Essence
The essence of someone or something was "[their] form, [their] history, everything that ma[de them them]". The term applied to both living and non-living things, (PROSE: The Dinosaur in the Snow [+]Loading...["The Dinosaur in the Snow (short story)"]) and was sometimes used for abstract concepts as well. (TV: The Ice Warriors (episode six) [+]Loading...{"ep":"six","1":"The Ice Warriors (TV story)"}, The Invasion (episode three) [+]Loading...{"ep":"three","1":"The Invasion (TV story)"}, Logopolis (part one, [+]Loading...{"sect":"Part one","noital":"true","1":"Logopolis (TV story)","2":"''Logopolis'' (part one,"} part two) [+]Loading...{"sect":"Part two","noital":"true","1":"Logopolis (TV story)","2":"part two)"}, et al.)
According to Tirion, biodata could be used to extrapolate and read someone's very essence. (PROSE: The Dinosaur in the Snow [+]Loading...["The Dinosaur in the Snow (short story)"])
When feeding off the electrical activity of people's brains, the Wire absorbed their faces and essences. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern [+]Loading...["The Idiot's Lantern (TV story)"]) The Firestone was a Vespiform telepathic recorder and, according to the Tenth Doctor, part of Arnold Golightly's brain and very essence. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp [+]Loading...["The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)"])
As she tried to explain to Inangela, Tiffany Korta had went to Miss Ruth to discover her essence, the "real her", but instead found that her true self was "not only immense but seemingly infinitely flexible". (PROSE: This Town Will Never Let Us Go [+]Loading...{"chapt":"\"3.20 Tiffany's Guru\"","1":"This Town Will Never Let Us Go (novel)"})
Jecriss, the High Priestess of Gendar, believed that Auteur's essence was part of the very fabric of Gendar. (PROSE: The Two Auteurs [+]Loading...["The Two Auteurs (short story)"])
In his diaries concerning the first day of the Cosmic War, Dionus wrote that Yog-Sothoth was a being whose very essence strengthened the walls of the universe. (PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"])
Divided Loyalties by G. Russell was one of few resources available to Dr Olivia Kagg Waldermein in 2323 that depicted "Archonhood as a coveted rank rather than a birthright and innate essence." (PROSE: Love & War [+]Loading...["Love & War (short story)"])
The Fifteenth Doctor described Maestro as "the essence of music itself". (TV: The Devil's Chord [+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"])
Other mentions[[edit] | [edit source]]
When Ping-Cho related a story about Ala-eddin to the First Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara, she said that a paradise-like land that Ala-eddin took his followers to had "gardens and flowers of every hue and essence". (TV: "Five Hundred Eyes" [+]Part of Marco Polo, Loading...{"namedep":"Five Hundred Eyes (3)","1":"Marco Polo (TV story)"})
Elric Penley believed that risk-taking was the essence of human progress. (TV: The Ice Warriors (episode six) [+]Loading...{"ep":"six","1":"The Ice Warriors (TV story)"})
According to Tobias Vaughn, uniformity and duplication were the very essence of business efficiency. (TV: The Invasion (episode three) [+]Loading...{"ep":"three","1":"The Invasion (TV story)"})
The Fourth Doctor once described the essence of the second law of thermodynamics to Adric as, "the more you put things together, the more they keep falling apart". (TV: Logopolis (part one) [+]Loading...{"part":"one","1":"Logopolis (TV story)"}) When explaining the possibilities of Block Transfer Computation to the Fourth Doctor, the Monitor remarked that "structure [was] the essence of matter, and the essence of structure [was] mathematics". (TV: Logopolis (part two) [+]Loading...{"part":"two","1":"Logopolis (TV story)"})
Other meanings[[edit] | [edit source]]
People sometimes said that "time" (COMIC: The Daft Dimension 591 [+]Loading...["The Daft Dimension (DWM 591 comic story)","''The Daft Dimension'' 591"]) or "speed" "[was] of the essence" when indicating a desire to hurry. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs (part four) [+]Loading...{"part":"four","1":"Invasion of the Dinosaurs (TV story)"}, The Pirate Planet (part three) [+]Loading...{"part":"three","1":"The Pirate Planet (TV story)"})
"Life essence" was another name for life force. (TV: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith [+]Loading...["Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith (TV story)"])
