Apologies as I'd expect this has been discussed ad nauseam on here for eons, but can you nail it down when in the Doctor's timeline the Time War actually happened?

'Cos I'm assuming that it happened just b4 the series reboot in 2005. Was it the Eighth Doctor or Ninth who helped end it or perhaps the Time War caused the Eighth Doctor to regenerate into Nine? Was Gallifrey still around during Sylvester McCoy's time?

Apologies if we're re-examining well-trodden turf!...

It's generally agreed that either

a) Ending the Time War caused Eight to regenerate into Nine, or
b) The Ninth Doctor did it in his very earliest days

This is because the Ninth Doctor seems to have just regenerated in the first episode of the new series.

And Gallifrey was around in McCoy's time, the Hand Of Omega returns there at the end of Remembrance Of The Daleks.

Wouldn't it be great if this was truly answered in the anniversary? I mean, it's probably one of the most significant events of the Doctor's life and the whole mythology surrounding the show.

I'm sure there was some comment made about how 9 was born in a time of war, and that his character was shaped by the events around him? It was some speech about how he needed Rose to bring him back back from a war-like stance and re-humanise him.

If he had just ended the Time War this wouldn't be the case, so I've always assumed that 8 saw the start of the war and became 9 at some point during it at which point 9 did what needed to be done and ended it (and the Time Lord race).

Also Gallifrey was still around in the TV movie (Doc mentions its a good 40mins to get there in the tardis) so definately happened between later Doc 8 < Doc 9

The whole is deliberately vague - when it happened, how it happened, what consequences it had on reality - the only thing we know is that it being ended is better than it still happening, and that the Time Lords are stuck in it due to the actions of some version of the 8th or 9th Doctor.

I'd be surprised if they elaborate - after all, it's just a device to give them a clean slate to work with, why complicate things again? I loved the taster we got in The End of Time, but even then if you look at it, it gives away very little of the how, why or when.

I think the Doctor used the Demat gun from the classic series in someway to remove the Daleks and Timelords from history (I think this is suggested in a comic). When used on one person, the gun causes memory loss, on a two whole species, well, it might just be fatal. I believe here Eight turned into Nine however I also saw something recently that made me think again, can't remember what though.

Also, I don't think Nine is newly regenerated in Rose, he seems to question his appearance but I think he is doing that in a general way as opposed to a first time. You can take it as a general sort of statement on himself as opposed to his first analysis thanks to the wording. This also helps explain his appearances in Clives images, the Who Is the Doctor? site, his ability to deliver a letter in that Peter Davison audio story, I think he also has an appearance in a spin-off book as an unnamed character and that first story with Sally Sparrow. This idea is also supported by the Tenth Doctor novel The Eyeless where they explicitly state that he travelled by himself first.

God, what was that thing? It really made me think again but now I can't remember it for the life of me. .

Also, Eight was planned to turn into Nine in a comic defeating the Cybermen (ironically dying the same way Nine would later; by Time Vortex absorption) but this was changed as I think the comic writers wanted to continue having Nine travel with the then current Eighth Doctor companions and the show writers didn't want this. Who knows what this implies about the Time War. It might suggest Nine fought it as opposed to Eight.

I love forums. The only place where I can Info-Dump.

Now I think just the opposite someone who was created because they/their previous self to save the universe committed genocide killing (in a way) everything they loved their family and friends destroying their beloved planet sounds very much like someone created in war and the resentment and everything else would be how they were shaped.

Thank for answering my curiosity. I think you've satisfied my questions! Perhaps the whole Time War was left deliberately vague, but I'd always assumed it happened sometime between the old series & series reboot. Y'all have the knowledge that could power the Sun! Thanks one & all!