Theory talk:Timeline - Ninth Doctor

Placement of Salvation Nine and Last of the Zetacene
As we've now put to bed the placement of Break the Ice with a good source and reference, is there anything to seriously suggest that the entire boxset goes before Auld Lang Syne and not just Break the Ice? Break the Ice is the only 9DA I've not managed to get round to listening to. Do these other two stories get referenced in that one? If not, then surely placing them together where they are currently is nothing more than head-canon? Isn't it more logical to use the rule "release order unless authorial intent states otherwise"? Authorial intent only effects Break the Ice since we hear the Doctor clearly referencing it in the story, and Foley is clearly referencing his adventure with Jack Frost (which also needs updating if I remember). Feel free to shed some light as I'll eventually get around to listening to it, some crazy work weeks atm. I just want what's best and most accurate for these timelines. Thanks to everyone for keeping them alive. <3 The  Farty  Doctor   Talk  15:37, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

I haven’t listened to the set, so I admit I can’t say with certainty whether the first two stories reference anything, but considering that isn’t the norm for 9DAs I’m happy to assume they don’t until other evidence is provided. The reason I moved the entire set along with Break the Ice was essentially because I generally prefer to keep the boxsets together if it’s possible. It just feels neater to group boxsets together to me if there’s no reason split them personally. And purely on speculation, I get the feeling that maybe the two latest sets may have been swapped around on the schedule. Purely because it would be strange going from an earth based story in Old Friends, to then a boxset called Back to Earth and then another set called Into the Stars which features a prequel to a story in Back to Earth.

There’s no strong evidence either way which I know of, so it comes down to a stylistic choice. I’m personally more in favour of keeping Into the Stars grouped together entirely, but if other people prefer to move the first two episodes to after Back to Earth, then I don’t have major objections. It’s purely just because I think it looks nicer and if people are doing a listen through then they don’t have to listen to the last episode of one set, then do another set and then go back and do the rest of the other set. SarahJaneFan ☎  12:20, 21 August 2022 (UTC)