Skip to main content

doctor who - Why didn’t the TARDIS let Clara in and get to Trenzalore quicker?


Okay. In The Time of the Doctor, Clara jumped on to the dematerializing TARDIS, so the TARDIS extended its force field to save Clara from the Time Vortex. So, it needed to run at slow pace (or time pace, whatever) just to reach Trenzalore 300 years late.



But why didn't the TARDIS simply open the door, let Clara in and run at normal pace? Last I remembered, she was holding the doors.



Answer



It's been established that opening the TARDIS doors while time-travelling has unpleasant and unpredictable consequences. This happens in a First Doctor story, Planet of Giants, and causes the TARDIS crew to live the plot of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.


It happens again (on purpose this time) in the Second Doctor story The Enemy of the World where it causes decompression so strong that the TARDIS crew are nearly sucked out. This actually happens to the main baddie, and the Doctor describes his fate as "unpleasant".


Similarly, it appears to be impossible for the TARDIS to dematerialize with the doors open; in "The Husbands of River Song", the Doctor says (emphasis mine):



DOctor: Maybe the engines are interfering with themselves. Wild theory, but what if this machine had certain safeguards. For instance, maybe it can't take off when a life form registers as being both inside and outside at the same time?


River: Head and body.


Doctor: Which would mean, and again, I'm just, I'm just wildly theorising here, that the door would not engage properly.


River: Of course. It can't seal the real-time envelope.



Doctor Who Christmas 2015: "The Husbands of River Song"



Although not explicitly stated in the episode, presumably the doors also do not engage (and thus the TARDIS can't take off) when the doors are open.


So the only way the TARDIS would have been able to let Clara in would be to first stop de-materializing. The show never explains why he doesn't do this, although personally I like tilley31's answer in the question comments: the TARDIS was running an emergency program, and the Doctor's instructions overrode everything else.


It's also possible that this was a safety feature of TARDISes: you can't abort a de-materialization once it's begun, or once it's de-materialized a certain amount. We have no evidence to support that, but it's a fair guess.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more