Is there any evidence to indicate when - what year by our Earthly reckoning - the Time Lock was put in place around the Time War between the Daleks and Time Lords?
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
There isn't any real answer to this question, as it implies that the Time Lock somehow exists within what humans conceive of as "linear time". Once it had been put in place, the Time Lock "always existed" and "will always exist". The events of the war were removed from the flow of time itself. That's one of the problems with using human language to discuss concepts like time travel that our minds aren't built to comprehend.
The closest we can really come if to look at it from the perspective of someone that was "aware" of Gallifrey and the Time Lords but did not participate in the Time War itself, and thus would have been observing from the outside. Any of The Doctor's companions that were still living on Earth at the time would qualify, e.g. Sarah Jane Smith.
From their perspective, in 2000, the Time War had not happened yet. The 8th Doctor was on Earth in 1999 (the events of the Doctor Who movie), pre-War, in conflict with The Master. He leaves Earth on January 1, 2000. By 2005, the Time War was over; The Ninth Doctor meets Rose Tyler on March 4, 2005, having recently escaped the Time War and regenerated.
So, from the perspective of someone living on Earth during that period, the events of the Time War and subsequent Time Lock happened at some point between 2000-01-01 and 2005-03-04.
answered Mar 5, 2013 at 17:14
-
That is EXACTLY the answer I was looking for. Even though the whole thing now exists outside "time" in its own bubble, it still was initiated at some point IN time. You nailed it. Thanks! :)– eidylonMar 5, 2013 at 17:55
-
2“That's one of the problems with using human language to discuss concepts like time travel that our minds aren't built to comprehend.” Actually, time travel in Doctor Who is complicated only because it doesn't follow any set of reasonable rules. If time travel was actually possible, it wouldn't be this complicated.– svickMar 5, 2013 at 18:46
-
6I suspect that if time travel were actually possible it would be at least this complicated. Mar 5, 2013 at 18:55
-
2Similarly to using Jane Smith, if The Doctor revisits the time of any of his previous companions. It would appear to them that the time war took place since they last saw him as well. (potentially any time in the 20th century) Mar 5, 2013 at 19:48
-
1The assumption being made here, in assuming that from an earthly perspective it happened between 2000 and 2005, is that the Doctor's visits to "present day" earth as depicted in the show is also "present day" with regard to gallifrey/the time war. He may have left after the TV movie and gone to the year 20,000 where a battle was happening and participated in the events that led to the time lock, regenerated, and immediately started hunting the nestene consciousness and ending up in 2005. Even that assumes that the time lock was initiated in a normal time stream at all.– PeterLMay 13, 2013 at 22:45