Tardis

New to Doctor Who or returning after a break? Check out our guides designed to help you find your way!

READ MORE

Tardis
Advertisement
Tardis
1999 in

the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

Timeline for 1999
20th century | 1990s

1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005
WikipediaInfo

1999 was a year.

Events

Dated

Before New Year's Eve

On 12 May, Adelaide Brooke was born. (TV: The Waters of Mars [+]Russell T Davies and Phil Ford, Doctor Who Autumn Special 2009 (BBC One, 2009).)

In June, Rosa Parks received a Congressional Medal from President Clinton. According to the Thirteenth Doctor, this recognised her as a living icon for freedom. (TV: Rosa [+]Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 11 (BBC One|BBC One]], 2018).)

On 31 July, the Eighth Doctor encountered The Bane in Sweden. (PROSE: Dominion)

Seventh Doctor final scream of life

The Seventh Doctor dies. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).)

On 30 December, the Seventh Doctor, en route to Gallifrey with the remains of the Old Master, was forced to land the TARDIS in San Francisco and was caught in the crossfire of a gangland shooting. Ignorance of the Time Lord form meant that his surgeon, Grace Holloway, accidentally killed him. The Master escaped into the city. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996).)

On the same day the Sixth Doctor and Melanie Bush arrived in London. Mel visited her class reunion, while the Doctor reintroduced himself to Anne Travers. (PROSE: Millennial Rites)

New Year's Eve

Several things happened on 31 December.

The Seventh Doctor regenerated into his eighth incarnation after the surgery almost destroyed the regenerative process, leaving the Eighth Doctor suffering from post-regeneration amnesia. The Master took paramedic Bruce Gerhardt as a host and his first action was to murder Bruce's wife after she saw the Master's eyes and screamed. With the assistance of Chang Lee and Grace, the Bruce Master opened the Eye of Harmony. Opening the Eye destabilised Earth's physics and the Master used it to begin stealing the Doctor's lives. The Doctor helped Grace put the TARDIS in a temporal orbit, draining the power from the Eye and thwarting the Master. After the Master killed Grace and Lee, the Master fought the Doctor and fell into the Eye. The TARDIS reversed Lee and Grace's deaths and closed the Eye. (TV: Doctor Who [+]Matthew Jacobs, Doctor Who Television Movie (Fox Broadcasting Company, 1996)., PROSE: The Novel of the Film)

The Seventh Doctor and Melanie Bush crashed a party hosted by the Auton Alisha Hammerson and prevented another invasion by the Nestene Consciousness. (COMIC: Plastic Millennium)

The Fourth Doctor stopped the millennium bug just as the New Year arrived. (PROSE: Millennium Shock)

While Jack Harkness fought a "Millennium Bug" of his own, Alex Hopkins killed the rest of his Torchwood Three team, then himself after Jack returned, just as the New Year arrived in Cardiff's time zone. Harkness subsequently took over Torchwood Three. (TV: Fragments) Alex also spoke to Yvonne Hartman at Torchwood One of his epiphany beforehand on the phone, as he shot the team. This incident made her realise that the Torchwood Institute needed a stronger leader to face the 21st century. (AUDIO: One Rule)

Dave Young spent the entire evening trying to convince his girlfriend, Anji Kapoor, that the millennium would not actually begin for another year. Kapoor, for her part, thought this extreme pedantry meant their relationship was in trouble. This incident led to her insisting on New Year's Eve 2000 that the two of them spend 2001 doing "Wild and Spontaneous Things' —the result of which was the couple spontaneously going to Belgium in February 2001. There, she met the Eighth Doctor and began travelling with him. (PROSE: Escape Velocity)

The renegade Time Lady Iris Wildthyme and her companion Panda arrived in San Francisco in her TARDIS. Immediately after their arrival, Iris spilled gin into the bus' control and out into Time Vortex, resulting in various different versions of Panda from alternative realities crossing over into the primary universe. With the assistance of Dr. George Strangeways, Iris was able to close the rift, though not before the Panda from the primary universe had been dragged into it. (AUDIO: The Panda Invasion) Iris travelled to this date on at least four other occasions and recorded five different diary entries across three different journals from 31 December, 1999. (PROSE: The Most Faithful Panda in the World)

At midnight Ashley Chapel summoned Saraquazel, a being from after the universe. Anne Travers summoned the Great Intelligence at the exact same time, leading to the two multi-dimensional entities colliding. This created the Great Kingdom. (PROSE: Millennial Rites)

"Dara Morgan" registered MorganTech as a company, and made his first public appearance on a television interview. (PROSE: Beautiful Chaos)

Undated

Throughout 1999, much concern was raised on Earth over a feared computer glitch known as Y2K bug or the Millennium Bug. This had the potential to cause technological havoc as clocks changed from 1999 to 2000 (the "00" in the date being expected to cause problems for many computer systems). The concern ended up being unfounded, though not without some help from one, or possibly two incarnations of the Doctor. (PROSE: Millennium Shock)

Johnny Chess's first novel, Neurotic Boy Outsider, was published. (PROSE: The King of Terror)

Jack Harkness met Neil Redmond in Miami. (AUDIO: Uncanny Valley)

The Seventh Doctor and Ace fought the Mandragora Helix in London. (COMIC: The Mark of Mandragora)

Australia was seemingly in a dire state by 1999, with pollution causing issues, and the country's natural resources being used up or lost under piles of waste and litter. "Citizen 327KL" sent a distress call to the Fourth Doctor from Australia, but as the Doctor was currently in 1979, he could only give 327KL advice on what to do about Australia's pollution. 327KL then choked, and presumably died due to the pollution. (TV: Dr. Who For Keep Australia Beautiful)

The Ninth Doctor retrieved a "large silver metal ball" from the Mornington Crescent underground station and exited the station in the direction of Camden. The Doctor also had a conversation about early reggae records with "Eddie Duggan" outside a club in Prague. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?)

Alternate timelines

Dated

In an alternative timeline, the Fifth Doctor, Peri Brown and Erimem visited Edinburgh on 31 December. (PROSE: Graham Dilley Saves the World)

Undated

Iris Wildthyme and Panda visited Hyspero's desert and built sand castles. Panda drew a sketch of Iris while she was resting. (PROSE: Iris at the V&A)

Births and deaths

Dated

On 4 October, Steven Carter, grandson of Captain Jack Harkness, was born to Alice and Joe Carter. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three)

Undated

Sometime during this year, April MacLean, (TV: Nightvisiting, Detained) Matteusz Andrzejewski, (TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart) and Ram Singh (PROSE: Joyride) were born.

Other

By 1997, IIF planned to build a nuclear-waste storage facility on the Moon by 1999. (PROSE: The Dying Days)

Terry Brooks was serving as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during this year. (PROSE: Millennium Shock)

Ruth Clayton, actually the Doctor under a Chameleon Arch, implanted with false memories, remembered moving to Gloucester in mid-December 1999. (TV: Fugitive of the Judoon [+]Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020).)

Advertisement