What if the Doctor Who universe wasn't just one continuity, but many different ones? The reason for this is because within many different forms of media about Doctor Who which has contradictions that range from big to small. For example, in NA: Lungbarrow, it was stated that the Doctor took the TARDIS on his own and had traveled to Gallifrey's past which is where he found Susan (who is the granddaughter of the Other) and had taken her with him. However, in CC: The Beginning and TV: The Name of the Doctor, it is shown that he left with Susan. You see, in Lawrence Miles' EDA: Interference and NA: Dead Romance, it explained that the bottle in in the EDAs contained the NA universe. Also, in NA: Christmas on a Rational Planet, a bottle was found that had contained a universe that was similar to the TV Movie which some have theorized that it contained the EDA universe. So it was like the Farnsworth Parabox theory from Futurama where one box contained another universe and in that universe, there was another box that contained the other. So if one who was from the EDA universe were to go into the bottle that contained the NA universe, they would end up coming out of the bottle that contained the EDA universe and vice versa. So there is the NA universe, the EDA universe, the DWM universe, the Big Finish universe, and more. It was also explained that the reason why references to the NAs were made in the EDAs were because one of the bottles had a few cracks in it and some events had bled through. What if other bottles exist that contain the other universes? What if the Romana played by Juliet Landau was actually not a future incarnation of the Romana that exists in the Big Finish universe but a Romana that exists in a different universe such as the NA universe who had somehow found her way through the BF universe? What if the Master played by Alex Macqueen is the same way as well. What if the Faction Paradox, instead of being erased in the EDA universe, had somehow escaped into the NA universe with the use of the bottle? Or maybe there are alternate versions of them that reside in the NA universe. It is possible that they had indeed escaped (or at least some of them) because in NA: Dead Romance, it was implied that the one-armed man was actually Father Kreiner. What if the Faction Paradox novels and audios take place in a possible future of the NA universe? It is possible that references to the NAs in the BF audios could be the same reason for the references to the NAs in the EDAs. The Classic Series serves as a basis for all these universes but they all diverge at certain points. For example, Ace was killed in DWM: Ground Zero when in fact a much older Ace was very much alive in the NAs. Maybe the BF universe and the Revived Series universe were not always one. Maybe the bottle containing the BF universe that resided in the Revived Series universe had broken and instead of being destroyed, had instead merged with the other universe. Either that or there are much larger cracks on the bottle containing the BF universe that resides in the Revived Series universe.

My brain hurts. It might help if you split your argument up in to paragraphs, which would make it easier to follow

Was that written on a giant papyrus??

A key to the acronyms would also be handy.

The programme contradicts itself. This is, by general admission, partly inadvertent and partly because continuity across decades is not paramount.

You could say there are multiple consistent continuities but to do so is usually arbitrary. Does Hartnell's Doctor seemingly having only one heart mean he was half human? Does it mean that Troughton actually plays a different person?

You could also try to provide an in-story explanation for multiple continuities if you wanted. For most of us, "it's about time travel so history changes and causation is complicated" will do. Bottle universes is another option.

Whatever you pick, it's just something someone invented after the fact.

The First Doctor had only one heart because Time Lords acquire their second heart after their first regeneration.

Also, the classic series still happened in these universes but in each of them, they diverge at certain points. For example, Ace was killed in DWM: Ground Zero even though a much older Ace was very much alive in the New Adventures novels. Another example, Flavia was still Lord President of Gallifrey in EDA: The Eight Doctors whereas she had already been succeeded by Romana in the New Adventures novels that were released prior to the EDAs.

NA refers to the Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures novels.
EDA refers to the Doctor Who Eighth Doctor Adventures novels.
DWM refers to the Doctor Who Magazine comic strips.
TV obviously refers to the television episodes.
CC refers to the Big Finish Companion Chronicles audio dramas.
And BF refers to Big Finish.

So essentially you're arguing that each spin-off has its own sort of canon, which you seem to be suggesting is equal to the TV series or at least, of noteworthy significance? I think that you can probably appreciate the spin-offs in their own right without needing to legitimise them. The only reason why The Eighth Doctor bids farewell to his Big Finish companions is that he can't name the film ones because the copyright is owned by Fox and because his character was pretty much developed solely on audio. He's got to say goodbye to someone, hasn't he?

That's never been stated in the series and is only a theory.
It's also a fairly shaky theory as it seems that the second Doctor only had one heart too. The Dulcian race in The Dominators are two-hearted, yet the Doctor doesn't say "Oh I've two hearts as well" or anything like that. And Troughton's Doctor is medically examined on a number of occasions (eg, The Wheel In Space) and no-one ever comments on him having two hearts.

The first concrete mention of the Doctor having two hearts is in Spearhead From Space.

I do like your idea though, that the various forms of Who - TV comics, novels etc etc - could all occupy their own universes. It does, very neatly, eliminate an awful lot of continuity problems!

You see, the problem I have with this is that in the show, whenever the Timelords cross into parralel universes, there never seems to be an equivalent/'doppleganger' Doctor (or any other TImelord) - please correct me if I am wrong though. As this leads me to believe that therefore the Timelords are a race that only exist in 'our' universe*, the problem with having the spin-off media in their own universes is that those adventures will still have happened to 'our'* Doctors, so they should have all the memories from those adventures.

*by 'ours', I mean the main continuity Doctor - the TV one.

I don't think that's been established at all. Just because we didn't see them in the story doesn't mean they weren't there somewhere.

There are certainly plenty of parallel universes with Time Lords in them in the Big Finish Gallifrey series. Romana and co. spent a whole season exploring lots of them!

I think alternate universes was one suggested way of explaining the dating discrepancies for some of the UNIT stuff.

Personally I just tend to consider the books and comics as non-canon (since I don't read them) and the Big Finish audios as being compatible with the TV except where it is explicitly contradicted. However, since the TV contradicts itself at times, I don't consider any particular need to split it off into a separate universe to explain the contradictions. I just shrug the contradiction off as a continuity issue and ignore it!

That was something I was unaware of, thanks!

I thought - mybe it's only New Who - that Timelords could tell if there were other Timelords around. Certainly weren't any in the Age of Steel universe.

And wouldn't the Timelords of each individual universe be the caretakers of their own universe? They would be equally as powerful, would they not? If another Timelord crossed into 'their yard' they'd know, surely, and want to know why they were there? To me, and of what I know of the Timelords, not having the other universe's Timelords showing up doesn't make sense.

Age of Steel could very well have suffered the same fate as the main universe with all the Time Lords removed due to the Time War. Alternatively, it could have had loads of Time Lords which the Doctor could now sense but their presence would not have been relevant to him so he would have had no reason to bring it up.

I think there's a difference between the Doctor sensing he's alone in the Universe and a Universe full of Time Lords being able to sense one particular addition. There's never been any indication that Time Lords are so sensitive that they can sense the location of every Time Lord in existence. In fact, when the Doctor stole the TARDIS he managed to elude them for several hundred years before he finally gave his location away by having to contact them during the War Games. So there's no reason why the Time Lords, if they existed in a Universe, would be able to either sense his arrival or be able to find him.

I see what you are saying, but I am coming at it from the other angle - as there is no mention of them in the main continuity, then there's no reason to suggest there are any in other universes.

I rather suspect we will not have an answer either way, to be honest!

Well, for me, the whole concept of parallel universes is that there are an infinite number of universes representing different convergences from our own. So if Time Lords are in one universe there will be plenty of universes that have Time Lords in them but there can also be universes that don't have Time Lords in them. Each universe is different in one way or another but there are an infinite number of them covering all possibilities.

The concept was explored in Sliders. It's basically just a series of what-ifs. For every decision or random occurence there is a universe where the decision or random event happened differently.

Of course there are other universes that are not parallel ones (like E-space and the pocket Universe that the Time Lords are now in) but that's another story.

Same point as adams66 really: that explanation is just something a fan made up. It is no more or less true than any other explanation. I could say he had only one heart because he suffered a heart attack in his 40s, and when you've got two hearts the treatment for that is just to remove one. That's exactly as true as your definitively stated answer.

Doctor Who isn't a natural phenomena. It's not a science. You can't attempt better to understand it by correlating observations and postulating theories. The only true observation is that it's an inconsistent fiction, at least in part because consistency isn't paramount.

That is what parallel universes are by definition, I believe. Which is why I had noticed the lack of Timelords in any others. It, for me, is unbelievable that we wouldn't have been explicitly told or shown (in the main continuity, I mean) of other parallel universe Doctors if they existed. I'm not completely discounting their existence, just seems highly strange to not have had at least one story mention them!

I'm sorry but, what?

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I looked it up! In Doctor Who land a bottle universe is something that once was the size of a universe but has been shrunk down to fit inside a bottle. Using magical physics, obviously.

The originating poster postulates that what we think are continuity problems are actually just because we're tracking multiple parallel universes. So some things are established in all of them, some flow through only some of them and some exist only in one.

Didn't you read it? Okay, here's a more refined version of what I stated:

What if the Doctor Who universe wasn't just one continuity, but many different ones? The reason for this is because within many different forms of media about Doctor Who which has contradictions that range from big to small. For example, in NA: Lungbarrow, it was stated that the Doctor took the TARDIS on his own and had traveled to Gallifrey's past which is where he found Susan (who is the granddaughter of the Other) and had taken her with him. However, in CC: The Beginning and TV: The Name of the Doctor, it is shown that he left with Susan.

You see, in Lawrence Miles' EDA: Interference and NA: Dead Romance, it explained that the bottle in in the EDAs contained the NA universe. Also, in NA: Christmas on a Rational Planet, a bottle was found that had contained a universe that was similar to the TV Movie which some have theorized that it contained the EDA universe. So it was like the Farnsworth Parabox theory from Futurama where one box contained another universe and in that universe, there was another box that contained the other. So if one who was from the EDA universe were to go into the bottle that contained the NA universe, they would end up coming out of the bottle that contained the EDA universe and vice versa.

So there is the NA universe, the EDA universe, the DWM universe, the Big Finish universe, and more.
It was also explained that the reason why references to the NAs were made in the EDAs were because one of the bottles had a few cracks in it and some events had bled through.

What if other bottles exist that contain the other universes? What if the Romana played by Juliet Landau was actually not a future incarnation of the Romana that exists in the Big Finish universe but a Romana that exists in a different universe such as the NA universe who had somehow found her way through the BF universe? What if the Master played by Alex Macqueen is the same way as well.

What if the Faction Paradox, instead of being erased in the EDA universe, had somehow escaped into the NA universe with the use of the bottle? Or maybe there are alternate versions of them that reside in the NA universe. It is possible that they had indeed escaped (or at least some of them) because in NA: Dead Romance, it was implied that the one-armed man was actually Father Kreiner. What if the Faction Paradox novels and audios take place in a possible future of the NA universe? It is possible that references to the NAs in the BF audios could be the same reason for the references to the NAs in the EDAs.

The Classic Series serves as a basis for all these universes but they all diverge at certain points. For example, Ace was killed in DWM: Ground Zero when in fact a much older Ace was very much alive in the NAs.

Maybe the BF universe and the Revived Series universe were not always one. Maybe the bottle containing the BF universe that resided in the Revived Series universe had broken and instead of being destroyed, had instead merged with the other universe. Either that or there are much larger cracks on the bottle containing the BF universe that resides in the Revived Series universe.

But how many parallel universes have we seen in Who? As far as I know, only one and we only spent a few episodes exploring it. Why would you assume there are no Time Lords in any parallel universes just because they didn't show up in the one other Universe that we saw?

Given the number of episodes of Who in which other Time Lords appeared vs. the number of episodes that they didn't appear it would have been a hell of a coincidence for them to appear in the few episodes that were spent in the other universe. Particularly given the fact that, if it was at all close to the Doctor's universe, the Time Lords would have all been lost in the Time War just as they were for the Doctor's universe.

I really don't see anything unbelievable about the lack of Time Lords in Age of Steel at all.

At least two. the first Cyberman two parter in Series 2 and the other time was in Inferno.

Battlefield is about Arthurian actors from a parallel universe, but is set resolutely in ours (though it was set in the late '90s so is now subject to some real-world continuity problems, most obviously the queen still being alive).

If it doesn't appear on our television screens then its got about as much relevance to the canon and continuity of the show as fan fiction as far as I'm concerned.

It was stated in NA: Dead Romance that the real world exists separately from the Doctor Who universe. For example, Chris told Christine that in his world (the NA Universe) the aliens built the pyramids while in our world, the Egyptians built the pyramids. This means that the EDA universe, the NA universe, the DWM universe, the Big Finish universe, the NuWho universe, and others all exist separately from our universe.