TV Century 21 (in-universe)
- You may be looking for the real-world publication of the same name.
TV Century 21, also known as TV21 or TV 21, was a news agency and magazine active in the mid-2060s. It had connections to the Universal Secret Service and reported on a variety of restricted subjects including the exploits of the World Space Patrol and World Aquanaut Security Patrol ships Fireball XL5 and Stingray respectively, the private organisation International Rescue, the activities of the Daleks faraway in hyperspace, and the security organisation Spectrum.
The Fourteenth Doctor was aware that the Golden Emperor and his version of Skaro were documented in "children's books from the 21st century", and did not hold them to be reliable, claiming to a psychoplasmic duplicate of the Emperor that they were sensationalised accounts of distant legends, no more reliable than tabloid reports on Bigfoot. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
In early 2065, when TV21 was just beginning, (PROSE: Stingray Attacked! [+]Loading...["Stingray Attacked! (short story)"] et al.) its line-up included a focus on the World Space Patrol craft Fireball XL5 and its crew, with pictures and reports gathered via a remote control Neutroni Tele-Radar Satellite, (COMIC: The Batmen [+]Loading...["The Batmen (comic story)"]) as well as the World Aquanaut Security Patrol vessel Stingray, where reports were acquired through the use of a colour Videoscan and sometimes written up by a Marineville correspondent. (PROSE: Stingray Attacked! [+]Loading...["Stingray Attacked! (short story)"]) Also featured were reports obtained from the Undercover Screening Department of 21 about the adventures of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, a secret agent working for herself, (COMIC: Mr. Steelman [+]Loading...["Mr. Steelman (comic story)"]) and updates from the Space News Agency regarding the Daleks, a species on the brink of discovering space travel. (COMIC: Power Play [+]Loading...["Power Play (comic story)"]) Additionally, the relationship between TV21 and the Universal Secret Service was a strong one at this time, with correspondence from agents (PROSE: Graham Page [+]Loading...["Graham Page (short story)"]) and even assignments for Special Agents being printed within its pages. (COMIC: Power Play [+]Loading...["Power Play (comic story)"])
TV21 employed Lady Penelope as a correspondent in April 2065. (COMIC: Duel of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Duel of the Daleks (comic story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 2094, a publication entitled The Dalek Chronicles recounted that, after the discovery of alien story-cubes on Earth in the early 2060s, their contents were translated by David Whitaker and Alan Fennell and visualised by Richard Jennings, Ron Turner and Eric Eden, before being printed in TV Century 21 magazine piece-by-piece. (PROSE: The Dalek Chronicles Found! [+]Loading...["The Dalek Chronicles Found! (short story)"]) This was at odds with many other accounts which showed that TV21's reporting was sourced from the Space News Agency and other contemporary news outlets. (PROSE: Titan Declares War! [+]Loading...["Titan Declares War! (short story)"], COMIC: Power Play [+]Loading...["Power Play (comic story)"], et al.)
During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords' Dalek Combat Training Manual acknowledged "some of the earliest work on Dalek history" which presented "a very different origin story for the Dalek race", telling how an ordinary Dalek declared itself Emperor and had a new casing made from Flidor gold, quartz and arkellis flower sap. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual [+]Loading...["Dalek Combat Training Manual (reference book)"])
By 2323, TV21's account on the Daleks was dismissed as a myth from a time before the human race knew that the Daleks existed. Their texts were used as the basis for the Dalek Dome's Golden City Zone. (COMIC: Liberation of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Liberation of the Daleks (comic story)"])
Specific coverage[[edit] | [edit source]]
Fireball XL5 and Space City[[edit] | [edit source]]
TV Century 21's first reports regarding the World Space Patrol involved Fireball XL5's investigation of a distress call from a space freighter, their discovery of a new asteroid in hyperspace, and the crew's eventual confrontation with the "dangerous" Batmen who lived there. (COMIC: The Batmen [+]Loading...["The Batmen (comic story)"], PROSE: Fireball Surrenders! [+]Loading...["Fireball Surrenders! (short story)"])
Stingray and Marineville[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 2065, TV Century 21 reported on the disappearance of three WASP aircraft carriers (COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]Loading...["Genesis of Evil (comic story)"], PROSE: Stingray Attacked! [+]Loading...["Stingray Attacked! (short story)"]) which was later revealed to be Titan's preparation for an all-out attack on Marineville. (PROSE: Titan Declares War! [+]Loading...["Titan Declares War! (short story)"], Marineville Waits! [+]Loading...["Marineville Waits! (short story)"])
Lady Penelope and Parker[[edit] | [edit source]]
TV21's earliest reports on Lady Penelope showed her recruitment of Parker as a butler and chauffeur, their efforts to steal a Luthvian Hydromic device, and their escape from the mercenaries of Mr Steelman, who sought the device for himself. After the device was successfully disposed of TV21 followed Lady Penelope and Parker's pursuit and later rescue of Penelope's agent Roger Lyon, who Steelman had kidnapped in retaliation. (COMIC: Mr. Steelman [+]Loading...["Mr. Steelman (comic story)"], PROSE: Marineville Waits! [+]Loading...["Marineville Waits! (short story)"])
The Daleks[[edit] | [edit source]]
After printing a historical account dating back "many thousands of years" which detailed the creation of the Daleks, (COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]Loading...["Genesis of Evil (comic story)"]) TV Century 21 began covering the Daleks' current activities. Their first report of this type involved the landing of a Krattorian craft, Kest's spaceship, on Skaro. The Daleks proceeded to massacre most of the Krattorians whereas the Krattorians' slaves, led by Sala and Astolith, were able to escape Skaro in Kest's ship, though not before the Daleks obtained papers from it which bestowed upon them the secrets of space travel. (COMIC: Power Play [+]Loading...["Power Play (comic story)"])
Other realities[[edit] | [edit source]]
Earth-33⅓[[edit] | [edit source]]
In Earth-33⅓, TV 21 put forward the Yarvelling and Zolfian Dalek birth theory to explain the creation of the Daleks. The Fourth Doctor disproved the theory by taking Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan to see Louis Marks, the true inventor of the Daleks, tearing a copy of the magazine in two to signify this. (COMIC: Doctor Who? 179 [+]Loading...["Doctor Who? (DWM 179 comic story)","''Doctor Who?'' 179"])
