Dear Johnny Fanboy,

The Doctor Who episode The End of the World states that the Earth perishes when the Sun expands in about the year five billion. How does this tally with the events of the William Hartnell story The Ark, which is set only around ten million years in the future, and the Peter Davison story Frontios, which is supposed to be set at around the same time?

Apart from the contradictory dates, in Frontios the TARDIS databanks state that the Earth collides with the Sun, whereas in The End of the World the Sun explodes.

Ed Northcott

Johnny Fanboy replies:

It's possible that the Doctor is counting in Gallifreyan years in either The Ark or The End of the World. However, since he is addressing his human companion(s) in both instances, this is unlikely.

It's more likely that his guess of "We must have jumped at least ten million years" in The Ark is highly inaccurate. Remember that the First Doctor is not as worldly wise about galactic history as he came to be in later incarnations.

As for the fate of Earth in Frontios, well, I suppose the Sun's expansion to engulf the Earth could be described as a collision.

Furthermore, I would suggest - contrary to usual assumptions and in light of events in The End of the World - that Frontios takes place several million years before The Ark, rather than at about the same time. The technology of Frontios's colony ship seems far more primitive than that of The Ark, which boasts human miniaturisation and the perfect reconstitution of dehydrated foodstuffs. The clothing styles in the two stories are also markedly different from one another. The refugees of Frontios, who, according to the TARDIS data banks, fled "the imminence of a catastrophic collision with the Sun," could have left the Earth before the National Trust halted the star's expansion, as described in The End of the World.

Talking of apocalyptic scenarios, has anyone noticed how uncannily the hostile character of Zentos in The Ark predicts the B Ark's Number Two ("Can't I just interrogate them a little bit?") in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

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