Time Lord
| Time Lords | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who alien | |
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| Type | Time Lords |
| Home planet | Gallifrey |
| First appearance | An Unearthly Child |
The Time Lords are a fictional, ancient extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' protagonist, the Doctor, is a member. Time Lords are so named for their command of time travel technology and their non-linear perception of time. Originally they were described as a powerful and wise race from the planet Gallifrey, from which the Doctor was a renegade; details beyond this were very limited for the first decade of the series. They later became integral to many episodes and stories as their role in the fictional universe developed. For the first eight years after the series resumed in 2005, the Time Lords were said to have been destroyed at some point between the original series' cancellation in 1989 and the show's revival during the fictional Last Great Time War. In 2013, the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" concerned this supposed destruction and their eventual survival.
They developed a culture of custodianship and time-related technologies based on this perception which includes strictly controlled space/time travel machines (known as "TARDISes") and monitoring devices to travel through time and to prevent time from being subverted or abused—although actual action was described as rare in practice due to their traditional policy of strict non-interference and neutrality. They can act to manipulate timelines of a wide range of events and individuals, so long as they do not cross back into their own timeline. Over subsequent episodes their history, their development of time manipulation, and their internal politics were touched upon, with Time Lord society portrayed as a stagnated ceremony-bound oligarchy and their past having descended into myth and legend. The Doctor became at times an ally, being appointed their president during his fourth incarnation and assisting them on many occasions.
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