Gallifrey

Gallifrey was the homeworld of the Time Lords. (TV: The Time Warrior, et. all) It was destroyed in the Last Great Time War. (TV: Dalek) The literal translation of Gallifrey was "They that walk in the shadows". (PROSE: The Pit)

Location
Gallifrey was located in the constellation of Kasterborous, at galactic co-ordinates 10-0-11-0-0 by 0-2 from Galactic Zero Centre. (TV: Pyramids of Mars) Several accounts placed it more or less at the centre of its galaxy. (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune, PROSE: Interference - Book Two) Indeed, I.M. Foreman once specified to the Eighth Doctor that it wasn't in "the exact dead centre, but it's as close as you can get without ending up in a black hole". (PROSE: Interference - Book One) This meant that it was far from Earth, which was on the edge of the Milky Way. It was believed to be 250 million light-years from Earth. (TV: Doctor Who) Another account put Gallifrey only 30,000 light years from Earth (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune)

If Gallifrey were indeed 250 million light-years from Earth, it would have been outside our galaxy, or even the Local Group.

Kasterborous was also known as the Seven Systems, and Gallifrey had the alternative name, "the Shining World of the Seven Systems". (TV: The Sound of Drums)

Gallifrey was removed from the time-lock during the Last Great Time War and relocated to near Earth with potentially devastating consequences for the latter planet. It returned to the time-lock by the Tenth Doctor and with help from the Doctor's human companion Wilfred Mott and the Vinvocci Addams and Rossiter. (TV: The End of Time)

Size
Gallifrey was several times larger than Earth. (TV: The End of Time)

Gallifrey's system
Gallifrey was in a binary star system. The second star seemed to rise in the south in the morning, making the mountains glow. (TV: Gridlock) The main star was large and golden red. (AUDIO: The Forever Trap) The system contained five other planets (TV: The Invasion of Time), among them Karn (TV: The Brain of Morbius), Polarfrey, and an asteroid named Kasterbourous the Fibster. (PROSE: Lungbarrow)

Satellites
Gallifrey had at least two large moons and a ring system, similar to Saturn in Earth's solar system. (COMIC: Agent Provocateur) One of the moons was the copper-coloured Pazithi Gallifreya, which shone so brightly it could be seen during the day. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, Lungbarrow)

Landscape
From orbit, Gallifrey was rust-coloured, with brown lakes and grey clouds. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible) Following the Last Great Time War, it was still rust and brown coloured, but had a more volcanically active appearance. (TV: The End of Time)

From the planet's surface, it boasted an orange sky, snow-capped mountains,fields of red grass, and trees with silver leaves. These reflected the morning sunlight, making it look like the forests were on fire. (TV: "A Desperate Venture", Gridlock) There were also green forests, golden fields and red deserts (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible), but overall it seems to have been a much drier world than Earth. (PROSE: Lungbarrow) The Sixth Doctor once declared the climate to be "like the Serengeti all year round". (PROSE: Spiral Scratch) There was also a river called Lethe. (AUDIO: Master)

History of the planet
Gallifrey was duplicated eight times to create the Nine Gallifreys. It was used both to confound its enemies and as a place of refuge. Gallifrey was still destroyed by the Eighth Doctor (following involvement from Faction Paradox) during the Second War in Heaven. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell) It was later recreated. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles)

Gallifrey was destroyed by the Doctor in the Last Great Time War. Faced with the threat of ten million Dalek ships and the Ultimate Sanction, the Doctor placed a time-lock on Gallifrey and used a modified De-mat Gun called the Moment to remove Gallifrey from existence, causing the whole planet to burn in fire as it was obliterated, alongside the Time Lords and Dalek legions. (TV: The Parting of the Ways, Gridlock, The End of Time)

At the end of the Time War, the Time Lords, now led by Rassilon, broke the time-lock to materialise Gallifrey in Earth's skies in 2010, knowing the Doctor would precipitate their ultimate demise on that final day through the Moment. However, the Doctor managed to restore the time lock and cast the planet, Time Lords included, back to its doomed fate. (TV: The End of Time)

Regions

 * Wild Endeavour (continent)
 * The Capitol was located here
 * The Death Zone
 * The Tomb of Rassilon was located here
 * Southern Gallifrey

Mountains

 * Mount Cadon
 * Mount Lung
 * Mount Perdition
 * The Never-Ending Mountains of Solace and Solitude (TV: The Sound of Drums)

Rivers, lakes, and oceans

 * Cadonflood River
 * Lake Abydos

Major settlements

 * The Capitol (sometimes also called "Gallifrey" or "the Citadel") was Gallifrey's largest city, the home of the Time Lord Academy and most of the Time Lords.
 * Olyesti



Gallifreyan flora
Gallifrey had a wide variety of plant life, ranging in colour from silver to green and golden. Known plant species included the Schlenk Blossom (PROSE: Island of Death), ulanda (PROSE: Blind Fury) and the Madevinia aridosa (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible). The Master's father's estate was lush with red grass (TV: The End of Time).

Gallifreyan fauna
Animals native to Gallifrey included flutterwings (TV: The Pirate Planet), Woprats (PROSE: Heart of TARDIS), trunkikes, yaddlefish (PROSE: Blind Fury), flubbles (PROSE: Island of Death), tafelshrews (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible), plumboles (AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space), rabbits (AUDIO: Caerdroia), rovies (AUDIO: No Place Like Home), mice, cats (TV: The Mark of the Rani, PROSE: Human Nature) pig-rats (AUDIO: Panacea) and, of course, the Gallifreyans themselves. In the past, the dinosaur-like Gargantosaurs lived on the planet. (COMIC: The Stolen TARDIS) Oddly enough, before its complete annihilation from time and space, no animal had gone extinct from the planet. (PROSE: The Last Dodo)

History
See Gallifreyan history.

Behind the scenes

 * Although the planet was referenced numerous times earlier, and even seen on occasion (TV: The War Games and The Three Doctors for instance), the name Gallifrey was not uttered on screen until Jon Pertwee did so in The Time Warrior. In the revived series, the name Gallifrey was mentioned for the first time in The Runaway Bride.
 * In the original script of The Time Warrior, Gallifrey was scripted as "Galfrey", but was later changed.
 * Even though the first on-screen mention of Gallifrey was in The Time Warrior, broadcast in December 1973, the word appeared in TV Action #126, put out for the week ending 14 July 1973. There, in the letters column, the editors responded to a question from Simon Still of Kent who asked where the Master came from. The answer? "The Master's home planet was called 'Gallifrey'." This probably doesn't mean, however, that Polystyle gets the credit for "Gallifrey". Since shooting on Warrior wrapped on 12 June 1973, and the scripts had been completed earlier that spring, the likelihood is not that the TV Action originated the name, but that they were given it by the Doctor Who production office.