Theory talk:Timeline - Fourth Doctor

Timeline all over the place

The chronology here has been placed rather inaccurately. In DWM 168, Doctor Who Magazine showed how all their Fourth Doctor comic stories and short stories fit into the television chronology. Note that this was before there were any Virgin Missing Adventures, BBC Past Doctor Adventures, Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories, Nest Cottage audios, or Short Trips stories. However, going by what DWM themselves say, the Timeline is as follows:

That is the way that Doctor Who Magazine themselves placed their Fourth Doctor comic stories. Of course, all the later audios, novels, short stories and later Fourth Doctor comics can be placed into that timeline as well, but this article needs to go by what DWM stated. 197.88.62.248^{talk to me} 20:02, March 19, 2015 (UTC)

A Full Life

A Full Life doesn't take place before Warrior's Gate. It's in a different timeline - if anything, it would be after, since Adric lives a long time in it. Placing it chronologically before Warrior's Gate is just incorrect. There's nothing wrong with having sections for aborted timelines. We don't have a limited number of subsections, and it's important to the accuracy of a timeline page to explain what happens in what timeline. And yes, it is important to specify that it takes place in E-Space, because it helps with dating it. BananaClownMan, if there's anyone who puts too much information on here it's you - filling all of these pages with unnecessary recaps that belong on the pages for the actual stories. Fwhiffahder ☎ 00:41, October 4, 2016 (UTC)

“Harry’s Return”

I’m not entirely sure why we have a section for a couple of stories where Harry supposedly returns to the TARDIS after his initial departure.

The fact that there’s a note at the beginning and end of the sub-section saying “Harry rejoins/leaves” only furthers my doubts about the necessity for this to exist as it’s clear that no story actually establishes that Harry’s rejoins at any point, I don’t see why the stories can’t go between Robot and The Ark in Space, much like the other annual stories and short trips involving Harry.

Unless of course there’s some kind of continuity issue I’m not aware of currently, but from what research I have done, I couldn’t find anything that would suggest the stories had to come later.

SarahJaneFan ☎ 17:41, October 2, 2018 (UTC)

The main (and by "main" I mostly mean "sole") reason those entries are there falls under two reasonings: release dates and the Doctor's outfit. The annual stories where released alongside Season 13, which was the season which Harry left. Publication wise, the only explanation is that Harry rejoined for a while after he left, since there was no gap between Revenge of the Cybermen and Terror of the Zygons at the time. Another reason is the Doctor's outfit; in these entries, he's wearing his Season 13 outfit. Then again, it could be possible for them to fit between Revenge of the Cybermen and Terror of the Zygons, if we lead with the assumption it took the Doctor and co. a lot longer than initial thought to get to Scotland.BananaClownMan ☎ 02:59, October 4, 2018 (UTC)

I did some more research on the annual Stories (I realised that these annuals come as special features with some of the classic DVDs) and had a look myself. I’m really not convinced that it is actually the Season 13 costume which appears in that annual. What he wears is often obscured and never consistent, not to mention the unreliability of the artwork in these annuals. However, I also came to the conclusion that there’s no way that Ark in Space isn’t Harry’s first trip in the TARDIS, so although I would have liked to place all of those annual stories and short trips before The Ark in Space, I believe they’d all be better placed sometime after The Android Invasion, with the Doctor returning to work for UNIT, while still taking side trips with Sarah, and having Harry accompany them occasionally. SarahJaneFan ☎ 09:55, October 4, 2018 (UTC)

Aye, that could also work. I mean, upon further inspection, while Death Flower does have Sarah-Jane say she's still getting use to the new face, the Doctor does make reference to "[shaving] each day", so some time has passed since Robot, a couple of days for the Doctor at least.BananaClownMan ☎ 11:25, October 4, 2018 (UTC)