Dalek Caan performs an emergency temporal shift. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)
A temporal shift was a form of spatial shift that was used to move beings through time and space to a new destination.
Physics[]
Although Irving Braxiatel stated that they were relatively easy to engineer, (AUDIO: The Inquiry) temporal shifts, at least those performed by the Daleks, were normally a final resort used to make escapes and resulted in vast energy expenditures; therefore, they could only be performed in times of great danger. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks) Temporal shifts of this kind were also highly dangerous to perform, as they could easily fail; indeed, during the Last Great Time War, a Dalek hunter drone's failed emergency temporal shift destroyed the Dalek and opened a portal into potential timelines, allowing the Unlived to escape. (AUDIO: The Lady of Obsidian) However, if performed successfully, a Dalek's emergency temporal shift was capable of breaching time-locked scenarios, such as the Last Great Time War, and could be used to transport both the temporal shift's initiator and a separate individual. (PROSE: The Third Wise Man, TV: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End) The Defence Drone derived from the remains of a Reconnaissance Dalek was capable of simple spatial shifts. (TV: Revolution of the Daleks)
Beyond this method, Kotturuh crystals could be used to perform an emergency temporal shift; the Dalek Prime Strategist used numerous Kotturuh crystals stored within its casing to escape the Time Vortex following the destruction of the Dalek Time Squad. (PROSE: Exit Strategy)
Temporal shifts could also create new memories, as Ace remembered meeting Charlie Smith in 1963 after he passed through the Coal Hill Space-Time Rift from 2016. (AUDIO: In Remembrance) Entering the Time War, Dalek Caan's temporal shift allowed him to "see all of time and space". As well as this omniscience, Caan returned from his shift with the ability to manipulate timelines. (TV: Journey's End)
Examples[]
The Daleks[]
On 23rd century Earth, following an attempted invasion by the Daleks, the Dalek Litigator escaped the Bruce Master using an emergency temporal shift. (AUDIO: Vengeance)
Following the destruction of the Dalek Time Squad's Time-Ship, whilst falling through the Time Vortex, the Dalek Prime Strategist of the Restoration Empire foresaw a much bigger war between the Daleks and the Time Lords. Not wanting to miss any of the action, the Prime Strategist performed a temporal shift in an attempt to help the Emperor of the Restoration in the next battle the Daleks would face and, potentially, replace it to be the Dalek Emperor in the Last Great Time War. (PROSE: Exit Strategy)
When the Sixth Tamasan's bomb destroyed the Dalek Time Strategist's enclave, the Strategist escaped via an emergency temporal displacement. (AUDIO: Restoration of the Daleks)
When Case revealed to the Dalek Emperor how the Time Strategist had deviated from the Dalek ideal, the Emperor ordered its subordinate brought before it. Seeing that punishment was imminent, the Strategist attempted to escape via a temporal shift only to discover that the Emperor's forces had systems active to prevent such an escape. (AUDIO: Exit Strategy)
During the Time War, after losing a battle against Leela's force in the Obsidian Nebula, a Dalek hunter drone attempted to escape via a temporal shift. It perished in the effort, instead opening a portal into potential timelines, allowing the Unlived to escape. (AUDIO: The Lady of Obsidian)
Following the Time War, the Cult of Skaro escaped the Battle of Canary Wharf on Earth in 2007 through individual emergency temporal shifts, (TV: Doomsday) and arrived in New York City in 1930. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan) Likewise, after the Tenth Doctor foiled the plans of the Cult of Skaro and led the rebellion of the human-Daleks, ultimately culminating in said species' destruction, Dalek Caan, convinced by the Doctor that he was the last Dalek in the universe, performed an emergency temporal shift to escape, rather than accept the Doctor's offer for help. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks) Caan's temporal shift breached the time-lock surrounding the Last Great Time War, despite the time window to enter being a mere fraction of a second. Caan arrived onboard Davros' command ship, seconds before the Nightmare Child consumed the ship, and used another temporal shift to escape the Time War with Davros. (PROSE: The Third Wise Man)
In the process, Caan viewed "all of time and space", including all of the Time War , an overwhelming experience (TV: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End, PROSE: Dalek Caan) which resulted in Caan becoming one of the only genetically "pure" Daleks ever to rebel against the Dalek ethos and work towards the Empire's destruction. Caan gained the ability to "manipulate the timelines", and, while posing as insane but loyal, he used it as well as carefully-worded "prophecies" to engineer the New Dalek Empire's downfall. (TV: Journey's End)
Even the casing of a treasonous Dalek drone possessed the ability to perform a spatio-temporal shift. After the traitor's execution, a Dalek Commander activated the casing's spatio-temporal shift to transport the Thirteenth Doctor, who was entrapped within the casing, from Bolivia in 2022 to the Winter Palace in 1916. (TV: The Power of the Doctor)
Other instances[]
When the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith attempted to use the TARDIS to save the Brigadier from the Dewer Tor Superconductivity Lab, the presence of hadesium particles caused the TARDIS to perform an emergency shift and materialise in 1855. (AUDIO: The Devil's Hoofprints)
The Fifth Doctor performed a temporal shift to move the TARDIS away from an explosion. (AUDIO: Cobwebs)
As a result of a temporal shift, Ace remembered meeting Charlie Smith in 1963 after he passed through the Coal Hill Space-Time Rift from 2016. (AUDIO: In Remembrance)