The Gallifrey Chronicles (reference book): Difference between revisions

|publisher    = Doctor Who Books

'''''The Gallifrey Chronicles''''' was a ''[[Doctor Who]]'' reference book published by [[Doctor Who Books]].

The planet [[Gallifrey]]: cradle of the most ancient civilisation in our galaxy, source of the technology that mastered both space and time, home of the people who call themselves the [[Time Lord]]s — and the origin of the mysterious, quirky, itinerant time-traveller known as the Doctor. When the British Broadcasting Corporation transmitted the first episode of Doctor Who in 1963, no one could have predicted that the programme's popularity would ensure its survival for twenty-eight record-breaking years.

In that first story we learnt only that the Doctor and his granddaughter [[Susan Foreman|Susan]] had left their home planet, under something of a cloud, in a remarkable time-travelling craft called the TARDIS that looked — at least on the outside — like a police telephone box.

The Doctor and the TARDIS have remained the constant elements in a television saga that has seen many changes over the decades. As the years passed we learnt more and more about the Doctor's background, about other Time Lords, and about Gallifrey.

John Peel has researched every ''Doctor Who'' story ever shown on television to bring together all the facts about Gallifrey and the Time Lords. The result — illustrated throughout with photographs from the BBC archives — is a comprehensive guide to the foundations of the entire ''Doctor Who'' universe, and a fascinating insight into the most comprehensive science fiction mythos that television has ever produced.

[[File:Gallifrey Chronicles Scroll.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Scrolls of Rassilon (short story)|The Scrolls of Rassilon]]'' illustration by [[Trevor Baxendale]]]]

* ''[[The Scrolls of Rassilon (short story)|The Scrolls of Rassilon]]'', a work of fiction that speculates about the origin of the Time Lords.

* A full history of Gallifrey and select Time Lords written in-universe with references including through ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|An Unearthly Child]]'' right through to ''[[Survival (TV story)|Survival]]'', does not include any references outside of those televised (which includes ''[[Shada (TV story)|Shada]]'').

* Chapters include: [[Gallifrey]], The Physical Nature of the [[Time Lord]]s, Temporal Engineering, [[The Matrix]], Politics, [[The Doctor]] and the Time Lords, [[Susan Foreman|Susan]], [[Romana]], [[Rassilon]], [[Omega]], [[The Monk]], [[The Master]], [[Borusa]], [[The Rani]], [[The Valeyard]], [[Guardians of Time|The Guardians]], The Renegades, Other Time Lords.

* The Scrolls of Rassilon cover the final few 25 pages of the book and are primarily written in first person from [[Rassilon]]'s point of view. It begins just after Rassilon's return from battling the [[Great Vampire|Vampire Horde]]. (These scrolls are meant to be the [[Black Scrolls of Rassilon]] as seen in ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]''.) It ends as Rassilon is forced into his eternal sleep.

:* Several of the elements presented in the scrolls do not fit with established continuity, though it is possible to speculate that the scrolls are a diary and therefore show a biased viewpoint.

* At the end of the chapter on Temporal Engineering, Peel has a section of ''Speculations'' which suggests that it is the [[telepathic circuits]] in [[the TARDIS]] which allow the Doctor and his companions to understand various languages.

* The Scrolls of Rassilon shows a detailed account of [[the Other]], and his influence on the [[Dark Time]].

* The cover illustration was painted by [[Andrew Skilleter]]. [[John Peel]] later remarked that he had kept the original artwork, hanging it "on the wall of his study in Long Island, U.S.A.".<ref>[https://who-dares.co.uk/the-doctor-omega-chronicles/ The Development of Doctor Omega] on the official [[Who Dares Publishing]]</ref>