BC

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BC

BC or B.C. was an initialism (Before Christ) (PROSE: The Best of Days [+]Loading...["The Best of Days (short story)"]) used to designate an Earth year's position relative to the epoch known as AD. Sometimes BCE was used instead. (COMIC: Crossing the Rubicon [+]Loading...["Crossing the Rubicon (comic story)"], PROSE: The Ruby's Curse [+]Loading...["The Ruby's Curse (novel)"]) The phrase "before the birth of Christ" could also be used. (GAME: The Iytean Menace [+]Loading...["The Iytean Menace (game)"]) The term "BC" thus designated a negative number; 100 BC was ninety-nine years before 1 BC. Its positive counterpart was AD.

There was, however, a question as to whether the year 1 BC was followed by the year 0 or the year 1 AD. Some people, including the human chronologist Professor Wagg, clearly believed that 1 BC was followed by 0, allowing him to make the claim that the year 2000 was the first year of a new millennium, as did American journalists working for television station KKBE. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (TV story)"]) The Eighth Doctor concurred with this opinion. (PROSE: The Novel of the Film [+]Loading...["The Novel of the Film (novelisation)"], AUDIO: Relative Dimensions [+]Loading...["Relative Dimensions (audio story)"]) However, the Sixth Doctor (PROSE: Millennial Rites [+]Loading...["Millennial Rites (novel)"]) and Dave Young (PROSE: Escape Velocity [+]Loading...["Escape Velocity (novel)"]) both strongly argued that 1 BC was followed by 1 AD, thus making 2001 the start of the 3rd millennium.

The Time Lords placed Davros' life in the Thousand Year War up to the Fourth Doctor's incursion into Dalek history as concurrent to Earth's ancient history, prior to the 2nd century. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Loading...["Dalek Combat Training Manual (reference book)"])

Timeline

Prehistory

Earth around 6 billion years prior to 1974, on a Tuesday. (TV: Hide [+]Loading...["Hide (TV story)"])

4th millennium B.C.

3rd millennium B.C.

2nd millennium B.C.

10th century B.C.

9th century B.C.

8th century B.C.

6th century B.C.

5th century B.C.

4th century B.C.

3rd century B.C.

2nd century B.C.

1st century B.C.

Behind the scenes

  • An inherently Christian designation, BC is not generally used in calendars of the traditionally non-Christian world. Consequently, some people use BCE (meaning "Before Common Era") for BC. CE (meaning "Common Era") as a substitute for AD. These largely cosmetic replacements are thought to avoid religious offence. However, Doctor Who fiction has typically remained loyal to the BC/AD convention. Even as late as the Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat eras, dialogue and on-screen graphics prefer the Christian convention, for example in televised stories The Fires of Pompeii, The Pandorica Opens, A Good Man Goes to War and The Angels Take Manhattan.
  • In the real world, there is no year zero, so therefore 1 BC is immediately followed by 1 AD. Doctor Who fiction, however, is unclear as to this point.
  • On this wiki, templates and categories, both of which use, or are used in, mathematical formulae, assume the presence of a year zero, since the fiction of the Doctor Who universe allows it. Hence, we deem that the year 2000 is in the 21st century.
  • In The Doctor Who Role Playing Game, Gallifrey's TL time scale relates to the BC/AD dating system using the following mathematic formulas
    • When TL is greater than or equal to 70,709: A.D. = TL — 70,708, TL = A.D. + 70,708
    • When TL is less than 70,709: B.C. = 70,709 — TL, TL = 70,709 — B.C.

The Cybermen.The Cybermen (reference book)

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