When the Doctor meets... himself.
Several times throughout the original run (and once in a short skit) The Doctor would have an adventure that involved working side by side with himself to fend off the end of everything. As exciting as this was, it was clarified (Clara-fied?) that this is usually not possible. Something about safeguards being in place, if I recall correctly. But that made me think, what with the upcoming Doctor Who fangasm fiftieth anniversary special.
There were a couple of things that I ran into over the years, and I wanted to hear from you what you thought. I didn't watch every show and I am not an encyclopedic devotee of the show. I'm just interested in the story. So, here goes:
1) The Doctor once claimed that a Time Lord meeting himself was "impossible" and that there were "safeguards against such a thing". Does anyone else remember that or did I imagine it?
2) Time Lords can go through all of time and space but, as the current series shows, they cannot go into their own past or future. Think about it, there normally shouldn't be any reason that the Doctor couldn't meet up with The Rani before the Time War, yet evidence suggests that it will never happen. I also don't recall The Doctor ever traveling to the past or future of Gallifrey (I'm unconvinced that the Valeyard is the "last regeneration of The Doctor" because if The Doctor can't visit his people's past, how would his future self do it?). Did I forget anything?
Now, the safeguards I mentioned could be on the Tardis itself but what with all Time Lords tied into the same linear history, wouldn't it be easier just to have those safeguards on Gallifrey and all Tardis' be keyed into that? No matter where in history they go anywhere else in the universe, it will always be Tuesday on Gallifrey to all Gallifreyans. So both Time Lords and their wonderful flying machines would be connected to current time on their home world, no matter if a Time Lord visits the beginning of time or the end of it.
For those of you paying attention, that means that the means of keeping all Time Lords on the same calendar would have to be located on Gallifrey, the same Gallifrey which was described as burned to a crisp. Now, if Gallifrey was in fact destroyed, then the calendar that all Time Lords live by would also have been destroyed too. Which means that the restrictions against jumping off of that calendar would be gone; that a Time Lord visiting his own past or future is also possible. Maybe. Otherwise, that 'device' is still there, and still working. And someone has to be maintaining it - giving it a 10,000 year tune-up every once in a while.
So who is on Gallifrey keeping that one thing going when everything else is destroyed and all the remaining Time Lords have been destroyed? It could be the Doctor himself, but I don't think so. First, he'd probably not want to go there any more. Second, there will come a time when he won't... because even the Doctor will pass on. Thirdly, the writers would probably love to bring back the Time Lords in some fashion. Eventually. Perhaps.
Well, there you have it. My thoughts on the matter. Let's hope that Moffat and the others address this properly in the near future and that we all enjoy the good romp that ensues.
Oh, and just a thought.. would River and Clara get along?
Here's to the Doctor's 25th and 26th regenerations!