February 27, 2020
The Doctor returns to Gallifrey with her best enemy by her side… but what is the history of the Doctor’s home world? Here’s a brief catch-up on the planet of the Time Lords…
1. The Legends of Gallifrey
When the Tenth Doctor believed Gallifrey was destroyed, his home world seemed like a distant memory, an idyllic place, the grand Citadel on the red planet. The Doctor’s friends are always curious about where the Time Lords come from, and it sounded like an incredible place… before the Time War.
2. The Doctor versus the Time Lords
The End of Time - Parts One & Two (2008 & 2009)
When they finally emerged, the Time Lords were much more different than the species of legend! They had changed since the war with the Daleks, right to the core.
And when they returned, they promised an end to time itself! Together with the Master, the Doctor sent the Time Lords back into the Time War because, in his own words, “Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long…”
3. Stealing the TARDIS…
Of course, it wouldn’t be the last we saw of Gallifrey. In fact, we would see much, much more!
When Clara, the Impossible Girl, threw herself into the Doctor’s timeline to save them from the Great Intelligence, she was scattered across all their lives. Including when the Doctor first stole the TARDIS from Gallifrey!
4. Summoned to Gallifrey
The Doctor did not return to Gallifrey for a long time after his first departure… and when he did, he was framed for murder! In an audacious plot by the Master to gain a new regeneration cycle, the Doctor was summoned back to his home planet and convicted of shooting the Lord President. The only way out was to run for President himself…
5. A Sontaran Invasion of Time!
Another return to Gallifrey saw the Doctor taking the role of President and having to foil not one but two invasions! At first the Doctor seemed to be helping the foil-like creatures of sound, the Vardans… however, he ousted them in a time loop.
But just as the celebrations were taking place, a new threat appeared in the Citadel… the Sontarans invade!
6. Sentenced to death
It seems half the time the Doctor returns to Gallifrey, he’s sentenced to death! This time, a creature from the Anti-Matter universe had taken a bio-print of the Doctor’s body and was using it to navigate our universe… the Time Lords had one quick and simple solution, to kill the Doctor instead!
7. Trapped in the Death Zone… all of them!
Now THIS was a reunion for the ages! Not one but four incarnations of the Doctor had a reunion on Gallifrey, in the Death Zone. Someone was attempting to gain Gallifrey’s most deadly secrets, and used a time scoop to send multiple versions of the Doctor to find out the secret to immortality!
8. The Doctor denounces the Time Lords…
The Doctor faced off against the Time Lords in his sixth incarnation… but this time in a Gallifreyan court of law! The Time Lords had had enough of the Doctor interfering with other species, and the mysterious Valeyard wanted to stop the Doctor for his own nefarious reasons…
9. The Time War
The last days of Gallifrey… the Time War saw the conflict between the Time Lords and Daleks take to a deadly final conclusion. Two equally powerful forces set to bring the universe to destruction with their conflict. And the War Doctor thought the only way to stop them was to destroy both his own people and the Daleks…
10. Hidden in a pocket universe…
Enter the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors! To find a solution to prevent the Doctor’s home world from being totally destroyed, they hid Gallifrey in a pocket universe. But not just three Doctors. No sir, all THIRTEEN!
11. A trip back to the beginning…
Clara once again jumped into the Doctor’s timeline… this time it was back into the very early days of the Doctor’s lives. Just a child, but she had an important lesson for him to learn. Fear makes companions of us all. Grab a tissue!
12. The Doctor vs Rassilon!
When Clara was taken from the Doctor, he stopped at nothing to get her back. He was trapped for billions of years in his confession dial but when he emerged he was determined to take on Gallifrey and the laws of time itself. No one would stop him. Not even Rassilon.
13. Gallifrey No More...
“When was the last time you returned home?” The Master teased the Doctor about a return visit to Gallifrey. After defeating the Kassavins invasion of our universe, and preventing the Master's scheme, she had to see for herself. But when she got there, she found it in ruins, destroyed by the Master…
But what happened to Gallifrey? What did the Master do? And who is the Timeless Child? Get ready for the emotional series finale!
Tune into the finale of Series 12, The Timeless Children, coming this Sunday 1st March at 6:50pm on BBC One, or on BBC America at 8pm ET, 7pm CT.
