Timey-Wimey Stuff: Some TLotTL thoughts.

[neuralclone]

I've been speculating about the timey-wimey stuff in Last of the Time Lords. *G*

All right, when the Doctor broke the Paradox Machine it wound back time to the point where it was activated - except at the eye of the storm, the Valiant. The people on the Valiant lived through The Year That Never Was, while for the rest of the world on Earth

Comments

[sarahleia]

Good question. I for one have no idea and don't feel like doing any thinking right now. :)

[neuralclone]

It's a brain-twister all right! %-)

[sparklydrone]

Hmm, very good question indeed!

I'd imagine that, because these people's personal timelines weren't affected (retconed), then there's just one "copy" of them, and that one's on the Valiant.

Because, sure, for all other earthlings nothing happened, but, erm, timey-wimey speaking, it still /did/ take place.

[neuralclone]

Wouldn't that cause another kind of Timey-Wimey problem, though? Because from the point of view of the people on Earth who were "retconned", the people who were taken on board the Valiant during the Year That Never Was would have suddenly disappeared and reappeared on the Valiant. That wouldn't be too hard to explain for people who had been alone at the time, but what about the people who'd been with other people when the Master opened the rift and unleashed the Toclafane? One moment Mary-Sue Masseur is sitting with her boyfriend watching Harold Saxon assassinate the "President Elect" on television, the next moment *Poof!* she's gone. %-}

(To quote John Crichton on Farscape - "I love science fiction!" *G* )

[sparklydrone]

So do I, oh yes

[uncledark]

"If you're wondering how he eats and breaths
And other science facts
Repeat to yourself, 'It's just a show
I should really just relax'"

That said, no, I don't think there would be copies. There aren't copies of Jack and Martha and The Doctor, right? Well, OK, there is a copy of the Doctor, but it has nothing to do with the year that never was... But I digress.

It seems like the folks on the Valiant have that kind of special immunity that all Doctor Who time travellers have regarding alterations to the past. They're unaffected by the changes.

[neuralclone]

Hmmm... but Martha and Jack were on board the Valiant when the rift opened - and were on board the Valiant when the paradox machine was broken.

(Relax? Relax? This is how I relax! :-)

[uncledark]

What?

Of course Martha and Jack were on the Valiant. And were thus able to retain their memories of the YTNW. That was kind of the point.

[neuralclone]

Er... the point of my original post was that if there were people on the Valiant when the Doctor hit the re-wind button who were not on the Valiant when the Master set the paradox machine going, they might be duplicated when the Doctor destroyed the paradox machine. Time on Earth rewinds back to a point when these hypothetical people were still on Earth, while time on the Valiant continues on its way.

Jack and Martha don't qualify, because they were on the Valiant at both the start and finish of the YTNW!

[dendritejungle]

Hm. Interesting question. My impression is that only those who were already on the Valiant in the first place stayed there; those who weren't on the Valiant in the beginning (but were later) went back to just not being on the Valiant in the first place - and now never would be. You know? I think those "in the eye of the storm" weren't just on the Valiant, they were on the Valiant at the beginning AND the end of the YWNW. Everyone else blipped out of existence from their YWNW location - wherever it was, on earth, in a grave, OR on the Valiant - and blipped back into existence as their old selves a year earlier wherever they had been at the time.

[syzygy_lj]

What's to say Saxon brought anyone on the Valliant during the Year That Never Was? All those people could have already been there at the point of divergence. Mary-Sue Masseuse could just have well been some officer on the airship, and the Master did the Jedi Time Lord Mind Trick on her. Same with all the other loyal followers.

[guy_jin]

"What's to say Saxon brought anyone on the Valliant during the Year That Never Was?"

Unless the valiant has a food supply sufficient to support all the people that were on it for a year, someone had to deliver pizza. same with whatever fuel it runs on.

[syzygy_lj]

Yeah, but delivery people don't stick around.

[neuralclone]

I'd imagine the Master would have taken a great deal of pleasure in picking through the remaining population of Earth and "recruiting" people to his personal service (after all, they were all his slaves anyway!) People like five-star chefs and tailors, expert torturers, famous entertainers, scientists and engineers to work on his projects. Hostages as well. People who wouldn't ordinarily have been on a flying aircraft carrier when Saxon came aboard!

All this is pure speculation, of course!