Theory:Timeline - Melanie Bush

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This page lists appearances of Melanie Bush in the order in which she experienced them. This timeline is based on observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events in each of these stories. From these observations we have attempted to build a concise timeline. It is generally assumed, much like their TV story counterparts, that each novel, comic or audio series their published/numbered order is the order they occur in.

The layout of this timeline is based in part on the observations on Doctor Who Reference Guide and Doctor Who - The Complete Adventures, Lance Parkin's AHistory and other sources that allow us to make observations, such as DocOhoReviews, The History of Doctor Who, The Discontinuity Guide, Clive Banks Databanks, the Big Finish forums, The Whoniverse and The Divergent Universe forum. None of these sources should be used solely as a source or considered a "true" timeline for stories.

Timeline

Living in Pease Pottage

Mel meets two versions of the Sixth Doctor and an older version of herself in an area of Cauterised time. She sacrifices herself to return people to their own time before being restored to life and time by the Doctor - losing her memories of the events.

Travels with the Sixth Doctor

After a period of avoiding Mel out of fear that travelling with her would lead him on the path to becoming the Valeyard, the Doctor decides to bow down to destiny and accept her as his companion when circumstances lead him to Pease Pottage and Mel helps him defeat a Nestene invasion with the Brigadier.
The Doctor claims to be 991-years-old.
The Doctor and Mel defeat the Rainbow. (PROSE: Old Boys)
Mel has been travelling with the Doctor for a few months, and is able to make sense of future programming code on a human spaceship. She also encounters the Chelonians for the first time.
Mel enrols the Doctor in an anger management class in Pease Pottage, setting this during the time she was helping him to improve himself.
Mel is still trying to get the Doctor to exercise, setting this before Instruments of Darkness.
The Doctor is on a diet at Mel's insistence, setting this before Instruments of Darkness.
Mel and the Doctor are aiming for New Year's Eve 1999, setting this immediately before Millennial Rites.
The Doctor and Mel haven't encountered the Vervoids yet, setting this before Terror of the Vervoids. Mel believes she has been travelling with the Doctor for a couple of years, and has been taught how to operate the TARDIS by the Doctor. The Doctor is still following Mel's exercise regime.
The Doctor and Mel encounter the Vervoids on the Hyperion III. According to the novelisation, they have been travelling together for three months.
The Doctor is also depicted wearing the clothes he wore in Terror of the Vervoids, and Mel knows how to fly the TARDIS.
According to the CD booklet, this audio is set after The One Doctor. Mel encounters the Daleks for the first time and spends two months separated from the Doctor on Lethe.
The Doctor and Mel take a trip to Oxyveguramosa, but the Doctor remains within the TARDIS tinkering with a computer program developed by Mel. Mel is taken by the Tremas Master to give testimony at the Doctor's trial.
In an alternate timeline created by Rassilon and the Cybermen, the Doctor and Melanie find the Matrix compromised by the Cybermen during The Ultimate Foe.
The Doctor brings Melanie to Pease Pottage, believing that she can reunite with "her Doctor" there, despite her protests that she had left him on Oxyveguramosa. The Doctor meets a future version of himself in the process, who recommends that he take a trip to Sheffield Hallam University.
After Mel returns from being taken by the Tremas Master to give testimony at the Doctor's trial, it becomes clear that the Doctor wasn't aware of her absence.
Mel has been travelling with the Doctor for years and recalls the recent events of Millennial Rites which also depicted her last visit to Earth, while the Doctor recalls the events of Terror of the Vervoids. Mel has met Daleks, the Tremas Master and the Valeyard, setting this after The Juggernauts and The Ultimate Foe.
According to the CD booklet, this audio is set after The Juggernauts. Mel spends six months at Hallam Hall, though she is amnesiac during this period and does not recall much of what happened in recent months.
First depiction of Mel meeting with Evelyn, and Evelyn's life after traveling aboard the TARDIS. Mel guesses that she has been travelling with the Doctor for about a year, but finds it difficult to keep track of time in the TARDIS, most likely due to her extended time away from the Doctor in The Juggernauts and Catch-1782. The events of Terror of the Vervoids and The Quantum Archangel are referenced, and Mel mentions the Daleks and Chelonians. The Doctor's exercise bike is now in mothballs and covered by a dustsheet, suggesting that the Doctor has given up on the exercise regime devised by Mel. Mel's hair is significantly shorter than it was when she joined the Doctor, and she plans to grow it again.
According to the CD booklet, this audio is set after Catch-1782. Second depiction of Mel meeting with Evelyn, and Evelyn's life after traveling aboard the TARDIS. Mel calls the Doctor out on his attitude and egotistical demeanour.
Diamond Sharp references the Doctor's role in Terror of the Vervoids.
Mel knows the Daleks, and feels she needs to brush up on her knowledge of future technology after finding herself unable to make sense of Dalek technology.
The Doctor and Mel encounter the Wishing Beast for the first time. Mel asks the Doctor to take her somewhere fabulous, leading directly into The Vanity Box.
The Doctor and Mel arrive in the 1960s, and encounter the Wishing Beast for a second time.
Set immediately after The Vanity Box. Although the Doctor is depicted wearing his blue coat on the CD cover, he is described in the story itself as wearing his Technicoloured coat.
The Doctor recommends avoiding the work of agronomist Sarah Lasky, suggesting a post-Terror of the Vervoids setting.
The Doctor and Mel visit Peladon.
The Doctor and Mel have been travelling together for years. They visit Kolpasha, suggesting a setting a few weeks before Spiral Scratch.
The Doctor and Mel meet Hebe Harrison, one of Evelyn Smythe's former students, who joins them in the TARDIS. Mel is familiar with the Daleks, setting this after The Juggernauts.
Hebe takes her first trip in the TARDIS, setting this immediately after The Rotting Deep.
A while has passed since The Rotting Deep. The Doctor, Mel and Hebe receive an SOS from Hebe's friend, Elise, directing them to a location familiar to the Doctor.
The Doctor, Hebe and Mel travel to Sheffield Hallam University, where they meet up with Elise, setting this directly after Maelstrom. The Doctor meets Patricia McBride for the first time, and the team decide to stay at Sheffield Hallam for a while.
Three months have passed since The Mindless Ones, during which the Doctor, Mel and Hebe have been sneaking away from the university for adventures. Patricia summons them to Sweden to investigate a genetics clinic. The Doctor offers Patricia a trip to the future in the TARDIS, leading directly into Chronomancer.
Patricia takes her first trip in the TARDIS. Hebe is erased from history after Patricia decides to alter history in a misguided belief she can make it better.
The Doctor and Mel begin their search for Hebe in 1930s New York. Mel recalls her visit to the Hyperion III in Terror of the Vervoids.
Mel recalls spending six months living with her ancestors during the events of Catch-1782. Mel is aware that she and the Doctor initially met out of order, suggesting a setting after The Ultimate Foe.
Set directly after Purification. Patricia successfully creates a new timeline where she is in control, and seemingly restores Hebe to existence, albeit a version who doesn't know the Doctor and Mel.
Mel and the Doctor visit the planet Caliban, where "something" upset her. She thus does not leave the TARDIS for a while, (PROSE: Curtain Call), and later treats it as her most recent adventure (PROSE: Spiral Scratch).
Shortly after Millennial Rites, and according to Head Games, the Doctor is influenced to kill himself by echoes of his next incarnation. With the HADS deactivated, the TARDIS is attacked by the the Rani, and the Doctor suffers a fatal head injury in the attack.
In the second depiction of his regeneration, the TARDIS is attacked by the Rani while the Doctor is suffering from chronon energy starvation after his confrontation with the Lamprey, and he bangs his head, fatally injuring himself.
In the third depiction of his regeneration, the Doctor is exposed to focused beams of a radiation lethal to Time Lords as a consequence of the Rani's attack on the TARDIS, due to a future version of himself sending him a message on how to defeat the Valeyard's master plan with his death.

Travels with the Seventh Doctor

The Doctor is still recovering from the effects of his recent regeneration, as shown by the large amount of the lindos hormone in his system.
The Doctor brings a new hat stand back into the TARDIS console room. He acts much like his immediate predecessor, suggesting he is still recovering from his regeneration.
Mel is wearing the same clothes she wore in Paradise Towers.
Mel is wearing the same clothes she wore in Paradise Towers.
Pex's sacrifice from Paradise Towers is still on Mel's mind.
The Doctor's umbrella is damaged, with him suggesting it time he acquired a new one.
The Doctor and Mel broker peace on Prosper.
Set between Paradise Towers and Delta and the Bannermen.[1] The Doctor is carrying his red umbrella, setting this after The Warehouse.
Set between Paradise Towers and Delta and the Bannermen.[2] The Doctor is carrying his red question mark umbrella, setting this after The Warehouse. The two versions of the story detail what happens when the Doctor is coerced into changing the past, but offers no conclusion about which of the versions is the "correct" one.
The Doctor has replaced his whangee handled umbrella with one with a large red question mark designed handle.
The Doctor is carrying his red question mark umbrella, setting this after Delta and the Bannermen.
The Doctor and Mel meet Emil Hartung. The Doctor realises he will have to leave Mel soon, so that her morals don't compromise his agenda. (PROSE: Just War)
The Doctor still acts light-hearted, but Mel is starting to feel alienated by him.
The Doctor acts more brooding, something Mel claims to have never seen in him before.
Despite the Big Finish website placing this between Time and the Rani and Paradise Towers[3], the Doctor is carrying his red question mark umbrella, setting this after Delta and the Bannermen. The Doctor acts more brooding around Mel, setting this after The Fires of Vulcan.
Mel begins to question whether she wants to continue travelling with the Doctor after seeing him blackmail a black market seller.
On Iceworld, the Doctor and Mel bump into Sabalom Glitz again, and also meet a time-displaced 16 year old girl named Ace. Mel leaves the Doctor to travel with Glitz. The Doctor offers to let Ace travel with him in the TARDIS, and she accepts.

Life after Glitz

Mel left 1986 four years ago, meaning she travelled with the Doctor for one year. She leaves Glitz after travelling with him for six months, spends six months hitch-hiking, then gets stuck on Avalone for two years. She discovers that the Doctor manipulated her into leaving with Glitz and they part on bitter terms.
Mel is killed on the planet Heritage, due to manipulations in the timeline caused by the Council of Eight. Following their defeat and the restoration of multiple timelines to the universe, this fate is no longer set in stone.

Reunited with the Doctor and Ace

Mel rejoins the TARDIS crew after being abandoned by Glitz on Ricosta.
The Doctor, Mel and Ace have just left Ricosta, setting this immediately after A Life of Crime. The TARDIS interior has its Victorian parlour design.
At least one week has passed since A Life of Crime.
The TARDIS is on its way to a party on Maruthea, when the Doctor decides to change course and head to 2085 Earth instead. The Doctor refers to their recent encounter with the Galparians, setting this shortly after Dead to the World.
Mel delivers the TARDIS to Josiah W. Dogbolter, leading directly into The Quantum Possibility Engine.
When the Seventh Doctor takes control of the universe and rebuilds it in his own image, Mel finds herself in the new timeline with no memory of her time with him. Ace recruits her to help find the Quantum Possibility Engine due to her previous experience with using it, setting this after The Quantum Possibility Engine. Mel's memories begin to return the more time she spends with Ace. Once the timeline is restored, Mel is sent back to her proper time and place, and it is unclear if she retains any memories of this adventure.

Return to Earth

Mel hosts her show 24 Carat aboard her spacestation headquarters. The Seventh Doctor arrives and takes her with him.
(REFERENCE)
According to one account, Mel stays with Glitz until he dies at the age of 103. After his funeral, she decides to return to Earth, hitching a lift off of a zingo. (TV: The Giggle)
According to one account, Mel returns to Earth and meets with Bob Lines on 23 July 1991 to discuss returning to her life and reuniting with her parents. Although two years have passed on Earth since she departed with the Doctor in Business Unusual, it has been considerably longer for her. It has been "ages" since she last saw the Doctor in Dragonfire. Detective Lines agrees to drive her home to Pease Pottage.
(REFERENCE)
According to Sarah Jane Smith's research into previous companions of the Doctor, by 2010 Mel was working alongside A Charitable Earth to help provide PCs to children in Africa. (PROSE: Death of the Doctor)

Working for UNIT

In 2022, Mel meets up with other former companions of the Doctor. Kate Stewart offers her a job at UNIT.
Mel ponders if the message in a bottle she sent out into space will ever reach the Doctor.
In 2023, Mel encounters the Doctor for the first time since Dragonfire, despite the events of A Life of Crime. She is welcomed into the Noble family alongside the Doctor and they take a trip together to New York City in the Gilded Age. She is working for UNIT.
In 2024, Mel had been working for Triad Technology for months to spy on Susan Triad for UNIT.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-bang-bang-a-boom-205
  2. ↑ https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-flip-flop-212
  3. ↑ https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-red-251
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