Skip to main content

doctor who - The Cracks in the Universe: Why are they lethal to some, but not to others?


During the Doctor Who Season 5 story arc, the cracks in the universe absorb a number of creatures, erasing them completely from time:



However, there are 5 characters/species that are able to be close to the cracks, in some cases for long periods of time, without getting erased from time:



  • Amy Pond, who had a crack in her room for years but never got absorbed by it, even though her parents did.


  • The Doctor, who reached into a crack to pull out a piece of the exploding TARDIS in "Cold Blood".

  • Prisoner Zero, who was able to escape prison by fleeing into Amy's house through the crack in her wall.

  • An Atraxi, who was peering at the Doctor and Amy through the crack in her wall in "The Eleventh Hour".

  • The Saturnynians, who fled their damaged world for Earth through a crack in "The Vampires of Venice".


Are there any potential in-universe explanations for why the cracks in the universe are not lethal to these few characters?



Answer



The answer from abcooper makes a very good point that didn't dawn on me: that the cracks can separately exhibit spatial or temporal properties. It then reminded me of something Angel Bob said in the episode "Flesh and Stone":



There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved.




This led me to a potential in-universe explanation:



  • When a crack first appears, it connects that point in time and space directly to the time explosion that is destroying the universe. It behaves more like a temporal rift, absorbing objects around it and erasing them from time.

  • Upon absorbing enough, the crack is disconnected from the time explosion, connecting to a different point in space (and possibly time). It behaves more like a spatial rift, allowing individuals to pass through unharmed.


The initial appearance of a crack as a temporal rift which then transitions to a spatial rift helps explain some of the apparent discrepancies:



  • Being an exceedingly complicated space/time event (and a Lord of Time) makes the Doctor able to get near an "active" temporal rift for at least a short period of time without being absorbed by it, allowing him to reach into one in "Cold Blood", suffering some pain in the process. However, he is absorbed and erased from time when he ultimately plunges himself directly into the time explosion in "The Big Bang".

  • When the crack first appeared in Amy's home, it absorbed her parents (and maybe other things) then went "dormant", transitioning to a spatial rift. This allowed Amy to remain near it without being erased from time, although small amounts of residual time energy may have been leaking through that affected her. Later, Prisoner Zero was able to escape through the crack, and the Doctor was able to force it open to communicate with the Atraxi on the other side.


  • The crack that appears in the Byzantium seems much more powerful, requiring that it absorb more "complicated space/time events" to close it. After absorbing some soldiers and all of the Weeping Angels it transitions to a dormant state.


  • In "The Vampires of Venice", the Saturnynian Rosanna Calvierri says:



    There were cracks. Some were tiny... some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people and through others we saw silence... and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours and the crack snapped shut behind us... and Saturnyne was lost.



    The cracks that appeared presumably absorbed and destroyed much of the planet, transitioning to spatial rifts which allowed a small group to flee through them to Earth.




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

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

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Did Gandalf wear his Ring of Power throughout the trilogy?

After Gandalf discovered that Sauron was back and sent Frodo on his quest to Rivendell, did he continue to wear Narya (one of the Three Rings)? It seems like a huge risk to continue to wear it after the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths) started to try and reclaim the One Ring; if they managed to get the ring to Sauron, couldn't he be corrupted by his power? Whatever powers Narya bestows upon him couldn't possibly be worth the huge risk, could it? Answer When Sauron forged the one ring and put it on his finger, the other ring bearers were immediately aware of him and his intentions and removed their own rings. There is no reason why they couldn't merely do so again. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him; and they knew him, and preceived that he would be master of them, and of all they wrought. Then in anger and fear they took off their rings. "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," Silmarillion
Post a Comment
Read more