MovieChat Forums > Timeless (2016) Discussion > Changing Time, Doctor Who Theory

Changing Time, Doctor Who Theory

posted 8 years ago by richard.fuller1
3 replies | jump to latest

In Genesis of the Daleks, with Tom Baker as the Doctor, he had an opportunity to erase the villainous daleks from existence, but hesitated because the threat of the daleks had united warring factions into a common cause.

Also, when David Tennant as the Doctor went to Pompeii, he learned he and he alone would have to destroy Pompeii by releasing the build-up the volcano, otherwise the entire world would be destroyed. HE would be the cause of one of the single most cataclysmic events known to man.

It's interesting to think if we could go back in time to kill Hitler or stop the sinking of the Titanic, we really don't know what it is that may be unleashed.

[–] bellatrix79 8 years ago

Doctor who's awesome

[–] misfit_of_science 8 years ago

That's what I find weak about all the time travel writing. Oh no, the twist is, if you prevent one tragedy, you'll surely cause a worse one or somehow that event will happen anyway despite your best efforts to stop it. As per the Pompeii episode of Doctor Who, the Earth would be destroyed by stopping/diverting a volcanic eruption? Weak!

Yes there is this chaos theory concept leading to a phenom known as the butterfly effect- one small change leads to ever-greater ripples (in time in these shows) with greatly magnified unknown consequences. That worked as a writer's conceit once or twice, now it is very very stale.

[–] DonWNY2 8 years ago

Attempting to "fix" the past MIGHT make things worse. It could improve the present world or just make it different. The "butterfly effect" is no guarantee of disaster. Everything might stay exactly the same as it was, with the only exception being that it now rains doughnuts.