Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2024: Week 15
Time v.3.0 by Teyke is a story in Doctor Who fandom. The premise is the Tenth Doctor trying to explain to Martha Jones what the Time War was like, while thinking back to some of the atrocities he witnessed. The Time War is a period of Doctor Who lore that is very much referenced but had not been portrayed on the TV show at the point in which the story was written.
The fic begins with the Doctor visiting Martha on her birthday. Martha is uncertain of her age after the events of the Year That Never Was and the Doctor admits that's a normal response to paradoxes. The admission that the Doctor has experienced other paradoxes begins a conversation about the Time War. Teyke portrays the Doctor and all Time Lords as temporal beings able to perceive possible futures and manipulate time to make one of those possibilities a reality; an ability which was used to devastating effect during the war. This unique take on how the Timelords perceive time means the Doctor recalls the Time War in a non-linear perspective; remembering events that never happened and places that never existed.
Time v.3.0 is often called the "definitive" fic on the Time War, even though it was later contradicted by canon. It is often recced for its world-building, depicting a war on a truly galactic scale. Many also praise its horror elements, particularly The Nightmare Child, depicted here as an eldritch horror devouring whole galaxies. Time v.3.0 still manages to remain within the fluidity that is the Whoverse, weaving together canon from Classic Who, New Who and the Doctor Who Expanded Universe books and audio dramas.