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Welcome to Back in Time, a fansite for the Ninth Doctor from the BBC television series
Doctor Who!
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This fansite is for personal/entertainment purposes only and has no official connections to the BBC. Please see Terms of Use for using site content. All images, quotes and related are owned by the BBC. Written content, the layout and graphics are by Herenya.
Site © Lady Herenya
2005 - 2008
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Information - Doctor Who?
Information about the series, the Doctor, the TARDIS...
Doctor Who The New Series The Doctor The Ninth Doctor
The TARDIS Christopher Eccleston Billie Piper ; Filming
Bad Wolf References Trivia
Doctor Who
Doctor Who (aka Dr Who) is a long-running British science-fiction drama produced by the BBC, about the adventures of an enigmatic time traveller known only as the Doctor, and his companions. The Doctor is strongly moral and concerned with righting wrongs and saving the world - or rather, saving many worlds, countering the many evils he encounters.
There have been Ten Doctor to date. The television show was first aired in November 1963. The 'Classic Series' ran from 1963 to 1989, and featured Doctors One to Seven. The Eighth Doctor appeared in a television-film Doctor Who - The Movie (also referred to as The Enemy Within) in 1996. The "new series", beginning in 2005, has seen the Ninth Doctor, and currently, the Tenth.
Despite discussion of its inappropriateness for children, Doctor Who has a reputation as a family show, and a strong fan following, especially in the UK and other western countries. It has been watched by many, if only from behind the sofa couch.
The New Series
The New Series, series 1 (2005) comprised of thirteen fantastic 45 minute episodes (including three 'double episodes') with a very loose story line covering the entire series that was concluded in the final episode. They featured the Ninth Doctor, acted by Christopher Eccleston and the Doctor's companion, Rose, played by Billie Piper. Following the Ninth Doctor's regeneration, the Tenth Doctor briefly appeared in the final episode, acted by David Tennant. The Tenth Doctor appears in series 2 (2006) and 3 (2007).
This series was far more suspenseful, fast-paced and emotional than the Classic series. It received critical acclaim, winning several awards. In the National Television Awards, Doctor Who won "Most Popular Drama", Christopher Eccleston won "Most Popular Actor" and Billie Piper won "Most Popular Actress".
The production team chose to restart the series numbering from scratch but technically, the 2005 series is Season 27. The executive producer is Russell T. Davies, who wrote and directed a lot of the episodes as well.
The Doctor
The Doctor is a Time Lord, a race of time travellers, from the planet Gallifrey, of the constellation" of Kasterborous. The Time Lords have two hearts, a respiratory bypass system (allowing him to go without air for brief amounts of time), telepathic abilities, an affinity with time and can almost live forever. After suffering mortal injury, illness, or old age they regenerate, gaining a new body Doctor's generations tend to make him younger)and a new personality quirks. Time Lords are believed to have only twelve regenerations. Regeneration can be both traumatic and problematic.
Time Lords have an old culture of ceremony and myth, and both advanced knowledge and technology. They are believed to have all died in a Time War with the Daleks.
The Doctor is no longer just in self-imposed exile, he believes that he is the only survivor from the Time War. He "absconded from his people, stealing the TARDIS, because he was bored. For all their great powers, the Time Lords did nothing but observe, whereas the Doctor wanted to go out there and experience the wonders of the Universe. Since then he has come to realise that there is evil that must be fought." (from Doctor Who: The Legend Continues) He travels the universe almost at random, or on whims. He is accompanied on his adventures by various companions (assistants), and while he presumably spends time travelling alone, this is rarely shown. His companions have a tendency to be young and female. The First Doctor travelled with his grand-daughter, Susan, but there is little reference to the Doctor's own family and the series doesn't show the Doctor becoming openly romantically involved with his female companions, as there's practically a taboo against it. (However, one is quite welcome to read between the lines...)
The reasons behind the Doctor's (who is addressed as 'Doctor' but referred to as 'The Doctor') name are unclear. Despite the series' title, "Doctor Who" is more of a play on the uncertainty behind his identity. Doctor who? is a common question for those who have just met him. The answer is "just the Doctor".
Asides from his TARDIS, the Doctor's main gadget is a sonic screw-driver.
The TARDIS
The TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It is a Type 40 TT Capsule, and was built by the Time Lords on Gallifry. The Doctor does not say if he built the TARDIS or not, but it is known that he took it (stole it?) and left Gallifry, for reasons that he has never made quite clear. The Ninth Doctor doesn't mention any of this.
The TARDIS appears as a police box because the chameleon circuit, which is supposed to make the TARDIS blend in with its surroundings, became stuck when the Doctor landed in the 1960s. The TARDIS had disguised itself as a police phone box, and the Doctor likes it this way.
The inside of the TARDIS is far bigger than the outside, and contains more rooms than just the control room. To get to the wardrobe from the console, Rose has to take the first left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, and it's the fifth door on the left.
Piloting the TARDIS can be a bit hit-and-miss. The controls are not an exact science. The Doctor can sometimes fly is accurately across short distances.
The TARDIS's telepaphic field gets inside one's head and translates languages. It can see into the mind of whoever looks into it, and looking into the heart of it, one can see into the Time Vortex.
The TARDIS key glows when the TARDIS materialises nearby.
The TARDIS requires refuelling. It can draw energy from the time-rift in Cardiff.
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston was born in Salford in 1964, and attended London's Central School of Speech and Drama. He has a preference for the theatre, but has appeared in films (including Jude (1996), Elizabeth (1998), eXistenZ (1999), Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), The Others (2001), 24 Hour Party People (2002) and 28 Days Later (2002),) and television productions.
He's 6 foot, involved in charity work and interested in marathon running. In Doctor Who, he is credited as playing 'Doctor Who', as opposed to 'The Doctor'.
Billie Piper
Billie Piper was born Leian Piper in Swindon, 1982. She started acting in a theatre company, and appeared in several commercials, most notably the for Smash Hits in 1997. She was signed up for a record deal when she was fifteen and became the youngest artist ever to debut at number on in the UK with her 1998 single "Because We Want To". She went on to release several more successful singles and albums before deciding to return to acting in 2003. She's appeared on BBC television and several films, and is next set to appear in the BBC's adaptation of Ruby in the Smoke.
She's the first Doctor Who 'companion' to receive the same status as the actor playing the Doctor.
Filming
Much of the series was filmed in Wales (probably explaining the number of Cardiff jokes found throughout the series) and was actually produced by BBC Wales.
"The End of the World" was filmed in a temple in Cardiff. "The Unquiet Dead" was filmed in a street in Swansea, near Cardiff, although the episode was set in Cardiff. "Fathers Day" was also filmed in Cardiff (despite being set in London.) The TARDIS control room was filmed in a hangar in Newport, South Wales.
Bad Wolf References
1. " ... this is the Bad Wolf scenario..." - Moxx of Balhoon to the Face of Boe, "The End of the World"
2. "The things you have seen... the darkness... the Big Bad Wolf!" - Gwynwth, "The Unquiet Dead"
3. The words Bad Wolf were graffiti-ed on the TARDIS by a young boy. - "Aliens of London/World War Three"
4. Van Statten's Helicopter is "Bad Wolf One descending." - "Dalek"
5. One of the channels broadcast from Satellite Five was the Bad Wolf Channel: "and over here on the Bad Wolf Channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant." - "The Long Game"
6. An "Energize" smiley-face poster has been defaced with the words "Bad Wolf". - "Father's Day"
7. The German Bomb stopped by Jack reads "Schlechter Wolf", German literarily translating as Bad Wolf. - "The Doctor Dances"
8. Margaret Blaine names the nuclear power station the "Blaidd Dwrg" Project, which is Welsh for Bad Wolf. - "Boom Town"
9. The Games Station is run by the Bad Wolf Corporation. - "Bad Wolf"
10 Rose finds graffiti in the Powell Estate in London, all reading Bad Wolf. - "The Parting of Ways"
11. The Torchwood files on Rose have been corrupted by the "Bad Wolf virus". - "Love and Monsters"
12. The bay in Norway Dεrlig directly translates as "Bad Wolf" Bay. - "Doomsday"
Trivia
The book the Doctor flips through in Rose's apartment is The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. ("Rose")
The magazine the Doctor looks at is Heat and features the headline "Stars without make-up". ("Rose")
The songs the 'iPod' plays are "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell and "Toxic" by Brittany Spears. ("The End of the World")
Captain Jack's ship plays Glen Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" . ("The Empty Child" and "the Doctor Dances")
The Doctor's jumper is red-maroon ("Rose" to "The Unquiet Dead"), navy blue ("The Unquiet Dead" to World War Three"), green ("Dalek" to "Father's Day"), maroon in "The Empty Child" to "Boom Town") and then green again. ("Bad Wolf and "The Parting of Ways")
In the first episode, "Rose", the Doctor faces and defeats the Nestenes and their animated plastic Autons for actually the third time - the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) had already encountered them twice in the early 1970s.
In "Rose", the Doctor acts as if he has recently regenerated, so it is not clear whether the pictures of him Clive has are of the Doctor before or after he meets Rose. However, in the one of the family in 1912, the Doctor is dressed similiarly to the Eighth, so it is possible that that was just after he had regenerated.
In the first episode, Rose is seen logging on to a website to find more information on The Doctor, and finds a conspiracy website run by a man called Clive. This website actually exists at www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk and is run by the BBC's Doctor Who web team. (Click here.)
A scene filmed for "Bad Wolf" featured Captain Jack naked, but the censors insisted that it was cut. (Thank goodness for that!!!)
For "Bad Wolf", the BBC got permission from Endemol to use the Big Brother format, right down to their own version of the Big Brother Eye and the loan of some of the equipment used in Big Brother, including a Diary Room chair.
Rose's phone can get a signal in the sealed off cabinet room, and can called back through time.
The Doctor uses psychic paper, which shows the other person whatever he wants them to see, although he can't control exactly what it says. Jack also uses psychic paper on occasion.
The Doctor has a binary vascular system with a respiratory bypass. (The Doctor has two heaerts.)
Mauve is the universally recognised colour for danger; humans are an exception in using red, which to everyone else, means 'camp.'
Setting 2428-D on the sonic screwdriver reattaches barbed-wire.
The Doctor is called "The Oncoming Storm" in the legends on the Dalek homeworld.
In the original idea, Rose was eighteen, her mother was called Judy and her boyfriend Mobbsy.
If the series hadn't been renumbered, the Ninth Doctor episodes would have been season 27.
There have been 751 episodes of Doctor Who (as of mid 2008).
For more information side-tracking see Wikipedia - Doctor Who
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