Artron energy

Artron energy was a form of ambient radiation that existed in the time vortex, (AUDIO: Shield of the Jötunn) later described by the Seventh Doctor as a form of mental energy, (PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse) "artron particles" (AUDIO: Shockwave) that could be utilised in a variety of ways. Those who travelled through the vortex would absorb artron energy in the form of a "background radiation". (TV: Invasion of the Bane)

Artron energy was named after the Time Lord Artron, who was known as one of Rassilon's great engineers. He discovered artron energy, and experimented with wielding its power to restore and to heal. Some life forms were even made of artron energy. (AUDIO: Day of the Master)

Properties
Visually, artron energy resembled a sort of blue electricity. Artron energy seemed to have an odour detectable by some species, such as the Groske. (TV: Death of the Doctor)

It was measured in atto-Omegas. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)

Nearby artron energy could be drained through use of an artron inhibitor. This would also prevent Time Lords from regenerating. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)

Usage
The Sixth Doctor explained that although artron energy was benign, it had various uses, primarily as a power source. (AUDIO: Shield of the Jötunn) Artron energy was inimical to certain time-sensitive species. The Tenth Doctor once described it as equal and opposite to the Trickster's power. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)

TARDISes
TARDISes were powered, in part, by artron energy, (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark; AUDIO: Fractures) with raw artron energy flowing from the Eye of Harmony. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark) Additionally, artron energy from the minds of Time Lords was absorbed at the Artron Forum and sent to the TARDIS berthing bays. (AUDIO: Fractures)

The Fifth Doctor once claimed to Monarch that artron energy had a relationship to the functioning of his TARDIS (or vice versa), although he did not elaborate. (TV: Four to Doomsday)

Artron energy was rich and refined in TARDISes, (TV:The Doctor's Wife) vital in the running of the ships; it could run low (PROSE: Option Lock) and when down to 10% it would mean even backup power was unavailable. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)

Materialisation caused a massive displacement of artron energy (PROSE: The Highest Science) which would help the scanners. (PROSE: Housewarming) According to K9 Mark IV, artron energy was residue of TARDIS engines. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)

Within the TARDIS' generator room was an Artron Energy Capacitor. (PROSE: The Algebra of Ice)

Other uses
The Panjistri used artron energy to power their matter transporter. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse)

The Eighth Doctor had a habit of using it to make toast. (PROSE: Alien Bodies)

Some individuals exposed to artron energy developed a unique artron print that could be detected and tracked. The Time Lords used this to recognise and track Irving Braxiatel after he planted a data bomb in the Matrix. (AUDIO: The Inquiry)

As explained, at least one specific signature of artron radiation could be used as a key to open portals to time locked dimensions. (COMIC: Doorway to Hell)

Krasko left artron energy traces across Montgomery in 1955 whilst trying to stop Rosa Parks from refusing to give up her bus seat. (TV: Rosa)

Living creatures
Artron energy could be found in some organisms.

Humans
Artron energy was at low levels in humans but could be present at elevated levels in others. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy) "Artron energy is to normal energy what movements within the deeps of the sea are to the waves on the surface. Very slight in humans, but in some other –"

- The Eighth Doctor, before being interrupted

Coupling the human mind to a source of high-voltage electricity could result in a massive release of artron energy. The Eighth Doctor once compared the relationship between Artron and normal energy to the movement in the depths of the sea and the waves on the surface. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy)

Artron energy would be absorbed by travelling through time, such as by travellers in a TARDIS. (TV: Invasion of the Bane, COMIC: Playing House) Exposure to background radiation in time travel altered and enhanced Martha Jones' antibodies, making them better at fighting diseases. (TV: Reset) A Dalek on the verge of death could be restored to operational status by the slightest touch from a time traveller, (TV: Dalek) and the touch of a time traveller could be used to activate the Time Lord-constructed Genesis Ark, which served as a dimensionally transcendental prison ship containing millions of Daleks. (TV: Doomsday)

Even touching a TARDIS could cause the passage of artron energy. Clyde Langer absorbed some artron energy from the outside of the TARDIS as he was trying to enter it while it was trapped in a time loop made by the Trickster. He then used the energy to attack the Trickster, as he was one of the time-sensitive beings that could be fought with artron energy. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith)

The Eleventh Doctor later keyed into Clyde's residual artron energy in order to make a biological swap. (TV: Death of the Doctor)

A regenerating TARDIS caused a specific signature of harmless artron radiation to seep into its surroundings. This happened when the Doctor's TARDIS, which slowly regenerated in the Collins family's back garden, had artron radiation "fizz... around" in the bodies of the Collins family. (COMIC: Doorway to Hell)

Time Lords
Time Lord minds had a supply of artron energy, harmlessly siphoned off and fed into the birthing bays of the TARDISes. (AUDIO: Fractures)

A surge of artron energy could restore the synapses, curing amnesia. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles)

Without artron energy, a Time Lord was unable to regenerate. (PROSE: The Banquo Legacy, AUDIO: Repeat Offender)

Engin noted the Fourth Doctor's brain seemed to have "an unusually high level of artron energy" to survive near-fatal attacks on his person while in the Matrix, (TV: The Deadly Assassin) Romana II later stating that the Doctor's artron energy would be much stronger than hers, as he'd been travelling in time longer than her. (AUDIO: Casualties of Time)

The Fifth Doctor stated that Time Lords start off with a certain amount of artron energy saturating their bodies in each incarnation, with the energy accumulating over time; their energy count is 'reset' to a specific level after each regeneration to prevent the accumulative artron energy absorbed during their lives causing excessive damage. (PROSE: Empire of Death)

When stuck mid-regeneration within an Eternity Cage, Vassarian gave off a potent artron energy signature, one that was detected by opportunistic Sontarans who used Vassarian as a power source for time technology. (AUDIO: The Eternity Cage)

Others
During the later days of the Doctor's first incarnation, the Time Lord Magnus encountered and attempted to exploit a living artron sphere in space, hoping (in the words of the Seventh Doctor showing a projection of the incident) that it would have enabled the Time Lords "near-unlimited supply of temporal power and complete mastery over the Vortex". (COMIC: Flashback)

The Bah-Sokhar was a being made of artron energy. (PROSE: The Drosten's Curse)

Planets
According to, the Cheetah World had high levels of artron energy in its magnetosphere, which the Seventh Doctor concluded was how it transformed those on the planet into Cheetah People. (PROSE: First Frontier)

The planet Kirith, one of the few remaining planets in the far future, had high levels of artron energy in its atmosphere. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse)

The Tarsus system was immersed in a shockwave when its star Tarsus Ultra collapsed into a spatial anomaly, throwing off a lethal space-time energy effect, "agitated temporal particles" containing artron particles. (AUDIO: Shockwave)

Other references
When the TARDIS' Banshee Circuits were activated, it used the mental artron energy of the Time Scaphe crew to reconfigure itself into a multi-dimensional city reminiscent of those of ancient Gallifrey. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)

The entity known as House fed on artron energy, the best and most refined source being TARDISes. The Eleventh Doctor compared it to preferring fish fingers over raw fish. House would lure wayward TARDISes into the "bubble universe" in which he resided to devour their energy supply. However he couldn't devour raw TARDIS energy as the deaths of the TARDIS consciousness would create a hole in the universe, so he would transfer the TARDIS mainframe into a human receptacle and devour the remaining artron energy. (TV: The Doctor's Wife)

The Khameirian Essence Chamber could drain artron energy from a TARDIS and use it power itself. (PROSE: Option Lock)

The Third Doctor had an artron energy detector. (PROSE: The Eye of the Giant)

K9 Mark III was capable of detecting artron energy. (PROSE: Interference - Book One)

UNIT could detect artron energy by the early 21st century; the TARDIS' arrival in the home of Amy Pond and Rory Williams prompted troops to storm the house. (TV: The Power of Three)

Artron emissions from the area around Coal Hill School attracted a Skovox Blitzer. (TV: The Caretaker)

The artron energy that was leaking from a dying TARDIS attracted the Spyrillites. When the Twelfth Doctor picked up on the same reading, he made a point to note that artron energy should not exist in 21st century Earth. (COMIC: Playing House)

The Thirteenth Doctor surmised that she and Yaz weren't killed by the Kasaavin because they were time travellers, fizzing with artron energy. (TV: Spyfall)

Behind the scenes
The first use of the phrase "artron energy" in the BBC Wales production era of Doctor Who and its spin off TV series was in the 2007 The Sarah Jane Adventures TV story Invasion of the Bane, in which Mrs Wormwood identifies it as background radiation and "The result of travels through the space-time vortex." Though not directly referred to as artron energy, the 2006 Doctor Who TV story Doomsday has Rose Tyler mention the Daleks evolved during the Time War to use an undisclosed background radiation — which is soaked up "when you travel in time in the TARDIS" — as a power supply. She linked it to why the Dalek "Metaltron" that appeared in the 2005 Doctor Who TV story Dalek healed itself when Rose — a time traveller — touched its casing. Within Dalek itself, the Metaltron simply said that "Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me," with little further clarification. Also in Doomsday, the Genesis Ark prison ship is described as Time Lord science that needs the touch of a time traveller to wake up.

In the 2008 Torchwood TV story Reset, Plummer says the lymphocytes and "God knows what other cells" in Martha Jones' body have mutated. According to Professor Aaron Copley, this is the result of a kind of radiation (not named in the story) which is not found on temporally stable environments on Earth, which gives Martha a "uniquely effective" immune system.

Energía Artron