Force field
A force field (sometimes known as a force shield) was an item of defensive technology that could be used to protect an object, person, or space. It was mostly employed to deflect outside forces, but could also be used to keep things in, such as oxygen or heat. Force fields had limitations. The larger the space one needed to protect and the more energy the force field was required to deflect, the higher the energy requirements of the force field. (TV: The Armageddon Factor)
Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation stated that enclosing a Level Five planet in a force field was illegal. Despite this, in the early 21st century the Atraxi enclosed the Earth in a force field in preparation for its destruction in order to capture Prisoner Zero. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
The term "force field" was used to cover a wide variety of defensive technologies based on an energy barrier. In the mid 1970s on Earth, Cessair of Diplos was capable of creating a static electric force field, (TV: The Stones of Blood) whilst it took until the mid-21st century for force field technology to be common place on human-based spacecraft. (TV: The Wheel in Space)
Force fields could be used in a passive form of aggression, such as preventing a ship from leaving a planet. (COMIC: Mission for Duh)
Most spacefaring species, such as the Rills (TV: Galaxy 4) and the Daleks, had some form of force fields for protection. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)
TARDIS force field
- Main article: TARDIS force field
The Doctor's TARDIS had a force field generator. While visiting Avalon, the force field trapped the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright outside the TARDIS. (PROSE: The Sorcerer's Apprentice) In the 1970s the Second Doctor's recorder was protected from being converted into antimatter because it was inside of the force field generator. The Doctor gave the recorder to Omega, causing his antimatter world to be destroyed, along with the TARDIS' force field generator. The Third Doctor decided to remain on Earth until the force field generator was rebuilt, even though the Time Lords had lifted his exile on Earth. (TV: The Three Doctors)
By the Doctor's ninth incarnation, he no longer had a force field generator, and instead used a tribophysical waveform macrokinetic extrapolator. (TV: The Parting of the Ways) During the Eleventh Doctor's life, the TARDIS again had a force field that it used to protect Clara Oswald in the time vortex when she was locked out of the TARDIS but refused to let go of the doors. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) The Thirteenth Doctor used a force shield to protect herself and her friends from Dalek weaponry. (TV: Resolution)
Craft-based forced fields
In the 15th century, the Exxilons used force fields on their ships to protect the fuel pods (fuelled by plutonium) against radiation exposure. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird)
In the early 21st century, spacecraft such as the Titanic were equipped with force shields to protect them from space-based hazards such as asteroids. Warnings on the bridge would be sounded should they be lowered in the face of such dangers. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)
Also in the early 21st century, the airborne military carrier the Valiant was equipped with force shields. They were defeated by Dalek weaponry. (TV: The Stolen Earth)
In the latter part of the 21st century, Space Station W3 was armed with a force field in addition to an X-ray laser. (TV: The Wheel in Space)
In the 42nd century, many human ships and bases had force fields to protect them from the effects of space. (TV: The Impossible Planet, 42)
372nd century Morestran probe ships had force fields. On Zeta Minor, this was coupled with the atomic accelerator to repel the anti-matter creature. (TV: Planet of Evil)
By the year 200,100, the Game Station was protected by a force field which prevented the invading Dalek Fleet from blasting it out of the sky, but it didn't stop the Daleks from boarding the station. (TV: The Parting of the Ways)
By the year 5,000,000,000, Platform One was protected by a force field so that no damage would come to the station when the Earth was engulfed by the sun and destroyed. (TV: The End of the World)
The War Lords and the Time Lords were both capable of creating force fields within their craft or facilities that were similar in appearance. (TV: The War Games)
Mechanoid Interceptors had force fields capable of resisting Dalek weapons. (COMIC: Eve of War)
The Movellan flagship possessed an anti-Dalek shield within its engine room, its activation being able to kill any Daleks in its proximity. (AUDIO: The Triumph of Davros)
Lupari ships had matter generating force fields. (TV: The Vanquishers)
Dalek flying saucers had force fields. During the Ironside Incident, the Eleventh Doctor was able to use his TARDIS to temporarily disrupt a saucer's shields, allowing Danny Boy to destroy its weapon. (TV: Victory of the Daleks)
Device-based force fields
The Sea Devils trapped a Royal Navy submarine in a force field when it tried to escape their base under the English Channel. The submarine freed itself by firing torpedoes at the cave wall, blasting itself out. (TV: The Sea Devils)
In 2006, Margaret Blaine stole a tribophysical waveform macrokinetic extrapolator that could generate a shield powerful enough to protect her from a nuclear meltdown. (TV: Boom Town)
Torchwood Three owned a portable prison cell that could generate a funnel of energy around its captive. (TV: Day One)
Last Great Time War-era Dalek prison cells used force field technology to hold their captives. (TV: Journey's End)
Mr Smith was able to project a force field of limited range and power inside of Sarah Jane's attic. It was also capable of draining the power of any devices inside it. (TV: Enemy of the Bane, Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith)
In the year 4000, when Bret Vyon was within the Doctor's TARDIS, the First Doctor created a "magnetic chair" which had a force field strong enough to restrain "a herd of elephants". (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan)
On Wengrol, Yend scientists used force fields to restrain specimens. (PROSE: The Sons of the Crab)
The Sontaran Styre imprisoned Sarah Jane Smith in a force field on Earth in the year 16087. (TV: The Sontaran Experiment)
In the aftermath of the Cyber-Wars, the Thirteenth Doctor gave Ryan Sinclair a rudimentary force field device, to shield an area of a refugee planet when the Cybermen would arrive. It was soon destroyed by the Cyber-drones. (TV: Ascension of the Cybermen)
Individual-specific force fields
Borusa had a "personal force-shield" that was provided by the medallion he wore. It kept both him and the Fourth Doctor safe when a Sontaran fired upon them, but its low battery prompted them to flee in order to avoid further attacks. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
Encountering the Celestial Toymaker in 1980s Blackpool, the Sixth Doctor trapped him within a self-sustaining force field maintained by the Toymaker's own mental abilities. (PROSE: The Nightmare Fair/AUDIO: The Nightmare Fair)
In 2002, the Seventh Doctor created a force field generator which could tune into the Fearmonger's wavelength and used it to destroy the creature without harming its host. (AUDIO: The Fearmonger)
In 21st century Cardiff, members of Cell 114 were protected by a force field that was one nanometre thick, mostly around the location of the implant. (TV: Sleeper)
In 2050 K9 Mark 2 encountered the Bodach, a species that created a force field around themselves. (TV: Dream-Eaters)
Davros's chair had a force field, one capable of withstanding multiple gunstick blasts. The Twelfth Doctor gambled that this shield only worked in one direction and would allow Davros to open fire on whoever threatened him. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)
Species-specific force fields
Daleks' force fields
Supreme Daleks were noted to have additional shielding systems than the standard Dalek drones, being able to survive what would constitute a fatal attack on another unit. (AUDIO: Out of Time)
Daleks from the Last Great Time War era were surrounded by force fields that prevented bullets, including bastic bullets, and energy weapons, including those used by the Cybermen of Pete's World, from making contact with their casings. (TV: Dalek, The Parting of the Ways, Doomsday, Daleks in Manhattan, The Big Bang)
While most bullets were melted by the force field, repeated gunfire had the potential to disable the Dalek's vision by landing a hit on the eyepiece. (TV: Dalek, The Parting of the Ways) A Preacher's energy blaster modified by the Tenth Doctor was able to temporarily disable the casings of the Cult of Skaro but they were soon able to adapt to the new weaponry. (TV: Doomsday) The shields of the Cult could also withstand several hits from Dalek enhanced Tommy Guns, though sustained blasts would ultimately break through and destroy them. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)
As seen during the Planetary Relocation Incident, the Daleks of the New Dalek Empire did not possess Time War-style shields: (TV: The Stolen Earth, Journey's End) instead of melting upon contact with a shield, (TV: Dalek, The Parting of the Ways) bullets collided with the casing. All the same, bullets displayed no effect against the Daleks. The Children of Time had also developed energy weapons that could destroy a Dalek and its casing with ease. (TV: The Stolen Earth, Journey's End)
When the Fourteenth Doctor was in the Dalek Dome's Golden City Zone, the psychoplasm Daleks sealed the Doctor's TARDIS behind a force field that only the Golden Emperor could take down. The Emperor took down the force field when the Doctor promised to take him to safety only for the Emperor to belatedly realise that his casing was too wide to fit through the doors. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"])
Other species' force fields
The Korven were capable of creating immobilising force fields. (TV: The Korven)
The People of the Worldsphere created defensive drones that were protected by force fields. (PROSE: The Also People)
In a parallel universe, the drones of the Borg Collective had force fields, ones appropriated by the Cybermen of the cyber-web when they conquered the Collective. These shields could adapt to energy weapons but could be overcome by a weapon set to alternating frequencies. (COMIC: Assimilation²)
Location-based force fields
As she worked in one the highest security rated rooms in the Capitol, Rodan was protected by a force field. She deactivated it to allow Leela access to the room, having taken a liking to the savage. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
On Gallifrey in the Death Zone, the Dark Tower was protected by a force field that prevented entry to it via transmat and by TARDIS. It could be disabled from within the Tower however. (TV: The Five Doctors)
The Dalek Asylum was protected by a force field, covering the entire planet. Despite wishing to preserve the Daleks contained there, when the security was compromised by a crashed star-liner, the Parliament of the Daleks sent the Eleventh Doctor and his companions to lower the asylum's defences so they could destroy the asylum. Although the force field prevented the Daleks from destroying it, they managed to breach the force field via a gravity beam which allowed the Doctor and his companions to be sent there. The force field was eventually deactivated by Oswin Oswald, a human who was converted into a Dalek, allowing the Parliament to destroy the asylum and the Daleks imprisoned there. (TV: Asylum of the Daleks)
The Papal Mainframe put a force field around Trenzalore to prevent the Time Lords from returning to the universe should the Question be answered. The force field also kept out numerous species such as the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Terileptils, the Slitheen, the Judoon and the Silurians as they were prepared to attack the Time Lords and begin another time war. As many of the species tried to pass through the force field, the Daleks called for reinforcements and attacked the Mainframe, but failed to break the force field despite torturing and killing Tasha Lem "several times" for the information. (TV: The Time of the Doctor) When the Daleks regained their memories of the Doctor, the Dalek Fleet was called in to perform an orbital bombardment of Trenzalore until the force field shattered. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)
On Traken, Tremas and the Fourth Doctor were investigating about high energy force fields and discovered a plasma field. (TV: The Keeper of Traken)
After trying the War Lord, the Time Lords placed the War Lord homeworld behind a force field to ensure that the War Lords would be cut off from the universe forever. (TV: The War Games)
Other uses for force fields
Force fields could be used to form air corridors, allowing the passage from one ship to another without the extension of any form of docking tube. These force field extensions could be filled with air to allow normal passage. (TV: The Horns of Nimon)
Similarly, in the 2000s[nb 1] when the Judoon used an H₂O scoop on the Royal Hope Hospital to transport it to the Moon, they surrounded it with an airtight force shield. (TV: Smith and Jones)
By the 30th century humans could achieve this form of technology. On Earth's moon they were able to project "force bubbles" onto the moon's surface, allowing for work to be conducted within an atmosphere. (PROSE: The Dust of Ages)
Other forms of energy field
Gallifrey was protected by both a transduction barrier and a quantum force field. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
Behind the scenes
- In the video game The Last Dalek, based on the events of Dalek, the Metaltron's force field is represented by the Shield Generator and the Advanced Shield Generator.
Footnotes
- ↑ According to the episode The Sound of Drums, Martha Jones' present day during series 3 of Doctor Who takes place over a six-day period, with the Saxon Master being elected three days after Smith and Jones, and the Toclafane invading Earth five days after Smith and Jones. However, sources differ on which dates these stories are set. According to PROSE: The Paradox Moon, the Toclafane invasion happens on 23 June 2007, placing the events of Smith and Jones on 18 June. According to AUDIO: Hysteria, Smith and Jones takes place in 2008, with a UNIT mission log in AUDIO: Recruits referring to the recovery of moon rocks from Royal Hope Hospital in March 2008. A newspaper clipping in PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters places Smith and Jones on a Sunday 4 June, thus placing the Toclafane invasion on Friday 9 June. In the real world, these dates do not fall on a Sunday and Friday in either 2007 or 2008.
