Time Loops and World Creation
19 Apr 2011 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
promethia_tenkETA: Please be mindful of spoilers in the comments.
Rather O_o sort of speculation that entered my head and demanded to be shared right now . . .
So, on reflection, my favorite thing about the Space & Time episodes for Comic Relief is the way, right at the end, that the Doctor knows his future self is going to come through the door with the information he needs to resolve the loop. This is a step up in sophistication from the time loops we've seen before--like in Time Crash or the loop that gets the Doctor out of the Pandorica--where a character essentially stumbles into a time loop and has to have it explained to them so that they can carry the rest of it out. Mechanically it works out exactly the same: a piece of information that appears seemingly out of nowhere is passed back and forth in a stable loop. But the attitude, somehow, matters immensely. It's almost like the Doctor has willed the information he needs into existence--he's not a pawn going through a loop set out for him, he's creating the loop and causing it to happen.
So the question becomes, how far could you push something like that? In Cinderbella's fic with the pirates, she has River assume that her future self will have buried some treasure in a convenient location so as to get them out of their unfortunate jam--cool. Then last night I was watching the commentary to The Eleventh Hour, and they're talking about the Doctor's habit of walking into situations, getting himself embroiled in them, and then working out how he's going to solve them. And Moffat said something to the effect of "I've always thought of the Doctor as someone who jumps off a tall building and works out what he's going to do about it on the way down . . ."
O_O
Which makes me think of the series six trailers, and the shot of River apparently jumping off a skyscraper in New York. Now . . . I don't think there's a fan watching who doesn't assume the TARDIS is going to appear underneath and catch her. But what if she doesn't actually know that when she jumps in the way she knows he'll show up in ToA because she's sent her message ahead of time? Could she, in fact, throw herself off a building in the presumption that the Doctor will show up to catch her so that, once she's safe, she can send a message back to him with coordinates? This is radical trust indeed, and a radical breech of the line between thoughts and reality--willing the TARDIS into existence, more or less. Even I'm starting to feel like that's cheating, and yet the mechanics still work out exactly the same . . .
OTOH, that's the line that Moffat keeps pushing--the line between thoughts and reality. Amy has already willed the Doctor into existence, albeit by a different mechanic.
ETA2: What the Dormouse Said is a really brilliant River fic by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
calapine musing on these kinds of ideas and all the psychological implications. Highly recommended
ETA3: If you're not too concerned about spoiler/spec, this is the coolest spec about the Best Man River's Ever Known I've yet seen (bycassi0pei4 ). Not that actually spoilery, I think, but ti does draw on some sensationalist marketing for the opening two-parter and some rather substantial thought-inducing comments by Moff about the mid-season cliffhanger and where the show needs to go in the future.
Ok, back to doing the things I'm supposed to be doing, arrrrrgh.
Rather O_o sort of speculation that entered my head and demanded to be shared right now . . .
So, on reflection, my favorite thing about the Space & Time episodes for Comic Relief is the way, right at the end, that the Doctor knows his future self is going to come through the door with the information he needs to resolve the loop. This is a step up in sophistication from the time loops we've seen before--like in Time Crash or the loop that gets the Doctor out of the Pandorica--where a character essentially stumbles into a time loop and has to have it explained to them so that they can carry the rest of it out. Mechanically it works out exactly the same: a piece of information that appears seemingly out of nowhere is passed back and forth in a stable loop. But the attitude, somehow, matters immensely. It's almost like the Doctor has willed the information he needs into existence--he's not a pawn going through a loop set out for him, he's creating the loop and causing it to happen.
So the question becomes, how far could you push something like that? In Cinderbella's fic with the pirates, she has River assume that her future self will have buried some treasure in a convenient location so as to get them out of their unfortunate jam--cool. Then last night I was watching the commentary to The Eleventh Hour, and they're talking about the Doctor's habit of walking into situations, getting himself embroiled in them, and then working out how he's going to solve them. And Moffat said something to the effect of "I've always thought of the Doctor as someone who jumps off a tall building and works out what he's going to do about it on the way down . . ."
O_O
Which makes me think of the series six trailers, and the shot of River apparently jumping off a skyscraper in New York. Now . . . I don't think there's a fan watching who doesn't assume the TARDIS is going to appear underneath and catch her. But what if she doesn't actually know that when she jumps in the way she knows he'll show up in ToA because she's sent her message ahead of time? Could she, in fact, throw herself off a building in the presumption that the Doctor will show up to catch her so that, once she's safe, she can send a message back to him with coordinates? This is radical trust indeed, and a radical breech of the line between thoughts and reality--willing the TARDIS into existence, more or less. Even I'm starting to feel like that's cheating, and yet the mechanics still work out exactly the same . . .
OTOH, that's the line that Moffat keeps pushing--the line between thoughts and reality. Amy has already willed the Doctor into existence, albeit by a different mechanic.
ETA2: What the Dormouse Said is a really brilliant River fic by
calapine musing on these kinds of ideas and all the psychological implications. Highly recommendedETA3: If you're not too concerned about spoiler/spec, this is the coolest spec about the Best Man River's Ever Known I've yet seen (by
cassi0pei4 ). Not that actually spoilery, I think, but ti does draw on some sensationalist marketing for the opening two-parter and some rather substantial thought-inducing comments by Moff about the mid-season cliffhanger and where the show needs to go in the future.Ok, back to doing the things I'm supposed to be doing, arrrrrgh.
