Doctor Who: 5 Questions Which May Go Forever Unanswered

1. Why Was Earth So Miraculously Untouched By The Time War?

Now surely this is the big one. The first time the question strikes the mind, the effect is tantamount to a planet-sized perception filter. Earth-sized in fact. Throughout the history of Doctor Who, time and again we are presented with three races capable of surviving through any number of impossible circumstances: Daleks, Time Lords and humans. As for the former two, both have been shown to have survived apparent genocide or extremely near-genocide (the Daleks on at least three occasions by my count). Both are capable of existing outside of reality itself. As for the humans, not only are they mentioned as one of the few species to have ever mastered time travel (referenced in "The Talons of Weng Chiang" and "The Empty Child" among others), a technology with which the Daleks have enjoyed some limited success as well ("The Chase," "Resurrection of the Daleks," etc). In the Doctor Who universe, homo sapiens manages to easily avoid the home planet's temporary torching of the planet by the Sun ("Ark in Space") and final destruction ("The End of the World") to ultimately emerge as the dominant lifeform at the end of the universe ("Utopia"); along the way, there's been a galactic human empire or three. Then of course there's the Doctor's steady involvement with Earth, having saved our world about a kajillion times €“ and why, incidentally, did the Time Lords exile him on that particular planet? (We're talking plot points here and conveniently sidestepping budgetary particulars.) Right. So as the Time War rages and "every point in time and space is burning," at no point in spacetime has this appeared to be so thus far. The following is a list of evidence of the Time War on Earth: € A handful of Zygons come to Earth after destruction of their home planet in the Time War. Most go into suspended animation ("The Day of the Doctor") while others apparently did little more than freak out a few Scottish folks with their cyborg Loch Ness Monster ("Terror of the Zygons"). € The Nestene Consciousness seeks refuge on Earth, another victim of a destroyed home planet ("Rose"). After wreaking some havoc in a district of London, the being is destroyed via application of anti-plastic. Of the three who witness the death of the creature, two immediately depart the scene while the third remains nicely flabbergasted. € A single crippled Dalek crash-lands in North America to the knowledge of few outside of Henry van Statten, the Man Who Owns The Internet ("Dalek"). This Dalek commits suicide before two witnesses who immediately depart the scene. € Finally, after a weird time in the late 2000s in which nearly the entire human race temporarily got a DNA infusion from the Master and thus, apparently, cloudy memories ("The End of Time"), the Time Lords, seeking to dodge the ravages of the war popped over for a tick with Gallifrey in tow to no avail €“ and shockingly little destruction. And that would appear to be about it. Not exactly apocalyptic fiery spacetime, is it? Here's one guess at an answer €“ though the show actually addressing this question could seem like acknowledging an oversight staring us the audience in the face, unseen like the Silents, since the series reboot: The now-hidden Gallifrey is one and the same as Earth. Or it's connected with Earth via dimensional bridge. Or something. You gotta admit it's convenient and a handy retcon device. PS Just who is Susan's mother, by the way...?