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Doctoral Studies

 


The Eight Doctors
"That takes me back. Or forward. That's the trouble with time travel, you can never remember"

The Doctor's Post-Graduate Adventures

The Doctor during their post-graduate days None of the other Academy graduates with whom we're most familiar have claimed to hold doctoral degrees. The Master's alias, at least, would seem to suggest that they didn't pursue advanced studies, and it seems unlikely that any of The Doctor's other known classmates did either (Runcible became a video anchorman, Drax barely graduated, and The Rani's researches were interrupted by the incident which led to her exile). Romana was pursuing an advanced degree and once threatened to use The Doctor as a case-study for her thesis (The Ribos Operation), but these studies were interrupted when she left Gallifrey. The Doctor, on the other hand, obviously must have continued their education following their graduation from The Academy, since they have described themself as "a doctor of many things" (Revenge of the Cybermen). Many of their early adventures took place during these years. Although The Doctor would certainly have used a later model TARDIS during this period, one which could be piloted accurately, their natural tendency to wander suggests that their adventures at this time had the same random quality as those which have been more thoroughly documented.

 

Alexander the Great Edward VII Marie Curie Queen Victoria Napoleon

Around 330 BC, The Doctor met Pyrrho, the founder of skepticism (The Keys of Marinus) and Alexander the Great (Robot); they learned the art of spear fighting during this visit (The Curse of Peladon)

The Doctor learned Venusian Aikido, a martial art that few two-armed beings have mastered (Inferno, Day of the Daleks, and others; The Seventh Doctor favored a more subtle version of Aikido which involved applying a single finger: Survival), gained a pilot's license for the Mars to Venus rocket run, and visited Alpha Centauri, where they played table tennis with the six-armed natives (Robot)

The Doctor met King Edward VII of England during His Majesty's state visit to Paris in 1903 (Inferno); they also visited the Louvre (City of Death), and met Marie Curie (Doctor Who TVM)

On a visit to the planet Delphon, The Doctor learned to communicate using their eyebrows (Spearhead from Space)

Sometime around 1860 The Doctor met English scientist Thomas Huxley (Logopolis)

The Doctor witnessed Victoria's coronation in 1837 (The Curse of Peladon); they met radical reformer and publisher Harry Hetherington (Planet of the Spiders) and engineer Sir Marc Brunel (The Two Doctors) at this time

Around 1800, The Doctor told Napoleon that "an army marches on its stomach" (Day of the Daleks); during this same period they visited England, where they became a close friend of Lord Horatio Nelson (The Sea Devils)

During Earth's Second World War, The Doctor heard Hitler speak (The Mind of Evil), visited the German naval cipher room, and apparently met Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the head of the British Secret Service, whose signatures they would later forge to establish their credentials (The Curse of Fenric)

In the late 7th or early 8th century, The Doctor caught a huge salmon in the river Fleet, which they shared with the Venerable Bede (The Talons of Weng-Chiang)

At a time soon after the creation of the universe, The Doctor had their first encounter with the Gods of Ragnarok (The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)

In 1927, The Doctor saw a chess match between Capablanca and Alekhine (The Androids of Tara)

Early in the 14th century, The Doctor visited Switzerland, where William Tell taught them how to use a crossbow (The Face of Evil); following this, The Doctor traveled to Italy, where they met Dante Alighieri (The Two Doctors)

Around 1605, The Doctor shared a cell in the Tower of London with Sir Walter Raleigh, who "kept going on about this new vegetable he'd discovered" (The Mind of Evil)

The Doctor saw a Raston Warrior robot, "the most perfect killing machine ever invented" (The Five Doctors)

Around 220 BC, The Doctor met Hannibal (Robot), and made their first visit to Rome (The Romans)


Lord Nelson Churchill Dante Alighieri Sir Walter Raleigh Hannibal

Early in the 1760s, The Doctor was with James Watt when he discovered steam power (The Space Museum)

The Doctor made their first visit to the planet Dido (The Rescue)

In the 1890s, John L. Sullivan gave The Doctor lessons in pugilism (Carnival of Monsters), a skill which The Doctor passed on to The Mountain Mauler of Montana (The Romans)

Around 1550, The Doctor visited Salon, France, and met Nostradamus, whose wife, "a witty little knitter", made The Doctor a long multi-colored scarf (The Ark in Space)

The Toymaker attempted to involve The Doctor in his games (The Celestial Toymaker)

The Doctor visited the peaceful planet Dulkis for the first time (The Dominators)

Around 1940, The Doctor met Albert Einstein for the first time (The Stones of Blood) and also encountered American presidential advisor Harry Hopkins (Planet of the Spiders)

Sometime in the 3rd or 4th century, The Doctor met the Vandals, and they later remember them as "quite decent chaps" (Invasion of the Dinosaurs)

In the early 18th century, The Doctor met the Duke of Marlborough (The Android Invasion)

A study of agriculture (Colony in Space) led to The Doctor becoming president of the Galactic Flora Society (The Seeds of Doom); during this period they befriended the noted agronomist Arthur Stengos (Revelation of the Daleks)

The Doctor was with composer Giacomo Puccini when he died in Brussels on November 29, 1924 (Doctor Who TVM)

In 1558, The Doctor attended the coronation of Elizabeth I (The Curse of Peladon)

In an adventure whose other details are unknown, The Doctor encountered zombies and learned that their skin is cold to the touch (Destiny of the Daleks)

On 51st century Earth, The Doctor witnessed the villainy of Magnus Greel, "The Butcher of Brisbane", and the Peking Homunculus; they were with the Filipino army during their final advance on Reykjavik, Iceland, and stayed on Earth to witness an exodus from the planet (The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Invisible Enemy)

The Doctor visited Seville, Spain, some time after the completion of the Giralda, a cathedral bell tower finished in 1519; since The Second Doctor seems to be familiar with the city's restaurants in 1985 (The Two Doctors), this visit was probably in the late 20th century

On a visit to Vienna around 1920, The Doctor met Sigmund Freud (Doctor Who TVM) and saw the classic silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (they later use this name as an alias: The Gunfighters); during this visit The Doctor also met Harry Houdini, who taught them escape tricks (Planet of the Spiders, Revenge of the Cybermen, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)

The Doctor traveled to worlds with technology more advanced than Gallifrey's (The Deadly Assassin)

During a visit to London in 1830, The Doctor became a founding member of the Royal Geographic Society (Ghost Light); during this same time, they also visited Denmark, where they gave Hans Christian Andersen the idea for "The Emperor's New Clothes" (The Romans)

The Doctor learned the tarot (The Smugglers), studied voice mimicry (The Enemy of the World, The Masque of Mandragora), learned safecracking and Morse code, and attended a circus (Terror of the Autons)

In 1958 Cambridge, The Doctor visited the retired Time Lord who calls himself Professor Chronotis (Shada)

The Doctor learned to play golf, practicing enough that they are able to putt while blindfolded (The Sea Devils)

During their first visit to the Det Sen monastery in Tibet (The Abominable Snowmen), The Doctor learned yoga and various hypnotic techniques (Terror of the Zygons, The Hand of Fear, Four to Doomsday, Battlefield, and others); they also learned to speak Tibetan (Planet of the Spiders), an ability which was apparently lost as a side effect of their third regeneration (The Creature from the Pit)

The Doctor learned "vortex walking", which enables one to briefly survive in the time vortex, from a space-time mystic in the Quantocks (Shada)


James Watt Nostradamus Albert Einstein The Duke of Marlborough Sigmund Freud

Sometime around 1500, The Doctor met Christopher Columbus (The Two Doctors)

The Doctor took lessons in juggling (The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy), tap dancing (Talons), and singing (Talons, Black Orchid, The Happiness Patrol), which they studied with soprano Nellie Melba, who taught them to hit a note which can shatter glass (The Power of Kroll)

The Doctor visited the holiday planets Florana (Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Death to the Daleks), Cassiopeia (The Seeds of Doom), and Halergan 3 (The Ribos Operation); they also visited the planet Magla, an "8000 mile wide amoeba that's grown a crusty shell" (Destiny of the Daleks)

During a visit to the Crimea in 1854, The Doctor witnessed the Charge of the Light Brigade (The Evil of the Daleks); they were wounded (The Sea Devils), and were subsequently treated by Florence Nightingale (The Masque of Mandragora)

The Doctor trained as a deep-sea diver, and learned how to operate a hovercraft (The Sea Devils)

During an extended visit to England in the 1660s, The Doctor dropped an apple on Isaac Newton's head, and later, over dinner, discussed gravity with him (The Pirate Planet, Shada), met John Aubrey, an English scholar who claimed to have invented Druidism as a joke (The Stones of Blood), and Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler (The Androids of Tara, The Two Doctors); in London in early September 1666, The Doctor met Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Pepys (she made excellent coffee), and was apparently blamed for, or at least suspected of, starting the Great Fire (Planet of the Spiders, Robot, Pyramids of Mars; ironically, The Fifth Doctor was later partially responsible for the fire: The Visitation)

The Doctor visited the Eye of Orion (The King's Demons, The Five Doctors)

In the late 21st century The Doctor met Professor Stein, the inventor of the CET machine (Nightmare of Eden)

The Doctor was wounded during the battle of Gallipoli in 1915 (The Sea Devils)

In Crete, The Doctor helped Theseus fight the Minotaur, but forgot to remind him to raise the white sail of his ship, the signal that all was well, on his return to Athens (The Creature from the Pit, The Horns of Nimon)

The Doctor visited Pandatorea, where they fished for gumblejacks (The Two Doctors)

On July 29, 1588, The Doctor was playing a game of bowls with Francis Drake when Drake received word of the sighting of the Spanish Armada (Four to Doomsday)

The Doctor defeated Fenric in 3rd century Constantinople (The Curse of Fenric); during this visit they bought a hookah, which they later used as part of a ruse to evade the Chancellery Guards on Gallifrey (The Deadly Assassin)

During an extended visit to 1880s Earth, The Doctor saw the eruption of Krakatoa (Inferno), learned fire walking in Bali (The Armageddon Factor), dined at a restaurant in the Khyber Pass (Ghost Light), learned conjuring tricks (Colony in Space), taking sleight-of-hand lessons from illusionist John Maskelyne (The Ribos Operation), met Alexander Graham Bell (The Android Invasion), and visited Blackpool (Underworld); they spent enough time in London to become quite familiar with the city (The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Resurrection of the Daleks); following a visit to Aberdeen (Underworld), they moved to Edinburgh and studied medicine with Joseph Lister until 1888 (The Moonbase); their studies were completed, but before they received their diploma, they were recalled to Gallifrey Theoretically Speaking


Columbus Florence Nightingale Isaac Newton Sir Francis Drake Joseph Lister

 
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