Eye of Orion
The Eye of Orion, also known as the Orion Retreat or simply Orion, was a planet (AUDIO: Eye of Darkness) known to be one of the most tranquil places in the universe. Tegan Jovanka likened it to "Earth after a thunderstorm." According to the Fifth Doctor, it achieved its calming effects from the "high bombardment of positive ions." (TV: The Five Doctors) The Sixth Doctor insisted that its beautiful moonset was the "ideal tonic for the weary time traveller," (AUDIO: Arrangements for War) and the Tenth Doctor listed it as his third favourite planet. (AUDIO: The Ordeal of Peladon)
The Eye was originally a thriving holiday resort. (PROSE: Martha Jones' MySpace blog)
The Fourth Doctor once considered taking Leela to the Eye of Orion but quickly dismissed the idea, claiming that it was not in season. (AUDIO: Last of the Colophon)
The Fifth Doctor deliberately took Tegan and Turlough to the Eye immediately after their encounter with the Tremas Master and Kamelion in March 1215. Turlough had been there before on his own. (TV: The King's Demons) While there, the Doctor updated the look of the TARDIS console. Soon after stepping out of the newly-refurbished TARDIS, the Doctor experienced "cosmic angst", before discovering that his past selves were being separated from him. (TV: The Five Doctors)
The trio returned to the Eye and were about to play cricket when a Raston Warrior Robot, delivered by Ryoth's use of a Time Scoop, attacked them. They hid behind rubble until they were joined by the Eighth Doctor. Using the principle of Buridan's ass, they approached the robot with an equal distance between them and the robot. Confused as to whom to target and their similarity, the robot deactivated. Ryoth later sent a a squad of Sontarans to try and stop the Eighth Doctor from continuing on his travels along his timeline. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
The Fifth Doctor took the Helliax, Annabel Morden and Adam to the Eye of Orion as the atmosphere would cause Adam no harm. (AUDIO: The Helliax Rift)
The Sixth Doctor delighted in bombarding his companions with tales of the Eye, but had difficulty actually going there. It would have been the first destination to which the post-regenerative Sixth Doctor would have taken Peri Brown, but he had trouble remembering the co-ordinates. (TV: The Twin Dilemma)
Later in their travels, Peri was so tired of his hype she preemptively blocked the suggestion of the Eye as a suitable holiday spot: "I've heard all about that elusive place once too often." She suggested that the Eye had no native life-forms and that even tourists were scarce. When the Doctor described Andromeda — by which he might have meant either the constellation or the galaxy — as having "some of the most magical sights in the entire universe: astral starbursts creating a myriad celestial bodies against a timeless royal blue backdrop", Peri said he always described the Eye of Orion in precisely the same way. (TV: Timelash)
Likewise the Sixth Doctor made several promises to take Evelyn Smythe to the Eye, but never managed to do so. While Evelyn was feeling depressed due to the recent events with the Doctor, he asked to take her there, stating it was similar to the English South Downs, though with less sheep. (AUDIO: Arrangements for War) In one of the two accounts of Melanie Bush meeting Evelyn, the then-former companion Evelyn specifically asked that he take her home by way of the Eye. Mel, for her part, was the only companion of the Doctor ever described as having actually visited the Eye. (PROSE: Instruments of Darkness)
The Seventh Doctor and Ace sat and meditated on the Eye of Orion during their search for the Timewyrm. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Revelation)
The Eighth Doctor once suggested taking Charley Pollard to the Eye of Orion. (AUDIO: The Man Who Wasn't There)
In an alternate timeline, the Dalek Time Controller told Liv Chenka and Molly O'Sullivan that there was a Dalek facility at the Eye of Orion. It posed as a retreat from wars. The facility took in refugees of war, the Daleks using them for experimentation. Markus Schriver had a lab in the facility where he created the Eminence. (AUDIO: Eye of Darkness)
After the Last Great Time War, the Eye of Orion was converted into a shrine of the war, with only a small memorial, nameless due to the many who died in the war. At this point, the only other structures were scattered ruins. (PROSE: Martha Jones' MySpace blog)
When the Ninth Doctor was showing the Eye of Orion to Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness, they found the planet geohacked by Taggani. Although the Doctor called in the Shadow Proclamation to clear up the mess, the face of Jack Harkness remained on the side of a moon of the Eye of Orion for some time. (COMIC: Hacked)
The Tenth Doctor visited the shrine for the Last Great Time War on the Eye with Martha Jones and imparted details about the War to Martha whilst there. (PROSE: Martha Jones' MySpace blog)
The Tenth Doctor intended to take Gabby to the Eye, but went to Wupatki instead. (COMIC: The Singer Not the Song)
After defeating House, the Eleventh Doctor suggested to Rory that they go to "somewhere restful" like the Eye of Orion, but admitted that he wasn't terribly "good at restful". He left it up to the TARDIS to choose whether the Eye was where he needed to go. The TARDIS set a course and dematerialised, but it was unclear whether they made it to the Eye on this occasion. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
While trying to plan a family holiday, the Eleventh Doctor suggested the Eye of Orion as it was "coming into season." (COMIC: Summer Wholiday)
River Song once visited the Eye of Orion. (AUDIO: Friend of the Family)
At the end of the universe, the Eye of Orion was a secluded, mostly forgotten planet towards the end of its life. The Curator paid tribute to it by painting the view on the planet, to the distress of a degenerated Fifth Doctor who was aware of the worlds that had died following his artworks' creations, and didn't want to see one of his favorite planets lost. Despite this intervention, the painting was finished, and the Final Gallery destroyed the planet as it collected the artwork. (AUDIO: The Artist at the End of Time)
