Pure historical
Pure historicals are Doctor Who stories that are set in in a historical time period and feature no science fiction anachronisms other than the TARDIS team. These stories were highlighted by Philip MacDonald in the article "A Foreign Country" in DWM 194.
Pure historicals were common in televised Doctor Who until The Highlanders in 1966. The only pure historical since then was Black Orchid in 1982.
The Time Meddler was the first "pseudo-historical" story with the Monk serving as the science fiction anachronism.
The term has been widely adopted by the fanbase. These novels have been described as pure historicals in Doctor Who Magazine: Sanctuary,[1] The Witch Hunters,[2], and The Wages of Sin[3]
These Big Finish stories have been described as pure historicals: The Marian Conspiracy,[4] Other Lives,[5] The Wrath of the Iceni,[6] The Flames of Cadiz,[7] The Lady of Mercia,[8] The Doctor's Tale,[9] The Peterloo Massacre,[10], and The Great White Hurricane[11]
The Doctor Who Roleplaying Game adventure The Bellagio Imbroglio was designed as a pure historical.[12]
Paul Magrs jokingly described his audio story Muse of Fire as a "not-quite-so Pure Historical".[13]
The first issue of the 45th anniversary comic The Forgotten featured a flashback to the First Doctor. In keeping with the era, this flashback story was a pure historical set in 26th century BC Egypt.
In-universe
Iris Wildthyme wondered if her adventure with King John would count as a Pure Historical or a Celebrity Historical. She concluded it was a Pseudo-Historical when she discovered he was a cyborg from the future. (PROSE: From Wildthyme with Love [+]Loading...["From Wildthyme with Love (novel)"])
List of pure historicals
Footnotes
Notes
- ↑ In the original printing of DWM 162, this story is dated to the 5th century. This was changed to the more historically accurate 8th century in The Mark of Mandragora.
- ↑ Approximate year of Tutankhamun's death.
- ↑ Real world date of the Siege of Masada.
- ↑ Real world construction of Stonehenge with large stones.
- ↑ Real world date of the Diet of Worms.
Citations
- ↑ DWMSE 10
- ↑ DWMSE 7
- ↑ DWMSE 2
- ↑ CD booklet: "The brief for the story that became The Marian Conspiracy was to do a 'Hartnell historical' for the Sixth Doctor"
- ↑ VOR 92
- ↑ Doctor Who: The Wrath of the Iceni
- ↑ New Look for Big Finish Doctor Who
- ↑ Eldrad Lives Again in Upcoming Doctor Who Release!
- ↑ Doctor Who Early Adventures Detailed
- ↑ Doctor Who: The Peterloo Massacre
- ↑ VOR 106
- ↑ "Adventure Synopsis", The Bellagio Imbroglio
- ↑ Seventh Doctor - Muse of Fire
