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Matrix (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
The Matrix, in the long-running British
science fiction television
series Doctor Who
, is a massive computer
system on the planet Gallifrey
that acts as the repository of the combined knowledge of the Time Lord
s.
The Matrix is first introduced in the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin
, twenty-three years before the release of the film
The Matrix
, six years before William Gibson
's 1982 "Burning Chrome" and years before the advent of virtual reality
in the 1980s. It is one of the locations for a battle between the Doctor and Chancellor Goth, the titular assassin. Most of Part Three of the serial is spent inside the virtual reality of the Matrix where the Doctor battles an agent of the Master
. The serial also explains that if a person dies while linked to the Matrix, he dies in the real world as well.
Access to the Matrix is obtained through an apparatus connected to or enclosing the head of the user or, physically, via Doors into which the user walks. The Matrix functions as a simulated reality
, the physical laws of which an advanced user may bend or break.
Full access to the Matrix is given only to the President of the High Council of Time Lords through the use of the Crown of Rassilon
, but limited access to its contents are guaranteed to other Time Lords. The Keeper of the Matrix holds the Key of Rassilon that grants access to the Seventh Door, which was thought legendary until the Doctor used the Key to access it in The Ultimate Foe
.
The Matrix is part of the Amplified Panatropic Computer Network, or APC Net, which contains the biological imprints (or bio-data extracts) of all Time Lords as well as the memories of dead Time Lords, storing them in an extradimensional framework of trillions of electrochemical cells. It also receives input from sensors contained in the TARDIS
time machine
s piloted by Time Lords. As a result, the Matrix is not only a record of the past but can actually predict the future as well. The amount of knowledge in the Matrix, though vast, is not complete, and can be tampered with if given the right amount of access. The unauthorised extraction of a Time Lord's bio-data from the Matrix is an offence tantamount to treason (Arc of Infinity
).
In The Trial of a Time Lord
, evidence is gathered from the Matrix to present a case against the Doctor on charges of breaking the first law of time. This is done by the Valeyard
, a learned Court Prosecutor. It transpires however, that the Valeyard has been able to tamper with the events shown by the Matrix to produce false evidence against the Doctor. When this is revealed by the Master
, the Valeyard flees to a virtual reality
world created by him within the Matrix. Within the Matrix, the Doctor is forced to fight the Valeyard, much like he had fought Goth in The Deadly Assassin. The Valeyard's world appears as a Victorian
factory, and he is disguised as a Mr Popplewick. The Master is also able to materialise his TARDIS inside the virtual reality within the Matrix. Together the Master and the Doctor manage to defeat the Valeyard and discover his plan to murder the Time Lords at the trial with a Particle Disseminator.
It is revealed in the 2005 series that both Gallifrey and the Time Lords have been destroyed in the last great Time War
between the Dalek
s and the Time Lords. The fate of the Matrix is uncertain, although presumably it has been destroyed as well.
In the Doctor Who comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine
, the Matrix is depicted as being inhabited by the minds of dead Time Lords — including Rassilon — who have a sort of quasi-existence within its confines. They are even able to construct an agent to do their bidding in the outside world, an entity known as Shayde
.
The Past Doctor Adventures
novel Matrix
by Mike Tucker
and Robert Perry reveals the existence of the "Dark Matrix", the negative thoughts and evil impulses of all the Time Lords whose knowledge is stored in the Matrix, syphoned off and forgotten. The Valeyard gains control of the Dark Matrix following the events of Trial of a Time Lord, and attempts to use it to manipulate the Doctor's timeline, feeding it with the negative psychic energy of the Jack the Ripper
murders. The Doctor destroys the Dark Matrix by imploding the Valeyard's TARDIS, thereby preventing an alternate 1963 in which its influence meant the Ripper murders never stopped.
In the Eighth Doctor Adventures
novel The Ancestor Cell
by Peter Anghelides
and Stephen Cole
, Gallifrey is destroyed by the Eighth Doctor
to prevent the voodoo cult Faction Paradox
from starting a time war between the Time Lords and an unspecified Enemy. In The Gallifrey Chronicles
by Lance Parkin
, it is revealed that the Time Lords had survived within the Matrix, which had then been downloaded into the Doctor's mind, although he had to sacrifice much of his memory to make space for it. Their reconstruction is possible, but will require a sufficiently advanced computer. At the novel's end, the question of whether or not the Time Lords will be restored remains unanswered. However, it can be assumed that both they and the planet are restored at some point before the start of the 2005 series if the novels are to remain consistent with the new series' continuity.
In the Big Finish Productions
audio play Neverland
, it is also established that Rassilon himself continues to exist within the Matrix. In the Gallifrey audio series, an ancient Gallifreyan evil named Pandora also survives and emerges from a special partition within the Matrix. Lord President Romana
is eventually able to destroy the entity by destroying the Matrix itself. It is not clear how, or whether, the events of this series can be reconciled with those of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels and some stories have suggested that the novels and audios take place in separate continuities.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, is a massive computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
system on the planet Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
that acts as the repository of the combined knowledge of the Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
s.
The Matrix is first introduced in the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin
The Deadly Assassin
The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 October to 20 November 1976...
, twenty-three years before the release of the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
, six years before William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
's 1982 "Burning Chrome" and years before the advent of virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
in the 1980s. It is one of the locations for a battle between the Doctor and Chancellor Goth, the titular assassin. Most of Part Three of the serial is spent inside the virtual reality of the Matrix where the Doctor battles an agent of the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
. The serial also explains that if a person dies while linked to the Matrix, he dies in the real world as well.
Access to the Matrix is obtained through an apparatus connected to or enclosing the head of the user or, physically, via Doors into which the user walks. The Matrix functions as a simulated reality
Simulated reality
Simulated reality is the proposition that reality could be simulated—perhaps by computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not be fully aware that they are living inside a simulation....
, the physical laws of which an advanced user may bend or break.
Full access to the Matrix is given only to the President of the High Council of Time Lords through the use of the Crown of Rassilon
Rassilon
Rassilon is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the backstory of the programme, he was the founder of Time Lord society on the planet Gallifrey...
, but limited access to its contents are guaranteed to other Time Lords. The Keeper of the Matrix holds the Key of Rassilon that grants access to the Seventh Door, which was thought legendary until the Doctor used the Key to access it in The Ultimate Foe
The Ultimate Foe
The Ultimate Foe is the generally accepted title for a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 29 November to 6 December 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole...
.
The Matrix is part of the Amplified Panatropic Computer Network, or APC Net, which contains the biological imprints (or bio-data extracts) of all Time Lords as well as the memories of dead Time Lords, storing them in an extradimensional framework of trillions of electrochemical cells. It also receives input from sensors contained in the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
time machine
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
s piloted by Time Lords. As a result, the Matrix is not only a record of the past but can actually predict the future as well. The amount of knowledge in the Matrix, though vast, is not complete, and can be tampered with if given the right amount of access. The unauthorised extraction of a Time Lord's bio-data from the Matrix is an offence tantamount to treason (Arc of Infinity
Arc of Infinity
Arc of Infinity is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 3 January to 12 January 1983...
).
In The Trial of a Time Lord
The Trial of a Time Lord
The Trial of a Time Lord is a fourteen-part British science fiction serial of the long running BBC series Doctor Who. The serial, produced as the twenty-third season of the Doctor Who television series, aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986...
, evidence is gathered from the Matrix to present a case against the Doctor on charges of breaking the first law of time. This is done by the Valeyard
Valeyard
The Valeyard is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. He is described as an aspect of the Doctor from between his twelfth and final incarnations as depicted in the TV show or regenerations in the novelization of the story...
, a learned Court Prosecutor. It transpires however, that the Valeyard has been able to tamper with the events shown by the Matrix to produce false evidence against the Doctor. When this is revealed by the Master
Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is a renegade Time Lord and the archenemy of the Doctor....
, the Valeyard flees to a virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
world created by him within the Matrix. Within the Matrix, the Doctor is forced to fight the Valeyard, much like he had fought Goth in The Deadly Assassin. The Valeyard's world appears as a Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
factory, and he is disguised as a Mr Popplewick. The Master is also able to materialise his TARDIS inside the virtual reality within the Matrix. Together the Master and the Doctor manage to defeat the Valeyard and discover his plan to murder the Time Lords at the trial with a Particle Disseminator.
It is revealed in the 2005 series that both Gallifrey and the Time Lords have been destroyed in the last great Time War
Time War (Doctor Who)
The Time War, more specifically called The Last Great Time War, is a conflict within the fictional universe of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
between the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s and the Time Lords. The fate of the Matrix is uncertain, although presumably it has been destroyed as well.
Other appearances
The following section contains information taken from spin-off material. The canonicity of these stories with regard to the television series and each other is open to interpretation.In the Doctor Who comic strip published in Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, the Matrix is depicted as being inhabited by the minds of dead Time Lords — including Rassilon — who have a sort of quasi-existence within its confines. They are even able to construct an agent to do their bidding in the outside world, an entity known as Shayde
Shayde
Shayde is a fictional character who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
.
The Past Doctor Adventures
Past Doctor Adventures
The Past Doctor Adventures were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. For most of their existence, they were published side-by-side with the Eighth Doctor Adventures...
novel Matrix
Matrix (Doctor Who novel)
Matrix is a BBC Books original novel written by Mike Tucker and Robert Perry and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Summary:...
by Mike Tucker
Mike Tucker
Mike Tucker is a special effects expert who worked for many years at the BBC Television Visual Effects Department, and now works as an Effects Supervisor for his own company, The Model Unit. He is also the author of a variety of spin-offs relating to the television series Doctor Who and...
and Robert Perry reveals the existence of the "Dark Matrix", the negative thoughts and evil impulses of all the Time Lords whose knowledge is stored in the Matrix, syphoned off and forgotten. The Valeyard gains control of the Dark Matrix following the events of Trial of a Time Lord, and attempts to use it to manipulate the Doctor's timeline, feeding it with the negative psychic energy of the Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
murders. The Doctor destroys the Dark Matrix by imploding the Valeyard's TARDIS, thereby preventing an alternate 1963 in which its influence meant the Ripper murders never stopped.
In the Eighth Doctor Adventures
Eighth Doctor Adventures
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall...
novel The Ancestor Cell
The Ancestor Cell
The Ancestor Cell is a novel by Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole, based on the science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner, Compassion and Romana III- as well as a brief appearance of the Third Doctor in a ghost-like state due to the Faction's...
by Peter Anghelides
Peter Anghelides
Peter Anghelides is an English author and dramatist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC television series Doctor Who.-Work:...
and Stephen Cole
Stephen Cole
Stephen Cole is a presenter for Al Jazeera English. Previously, he worked for the BBC.-Broadcasting career:...
, Gallifrey is destroyed by the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
to prevent the voodoo cult Faction Paradox
Faction Paradox
Faction Paradox is a fictional time travelling cult/rebel group/organized crime syndicate, originally created by the author Lawrence Miles. The Faction's belief-system as portrayed has some similarities to voodoo, and is sometimes described as such...
from starting a time war between the Time Lords and an unspecified Enemy. In The Gallifrey Chronicles
The Gallifrey Chronicles (2005 novel)
For the John Peel book of the same name, see: The Gallifrey Chronicles The Gallifrey Chronicles is a BBC Books original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin is a British author, best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particular Doctor Who and Emmerdale...
, it is revealed that the Time Lords had survived within the Matrix, which had then been downloaded into the Doctor's mind, although he had to sacrifice much of his memory to make space for it. Their reconstruction is possible, but will require a sufficiently advanced computer. At the novel's end, the question of whether or not the Time Lords will be restored remains unanswered. However, it can be assumed that both they and the planet are restored at some point before the start of the 2005 series if the novels are to remain consistent with the new series' continuity.
In the Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio play Neverland
Neverland
Neverland is a fictional world featured in the works of J. M. Barrie and those based on them. It is the dwelling place of Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and others...
, it is also established that Rassilon himself continues to exist within the Matrix. In the Gallifrey audio series, an ancient Gallifreyan evil named Pandora also survives and emerges from a special partition within the Matrix. Lord President Romana
Romana
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
is eventually able to destroy the entity by destroying the Matrix itself. It is not clear how, or whether, the events of this series can be reconciled with those of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels and some stories have suggested that the novels and audios take place in separate continuities.