An alternate timeline was a reality that diverged from the "true" timeline due to the actions of time travellers or
other temporal phenomena. They were different from parallel universes in that they did not separate cleanly at the point of creation resulting in the new timeline destroying the old one. (PROSE: Imperial Moon)
Physics
Alternate timelines could be visited accidentally by contact with a time track (TV: The Space Museum, AUDIO: The Mutant Phase) or other anomalies (AUDIO: Colditz) in the Time Vortex. Deliberate travel to these timelines was possible if the traveller possessed something, such as the sigil ring, that allowed them to change time streams. (PROSE: Goth Opera)
They may have diverged from points in history where there was temporal fluctuation. The power required to adjust the timeflow and overcome temporal inertia on such a scale couldn't fit on a single planet, but beings with enough power were capable of doing so, such as Sutekh, the Guardians of Time, Rassilon, and the Chronovores. Even the Doctor or the Master could have the know-how or inclination to create them. Because the universe only had a finite amount of mass and energy to exist as one universe, the creation of an alternate timeline adversely affected the real timeline, causing chaos throughout the universe; releasing enough energy could destroy the timeline and set history back on its correct course. (PROSE: Blood Heat)
Though a timeline may be negated, memories of it could still be retained. (TV: The Big Bang, The Impossible Astronaut)
Metaphysics
From a metaphysical viewpoint, alternate timelines were always being extinguished as fewer and fewer choices became open. This is particularly affected by time travellers who changed the future whenever they arrived in a new time. This was the cosmic pain of the universe and in this manner Gabriel and Tanith were personifications of the timelines that never existed. (PROSE: Falls the Shadow)
Terminology
The phrase "alternate/alternative timeline" was sometimes used interchangably with "parallel universe" however alternate timelines usually changed after a single moment in time, whereas parallel universes usually had more than one difference from the "normal" universe.
Timelines encountered by the Doctor
| Timeline |
Negated By |
Featured in
|
| The First Doctor and his companions become exhibits in the Moroks' Space Museum |
First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Vicki |
TV: The Space Museum
|
| Barbara Wright marries Ptolemy I and becomes Queen of Alexandria |
Alternate Barbara |
PROSE: The Book of Shadows
|
| WOTAN conquers Earth (this was the correct timeline before it was changed by the Doctor) |
First Doctor |
PROSE: The Time Travellers, TV: The War Machines
|
| Nancy Grover uses Grold technology to become a goddess |
Third Doctor and Liz Shaw |
PROSE: The Eye of the Giant
|
| The Power Elite take over Earth |
Third Doctor |
PROSE: Prisoners of the Sun
|
| Freedom fighters from the 22nd century assassinate Sir Reginald Styles |
Third Doctor and Jo Grant |
TV: Day of the Daleks
|
| Theodore Cassells's experiments lead to a global war which devastates Earth |
Third Doctor |
COMIC: A Stitch in Time
|
| The Third Doctor dies on Dust and regenerates |
Eighth Doctor by destroying Gallifrey (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell) |
PROSE: Interference - Book One, Interference - Book Two
|
| Sutekh is freed and devastates Earth |
Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith |
TV: Pyramids of Mars
|
| Daleks undergo the Mutant Phase |
Dalek Emperor |
AUDIO: The Mutant Phase
|
| Melanicus creates the Millennium Wars |
Fifth Doctor, Sir Justin and Shayde |
COMIC: The Tides of Time
|
| Humans evolve into Haemovores |
Seventh Doctor and Ace |
TV: The Curse of Fenric
|
| The Dark Matrix terrorises England |
Seventh Doctor and Ace |
PROSE: Matrix
|
| The Nazis win World War II after a piece of laser technology is left at Colditz Castle |
Alternate Eighth Doctor and Elizabeth Klein (inadvertantly) |
AUDIO: Colditz, Klein's Story
|
| Vladimir Khrushgov succeeds Konstantin Chernenko as leader of the Soviet Union causing World War III to occur in 1989 |
Seventh Doctor |
AUDIO: Protect and Survive
|
| Adolf Hitler uses the Timewyrm's power to enable Nazi Germany to conquer Earth |
Seventh Doctor and Ace |
PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus
|
| Chad Boyle kills Dorothy McShane with a brick to the head |
Ace |
PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation
|
| The Process enslaves the Time Scaphe crew |
Seventh Doctor |
PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible
|
| Silurian Earth:Silurians rule Earth after killing the Third Doctor at Wenley Moor (if this timeline existed, the real universe would have ended 10 billion years earlier) |
Destroyed, not negated, by Seventh Doctor |
PROSE: Blood Heat
|
| Alternate timeline (Time & Time Again) |
Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield |
COMIC: Time & Time Again
|
| The Knights of Velyshaa conquer Gallifrey |
Fifth Doctor, Sixth Doctor, Seventh Doctor, the Temperon |
AUDIO: The Sirens of Time
|
| Humans don't evolve and Earth is a Tractis colony known as Paratractis |
Eighth Doctor, Sam Jones, Jo Grant |
PROSE: Genocide
|
| Sato Katsura forms the Church of the Glorious Dead; the Church, led by Sato, conquer Earth and rename it Dhakan; the Church begin invading and massacring other planets they view as "unbelieving" |
Kroton |
COMIC: The Glorious Dead
|
| Pete Tyler doesn't die and Reapers begin consuming humanity |
Pete Tyler |
TV: Father's Day
|
| The Year That Never Was |
Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Captain Jack Harkness |
TV: Last of the Time Lords
|
| Donna's World |
alternate Donna Noble, with assistance from Rose Tyler |
TV: Turn Left
|
| The Progenitor Daleks repopulate Skaro and exterminate humanity to extinction in 1963 |
Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond |
GAME: City of the Daleks
|
| The Doctor's TARDIS explodes, creating Cracks in Time which begin erasing the universe's history |
Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams (Auton) and River Song (TV: The Big Bang) |
TV: Series 5
|
| Amy Pond is stranded on Apalapucia for 36 years |
Eleventh Doctor |
TV: The Girl Who Waited
|
| River Song's World |
Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song, the Teselecta |
TV: The Wedding of River Song
|
| The Silurians attempt to pump poison onto Earth's surface to reclaim it |
Eleventh Doctor and River Song |
GAME: The Eternity Clock
|
| The Progenitor Daleks invade and destroy London in or before 2106 |
Eleventh Doctor and River Song |
GAME: The Eternity Clock
|
| The Cybermen conquer the galaxy |
Eleventh Doctor and Jean-Luc Picard |
COMIC: Assimilation²
|
| Rory Williams remains imprisoned in Winter Quay for the rest of his life |
Rory Williams, Amy Pond |
TV: The Angels Take Manhattan
|
Timelines encountered by others
