B00DPX9ST8 EBOK (177 page)

[
832
] Cosgrove has “not left his desk in London for nearly twenty years” before
Trading Futures.

[
833
] Dating
Option Lock
(EDA #8) - It’s “present day England” according to the blurb.

American Presidents in the Doctor Who Universe

As with British political history,
Doctor Who
presents a version of American politics that’s a mix of historical fact and whimsy.
Interference
lists the recent American Presidents as Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Dering (
Option Lock
, around 1998), Springsteen (
Eternity Weeps
, 2003) and Norris (
Cat’s Cradle: Warhead
, circa 2007 or 2009).
Death Comes to Time
has George W Bush as President, and stories including
Trading Futures
and
Unregenerate!
mention features of his presidency such as the War on Terror and the Iraq War. President Arthur Winters appears in
The Sound of Drums
, set in June 2008, but he’s assassinated. Obama is president in
The End of Time
(TV), which occurs at Christmas 2009, and in
The Forgotten Army
(p129), set in 2010.

A discrepancy is that in
SJA: The Secrets of the Stars
(set at November 2009), the president is hypnotised because he’s a Cancer - in real life, Obama was born 4th August and is a Leo. (Possibly, the news report of “the president” walking out of the White House is simply wrong.) Norris doesn’t fit the bill of being a Cancer either; he was born 10th March. Funnily enough, George W. Bush was born 6th July, and has the correct astrological symbol.

Bad Wolf
mentions President Schwarzenegger (at present, Arnold is barred from the US presidency since he wasn’t born an American citizen).
Trading Futures
has President Mather in charge around 2015.

It is a little tricky to juggle the aforementioned presidents without inferring any impeachments or assassinations. Still, assuming the same fixed terms, elections would take place in, and be won by:

1996: Dering (meaning Clinton was a single termer in the
Doctor Who
universe.)

2000: Springsteen

2004: George W Bush (another single termer in the
Doctor Who
universe - this time missing the first term he had historically. This would set
Death Comes to Time
a couple of years after it was released, but that’s certainly not ruled out by the story. The reference in
Neverland
claiming the “wrong man became President” was meant to refer to Bush winning in 2000, which might be relevant - if highly ambiguous - in this context.)

Winters, then Norris, or vice-versa (US presidential elections are always held in November, so Winters being president in June 2008 would seem to indicate - unless one discards
Death Comes to Time
entirely, in which case Bush was probably never president and Winters was elected in 2004 - that Bush failed to complete his entire term. It’s tempting to think that Norris takes office following Winters’ death in June 2008, as the dating for
Cat’s Cradle: Warhead
is probably flexible enough to accommodate that. In which case, Norris only serves for a few months until the 2008 election. This is somewhat cleaner than thinking that Norris followed Bush and that Winters - somehow - followed Norris, which would result in another unnamed person being president after Winters is killed.

(Winters’ statement in
The Sound of Drums
that he’s “president elect” must be his way of telling the Toclafane “I’m the elected representative of my people” - a US politician would never use this term in such a fashion, as Americans use the term “president elect” to indicate someone who’s won a presidential election but has not yet taken office. The US Constitution dictates that a president elect can only exist between early November and the following January - anyone who becomes president via the death, incapacitation, resignation or Congressional ousting of the sitting president would immediately take office.)

2008: Obama (wins the November 2008 election as he did in real life. At time of writing, and barring further appearances by Obama on screen, the extreme social and economic upheaval seen in
TW: Miracle Day
in 2011 - including the cratering of the economy and the construction of mass incinerators for the near-dead - calls into question whether
any
sitting president could win reelection the next year, which might result in Obama being a single-termer.)

2012: Mather

2016 or 2020: Schwarzenegger (he’d be 69 or 73 on taking office.)

Their party affiliation can perhaps be inferred - if Dering beats Clinton (rather than, say, Clinton stepping aside or being impeached), he’s a Republican. The real-life Springsteen is a Democrat. Winters is almost doubtlessly a Republican, as his portrayal in
The Sound of Drums
marks him as a conservative. The real-life Chuck Norris is a Republican. Obama is a Democrat. Mather served in Bush’s Cabinet, so he’s likely a Republican (only on very rare occasions will a Cabinet member hail from a different party, although it happened under Clinton and Obama). We might assume that Schwarzenegger wouldn’t stand against a fellow Republican, so Mather serves two terms.

[
834
] Dating
Touched by an Angel
(NSA #47) - The exact days are given (pgs 103, 126).

[
835
]
The Harvest, Project: Destiny
. Actor Philip Oliver was born 4th June, 1980, making him - relatively speaking - about a year older than the character he’s playing.

[
836
] It’s implied in
The Doctor Dances
that the Doctor gave it to her.

[
837
]
The Waters of Mars

[
838
]
Iris: The Panda Invasion
. No such rain has occurred in real life, but this might be a reference to the frog downpour in
Magnolia
(1999).

[
839
]
FP: The Book of the War

[
840
]
TW: Miracle Day

[
841
] From
The Torchwood Archives
. Lawson is cited as dead in
TW: In the Shadows
, and is presumably one of the slain Torchwood staff in
TW: Fragments
.

[
842
] Dating
FP: Warlords of Utopia
(
FP
novel #3) - Scriptor gives the date.

[
843
] Dating
Auton 2: Sentinel
and
Auton 3: Awakening
(Auton films #2-3) - It’s repeatedly said in
Auton 2
that “two years” have passed since
Auton
, so it’s a year in the future of
Auton 2
’s release in 1998. Events in
Auton 3
(released in 1999) continue from there.

[
844
] Dating
The King of Terror
(PDA #37) - It’s “1 July 1999” (p5).

[
845
] Dating
Dominion
(EDA #22) - On p35, Fitz reads a newspaper dated 31st July, 1999.

[
846
]
The Suns of Caresh
, both the Child anomaly and Jo’s observation.

[
847
]
The Turing Test
. Heller died 12th December, 1999.

[
848
] Dating
The Taking of Planet 5
(EDA #28)
-
It’s “1 October 1999” (p21).

[
849
] Dating “Darkness Falling” / “Distractions” / “The Mark of Mandragora” (
DWM
#167-172) - It’s “the end of the twentieth century”, but not (as far as we’re told) New Year’s 1999 itself. It’s after
Battlefield
, and Mandrake first appeared in 1997 (so the story takes place after that). “Darkness Falling” and “Distractions”, both prologues to the main story, went untitled in
The Mark of Mandragora
graphic novel.

[
850
] Dating
Zygons: Homeland
(BBV audio #15) - The audio was released in 1999 and seems contemporary.

[
851
] Dating
Krynoids: The Root of All Evil
(BBV audio #18) - The audio came out in 1999 and seems contemporary, including mention of
The X-Files
and the fact that mobile use is not so universal that the protagonists, when trapped on the farm, can just call for help.

[
852
]
TW: Children of Earth

[
853
] Dating
Touched by an Angel
(NSA #47) - The exact days are given (pgs 129, 133).

[
854
] “The Forgotten”

[
855
] The short story “That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking for a Dress” (from
Short Trips: Past Tense
, 2004), here mentioned because it’s relevant to the continuity of
The Five Companions
.

[
856
]
Beautiful Chaos
(p189). In a case of very awkward math, 31st December, 1999, is said to be “eight years” prior to 2009.

[
857
] Dating “Plastic Millennium” (
DWM Winter Special 1994)
- The date is given. It’s tempting to link the contents of the phial with the Doctor’s “anti plastic” in
Rose
.

[
858
] Dating
Millennial Rites
(MA #15) - The story revolves around the date, first confirmed on p34.

[
859
] Dating
TW: Fragments
(
TW
2.12) - The day and exact time of Alex’s death are given. There’s no sign of reality warping at midnight of the New Year per
Doctor Who - The Movie
, but this could simply owe to San Francisco being about eight hours behind Cardiff.

[
860
]
TW: Fragments

[
861
] Dating
Iris: The Panda Invasion
(Iris audio #2.4) - The day and year are given. Bits of this audio resonate with
Doctor Who - The Movie
: Iris is taken to a hospital, and an x-ray says that she’s got two livers (rather than two hearts); the theft of a fancy dress costume is reported; and it’s said that “Daphne” (a reference to Daphne Ashbrook, who played Grace) is “on shift”. Even so, it’s not specified that Iris is taken to the same hospital as the wounded seventh Doctor, and there’s no reason why both stories can’t occur together, especially as the authorities ignore reports of the evil Pandas. Panda and Iris are reunited
Iris: The Claws of Santa
.

[
862
] Dating
Doctor Who - The Movie
(27.0) - The date is first given when Chang Lee fills out the Doctor’s medical paperwork. On screen, the Master looks like a gelatinous snake, although
The Eight Doctors
attributes this to his swallowing a “deathworm”.

[
863
]
Tales from the Vault