Gallifrey


 * For the Big Finish audio series see Gallifrey (audio series).

Gallifrey was the homeworld to the Gallifreyans and to the Time Lords, amongst the the Doctor. It was destroyed in the Last Great Time War.

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 (DW: Pyramids of Mars). Kasterborous was also known as the Seven Systems so that Gallifrey had the alternative name, The Shining World of the Seven Systems (DW: The Sound of Drums). It was said that Gallifrey was located at the edge of the Mutter's Spiral galaxy (EDA: Interference: Book Two) and was 29,000 light years from Earth. (REF: Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary) It was in a binary star system, the second star seeming to rise in the south in the morning, making the mountains glow. (DW: Gridlock) The system contained five other planets. (DW: The Invasion of Time)

Gallifrey had at least 2 large moons (IDW: Doctor Who #1), one of which was the Pazithi Gallifreya. (NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)

Gallifrey was duplicated eight times, both to confound the enemy and as a place of refuge. Gallifrey was still destroyed by Faction Paradox during the Second War in Heaven. (EDA: The Ancestor Cell) It was recreated (EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles) and then destroyed a second time by the Daleks in the Last Great Time War (DW: The End of the World).

Landscape
From orbit, Gallifrey was a rusty colour with brown lakes and grey clouds. (NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible) It had an orange sky and trees with silver leaves, which reflected the morning sunlight, making it look like the forests were on fire. (DW: The Sensorites, Gridlock) There were also green forests, golden fields and red deserts. (NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)

On a continent called Wild Endeavour, near the mountains Solace and Solitude, stood the Citadel, cut off from the outside universe by a dome. Most Time Lords lived here, and the Time Lord Academy was located there. (DW: The Sound of Drums)

Native species
Gallifrey had a wide variety of plant life which ranging in colour from silver, green and golden. Known plant species include the Schlenk Blossom (PDA: Island of Death) and the Madevinia aridosa (NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible).

Native animals of Gallifrey include the Flutterwings (DW: The Pirate Planet), Flubble (PDA: Island of Death), Tafelshrews (NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible), Plumboles (BBCR: The Ghosts of N-Space) and, of course, the Gallifreyans themselves. In the past, the dinosaur-like Gargantosaurs lived on the planet. (DWM: The Stolen TARDIS) Oddly enough, before its complete annihilation from time and space, no animal had gone extinct from the planet. (TDA: The Last Dodo)


 * This lack of extinction was probably due to the Time Lords, who would have brought back species after they had died out.

History

 * See Gallifreyan history

Gallifreyan defences
Gallifrey appears to have possessed surprisingly few defences from invasion. This may be due in part to the transduction barrier, which covered the planet and which was almost completely impenetrable by outside forces. However, on the few occasions when a hostile force penetrated the transduction barrier, the Time Lords appeared to be unable to competently defend themselves. For example, when a small group of Sontarans successfully managed to bypass the transduction barrier and proceeded to slaughter any Time Lords they encountered, they nearly succeeded in conquering Gallifrey until the Doctor intervened and used an ancient Time Lord weapon called the De-mat Gun to destroy the Sontarans (DW: The Invasion of Time).


 * The D-Mat gun was not a usual part of Gallifrey's defences, as its existence was largely believed to be a myth by the Time Lords.

Another example of Gallifrey's reliance upon the transduction barrier for security occurred when the Daleks bypassed the barrier and exterminated several Time Lords, including the then-current President (DW: The Apocalypse Element). In both this case and the aforementioned Sontaran invasion, the Time Lords relied upon the Chancellory Guard to deal with the invaders, only to find out that the guards' weaponry (see Staser) was ineffective against their attackers.

Behind the scenes
Although the planet was referenced numerous times previously, and even seen on occasion (DW: The War Games, 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.

External link

 * "Rassilon, Omega and that Other Guy": informally named but very exhaustive website compiled Gallifrey information form all media, with speculation (clearly labelled as such)
 * Discontinuity Guide article on the location of Gallifrey