Dear Johnny Fanboy,

Terrance Dicks' latest Doctor Who novel, World Game, sets out to explain how the Second Doctor can be working for the Time Lords in The Two Doctors, when the Time Lords don't capture him until The War Games, after which he is forcibly regenerated. The novel states that the Second Doctor is recruited by the Celestial Intervention Agency between his trial and his exile. The book's conclusion leads directly into The Two Doctors.

However, this does not explain when The Five Doctors occurs from the Second Doctor's viewpoint. Presumably this also takes place after the Doctor's trial, since he recalls Jamie and Zoë having their memories erased and being returned to their own times by the Time Lords. The Five Doctors cannot take place between World Game and The Two Doctors, because one story leads into the other, and surely it cannot take place after The Two Doctors, because the Doctor is noticeably older (his hair is greyer) in The Two Doctors than he is in The Five Doctors.

Kim Mathews

Johnny Fanboy replies:

It could be that the Doctor's hair grows darker again after The Two Doctors. World Game asserts that the Doctor's grey hair is brought on by the stress of his mission, rather than old age, so there is the possibility of a subsequent recovery. This would also help to tie in the Second Doctor's (post-trial) TV Comic stories, in which his hair is black, not grey. Therefore, the Second Doctor's participation in The Five Doctors could take place some time after The Two Doctors, after Jamie and the Doctor have parted company again:

. The War Games - Jamie and Zoë are returned to their own times, the memories of their travels with the Doctor erased. The Doctor is put on trial.

. World Game - Before the Doctor's sentence can be carried out, the CIA intercedes and recruits him for a series of missions.

. The Doctor is reunited with Jamie, whose memories are suitably "adjusted".

. The Two Doctors

. The CIA temporarily reassigns Jamie to a radar tracking station in Scotland. The Doctor is reunited with former travelling companions John and Gillian.

. TV Comic issues 784-871

. TV Comic issue 872 - John and Gillian leave the Doctor, enrolling at Zebedee University. The Doctor travels to a radar tracking station in Scotland, where Jamie rejoins him.

. TV Comic issues 873-898

. The Time Lords return Jamie to his own time, once again erasing the memories of his travels with the Doctor.

. TV Comic issues 899-915 - The Second Doctor travels alone. His involvement in The Five Doctors takes place during this time.

. TV Comic issues 916-935 - The Doctor is grounded on Earth, either because the CIA has grown tired of using him, or because he has attempted to escape his servitude.

. TV Comic issue 936 - Scarecrows animated by the power of the Time Lords carry the Doctor back into his TARDIS.

. The War Games (last few minutes) - the Doctor is sentenced to enforced regeneration and exile on Earth.

However, if we are taking comic strips into account, the Sixth Doctor strip The World Shapers throws up a problem. Here it is stated that the Doctor trained Jamie to resist the Time Lords' mind-wipe (presumably some time after World Game, since the Doctor doesn't really get an opportunity to do so in The War Games). Why then does the Doctor believe Jamie shouldn't remember the Brigadier when he encounters the illusory Highlander in The Five Doctors?

It could be that it was the Sixth Doctor who trained Jamie's mental discipline, during their time together in The Two Doctors, since the Sixth Doctor would know what was going to happen in Jamie's future. Therefore, the Second Doctor's participation in The Five Doctors can still take place after his involvement in The Two Doctors, as shown above.

Alternatively, since The World Shapers makes a plot point of the Sixth Doctor not being able to clearly recall events from his earliest incarnations, The Five Doctors could take place between pages 273 and 274 of World Game, while the Doctor is travelling alone in a Type 97 TARDIS. After all, we don't see the Second Doctor's TARDIS in The Five Doctors: all we are told is that "for once" he is able to steer it properly.

If this seems far-fetched, bear in mind the unlikely - but true - historical notes about Napoleon Bonaparte, the Duke of Wellington and Talleyrand at the back of World Game, which prove that truth is even stranger than fiction.

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