Skip to main content

doctor who - Are the Dr. Who episodes intended to be in chronological order?


Aside from any two parters, are the Dr. Who episodes intended to represent a consistent beginning-to-end timeline for The Doctor, or do they bounce around willy nilly, or rather, timey whimey?




Answer



Yes, in general, the shows are intended to follow The Doctor's own personal timeline. In addition, the show tends to follow a chronological progression of the companion(s) lifetime, at least while they are with The Doctor. In general, The Doctor does not bounce around back and forth within a companion's life.


There have been a few exceptions to those two rules, though they're clearly called out when they happen:



  • Father's Day: The Doctor and Rose traveled back along Rose's personal timeline, causing bad things to happen.

  • The Big Bang: The Doctor traveled into Amy Pond's past (as did Rory and Amy, technically, though they took the really long way).

  • The Impossible Astronaut: The Doctor that was present in the beginning of the episode was from hundreds of years later in his own timeline than The Doctor that appeared in act II. (Specifically, the initial Doctor was from the same point as in future episode The Wedding of River Song).

  • Any of the The XXX Doctors; The Day of The Doctor: Obviously, any episode that includes more than one Doctor on-screen at a time will be a violation of this rule, if nothing else than for practical reasons: the "future" Doctor would not have been cast yet at the point in the "past" Doctor's timelines where that episode occurs, so we must be seeing it from the timeline perspective of the most recent Doctor in the episode.


Note that River Song is the huge huge exception to this rule: for most of her tenure as a recurring character, River's past experiences were always The Doctor's future, working roughly backwards. The two of them met, technically in The Impossible Astronaut, but more "officially" in Let's Kill Hitler; from there things seemed to progress roughly forward for the two of them, but in a much more haphazard way.



Also, while we are meant to assume that the adventures with The Doctor and Clara are both progressing in the same direction, there was at least one throwaway line of dialog that went like this:



Clara: See you next Wednesday


The Doctor: Well, a Wednesday



However, we haven't seen any indication that he might travel back to a previous Wednesday and retrieve her; she generally remembers everything that happened in previous episodes and does not ever mention things that will happen in future episodes.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is the etymology of Doctor Who?

I recently decided to watch Doctor Who, and started viewing the 2005 version. I have the first two episodes from the first season, and I can't help but wonder what is the etymology of the name "Doctor Who"? And why does the protagonist call himself "the Doctor" (or is it "the doctor")? Answer In the very first episode of Doctor Who (way back in 1963), the Doctor has a granddaughter going by the name "Susan Foreman", and the junkyard where the TARDIS is has the sign "I.M. Foreman". Barbara, who becomes one of the Doctor's companions, calls him "Doctor Foreman" (probably assuming that is his name given his relationship to Susan), and Ian (another early companion) does the same in the second episode, to which the Doctor says: Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about? "Foreman" is most likely selected as a convenient surname for Susan to use because it happened to be on display near where the TARDIS landed....
Post a Comment
Read more

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...
Post a Comment
Read more