60th Anniversary Countdown (feature)
From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
The 60th Anniversary Countdown was a regular feature released on the Worlds Apart Discord in promotion of Worlds Apart [+]Loading...["Worlds Apart (video game)"] in 2023.
Its instalments were paragraphs of text riffing on the titles of cards from the game, but not always the actual subject of the card and often without regard to the factual details. Having no distinction between (often inaccurate) real world information, textual analysis, and information presented as in-universe, the text was in a style reminiscent of machine generated writing, with the author at one point claiming to have accidentally left on an AI feature which amended their text.[1]
Official synopsis
@here in the countdown to the 60th anniversary of our beloved Doctor Who!
There will be a series of daily posts featuring artwork from the game and their lore/backstory!
Big love to @LegoCurator [The Collector] and @ZygonWhoBoy03 [The Infiltrator] for making this happen and leading us head long into a countdown like no other!
Come along for the ride!
Allons-y companions [emoji of Tenth Doctor saying “hello” in TV: Partners in Crime [+]Loading...["Partners in Crime (TV story)"]]
Summary
Day 59: Davros the Betrayer
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Day 56: Sea Devil Emerges
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Day 55: Ravenous Pting
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Day 38: Renegade Dalek
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Day 37: Pirate Sea Devil
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Day 36: Arboreal Migration
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Day 35: Cybershade
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Day 34: Doctor’s Rebels
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Day 31: Exodus Cybermen
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Day 29: Ko Sharmus
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Day 28: Mondasian Cyberman
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Day 27: Pigmen Hybrids
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Day 24: Racnoss Empress
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Day 23: Telosian Controller
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Day 22: Silurian Paralyser
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Day 21: Wooden King
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Day 17: Wooden Queen
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Day 16: Cyberium
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Day 15: Necros Dalek
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Day 14: Cyberwoman
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Day 13: Dalek Ambasador
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Day 10: Cardiff Rift
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Day 9: Davros the Betrayer
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Day 8: River Song
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Day 7: Seventh Doctor
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Day 3: Third Doctor
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Characters
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Worldbuilding
- The Pirate Sea Devils are a faction of time- and space-travelling Sea Devils.
- The Renegade Daleks are described as a "cult" based on Skaro.
- The Division is described as a secretive organisation associated with the Time Lords, (…) tasked with conducting covert operations, intelligence gathering, and enforcing the will of Gallifrey".
- The Dalek Ambassador is discussed using the singular they.
- Davros is dubbed Davros the Betrayer.
- River Song's diary is also known as "her 'Spoilers' diary".
Notes
- Two separate descriptions of "Davros the Betrayer" were released which gave different analyses of the character.
- Despite the "Doctor's Rebels" card being specifically about the Doctor's rebel group from TV: The Lie of the Land [+]Loading...["The Lie of the Land (TV story)"], its description here indicates "Doctor's Rebels" to be a general concept of everyone the Doctor has inspired.
- The card called "Dalek Ambassador", which depicted the Daleks acting ambassadorially in AUDIO: The Enemy of My Enemy [+]Loading...["The Enemy of My Enemy (audio story)"], is interpreted in this feature to be about an individual Dalek called the Dalek Ambassador. In November 2023, this card was renamed "Dalek Time Squad".
- The original description of the Seventh Doctor mentioned a man named "Maxwell Caldwell". Darren Fitzjohn, the alleged writer of the text, did not recognise the name and attributed this to AI hallucination.[2]
Continuity
- The Renegade Daleks, as first seen in TV: Remembrance of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)"], are explicitly described as having been loyal to "the Dalek Prime instead of Davros", as per PROSE: War of the Daleks [+]Loading...["War of the Daleks (novel)"].
- The living trees from TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe [+]Loading...["The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (TV story)"] are featured, identified as "the Arboreal Migration" or "the Treeborg", with "Treeborg" being a term from TV: Flesh and Stone [+]Loading...["Flesh and Stone (TV story)"].
- The Mondasian colony ship from TV: World Enough and Time [+]Loading...["World Enough and Time (TV story)"]/The Doctor Falls [+]Loading...["The Doctor Falls (TV story)"] is reframed as part of a wider "mass exodus from Mondas" on the part of the early Mondasian Cybermen, comprising a number of "colossal spaceships or arks". Cybermen born on these arks are dubbed Exodus Cybermen, echoing the "Operation Exodus" of the televised two-parter, a name which would recur in WC: Incoming Transmission - February Update Video [+]Loading...["Incoming Transmission - February Update Video (webcast)"].
- Ko Sharmus from TV: Ascension of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["Ascension of the Cybermen (TV story)"]/The Timeless Children [+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"] is featured, and revealed to have originally been a Gallifreyan operative of the Division in the "distant past" before questioning their authority and escaping to become a heroic figure. Though the Division was also discussed at some length in The Timeless Children, no connection was made between it and Ko Sharmus in the original serial, with the Cybermen's assumption that Ko Sharmus is human going unquestioned.
- The Mondasian Cybermen as depicted in TV: The Tenth Planet [+]Loading...["The Tenth Planet (TV story)"] get a card, whose associated blurb acknowledges their origin on Earth's twin planet Mondas, though it is here claimed that Mondas was Earth's twin "in an alternate universe", strangely echoing the alternative origin of the Cybermen given in TV: Rise of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["Rise of the Cybermen (TV story)"] for the Cybermen of Pete's World, who originated on the Earth of a parallel universe.
- The Pigmen Hybrids from TV: Daleks in Manhattan [+]Loading...["Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)"]/Evolution of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Evolution of the Daleks (TV story)"] are featured.
- The Racnoss Empress is featured, and her showdown with the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble as seen in TV: The Runaway Bride [+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"] is briefly summarised.
- The Telosian Controller from TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["The Tomb of the Cybermen (TV story)"] is featured, likewise acknowledging his "dramatic confrontation" with the Second Doctor in sparse detial.
- The Silurian Paralyser card depicts a Silurian of the classic design first seen in TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians [+]Loading...["Doctor Who and the Silurians (TV story)"], and purports to explain the Silurians' "third eye", here depicted as a technology-based implant.
- The Cyberium's blurb goes over the plots of TV: The Haunting of Villa Diodati [+]Loading...["The Haunting of Villa Diodati (TV story)"].
- The Necros Daleks' blurb summarises the premise of TV: Revelation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Revelation of the Daleks (TV story)"], including Davros's scheme at Tranquil Repose.
- The events of TV: Cyberwoman [+]Loading...["Cyberwoman (TV story)"] are summarised in the Cyberwoman's blurb.
- Davros's mechanical hand, introduced in AUDIO: The Juggernauts [+]Loading...["The Juggernauts (audio story)"] and prominently seen on television from TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"] onwards, is cited as one of his trademark attributes alongside his "eye stalk".
- River Song's original encounter with the Tenth Doctor in TV: Silence in the Library [+]Loading...["Silence in the Library (TV story)"] and subsequent encounters with the Eleventh Doctor are referenced. Her character art depicts her battling Silents as she did in TV: Day of the Moon [+]Loading...["Day of the Moon (TV story)"].
