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In the "Father's Day" episode of Dr. Who (2005), The Doctor claims that, once he has the Tardis, he will fix the damage to time that Rose causes when she prevents her father's death and banish the Reapers. However he indicates that after his "fix" Rose's father will still be alive.

Ultimately, the damage to time was corrected when Rose's father allows himself to be killed and this answer indicates that only Peter Tyler's death would have fixed the paradox.

It seems Peter Tyler's death is an integral part of the natural timeline. Most likely because had he lived, Rose might never have met the Doctor, and Bad Wolf would not have played out the way it did.

Given this, how was The Doctor planning to "fix time" with the Tardis in a way that would have allowed Rose's dad to remain alive?

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    It’s possible he didn’t have much of a plan. Remember how the last episode of that series ends: he basically gives up against the Daleks, and TARD-Rose saves the day.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Feb 5, 2015 at 14:52
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    @PaulD.Waite Don't you mean Rose TARDler?
    – Rand al'Thor ♦
    Jan 11, 2019 at 14:26

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In the Season 6, in "The Girl Who Waited" the Doctor mentioned a Reality Compensator and a few things more, that could make the TARDIS sustain a paradox:

The Doctor: Perhaps. Maybe if I shunted the reality compensators on the TARDIS, recalibrated the Doomsday bumpers and jettisoned the karaoke bar, yes. Maybe, yes. It could do it. The TARDIS could sustain the paradox.

Its the only thing that comes to my mind when you ask about the TARDIS sustaining paradoxes, but anything in solving paradoxes.

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    Unfortunately, that episode is also where it's made clear he's completely lying, when he locks the door before the paradox can get on board and then says as much.
    – Radhil
    Feb 6, 2015 at 1:43
  • Remember that the master turned the Tardis into a paradox machine.
    – user16696
    Feb 6, 2015 at 2:24
  • @Radhil Yeah but the Doctor said that the TARDIS couldn't stand a Paradox that massive, so it really have a Paradox Sustaining Device. Also as cde said, the Master turn the TARDIS into a Paradox Machine, that implies the existence of the device that i talked later. To said it in a little rubish way: "You can't make a Washing Machine with a Toaster, you need motors and all that stuff"
    – Kmi
    Feb 6, 2015 at 18:09
  • @Kmi - true enough I suppose. I do acknowledge it may have been possible to pull off in Fathers Day, but there's nothing in that ep to say how, other than the "run until the better plan forms" standard Doctor default plan. Other episodes might support your answer better; anything with multiple Doctors is technically walking the border of paradox, but is gotten away with due to memory shenanigans. My only problem with your answer is that you're quoting one of the biggest episodes where he couldn't just to say that he could.
    – Radhil
    Feb 6, 2015 at 18:48
  • Now that I realized, in The Girl who Waited The TARDIS actually sustended a Paradox, keeping the Present Amy and the Old Amy in the same Time Stream, but when if they entered the TARDIS the Paradox would get too massive. Sorry about the late reply...
    – Kmi
    Mar 1, 2015 at 22:07
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There's nothing in the episode (besides that statement) to suggest he had any plan besides "get to safety, and work out the rest later". The TARDIS being both a place of safety and the biggest tool in his arsenal, getting to it became first priority.

The structure of the episode does imply that the situation was fixable. Time was already trying to self-correct by giving Pete the opportunity to die as he originally did. That resulted in a "close enough" that let everything move on.

So the Doctor saying he could fix it is possibly true. After all it wasn't just changing Pete's death that contributed to paradox, it was crossing/changing their own timeline as well, and the Doctor didn't realize the extent of the damage until he found the TARDIS gone. He was leaving Rose there too, so it looks like he would just be off and Pete would be fine, or it would sort itself out. Then bam, no TARDIS. Fixing their own timeline might have allowed Pete to survive. He wouldn't know for sure until it was tried, or until he could scan the whole snarl properly. Wasn't able to make it happen that way though.

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  • Exactly. It's all wibbly wobbly.
    – Omegacron
    Feb 5, 2015 at 19:04
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    And don't forget - sometimes the Doctor lies.
    – Joe L.
    Feb 5, 2015 at 19:27

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