Howling:If the doctor never existed...

when the doctor was errased in the big bang (tbb), how could there still be a universe for amy to live in to remember the doctor back into existance, since if he didn't timelock the last great time war (lgtw) then rassilon would have destroyed the universe, amoung other things the doctor will never have saved the universe from? Imamadmad talk to me 06:43, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

Same reason Amy can still exist even though her parents never existed-when the cracks erase somebody, they don't erase that person's impact on the universe. If it did, then the Time Lords destroying the universe wouldn't be a huge problem. Look at Turn Left and see what the effect is on one planet, when the Doctor's only been dead for two seasons. Now, imagine if he was never born. His impact throughout history remained intact, even though he never existed. Just how that works is anybody's guess.Icecreamdif talk to me 06:52, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

It's arguable that, if the cracks had erased the Doctor's impact on the universe, they'd have erased themselves. Without the Doctor, no Doctor's TARDIS to explode, therefore no cracks caused by the explosion -- and, also, the universe wouldn't have been destroyed by the explosion. --89.240.241.19 14:08, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

What Doctor's impact? There have always been cracks in space. Boblipton talk to me 15:04, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

No there haven't. They only showed up in season 5. They were caused by the TARDIS explosion. The cracks may not have existed without the Doctor's impact, but the universe would have been destroyed by the reality bomb, or Rassilon, or whatever was supposed to be happening in Logopolis, and the Earth would have been destroyed about a thousand times. Still, we know that the cracks do not erase people's impact on the universe, because Amy still exists without her parents, because the Byzantium still crashed without the Angels, and because the clerics weren't replaced with other clerics when they went through the cracks.Icecreamdif talk to me 20:34, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

Icecreamdif: All correct. Without the Doctor's impact, the universe would have been destroyed by something else, but not by the cracks. The (limited) point I was making above was that the cracks couldn't erase the Doctor's impact without causing a paradox, because they were part of his impact. If they'd erased the impact of those whose existence they erased, they couldn't have erased the Doctor at all. --2.101.58.9 (formerly 89.240.241.19) 21:22, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

And my point is what Doctor? He never existed. Just because we haven't figured out how all these things happened doesn't mean they don't have a logical explanation. Given any set of facts you can come up with a logical system to explain them. Boblipton talk to me 01:46, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

So then where did Amy come from? What caused the Byzantium to crash? Why was Amy left alone with no clerics guarding her? These things don't have logical explanations, because there cause was ripped out of existance. The effect of these causes, however, was not removed. After the explosion, the universe seems to have given up on logic altogether, with all the countless paradoxes involved in the ever shrinking history. If Earth is the only thing in the universe, then where did it come from? Why build a museum if there's nothing to put in it. If little Amelia never existed, then where did Amy come from. We know how these things happenned-they happenned due to the effects of people and events that never existed. This is very paradoxical, and it leaves open a lot of questions, such as what would happen if, pre Big Bang 2, the Doctor travelled to the date of Amy's birth? Would she just magically appear out of nowhere? When the cracks are involved, there is no logic behind anything.Icecreamdif talk to me 06:15, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

There would be a universe in which some children exist without ever having had parents. There wouldn't be many of them, likely, but they would exist. People would debate whether spontaneously generated children was proof that God exists, laws would be passed to deal with the legal issues of citizenship and guardianship and Cyril Burt would produce enormous numbers of studies about their development which fifty years later would turn out to be bogus. Boblipton talk to me 12:38, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

Not really. History doesn't change when somebody is erased, except for the obvious effect of removing that person, so there wouldn't be a new history where people had always wondered where it came from. Just look at Amy. It didn't even occur to her that it was weird that she didn't have parents until the Doctor pointed it out. We haven't seen much of her aunt Sharon, but it doesn't seem like she was concerned about the fact that she had a niece but didn't have any siblings. We know that Amy was sent to several psychiatrists, and none of them seem to have noticed that Amy somehow didn't have any parents. Apparently one of the effects of the cracks is that people don't notice these obvious indescrepencies. Icecreamdif talk to me 19:08, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

It goes beyond not noticing the discrepancies. To judge from Amy's conversation with the last surviving cleric in the forest on the Byzantium, they resist having the oddities pointed out to them. Aunt Sharon's reaction (in the dying universe) to Amelia's painting of stars wasn't to shrug it off as a child's imagination; she was seriously worried by it and acted as if a belief in stars were somehow harmful -- she was, in fact, actively hostile to the idea. --89.241.66.33 23:46, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

Well Aunt Sharon's reaction may not be a reaction to the cracks. She sent Amelia to a few therapists because of her "imaginary friend", but the Doctor was never sucked into a crack. Aunt Sharon is worried in general about Amelia's overactive imagination, and adding to that the fact that star believers were considered to be angry cultists, you can understand why Aunt Sharon was worrried even without intervention from the cracks. You are right about Amy's conversation with the clerics though. They do resist having information poined out to them.Icecreamdif talk to me 01:25, October 21, 2011 (UTC)

"star believers were considered to be angry cultists": Exactly so. Why? The point is that it wasn't only Aunt Sharon, it was general. Believers in (say) the Flower Faries are regarded with pity/derision but not with hostility, so why were believers in stars regarded with hostility? My guess (and it is only a guess) is that talk of stars made most people slightly uncomfortable -- they didn't want to go there, just as the clerics didn't want to go where Amy's information would have led them. --89.241.77.97 21:24, October 21, 2011 (UTC)

Whenever I think about things like how Amy can still exist without parents, how the Byzantium can still crash, how the Doctor still avoided being shot by the Silurian at the end of THE/CB, the simplest explanation to me is that everything absorbed by the Cracks always exists UP UNTIL THE MOMENT A CRACK APPEARS AND EATS IT; the sequence of events prior to that moment is unchanged, as is evident from stuff like Amy's continued existence, etc. A lot of people seem to think that once eaten by the Crack, things LITERALLY never existed at any point in the timeline, but that would be like trying to build a house from the roof downwards - it just doesn't work, and doesn't make any sense. If that is the case, then you have to jump through all kinds of hoops to make the current scenario consistent with how it was before the Cracks showed up, which IMO makes it even more convoluted. Of course, there are still things like the Doctor specifically saying that every star will supernova at every moment in history if the TARDIS blows up in TPO, but maybe he just meant every moment in history in the future of where and when he and the Alliance currently were in that episode....maybe, I don't know. Why do people forget the things absorbed by the Crack afterwards? I don't know; perhaps it's linked somehow to the Silent's natural ability to cloud people's memories of them when they're not directly observing them, or perhaps it's just how the Cracks work. I realise my ideas aren't particularly popular, and no doubt a number of people will probably poo-poo them. But I'm a naturally logical person, and so like things to have logical explanations. Besides, it's inconsistent with how paradoxes work elsewhere in the mythos: When Rose Tyler saves her father's life in FD and distorts the timestream, the Reapers manifest to sterilise the breakdown. And when River Song doesn't kill the Doctor when she's supposed to in TWORS, all of history breaks down into a chaotic jumble. Thanks for reading. 82.2.136.93 15:08, November 5, 2011 (UTC) That's because it was stated, repeatedly, that things that were swallowed by the cracks never existed. We even see directly this is the case in The Big Bang, remember the cracks are pre/after-shock to the TARDIS exploding, and at the moment it does explode it erases most of the universe from ever existing like the cracks did it was the source of the cracks. Also I've mentioned before comparing the workings of the cracks to other paradoxes in the series is mostly useless because you have to look at circumstances: When Rose summoned the Reapers that was because of a simple paradox and the universe being slightly damaged, like cutting a finger. When the TARDIS exploded it was more like being hit by a truck, the universe was being blown away, all of it, regardless of position on the timeline because everything ever was ceasing to have ever existed in the first place. This is how we know the cracks do what it is said they do because they are part of that explosion. The Light6 talk to me 02:35, November 6, 2011 (UTC)
 * "A lot of people seem to think that once eaten by the Crack, things LITERALLY never existed at any point in the timeline"


 * But then you have to jump through hoops to explain how, if the Weeping Angels never existed, the Byzantium still crashed. How the Doctor survived getting shot at if Rory never existed. If Amy's parents never existed, where did Amy come from? If the Cyberarmy in AOG/DD never existed (as can be inferred from recent episodes), how did Torchwood 1 still fall? If the Dalek army in TSE/JE never existed, how did Harriet Jones die, and how did Donna end up being half-Time Lord? Etc, etc. 82.2.136.93 10:58, November 6, 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes you do, but those are the same loops you have to jump through to explain how anything in The Big Bang happened. Remember after the TARDIS exploded nothing had ever happened ever, except for the rapidly erasing history of Earth. If no stars ever existed, how did all the Hydrogen become the heavier atoms needed to form earth and the life that in habits it? Many alien races over the history of the show have been shown to have important parts in the history of earth and humanity, how was humanity still close to where it was in The Big Bang if none of those races ever existed? Here's the thing, as appealing as it is try to hop around the issue to avoid the hoops, the fact is that they are there and the only way to explain it is to hop through those hoops. The Light6 talk to me 11:45, November 6, 2011 (UTC)

Well, I think what 82 is trying to argue is that the stars and hydrogen and everything else still existed before 101 CE, but it was after that point that every moment in history ceased to exist. I suppose that could explain where the legends of stars came from, but that theory also goes against every line of dialogue that has ever been utterred about the cracks. For one thing, that would mean that the Doctor co;uld use his vortex manipulator to travel to the year 100, and everything would be fine. THe implication of the episode was clearly that there was no universe anywhere or anywhen. The Doctor always says that people will have never existed, so when people are sucked up by the cracks they never existed. Simple as that.Icecreamdif talk to me 19:17, November 6, 2011 (UTC)

Well in that case, when it comes to stuff like Amy's continued existence without ever having had any parents, the Byzantium still crashing, the existence of CyberLisa in TW Cyberwoman, and what killed Harriet Jones, etc, etc....there is no rational explanation. They just happen, even though they make absolutely no sense as the things which cause them never exist. It just bugs me. 82.2.136.93 16:58, November 7, 2011 (UTC)

It just bugs a lot of people. The existence of this discussion is evidence of that! --2.101.57.89 22:21, November 7, 2011 (UTC)

It bugs me that I don't understand everything about everything. It makes me feel less than omniscient. But I'm starting to come to terms with it. Boblipton talk to me 22:32, November 7, 2011 (UTC)

It's probably beyond human understanding. None of us have the same natural understanding of time as the Time Lords.Icecreamdif talk to me 22:55, November 7, 2011 (UTC)

There's no way to rationalise what happens with the Cracks because the writers didn't really think that far ahead when they first came up with the concept. They just thought it sounded cool, and so did it. They probably didn't reckon on people such as myself noticing the inherant flaws in their storylines. As a result, we have a totally stupid concept that cannot be resolved. 194.168.208.42 15:30, November 25, 2011 (UTC)

194.168.208.42: It must be expensive having to have doorways widened so you can get your head through them. --78.146.182.86 22:33, November 25, 2011 (UTC)

Well, first let's ignore the flaws within Series 4, since the entire series 4 is showing time in the process of being erased and the reprecussions/reactions have not gone in effect. Now the question is things like Byzantium and Cybermen invasions, we know that Byzantium still crashed but we don't know if the weeping angels were still erased in the new timeline, and we don't know if the Cybermen invasions are still erased either. I would be hesitant to say that there are flaws but more like we are uncertain about what happened and what didn't. --222.166.181.35 23:38, November 25, 2011 (UTC)

i agree that the timey wimeyness of the cracks might not have been thought about as much as we would have liked, but they suited the narative purpose at the time and i doubt the writers were expecting us fans to analyse them as much as we have. however, i dissagree with 194 that "They just thought it sounded cool, and so did it". they put the cracks in to suit a specific narative purpose: to return modern day earth in the whoniverse to a state in which it is more like modern day earth in our universe, as well as provide a theme to arch through the series similar to bad wolf, torchwood and mr saxon, only less subtle. the aim was well thought out, only the path to get to that aim could have been better thought through and/or explained better. however, now the writers are facing the consequences of that badly defined path with us posing questons like that which is the topic of our conversation. so, basically, i think the cracks were ok at the time, but now that the confusion has been revealed, the writers should include something to further explain and clarify the way and extent of the way the cracks erase objects or events from time itself while leaving there consequences. Imamadmad talk to me 23:57, November 25, 2011 (UTC)

I agree with Imamadmad. 82.2.136.93 10:57, November 26, 2011 (UTC)

So do I -- and since the writers have been consistent about the effects of the cracks (consequences persist, etc.), they only have one set of effects to explain. --89.240.248.158 13:42, November 26, 2011 (UTC)

The Angels in TTOA/F&S were still erased, otherwise they would've killed the Doctor, Amy and River. Honestly, the whole thing is a monstrous pile of nonsense. Trying to get rid of all those alien attacks from Series 1 to 4 like this was a bad idea, because too many stories from those series were dependant on them. Without the Racnoss, how did Donna meet the Doctor? Without the Judoon, how did Martha meet the Doctor? Without the Cybermen, how did Rose get trapped in a parallel universe and Ianto's girlfriend Lisa get Cyberised? Without the Daleks, how did Donna become half-Time Lord and how did Mickey end up back on his own Earth? If the best explanation the writers can come up with is "Consequences still remain", I'm sorry, but that's a pretty poor explanation. 82.2.136.93 10:48, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

82.2.136.93, 'If the best explanation the writers can come up with is "Consequences still remain", I'm sorry, but that's a pretty poor explanation': It would be a poor explanation if it were an explanation but it isn't -- from an in-universe point of view, it's an effect that has not (yet) been explained. No definitive full explanation has been given, so far. Not too long ago, the notion that electrons (say) could behave sometimes as particles and sometimes as waves was regarded as "a monstrous pile of nonsense". Despite that, the machines we're using to conduct this discussion only work because the damned things do behave that way! I grant you that the writers have given themselves a difficult task in devising a satisfactory full explanation of the phenomena they've presented to us and I hope that the eventual explanation will (a) be devised with rather less delay than quantum theory was and (b) be somewhat easier to understand. Nevertheless, you ought to bear in mind that "I don't understand how it can be that way" is not the same as "It cannot be that way". If you dislike the situation the writers have created, that's fair enough -- and you're far from alone in disliking it. Please try, though, not to confuse a description of what happens, which "consequences still remain" is, with an explanation of what happens, which "consequences still remain" is not and is not intended to be. --78.146.181.237 14:30, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

Well said. Boblipton talk to me 14:39, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

I do agree with most people here and think that Steven Moffat is terrible with this new time-can-be-rewritten system he created. This is most evidenced in A Christmas Carol which I think makes no sense whatsoever seeing how Moffat made it explicit that the Doctor made Kazran the bitter man he is yet also showing a version of Kazran without the history with the Doctor also being the bitter man he is.

However, I believe a plausible explanation for the original question -- and I doubt it is the intention of Moffat -- is that a timeline is a tightly knitted system with each point building on another. Let's call the pre-Big Bang timeline Pt and the post-Big Bang timeline Pst. Assume the Pt is deleted and erased completely by the cracks. A point, Amy Pond, from Pt is copied or moved to Pst, and because of the existence of Amy Pond on Pst, the people associated with this state of Amy Pond must also exist on Pst, thus we have her parents and Rory and other people who shaped her and in turn, the people who shaped these people, and eventually the formation of Earth and Racnoss, and the other aliens associated with Racnoss and so on and so forth, and also the consequences of these, but the catch is only those that are related to the existence would be a part of the timeline, and certain details from Pt may be missed without affecting Pst. For whatever odd reason, the Doctor, which is so crucial to Amy's development since childhood, is not crucial in the timeline, however if Amy remembers him (not imagines him, but remembers him) then his existence would be undeniable.

The problem is of course why the Doctor is not crucial to Pst. There are some possible clues which does not fully resolve the issue:


 * 1) most of the adventures with Amy can be effectively nullified because the time from the Doctor's third visit to Amy's wedding is either one night or even shorter or even none. elimination of the Doctor's third visit has very little effect on Amy's timeline


 * 1) The Doctor appeared to Amy after the cracks appear and Amy's parents are erased and thus the Doctor's existence contradicts with her parents' existence. So if Amy doesn't remember or doesn't believe to remember the Doctor, a natural uncontradicting timeline would exclude him.
 * 2) To Amy, everything concerning the cracks have to do with the Doctor, thus no cracks, no Doctor.

{C --222.166.181.192 19:31, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

Personally, I've always felt that chucking out so many elements of the past few series is deteriorating to the characters' backstories. It's like having a 100 page book and then ripping out the first 50 pages, and then reading it expecting everything to make sense. It simply doesn't work. 82.2.136.93 19:16, November 28, 2011 (UTC)

"It would be a poor explanation if it were an explanation but is isn't - it's an effect that has not (yet) been explained." Somehow, I can't see the writers explaining this conundrum any time in the foreseeable future, can you? It's most likely going to remain a huge narrative nightmare. 82.2.136.93 19:21, November 28, 2011 (UTC)

Actually, 82, that's just how Roger Zelazny turned out all those classic novellas. Left all the backstory alone and told what was happening at the moment. Boblipton talk to me 19:25, November 28, 2011 (UTC)

Except they haven't left the backstories alone. They're ripped big chunks of them out so that their lives don't make sense. Now Ianto's girlfriend is Cyberised for no reason, Harriet Jones dies for no reason, and the Byzantium crashed for no reason. This is not good story-telling. 82.2.136.93 22:03, November 28, 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, 82, these things didn't happen for no reason. We, the audience, were told what the reasons were. We have also been told why, to some characters within the story, these things might seem to have no reasons. It's the characters' pasts that have been affected, not ours. You're right, however, that there's a (potential) problem with the backstories -- it's just not that problem. The golden anniversary is only 2 years away. It's very likely that recent (i.e., revived series) former companions will return and that means the writer(s) involved will need to know what those characters' backstories now are, so far as the characters themselves know. --89.241.76.22 22:43, November 28, 2011 (UTC)

i think of the cracks this way if you were to write out a essay in pencil and then i came along with a rubber and rubbed out the intro or any part it would not make much sense just as the cracks dont make any sense (e.g. hello how are you my name is whooligist i live on skaro and so am likey to die soon becomes hello i whooligist i live to die soon) this sentense makes a sort of sense but seems a bit odd and that is probably what it was like with the cracks or its like saying "hitler was bad becuse he did stuff....." it just does not fit and that is the whole point the silence are a bunch of strange beins that are kinda like suicidal bombers and must find it funny but bake to the main question if the docter never existed time would compencate for instace the duck pond with no ducks why? becuse time just contiues as it would of forgeting those details (e.g. this is a duck pond becuse it has ... in it or the daleks got blown up becuse ... did it or iantos girlfriend is cyberised becuse ....) these thing just happen and yet enother example j.k rowling erased but harry potter still writen but with no writer "harry potter and the deathly hallows by ...." now you guys are probably sick of my examples so i will shut up and see what you think Whooligist talk to me 22:55, November 28, 2011 (UTC)

Despite the catastrophic spelling, I think I follow what you're saying and, to the characters within the story, it must be rather like that. To the audience (us), it isn't. We know there were reasons for the events and we know what the reasons were. We also know why the characters don't know the reasons. The logic is defensible, as I've said (or tried to say) above. On the other hand, Steven Moffat is only justified in revising the backstory as he has if he gives us really good stories which depend on the revisions -- stories he couldn't otherwise tell. So far, I don't think he has. Series 5 was about how the revisions happened and was pretty good. Series 6, however, did not give us any stories that needed those revisions. Everything in Series 6 would have worked more-or-less the same if there had never been any cracks and the universe had never been rebooted. Series 6 was also a curate's egg -- good in parts. What it was not was a sufficient reward to the audience for the mental gymnastics involved in following how we got where we did get. Russell T. Davies made a very drastic change from the 20th-century run of the show by getting rid of the Time Lords and Gallifrey. He also gave us some superb stories that depended directly upon that change, as well as showing us in more low-key ways how it had affected the Doctor. He made a big change and then used that change well. To date, Steven Moffat has made a big change and then not really used it at all. I don't quarrel with the logic of the change or with how it was presented in Series 5; I do quarrel with the failure to capitalise on it. --89.241.76.22 00:06, November 29, 2011 (UTC)

While I don't disagree with any particular statement you have made -- chacun a son gout -- I think that Moffatt has made the changes known gradually rather than all at once to ease us into this new Whoniverse. He believes -- as do I -- that the Doctor needs a bit of mystery to keep the backstory interesting, and this new universe is interesting. Notice how Davies spent season one revealing the Doctor to us, including the final mystery when the Ninth Doctor regenerates; only the question of the details of the Doctor's motives for destroyin Gallfrey were left for his last story. With that, everything is gone and a reset was needed. Although there are undeniably issues for the fanatic -- and all of us here are fanatics -- in terms of continuity -- after all, we've spent a lot of time and effort understanding what was going on and it feels frustrating to be plunged back into the darkness -- the Doctor, after two seasons of Moffat's helming, is again a madman in a box with only hints to keep us interesting. It's hard on us, admittedly, but the show needs the madman in the box with the occasional revelation.... and that's what we've got. Would a clean reboot have been any more acceptable? I think not. This is a compromise. Like all compromises, it really satisfies no one, but it is necessary. Boblipton talk to me 02:44, November 29, 2011 (UTC)

Please note that I did say "So far" and "To date". I recognise that Moffat may (and I hope he will) capitalise on the reboot eventually; I just wish he'd already started doing so. It is too soon to say with any certainty that he's taken a wrong turn but, unfortunately, we can't yet say with any certainty that he hasn't. I suppose my message to him would be: "Judgement suspended -- but please get a move on!" -- (formerly 89.241.76.22) 89.240.255.181 08:55, November 29, 2011 (UTC)

If a person existed without ever having had any parents, other people wouldn't just ignore it. And if characters' pasts are changed, well, that basically renders a lot of those earlier, pre-Crack stories worthless, doesn't it? And I still want to know who Cyberised Lisa, and who killed Harriet Jones and all those other people in TSE/JE, and why River was sent to the Byzantium if there were never any Angels in TTOA/F&S. On the other hand, a part of me realises that I'm most likely not going to get answers to these questions, because there aren't any. Unless, of course, things eaten by the Crack only disappear from peoples' memories, rather than physical existence itself, but that theory is too unpopular. 82.2.136.93 15:05, November 29, 2011 (UTC)

What does Lisa have to do with anything? The erased events may or may not have been restored, but why should we make things even more complicated by randomly guessing at events that may or may not have been erased? The Stolen Earth/Journey's End was at least partially erased, for a time, and The Next Doctor was erased. Apart from that, there is no reason to believe that any episodes from the RTD era were erased. Sure, Amy didn't recognize the Daleks or Cybermen, but neither did Donna. Amy lives in the middle of nowhere, and it is likely that the she completely missed that invasion, just like Donna did. We know from Miracle Day that not all of the major invasions were erased, since the 456 invasion still happenned, and we know from Children of Earth that half the world still didn't believe in aliens even after the Daleks moved the planet. As for the events that we know were erased, Harriet Jones may not have been killed by the Daleks, but she still died. It's the same reason that Amy was still alive when her parents never existed. The cracks clearly do cause people to ignore indescrepencies like this. Icecreamdif talk to me 00:25, December 2, 2011 (UTC)

We got pretty much to this point on October 20, 2011 and, as pointed out then, people don't just ignore the discrepancies, they resist having their attention drawn to them. It isn't just a passive failure to notice; it's an active refusal to do so. There is something about the cracks that give people a real aversion to engaging with the discrepancies. I don't want to repeat everything that was written in October but it'd be worth scrolling up and re-reading it. --2.101.55.167 01:16, December 2, 2011 (UTC)

This whole argument is really going in circles. People who don't like the premise of the cracks are just complaining about them by pointing out seeming-plot holes, despite the fact that they have been explained in the show. I personally agree that it was dumb to erase any major events from the past few seasons, but within the story it does make sense, even if it is pretty dumb. Apart from the references to the past seasons, though, the cracks were actually a pretty good plot arc.Icecreamdif talk to me 03:23, December 2, 2011 (UTC)

With respect, Icecreamdif, Donna's ignorance of the Daleks is slightly more reasonable, seeing as how their only appearance in large numbers prior to that point was only in one location, specifically Canary Wharf, and they weren't really around long enough for people to get a really good look at them. The Dalek attack in TSE/JE is something that would be absolutely impossible for anyone anywhere in the world to not know about, and would be irrefutable proof of the existence of alien life. And Cybermen were popping up in virtually every home a couple years ago, so I find it odd that Craig shows no recognition when he sees them in Closing Time. 82.2.136.93 21:29, December 3, 2011 (UTC)

So you don't like it? Boblipton talk to me 00:28, December 4, 2011 (UTC)

Those were completely different Cybermen that were showing up back then though. They weren't even from the same universe. Presumably Craig thought "Oh wait, are those those robot things that pretended to be ghosts? No, they don't have the 'C' logo." Anyway, I think that we have already established that the 2009 Dalek invasion had at the very least been erased during the events of Victory of the Daleks. I never suggested otherwise, but that's not really what we're talking about right now. Cybermen weren't popping up in every home. I think it was really just the area around Canary Wharf-it was definetly either that or in the big cities. Either way, they weren't in every home, just a lot of homes. And that was drugs in the water supply anyway. Icecreamdif talk to me 07:26, December 4, 2011 (UTC)

"I think it was really just the area around Canary Wharf": The Taj Mahal isn't anywhere near Canary Wharf. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday made it extremely clear that the invasion was thoroughly worldwide. It was the Daleks who were only in (or, rather, above) London. As the Doctor said to Donna, "There were Cybermen in Spain, too."

"Presumably Craig thought ..." etc.: That's just silly! The "C" logo isn't that prominent and, anyway, it isn't what Craig (or anyone else) would most notice. The only people who'd pay attention to the "C" logo would be people who already knew about there being Cybermen from different universes and who were checking which lot they were dealing with. Apart from the logo, the two lots of Cybermen look identical. --89.241.68.26 19:23, December 4, 2011 (UTC)

Exactly. A good indication, IMO, that the Cyber-army in AOG/DD was unwritten from time. This does, of course, beg the question of how certain things that happened because of it could still occur, e.g. the fall of Torchwood 1, Lisa getting Cyberised, Rose getting stuck in a parallel universe, etc. 82.2.136.93 21:04, December 4, 2011 (UTC)

And actually, it bears mentioning here that regarding Amy, she clearly did retain some knowledge of her parents when she first met the Doctor, as she told him that her mother used to carve smiling faces into apples. How could this be, when in all other instances she had no memories of her parents at all, like the Daleks? 82.2.136.93 21:07, December 4, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I realize that sarcasm doesn't translate to well through the internet, but I was joking about the Cybus logo. Anyawy, there were Cybermen all over the world, but were they actually going into houses and stuff everywhere, or were they just trying to upgrade people faster around Canary Wharf to deal with the Daleks? I haven't seen those episodes in a while. Anyway, if Donna was able to simply miss the Cyber-invasion, then there is no reason that Craig couldn't miss it. Besides, the entire invasion was just a hallucination brought about by drugs in the water. It is a bit weird that Amy was able to remember that her mom carved faces in the apples. It's probably the same as how she could sort of remember Rory after he was erased. She had probably seen an apple with a face carved in it lying around her house, knew that she should have a mom, and assumed that her mom carved the face in the apple. She was too distracted by the mad man in her house to realize that she couldn't remember any other details about her mom.Icecreamdif talk to me 22:59, December 4, 2011 (UTC)

Some people around here think that the Time Field had the additional ability to make people angry. I think it was just due to pure human cussedness. Look at the way people around here whine because they don't understand this and don't understand that and stamp their widdle footses. I think that Amy's memory of her parents is in bits and pieces that don't quite fit together, like her mum carved faces into apples to make her enjoy them. Peoploe disappear but leave bits behind, like a diamond ring. But if you ask her a straight-up question, the chances are she won't remember it and the normal human reaction to that is that there is a moral failure.... and in order not to feel bad, it has to be someone else's fault. You get angry. Daleks? Pfui. Mum and dad? Now, that's important. Boblipton talk to me 01:08, December 5, 2011 (UTC)

Donna missed the Cyber-invasion because she was scuba diving at the time. She may not actually have been in Spain so much as at sea off Spain. Boblipton's point about anger may well be true but rather irrelevant. The important point is that people are averse to having the inconsistencies pointed out. The angry reaction may indeed be the normal human reaction to someone trying to make them think about something they don't want to think about. Humans do react that way -- but only if they have some kind of emotional investment in the issue. The effect of the cracks seems to be to give people a personal aversion to thinking about the inconsistencies and the anger follows from that. --89.241.79.130 18:51, December 5, 2011 (UTC)

It isn't really too much of a stretch to say that Amy, Rory, and Craig all missed the Cyber-invasion. They would all have been aware of the ghosts, but I doubt that there were too many ghosts or Cybermen in Leadworth. Maybe there was one, but I doubt that the Cybermen would really bother with such a small town. There's a good chance that Craig was just sitting on his couch through the whole invasion, and the Cybermen couldn't possibly have gone into every house in the world.Icecreamdif talk to me 00:35, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

well, the ghosts were everywhere. remember the ghost forecast instead of a weather forcast? and there were more ghosts than usual when they turned into cybermen, increasing the chance of people seeing them. and it would have been talked about afterwards, at least until the published the story about drugs in the water suppply. also, the doctor seemed truly surprised when donna didn't recognise the cyermen or daleks when she explained she had been scuba diving in spain, meaning that unless your have your head in the sand (or underwater), you would know about the cybermen. and even with the drugs explanation, if craig recognised the cybermen from that incident, he would have freaked out, especially after the ignoring that major event only a few years before which was dismissed byeveryone as being hallucinations. i must add here, they should have made the difference between the cybermen more clear as when i first watched series 5 i din't know about the mondas cybermen and was confused as to why it went arround the head rather than being a brain transplant as in series 1-4, and i would have been even more confused about craigs cyberconversion if i hadn't known about the switch to the modas type before that episode. just saying, the difference between types has to be made more clear, especially after the doctor in the episode dalek mentioned something about the cybermen not being arround anymore while looking at a true mondas cyberman's head (as in the ones from the classic series). if they wanted to change cyber-species, they should have changed their apearance more than just removing the C and i think they should have looked like the ones from the 70s/80s to make the difference more obvious. Imamadmad talk to me 05:53, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

Look, if the writers want to say that the Dalek and Cyberman invasions never happened, fine. But for the benefit of those of us who became emotionally invested in those earlier stories, they should have the sense to explain stuff like Rose still being trapped in another universe, Harriet Jones giving her life to save the world, and Donna being half-Time Lord, etc. Then there's more recent stuff like Amy's continued existence when her parents never existed at all, and the Byzantium still crashing when there were never any Weeping Angels to cause it to crash. 82.2.136.93 16:53, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

Me, I want to know who won the seventh race at Belmont last month. Boblipton talk to me 19:19, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

I never suggested that Craig, Amy, and Rory didn't know about the ghosts. However, given where they were it is likely that to them the ghosts were really more of something that was going on around the world that didn't effect them personally. The fact that they did have shows that were trying to predict where ghosts would appear proves that there must have been at least some kind of vague pattern to their appearances-like that they are more likely to appear in big cities than small towns. There simply weren't enough Cybermen for them to be everywhere. And, of course the Doctor was surprised that Donna didn't know about the Cyber-invasion. The Doctor was right at the center of it, and it was a pretty important part of his recent life. It hadn't even occured to him that some humans might not really know much about it. The fact that people like Rhys actually believed the story about drugs in the water supply suggests that there was little or no video footage of the Cybermen, and what footage there was was erased by UNIT, Torchwood 3, Mr. Smith, or some other entity. Therefore, unless Craig, Amy, and Rory actually saw Cybermen, the news story they just heard would be something like "Drugs in the water supply have caused millions of people to hallucinate seeing a robot attack." Craig would have no reason to believe that the Cybermen were the same robots that people hallucinated about a few years ago. I do agree with Imamadmad that the real-universe Cybermen should have gotten some kind of redesign upon their return so that they weren't identical to the Pete's World ones. I don't remember the Doctor actually saying that the real Cybermen were extinct, but it still doesn't really make sense that they look identical to the Cybusmen. In the classic series, the Cyber-conversion process wasn't exactly like the one shown in Closing Time. If anything, it was more like the one seen in Cyberwomen, but we rarely saw a full conversion on screen in the Classic Series. Anyway, I guess they just didn't have enough money to give the Cybermen a full redesign. It's too bad- in-universe, redesigning the Cybermen would have made more sense than redesigning the Silurians, and it would have made much more sense than redesigning the Daleks in any universe. Actually, after seeing what the current production team did to the Daleks, maybe it's best that they just leave the Cybermen alone, before we get plastic technicolor Cybermen. 82, the stories that focus on the cracks have made it perfectly clear that the cracks don't erase every effect that the erased person has ever had on the universe. The Doctor delivered a whole speech about that to Amy when she was starting to recognize her engagement ring.Icecreamdif talk to me 20:30, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

Yes, but that still leaves us with Harriet Jones and all those other people in STE/JE being killed by nothing, Amy just popping out of nowhere one day, the crew of the Byzantium and the Clerics being stalked and killed by nothing, and nothing deflecting the Silurian's blaster bolt at the Doctor in THE/CD. And correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Craig live in the vicinity of London? 82.2.136.93 22:51, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

It also leaves us with Amy having a picture of a man who never existed dressed like a Roman, and an engagement ring given to her by noone. It has been pretty well established that the cracks leave paradoxes behind when they erase things. The Cybermen couldn't possibly have gone into every home in London. They probably picked at random, possibly based on how many people were inside for them to upgrade. Craig was probably just sitting on his couch at the time, and didn't happen to see any Cybermen. Even if the battle was going on outside his house, anyone with any sense would stay inside upon hearing explosions outside. Still, the Cybermen weren't everywhere, even in the London area, so the battle probably just wasn't going on in Aickman Road. There is a reason that it's called The Battle of Canary Wharf, and not The Battle of the London Area.Icecreamdif talk to me 23:37, December 6, 2011 (UTC)

In Craig's case he saw the cyberman from the distance in a darkened corridor and even if he did see the cybermen during Army of Ghosts/Doomsday he may not have realised it was the same thing.--82.11.57.232 19:44, December 7, 2011 (UTC)

I want the Cybus army to still have been involved in the Battle of Canary Wharf, and for the Daleks to still have invaded Earth in TSE/JE, because I don't like the thought of those stories being belittled by having key components removed from them. 82.2.136.93 23:04, December 7, 2011 (UTC)

You're not alone. Still, the only episodes that have definetly been erased are The Stolen Earth/Journey's End and The Next Doctor, and there's still a good chance that they were unerased after Big Bang 2.Icecreamdif talk to me 23:09, December 7, 2011 (UTC)

Nah, it's nice to know you feel the same way, Icecreamdif, but I think we have to accept that TSE/JE and TND were left erased after Big Bang 2, just like the Weeping Angels in TTOA/F&S were still erased. Unfortunately, this and other effects of the Cracks results in us twisting our brains apart trying to figure out how things make sense. 82.2.136.93 11:10, December 9, 2011 (UTC)

Or a very extremely farfetched possible theory is that the TARDIS is not exactly a time-travelling machine as we perceive it, but more of a possibility travelling machine. Basically, it doesn't just travel on one timeline, and time is not just a single 1-dimensional line. The TARDIS at intersection points on time can travel to an alternate timeline, but once it is on the timeline, all timelines in the exact relative distance would no longer be viable travelling destinations forever, except those that it have travelled. In other words, it's not that reality and history contradicts itself, it's the Doctor can only be present in sections of certain seperate timelines, and these timelines, despite contradicting each others, are perfectly logical on their own.

In A Christmas Carol, it is very clear that Pre-Intervened present Kazran and Post-Intervened present Kazran are on two different timelines (one remembers the Doctor, and one doesn't, despite both being the cold-hearted old man). The TARDIS clearly hopped between timelines, but it is only able to travel to post-intervention timeline after the Doctor intervened and not the future of the other one.

In other word, the "time can be rewritten" thing probably works like this, let's take Father's Day for a hypothetical example, assuming the TARDIS would not be nullified and still works:
 * 1) Before the Doctor meets Rose, he can only travel to a past, present, future where he and Rose didn't go back and intervened Pete's death, and also ones where they did but once he went to one, he couldn't travel to the other unless he travelled back to the event of the intervention (the pivotal point in time).
 * 2) After Rose intervened and before the Reapers fixed anything, and assuming the TARDIS still worked, the Doctor and Rose could travel to a past where they didn't intervene Pete's death, the point of intervention, and a future where the intervention occured, but not the present where they didn't intervene
 * 3) After the Reapers fixed time, the Doctor could only travel to past (identical for intervened or non-intervened), present (intervened), future (intervened but fixed)

So the Doctor in this hypothetical situation could very well have been to both futures in this theory. The possible reason why this didn't happen or wasn't known pre-Series 5 might be that throughout the old Seasons (and arguably until Series 4), the Timelord was still in influence. With renegade Timelords and Timelords observing different sections of time, and the pre-requisite opened possibility of the Doctor being able to travel to pivotal points in time in Gallifrey (on which timetravel was not allowed, meaning its timelines would be very limited comparing to other sections of time), and the inevitable use of timelink until the sacrifice of the Master in Series 4, limited the possibilties that the Doctor could travel to. --222.166.181.200 14:53, December 9, 2011 (UTC)

So Steven Moffat's invention of the Cracks was to get rid of all the big alien invasions from the last four series, and make the Doctor's Earth more like the real world? Sorry, but I think this is a fool's errand. Even after the Cracks, there are still plenty of things happening in the Whoniverse that clearly mark its Earth as different to our Earth. Take Miracle Day, when no one in the world could die for a while, a gigantic media event that could not be ignored by anybody. 82.2.136.93 12:39, December 11, 2011 (UTC)

It's not a "fool's errand" if its objective is limited to removing public knowledge of aliens. The Miracle doesn't interfere with that. --78.146.185.202 19:19, December 11, 2011 (UTC)

Even removing those invasions, nothing has changed. Plenty of people believe in aliens and plenty of people don't. The world was like that both before and after the new series began.Icecreamdif talk to me 02:11, December 12, 2011 (UTC)

Just a question, has it even been explicitly shown that "Torchwood" series is still on the same timeline as "Doctor Who" after Big Bang 2? If not, then I think it may be a quite an assumption to assume that Miracle Day is on the timeline after Big Bang 2. It could theoretically be the supposing future on the timeline in which BB2 has not occurred, just like how Starship UK, etc all occur in the future after BB2. I am somewhat doubtful the three shows are still on the same timeline now, and it might have been the real intention of Moffat. --222.166.181.144 12:26, December 12, 2011 (UTC)

I never got that impression. Besides, I think RTD and Moffat would want to keep the shows in the same continuum to allow for possible future crossovers. SJA Series 4 and 5 occur after BB2, as in Death of the Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor turns up and mentions Amy and Rory as being on their honeymoon. 82.2.136.93 20:21, December 12, 2011 (UTC)

A split-timeline doesn't really work here. Big Bang 2 isn't just a case of somebody going back in time and changing history. The original universe was completely destroyed. Nothing is happenning, has happenned, or ever will happen in that universe. However, by causing Big Bang 2, the Doctor replaced that universe with a new, identical, universe, that is exactly the same as the old universe. Doctor Who and Torchwood are, and always will be, set in the same universe.Icecreamdif talk to me 20:40, December 12, 2011 (UTC)

The out-of-universe evidence is that they're intended to be set in the same universe. Moffat and Davies have said that they checked with each other so they could avoid introducing incompatibilities. Of course, it's always open to us to argue about how well they managed to avoid introducing incompatibilities. (I assume that they included SJA in their consultations, since Elisabeth Sladen's illness wasn't known about until very late in the production process.) --89.242.75.216 00:11, December 13, 2011 (UTC)

They weren't really incompatible. It would have been nice if Moffat had put a couple of references to the miracle in Doctor Who, but I don't think that any of the Earth-based episodes of Doctor Who took place during the miracle anyway, so it is perfectly believable that it just never came up in conversation. Were any dates ever given in Miracle Day?Icecreamdif talk to me 01:55, December 13, 2011 (UTC)

There's a discussion of the dating elsewhere on this site and the conclusion reached was, as far as I recall, that the Earth-based scenes in Doctor Who were all set before the Miracle started. I can't remember what the topic was, however, and it'll have been archived by now. --89.242.75.216 03:13, December 13, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I was probably part of that conversation, but I don't really remember how it went. If all of Doctor Who season 6 was before the miracle though, then it all works.Icecreamdif talk to me 03:40, December 13, 2011 (UTC)

You were part of that conversation. I remember you being there, even if you don't. And, as you say, as long as everything on contemporary (or near-contemporary) Earth in Series 6 was before the Miracle started, it all works. The Christmas Special, this year, is reportedly set during World War II, so there presumably won't be references to the Miracle in it. There ought to be in Series 7, however, unless it avoids contemporary Earth. Anything set substantially in the future might omit mention of it simply because it wasn't relevant to what was happening then. The Vietnam war, say, was a big historical event and most people know about it (although not necessarily very accurately) but it doesn't crop up in conversation every five minutes. --89.241.71.13 16:01, December 13, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I found that conversation in the archives, and now I remember it. I'm sure that there will be some modern-day Earth episodes next season. There have been in every season of the new series, under both RTD and Moffat. It would definetly be a nice continuity reference if they mentioned the Miracle, but I wouldn't be surprised if they just ignored it. Moffat isn't going to want to spend time on Doctor Who showing the world recovering from a depression that was depicted in Torchwood, so we will probably just have to assume that things went back to normal after the miracle ended. The best way to plausibly avoid miracle references would probably be to do another year skip, but I don't think that anyone wants to go through that headache again. Besides, there were no signs of a depression in Fear Her or Dalek. Anyway, I wouldn't mind seeing the Doctor's next companion being either an alien or a human from some other point in history. Then the Doctor can visit his new companions home planet and era all the time instead of 21st century Earth. In the past, we have never gotten to see his alien companions' planets more than once (although that makes sense for Adric and Nyssa).Icecreamdif talk to me 17:38, December 13, 2011 (UTC)

We got to see Romana's home planet a few times! Admittedly, we never saw her there. On your general point, I agree it'd be good to have an alien companion and/or a human from another era -- although I suppose Jack Harkness is technically a human from another era and River might count as one, as well. With advances in makeup techniques, etc., a clearly nonhuman companion could now be done better than it could have in the 1963-89 run of the show. If Neve McIntosh would put up with it, we could have a Silurian companion -- but she may be getting tired of wearing green latex faces. (Come to think of it, if Moffat gets tired of Sherlock, he could do a Victorian-era Doctor Who spin-off featuring Madame Vastra and Jenny.) A cat-person might work, too. This, though, is getting off-topic. --89.240.245.151 22:04, December 13, 2011 (UTC)