H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells, better known as H. G. Wells, was a popular and multifacted Earth author of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although his works covered many fields of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known as one of the archetypes of the genre known as science fiction. Wells and the Doctor crossed paths at least once. After meeting the Doctor, he went on to write such works as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Doctor Moreau.

Adventures with the Doctor
While vacationing in Scotland in 1885, a young H.G. Wells experimented with magic and believed he had summoned both Vena, who had appeared via the Timelash and the Doctor, whose TARDIS had appeared to follow her.

Though the Doctor found Wells somewhat irritating, he accompanied the Doctor went to the planet Karfel, he helped the Doctor defeat the despotic Borad. Along the way, Wells found inspiration for fiction he would write and publish.


 * A time machine.


 * Aliens and space travel.


 * Invisibility. The Doctor used a kontron crystal to make his visual image lag a few seconds behind his physical body. This could give the impression of invisibility.


 * Morloxes. These helped to inspire the name of Wells' rather different Morlocks, in Wells' The Time Machine.


 * The half-Morlox, half-Karfelon Board may have inspired the concept of the creations of Wells' fictional Dr. Moreau.

Thanks to the Doctor, Wells also inadvertently coined the phrase "science fiction". (DW: Timelash)

The Doctor earlier claimed to have lent Bertie Wells his ion-focusing coil for an invisibility experiment. (MA: The Ghosts of N-Space

Theophilus Tolliver, a friend of Wells', told him about his adventures traveling in time. (TVA: The Eternal Present)


 * It is impllied that Tolliver is the protagonist of Wells' The Time Machine''.

However, Wells did not choose to immediately begin writing these adventures until after another meeting with the Doctor, this time in his tenth incarnation in the late 1880s, during which time Wells assisted the Doctor against members of the Torchwood Institute. (IDW: The Time Machination) After the Doctor's departure, Wells witnessed the arrival of yet another incarnation of the Doctor and Leela, but did not make himself known to them. (IDW: The Time Machination, referencing DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)

Other references

 * Disbelieving in time machines, Laurence Scarman compared the Doctor's assertions to the "scientific romances of Mr. Wells" (DW: Pyramids of Mars). Other scoffers have made similar statements. (DW: Horror of Fang Rock, DW: Black Orchid)


 * Sarah Jane Smith had a copy of a volume of Wells' short stories in her library. (SJA: Invasion of the Bane).


 * In 1938, actor Orson Welles mounted a radio production of Wells' The War of the Worlds, which was presented as a news broadcast; the resulting production sparked a nationwide panic. Unknown to the public at large, however, an actual invasion attempt occurred during this time which was thwarted by the Doctor (BFA: Invaders from Mars).


 * For references to The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, specifically, see entries on those novels.

Behind the Scenes
Doctor Who owes an obvious debt to Wells, The idea of a time machine originated in Wells' The Time Machine and plot of The Daleks has a lot of similarity to George Pál's movie adaptation of The Time Machine. The Daleks themselves resemble the Martians of The War of the Worlds. So unsurprisingly, a number of affectionate references to H.G. Wells have found their way into the series.

Though Timelash suggests otherwise, H.G. Wells did not, in reality, coin the term science fiction, which first saw use sometime after 1926.