Doctor Who. Official!

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

Time travel isn't limited to Time Lords. The Daleks and probably Cybermen and Sontarans can do it (they were able to get to Iron Age Britain after all), there's loads of Time Agency stuff floating around (thats how the Family of Blood managed it) or you could just make your own, something an organisation like theirs wouldn't have trouble with I'd imagine

[Jean Valjean]

I guess it's just that as a viewer of the new series I've never really been clear on how common time-travel is. And yeah, I noticed how a ton of the Doctor's defeated enemies appeared in Iron Age Britain and wondered about that. You'd think that kind of stuff would show up in the plot more.Your Honor,Tyrannosaurus Kraggh

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

I think time travel is fairly common, but everyone has crude versions of it. No-one has anything as advanced as a TARDIS which can just materialise anywhere the heck it wants, they have to make jumps like the Emergency Temporal Shift, or what the Nestene's Shunt Technology sounds like it should be

[BZCoolness]

It's just that it seems they appeared at multiple points in time, from litle Melody Pond appearing in late-sixties America where they presumably dropped her off to reappearing in the future to force River Song into the suite. Then they brought her to present-day Utah. They were all over the place.

*Suit. Anyway, they probably have Vortex Manipulators that they built/stole. I would probably go with the former since the Silents are in charge and they are notorious for interfering with races to build things. It's not like they're going to just sit around in the present day and hope and pray that they can find Melody/River (whichever you prefer), let alone capture her, put her in an orphanage, have her brainwashed, etc.

Plus, asking around might have brought up the Doctor, but at the same time you'll just find out about various diferent individual adventures and you wouldn't know for sure which adventure was where in his personal time-stream. Peole can only reveal so much.

*Different. *People Sorry, I'm picky when it comes to grammar. :PAnyway, given enough information, they could probably piece something together along the lines of 'fixed-point' or 'still point'. It wouldn't be that hard depending on major historical events (e.g.: The World Wars, testing of the atomic bombs, the invention of the wheel, etc.), even for entire civilizations/planets or just for individuals. Not only that, but there's got to be a way to identify still vs. fixed points when you're in the event, right? So they just go back in time to a couple key candidates and identify it from the inside.

[Jean Valjean]

The keyboard I'm typing on doesn't do what I want it to do and I'm used to a computer with spellcheck. Anyway, where did you get that information on the Silence? I don't believe it was ever explicitely explained in the episodes.As for the fixed-point in time thing, I'm not entirely sure about your explanation. Plus, I thought the Doctor could mainly tell which was which because of Time Lord instinct that evolved alongside the Time Vortex.Your Honor,Tyrannosaurus Kraggh

[BZCoolness]

The Silents are confirmed to be the official name of the grey-headed aliens from TIA/DotM/TWoRS. In the season finale, it's confirmed that they are the leaders of the Silence. As for the Vortex Manipulator thing, it's not official, 'tis nothing but a theory. :)For the whole fixed-point-in-time thing, I would think that just simple exposure to the Time Vortex over time would cause someone/something to have the instinct. But that's beside the point, as the Silence probably don't have enough access to the Vortex to evolve in such a manner. They probably have some technology or something that can identify it (e.g.: they type in a historical event, say, the Time War, and the machine responds by telling them it's a fixed point). Keep in mind that these are just theories on my part that could explain it, and the overall confirmed way of knowing all of this is willful suspension of disbelief.

[Tilius]

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Edited April 27, 2021 by Tilius

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

It kind of reminded me of the ship-thing from The Lodger, actually. The interface was very similar.

[Wotz]

The ship from the lodger used similiar technology to the TARDIS to make it Dimensionally Transcendental, but if memory serves it wasn't an actual time machine. The Silence probably just bought a ship of the same type and heavily customised it when trying to make a TARDIS, hence the similiar appearances. Although from a real life perspective, I'm guessing they just used the same props and stuff. It's what they always did in the classic series

[GSR]

Yeah, the Doctor throws back to that when he's in the Silence's ship, if memory serves. Says something like "It's very Ackermann Road."

[Jean Valjean]

Ah yes, I almost completely forgot the role of that ship in the plot because of the way it was discarded by the next episode, overshadowed by the revelation that they had already figured out the Silence existed before the episode started. Anyway, I noticed the similarity, too, and assumed it was the same ship. What with how high-budget Doctor Who's getting, I don't think they reused the same set simply for recycling purposes.And I thought that in that one episode he did encounter a Time-Travelling machine.Your Honor,Tyrannosaurus Kraggh

[Wotz]

I haven't watched it in a while, so you're probably right :PIn which case it's more likely the Silence somehow got the same or a similiar ship.When it comes to the budget, they did the same thing with the Cyberman costumes, as the ones from our universe in Series 6 had the same design (albeit without the Cybus symbol) as the parallel ones to save money. Although apparently the in-story explanation is that the Mondasians or Telosians met them and they merged or whatever, so I guess we'll find out at some point.The BBC's making a lot of cuts at the moment, such as Radio channels, TV programmes and other stuff, so it makes sense that Doctor Who would get a decrease in budget. Still pretty high quality stuff though.

[BZCoolness]

It's just that it seems they appeared at multiple points in time, from litle Melody Pond appearing in late-sixties America where they presumably dropped her off to reappearing in the future to force River Song into the suite. Then they brought her to present-day Utah. They were all over the place.

*Suit.Anyway, they probably have Vortex Manipulators that they built/stole. I would probably go with the former since the Silents are in charge and they are notorious for interfering with races to build things.

*Silence. :biggrin:Anyway, don't the Silence have a TARDIS? Where they all get shot at the end of the Day of the Moon? Actually that was a work-in-progress TARDIS, wasn't it?- Tilius

Nope. It's actually Silents. Remember the quote from Let's Kill Hitler? "The Silence are not a species, they are a religious organization." Yet, in The Wedding of River Song, the Doctor names them the Silents. Since it's kind of confusing to have an organization and a species have the same name (and the plurals would the confusing. Silences?), the plural is Silents and the singular is Silent. I was referring to the species, not the organization.In response to your last question, it was a work-in-progress TARDIS-like vehicle, but I don't think it's likely that they were/are mass-produced. Still, though, that would probably be the best way for them to time travel.

[Kumata]

I thought the work-in-progress TARDIS in Day of the Moon was the one from The Lodger. Watch the episode again. I'm paraphrasing, but The Doctor says "Very Aickmann Road, I've seen one of these before. Abandoned, I wonder why... oh well, guess I'm about to find out." I thought that was the implication there - that after killing all the SIlents the ship (presumably on some automatic system) time-shifted, with just enough juice to end up on top of Craig's flat.

Edited April 21, 2012 by Kumata

[ChocolateFrogs]

--One Silent, many Silence. (Think of the difference between person and people.)--The TARDIS-thing from The Lodger is just like the one from Day of the Moon, they allude, but IIRC not the same one.-CF

Edited April 21, 2012 by ChocolateFrogs

[Kumata]

Oh, thought it was just 'Silence' for the religious organisation (as in, you there are many Silents that are members of The Silence) but I suppose that would be confusing.If you can find anything to support/deny that, then that's fine, but also a shame as I thought that a was a nice bit of timey-wimeyness.

[Jean Valjean]

Well, knowing that they were the same ship would certainly tie together the episodes.Your Honor,Tyrannosaurus Kraggh

[BZCoolness]

It could be the same ship, yes, or it could be two different ships. Who knows?

[Kumata]

Steven Moffat.

[Tilius]

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Edited April 27, 2021 by Tilius

[ChocolateFrogs]

I just rewatched the scene at the end of DotM and The Doctor mentions he's seen something like it before on the street of The Lodger. So it's ambiguous, unless it's been implied/explicitly said by Moffat that it is?Then again, as much as I would like to know the truth, does it matter? I almost like the idea of there being more than one; it makes sense.-CF

[Kumata]

To those of you with a PS3, you will have noticed Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock available on the PS network. Don't waste your money on it. The Adventure Games were better, and at least they were free.

[Ravrahn]

It was confirmed earlier today that Matt Smith will be carrying the Olympic torch. It's a bit disappointing that Tennant probably won't be lighting the flame, but it's pretty awesome that a Doctor will be at least carrying it, I suppose.Hopefully in costume, but that's not confirmed

[Tilius]

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Edited April 27, 2021 by Tilius

[GSR]

It was confirmed earlier today that Matt Smith will be carrying the Olympic torch. It's a bit disappointing that Tennant probably won't be lighting the flame, but it's pretty awesome that a Doctor will be at least carrying it, I suppose.Hopefully in costume, but that's not confirmed

Ha! I'm a little surprised they went through with getting Matt to run part of it, but not too much. Incidentally, did anyone catch him on Top Gear the other night? He drives like a madman, even if he didn't have a box with him.

[ChocolateFrogs]

I'm a little surprised they went through with getting Matt to run part of it, but not too much.Incidentally, did anyone catch him on Top Gear the other night? He drives like a madman, even if he didn't have a box with him.

Well, Matt is a national icon, no? (How's that stuff work in the UK? Doctor Who is the only reason I pay attention to you. Just joshing ya!)Yeah, I caught him on Top Gear the night it aired. That jetpack race was awesome, and Smith's segment was pretty cool, especially the final time! -CF

[Kopekemaster]

Just started watching it. It (sadly) took me 1 week to watch 1 episode. I will hopefully be able to watch more in the future.

[-Toa Lhikevikk-]

Caroline John, the actress who played Liz Shaw, has died.

[Wotz]

Well that's sad :(I wanna say something other than the horribly overused 'RIP', but my mind's gone blank, so RIP.

[GSR]

It's incredibly sad to watch everyone involved in the show's earlier days passing on. I hope Caroline is in a better place now.

[Andrewnuva199]

I dread the day the world loses Tom Baker.

[Visaru]

Hey, I've always wondered something that really annoyed me about the openeing of season 6.How in the world did The Doctor and co. find out about the Silence? Also, I'll say that I did not like Steven Moffat's Doctor Who as much as Davies' Doctor Who. Although Moffat does a lot of cool stuff exploring the nature of Time Travel and all the wierd thigns that happen with it (River Song's storyline comes to mind) I enjoyed Davie's subtle story arcs with well made, interesting and cool larger episodes. When Moffat attempted those more epic storyies, they came off as less cool and more confusing and weird. I didn't like the conclusion of season four very much, or the half way finale of six. My favorite episodes from the Moffat era were written by other writers.That said, Moffat is a very good writer, and his episodes aren't actually that terrible. I just wish they more like Davies' finales.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

That's funny.I've been re-watching from Christopher Eccleston onwards, and the ending of series 3 gave me a new appreciation for Steven Moffat. Davies had a bit of a habit of setting the Doctor up as some kind of space-time messiah.

[Visaru]

...Okay, I admit, the whole Skynet or ArcAngel (or whatever it was called) emotional network that supercharged the Doctor back to normal was a little stupid. But I liked that better than Amy bringing the doctor back to life by remembering him.And season one was actually my least favorite season. Davies' stories certainly improved.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Visaru

[BenLuke]

Davies's finales tended to end in. . . deus ex machina, a lot of the time. Not that they weren't enjoyable, it's just of the endings were basically, "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow"-y stuff that fixes everything. Not that he's a terrible writer or anything, it's just I usually found his conclusions to be a bit lacking, personally.Moffit's stuff isn't free from that either, but that's Doctor Who for you.

[Visaru]

I thought Moffat's plots suffered from far more Deux ex Machina than Davies did. And Davies didn't have a desire to repeatedly kill off main characters. =PAnd since my questionw as overshadowded by my little mini-rant, I'll ask again-Just how did they find out about the Silence? I don't think it was ever explained.

[Enzee]

Hey, I've always wondered something that really annoyed me about the openeing of season 6.How in the world did The Doctor and co. find out about the Silence?

Um... I may be missing something, but at the beginning of Season 6, they didn't know about the silence. At the beginning of the season, they were at a diner and having picnics.

[Wotz]

I prefer Moffat, and have since The Empty Child. He's written some of the best episodes of the new series, and to be honest I don't get why so many people were upset that he replace Davies. This is all my opinion though.

Just how did they find out about the Silence? I don't think it was ever explained.

They realised stuff was happening that they couldn't remember, then some more clues led to the realisation that someone (or thing) was behind it. Then the Doctor came up witht he idea to record stuff with those Nano-whatevers, then they started using tally marks.

[Enzee]

Then the Doctor came up witht he idea to record stuff with those Nano-whatevers, then they started using tally marks.

Wrong order. They started using the tally marks during three-month time skip between episode one and two. Then, after they regrouped and shared all the things they had learned, Then Doctor injected the nanorecorders into their hands.

[Wotz]

Wrong order. They started using the tally marks during three-month time skip between episode one and two. Then, after they regrouped and shared all the things they had learned, Then Doctor injected the nanorecorders into their hands.

The point remains though, they didn't just magically start knowing the Silence (or Silents, just to please everyone because that debate lasted too long ) existed.