the following day.
Big Finish's news announced that "Time Lord Victorious will tell a new and untold story, set in the Dark Times near the start of the universe, when even the Eternals were young. Following several Doctors across space and time as they defend their home planet from a terrible race, this is a story like no other."[3]
The first releases were the UNIT Field Logs from 17-20 August.
Stories
Various stories were released, across media, by Penguin Random House, Doctor Who Magazine, Titan Comics, Escape Hunt, Big Finish Productions, Eaglemoss Hero Collector, Immersive Everywhere, Maze Theory, BBC Books and BBC Audio.[3] As ensured by series producer James Goss, the overarching story was "inclusive", so even without purchasing all of the releases, readers could still get a "completed story".[4] With the exception of the escape room and immersive theatre elements, all of the stories were available globally.[5]
The series derived its name from the Time Lord Victorious title briefly adopted by the Tenth Doctor in the 2009 TV story The Waters of Mars, when he believed that he was the victor of the Time War and therefore controlled the Laws of Time. This episode was retroactively included in the event, being promoted as a chapter in the Tenth Doctor's path.
The Time Lord Victorious series also included multiple webcasts, split across two series: UNIT Field Logs, a set of tie-ins to the immersive experience Time Fracture; and Daleks!, an series of five 10-minute episodes starring the Daleks animated by Studio Liddell and released on the official YouTube channel. Daleks! was written by James Goss and starred Nicholas Briggs, Joe Sugg, Anjli Mohindra, and Ayesha Antoine.[6]
There were a number of associated merchandise releases. Eaglemoss Hero Collector released four separate figurine sets, each of which came with a companion magazine that further explains the story.[7] Titan Merchandise also released a Brian the Ood t-shirt that tells a "very important piece of the Time Lord Victorious narrative".[8] Time Lord Victorious associated content was also made available in Worlds Apart (through a set of 50 trading cards in two packs, one featuring an unlimited supply, and a premium pack limited to 10,000 packs, featuring an exclusive TLV card frame)[9] and The Edge of Time (through updates).[10]
Timelines
Paths
Different exploration paths were officially promoted[15] although not all announced merchandise were displayed (note: default sorting is in order of release date):
| Title | 8th | 9th | 10th | Daleks | Brian | Kotturuh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TV: The Waters of Mars | — | — | 02 | — | — | — |
| GAME: A Dalek Awakens | — | — | — | 12 | — | — |
| WC: Trailer | — | — | — | 10 | — | — |
| COMIC: Defender of the Daleks | — | — | 01 | 03 | — | — |
| PROSE: The Guide to the Dark Times | — | — | — | — | — | 02 |
| COMIC: Monstrous Beauty | — | 01 | — | — | — | — |
| PROSE: The Dawn of the Kotturuh | — | — | — | — | — | 01 |
| PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead | — | — | 04 | — | 03 | 03 |
| AUDIO: Master Thief | — | — | — | — | — | 06 |
| AUDIO: Lesser Evils | — | — | — | — | — | 07 |
| AUDIO: He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not | 02 | — | — | — | 02 | — |
| PROSE: The Last Message | — | — | — | 01 | — | — |
| PROSE: Mission to the Known | — | — | — | 07 | — | — |
| AUDIO: The Enemy of My Enemy | 03 | — | — | 05 | — | — |
| WC: Daleks! | — | — | — | 02 | — | — |
| PROSE: Exit Strategy | — | — | — | 09 | — | — |
| AUDIO: The Minds of Magnox | — | — | 06 | — | 05 | 05 |
| AUDIO: Mutually Assured Destruction | 05 | — | — | 08 | — | — |
| PROSE: All Flesh is Grass | 04 | 02 | 05 | 06 | 04 | 04 |
| AUDIO: Genetics of the Daleks | — | — | — | 11 | — | — |
| AUDIO: Echoes of Extinction | 01 | — | 07 | — | — | — |
| GAME: Time Fracture | — | — | 03 | 04 | 01 | — |
Story order
Following this, a main story order was released, although still not containing every story:[16]
- The Fractured Universe
- The Dark Times
- PROSE: The Dawn of the Kotturuh
- PROSE: River Song's Guide to the Dark Times
- COMIC: Monstrous Beauty
- PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead
- PROSE: All Flesh is Grass (Part one)
- AUDIO: The Minds of Magnox
- COMIC: Tales of the Dark Times
- PROSE: Mission to the Known
- PROSE: All Flesh is Grass (Part two)
- AUDIO: Mutually Assured Destruction
- PROSE: Exit Strategy
- The Victorious Days
- STAGE: The Hollow Planet
- AUDIO: Genetics of the Daleks
- STAGE: A Dalek Awakens
- GAME: The Edge of Time
- STAGE: Time Fracture
- PROSE: Canaries
- AUDIO: Echoes of Extinction (Tenth Doctor Side)
Furthermore a Time Lord Victorious blu-ray collection titled "The Road to the Dark Times" contained the following stories selected by producer and writer James Goss plus a guide to how they build to the Time Lord Victorious storyline:[17]
- TV: Planet of the Daleks
- TV: Genesis of the Daleks
- TV: The Deadly Assassin
- TV: State of Decay
- TV: The Curse of Fenric
- TV: The Runaway Bride
- TV: The Waters of Mars
Notes
- Even as the series was announced and was beginning to roll out, Doctor Who licenses were still coming to Goss with ideas on how to expand the event because of how enthused they were with the idea.[18]
- The Brian the Ood T-shirt was something James Goss was quite interested in making sure worked out, teasing ahead of time that there were meetings concerning putting a story on a T-shirt, and making sure that such a thing was possible.[18][19]
- The genesis of this project was described by Goss as the BBC calling him in, saying they wanted this project, "it should probably be called Time Lord Victorious, good luck!" He came back with some ideas, they liked them, nothing happened for a few months, and then they just gave him the green light out of nowhere.[18]
- Due to the COVID-19 crisis there was a very real worry that this entire project would have to be cancelled in its entirety.[18]
- On 25 July 2020, Goss noted that both the Immersive Theater and the Escape Room were working to find ways to open in a safe way given the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]
- Goss told the Radio Times that the BBC had been covertly digitally focus grouping ideas for what fans actually wanted in spin-off media through sneaking questions into certain events. When Goss was first brought to a meeting regarding this topic, he was given a list of things that fans were interested in seeing, Doctors, monsters, etc, based on this practice. While this influenced broad story beats, such as having interest in more of the Eighth Doctor or the Daleks, it didn't specifically cause them to include a story involving the two of them together.[20]
- Goss stated that the BBC had been trying to get a project like this working for "four or five years now".[21]
- When asked, Goss revealed that his favourite part of this project was the creation of the toy for the Dalek Emperor.[21]
- Goss revealed that the Tales of the Dark Times series, created by himself and published on the Comic Creator app, takes place during a 'big gap' after the Battle of Mordeela, which takes place during All Flesh is Grass.[22]
Cover gallery
Monstrous Beauty Part 1
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Footnotes
- ↑ Big Finish Time Lord Victorious teaser
- ↑ Doctor Who Time Lord Victorious teaser
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Time Lord Victorious - a new multi-platform adventure!
- ↑ James Goss tweet
- ↑ James Goss tweet
- ↑ DoctorWho.TV Daleks! announcement
- ↑ Time Lord Victorious Figurine Collection Magazine #1 Dalek Emperor & Drone
- ↑ Brian the Ood Glow in the Dark T-Shirt
- ↑ Time Lord Victorious: Doctor Who to Launch New Trading Cards
- ↑ Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time to get new content
- ↑ Time Lord Victorious Timeline
- ↑ While nothing was added to this escape room specifically for this event, this event elaborates on the history of the particular Dalek found therein.[1]
- ↑ Big Finish Time Lord Victorious page
- ↑ Time Fracture was originally to premiere in Autumn 2020,[2] before being pushed back to 2021.
- ↑ Paths from the Doctor Who newsletter
- ↑ Main site story order
- ↑ Road to the Dark Times blu-ray announcement and coda of information
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Titan Comics Time Lord Victorious Panel at SDCC Home
- ↑ Radio Times Podcast
- ↑ How Doctor Who fans created the story of Time Lord Victorious – without even realising it
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 The Making of Doctor Who - Time Lord Victorious | BBC Studios
- ↑ https://twitter.com/gossjam/status/1320047089200627719
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