H.G. Wells
From TARDIS Index File, the free Doctor Who reference.
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| Herbert George Wells | |
| Also known as: | |
| Race: | Human |
| Home Planet: | Earth |
| Home Era: | 1885 |
| Appearances: | |
| Actor: | David Chandler |
Herbert George Wells, better known as H. G. Wells, was a Earth author later perhaps best known for his science fiction (a phrase he coined) asThe Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Doctor Moreau, thanks to having met the Doctor.
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[edit] Profile
[edit] Biography
[edit] Adventures with the Doctor
While vacationing in Scotland in 1885, a young H.G. Wells experimented with magic and believed he had summoned both Vena, who had appeared via the Timelash, and the Doctor, whose TARDIS had appeared to follow her. Though the Doctor found Wells somewhat irritating, he accompanied the Doctor to the planet Karfel and helped him defeat the despotic Borad. Along the way, Wells found inspiration for the fiction he would write and publish. Thanks to the Doctor, Wells also inadvertently coined the phrase "science fiction". (DW: Timelash)
However, Wells did not begin writing these adventures until after another meeting with the Doctor, this time in his tenth incarnation, in 1889. Wells assisted the Doctor against both the time traveller Jonathan Smith and members of the Torchwood Institute. (IDW: The Time Machination) After the Doctor's departure, Wells witnessed the arrival of a past incarnation of the Doctor and Leela, but did not make himself known to them. (IDW: The Time Machination, referencing DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang)
The Doctor had earlier claimed to have lent Bertie Wells his ion-focusing coil for an invisibility experiment. (BBCR: The Ghosts of N-Space)
- As his future self expected another meeting later in Wells' timeline, it seems that this occurred during a third or later meeting (from Wells' point of view).
[edit] Other information
Theophilus Tolliver, a friend of Wells', told him about his adventures traveling in time. (TVA: The Eternal Present)
- It is implied that Tolliver is the protagonist of Wells' The Time Machine. However, it seemed equally plausible that the Doctor himself had provided that inspiration.
[edit] Other references
- Disbelieving in time machines, Laurence Scarman compared the Doctor's assertions to the "scientific romances of Mr. Wells" (DW: Pyramids of Mars). Other scoffers have made similar statements. (DW: Horror of Fang Rock, DW: Black Orchid)
- Sarah Jane Smith had a copy of a volume of Wells' short stories in her library. (SJA: Invasion of the Bane).
- In 1938, actor Orson Welles mounted a radio production of Wells' The War of the Worlds, which was presented as a news broadcast; the resulting production sparked a nationwide panic. Unknown to the public at large, however, an actual invasion attempt occurred during this time which was thwarted by the Doctor (BFA: Invaders from Mars).
- For references to The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, specifically, see entries on those novels.
[edit] Behind the Scenes
Doctor Who owes an obvious debt to Wells, The idea of a time machine originated in Wells' The Time Machine and plot of The Daleks has a lot of similarity to George Pál's movie adaptation of The Time Machine. The Daleks themselves resemble the Martians of The War of the Worlds. So unsurprisingly, a number of affectionate references to H.G. Wells have found their way into the series.
Though Timelash suggests otherwise, H.G. Wells did not, in reality, coin the term science fiction, which first saw use sometime after 1926.
