Doctor Who IV - Everything Whovian - Would you like a jelly baby?

[Cyke]

I thought he was trapped in the confession dial for many many more years, or did it just seem like that to him or is it something built in it to mess with whomever is in it....?

He really did spend 4.5 billion years in there, it's just that: 1. from the Doctor's perspective it was a single run of a couple days (with no memory at all of the repeats, despite it happening countless times); 2. time flows at a much slower pace in the pocket universe that contains Gallifrey; and 3. the teleporter that kept reconstructing him maintained his age for him.

Let's also remember that it was a Time Lord torture device, essentially, and no one's better at time manipulation than them.

As it is, the ballpark age of 2,000 (give or take a couple centuries?) seems like a safe bet. Billions of years passed by for us the viewer (and for the unbreakable wall, of course), but not for the Doctor himself. The same way how the Eleventh Doctor spent all that time from ancient Rome to modern day in the Pandora's Box but it didn't actually count towards his age because time was frozen (from our perspective).

[Jokerz79]

It's funny to think that the Doctor did one of those runs in the confession dial naked.

[KabutoRyder]

He really did spend 4.5 billion years in there, it's just that: 1. from the Doctor's perspective it was a single run of a couple days (with no memory at all of the repeats, despite it happening countless times); 2. time flows at a much slower pace in the pocket universe that contains Gallifrey; and 3. the teleporter that kept reconstructing him maintained his age for him.

Let's also remember that it was a Time Lord torture device, essentially, and no one's better at time manipulation than them.

As it is, the ballpark age of 2,000 (give or take a couple centuries?) seems like a safe bet. Billions of years passed by for us the viewer (and for the unbreakable wall, of course), but not for the Doctor himself. The same way how the Eleventh Doctor spent all that time from ancient Rome to modern day in the Pandora's Box but it didn't actually count towards his age because time was frozen (from our perspective).

Ah OK.

I thought I wasn't crazy and I indeed heard the 4.5 billion part when watching the episode.

I will see it again. Going to do a rewatch from 9th Doctor one, trying to hit them all before the Christmas special.

[Carabas]

It's funny to think that the Doctor did one of those runs in the confession dial naked.

Billions of years? It's going to be more than one.

[The Whovian]

I thought he was trapped in the confession dial for many many more years, or did it just seem like that to him or is it something built in it to mess with whomever is in it....?

He was in there for 5 billion years. But after each "loop", everything was restarted (except for the wall he kept hitting, which was outside the loop), including his age and memories. So while he was in there for millions of years, he never aged.

[ZeroBG82]

He was in there for 5 billion years. But after each "loop", everything was restarted (except for the wall he kept hitting, which was outside the loop), including his age and memories. So while he was in there for millions of years, he never aged.

This. The Doctor was in there for 5 billion years. But he actually only aged and has memories of experiencing the last day, when he broke through and escaped.

[Kaled]

I realize it may not be in continuity but during the conclusion to the latest Doctor Who Magazine adventure he told the Master (the first Master from the '70's) he was 4 billion years old.

[Somecrazyaussie]

I still say they should have just used Paul McGann and had him as the Time War era Doctor.

The problem is that being an active participant in a war goes against who the Eighth Doctor is at his core. He was a hopeful idealist. He was trying to be a good man during bad times. He tried to help Cass. He tried doing it his way. He end up failing at both. That brief interaction, where he realized that doing things his way wouldn't end the conflict, broke him.

The Eighth Doctor undertaking reluctant missions on the fringes of the Time War makes sense. There is just no way he would have gone on the front line. He wasn’t ruthless enough. The Eighth Doctor liked to help, not hurt. Could they have done it? Sure. It just would have been out of character is all.

[Somecrazyaussie]

So how OLD is the Doctor supposd to be now? Do we get to count the time that Capaldi Doctor was trapped in that time loop cause that was a few billion years wasn't it?

I really feel they should avoid slapping an age on the Doctor. I think that whenever it comes up he should just say, "I tried to keep count once, but it was so long ago i gave up after a few thousand years." Or something similar. Keep it vague and carry on.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Sad thing is that I doubt much will really change much when Moffatt leaves. The "Timey Wimey Stuff" is to strongly Ingrained into the Nu Series. That and the over abundance of SJW/Young Adult Type Stories.

I think the original poster may have been alluding to Moffats penchant for paradoxes and overly complicated plots. With Chibnall at the helm, i think the show will skew closer to a more traditional format. If his Broadchurch stuff is any indication, it will become tighter on plot points and a great emphasis on strong characterization. That's just me, though.

[Carabas]

I think the original poster may have been alluding to Moffats penchant for paradoxes and overly complicated plots. With Chibnall at the helm, i think the show will skew closer to a more traditional format. If his Broadchurch stuff is any indication, it will become tighter on plot points and a great emphasis on strong characterization. That's just me, though.

It's a time travel show. One of the biggest shortcomings of the classic series is that stories about time travel are largely absent from it.

[Somecrazyaussie]

It's a time travel show. One of the biggest shortcomings of the classic series is that stories about time travel are largely absent from it.

Fans know that. The paradoxical stuff Moffat injected into the series doesn't bother me. I have the luxury of being both a Dr Who fan, and an even bigger sci-fi fan. Such subject matter comes with the territory. However i can see how it may alienate the average audience. Especially as time marched on and the show came to rely on it more. The more inaccessible the show becomes, the more people will tune off.

While we may see a lack to be a shortcoming, we have to also remember classic Who did something right to get millions of viewers tuning in week after week. RTD mostly steered away from stories with heavy paradoxical elements. Whenever he touched upon it, it was simplified. The only real exceptions during that time being Moffats TGiTFP and Blink.

Should Dr Who do time-travel stories? Absolutely. However it should never be to the detriment of every day audiences. Many viewers just want to plonk down in front of the TV come Saturdays and be transported to new worlds, or old times. The prospect of having to have a flow chart to understand what is going on may leave them cold. Or worse, uninterested.

I can see both viewpoints, though.

[protege]

Mmmm Yeah Kinda Sorta not Really. The only real Issue for back in the day was the kind of lack of Continuity the Classic Series had, Which is way better then the kind of CONFUSING that goes on in the NuSeries.



Sad thing is that I doubt much will really change much when Moffatt leaves. The "Timey Wimey Stuff" is to strongly Ingrained into the Nu Series. That and the over abundance of SJW/Young Adult Type Stories.

I haven't heard anything about what chris chibnall plans to do with the show that makes me want to tune in for it, so nuwho is on the shelf for me. Also, what is SJW? I'm seeing that all over the place lately.

[Carabas]

I haven't heard anything about what chris chibnall plans to do with the show that makes me want to tune in for it, so nuwho is on the shelf for me. Also, what is SJW? I'm sering that all over the place lately.

It stands for Social Justice Warrior, which in this context means 'person seriously opposed to sexism, misoginy, racism, homophobian and other kinds of bigotry' which some people on the internet somehow feel is an evil set of mind that needs to be erradicated from geek culture.

[Cyke]

I'm more of Social Justice Ranger, myself. I keep an eye out, maybe do a little scouting. I'm not bad with melee and range attacks, either.