48 Years Ago Today, Doctor Who Revealed the Time Lords’ Darkest Secret

The Time Lords of Doctor Who have (historically) had a policy of non-intervention, even putting the Doctor on trial because he insisted on interfering with the fates of other races. It’s true that some factions of the Time Lords have always worked in secret to secure Gallifreyan interests; the Doctor himself was recruited by the Celestial Intervention Agency, and unwittingly triggered the Time War when he attempted to avert the creation of the Daleks. But these acts are conducted covertly, and have caused scandal whenever they were revealed to the public.

For years, viewers wondered how this Time Lord policy had developed. Was it purely altruistic, with the Time Lords concluding they were too powerful to risk affecting other life forms in the universe? The truth was finally revealed 48 years ago today, in a story called “Underworld,” in which the Doctor was forced to confront the darkest secret of the Time Lords.

The Time Lords Didn’t Always Believe in Non-Intervention

Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, “Underworld” saw Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor and Louise Jameson’s Leela stumble on a spaceship flown by the humanoid race known as the Minyans. The early Time Lords stumbled on the Minyans while exploring the universe, and they were worshiped as gods by the primitive Minyans. In return for their worship, the Time Lords gave the Minyans advanced technology, encouraging their cultural evolution, and even gave them the power of regeneration. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out well.

To the horror of the Time Lords, the Minyans proved to be unable to handle the advanced technology they had been given. They cracked the atom far too early, and the result was a nuclear war that destroyed the Minyan homeworld, Minyos. Only two ships survived, one containing the lost race bank that would allow the Minyans to restore their doomed race, and the other a craft pursuing the race bank. Naturally, the Doctor and Leela had encountered the latter ship, and they swiftly decided to help with the quest.

The Time Lords Would Never Forget the Fate of Minyos

The Time Lords were shaken by the destruction of Minyos, and unaware the race had survived at all. They swore to refrain from interfering in the affairs of “lesser” races from this point on, failing to recognize that the issue was really that they’d acted like benevolent gods taking control of another race’s destiny. From that moment on, the Time Lords would simply be observers; their civilization atrophied, losing all sense of dynamism and innovation, and that’s the very reason the Doctor had to leave. He was, quite simply, bored. Life on Gallifrey was stunted and disinteresting, and he wanted to do far more than just observe.

Ironically, the Doctor would prove to be the greatest challenge to the Time Lord doctrine of non-intervention. At his trial, Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor argued that the universe needed people to fight for what is right, because “some corners of the universe have bred the most terrible things.” The Time Lords recognized the truth of the Doctor’s argument, exiling him to Earth and forcing a regeneration at the beginning of the Jon Pertwee era. They gradually began to involve themselves in the affairs of others – culminating in the Time War.

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