Who sent the Trees?

DavidusDavidus Posts: 201
Forum Member
This may well have been addressed in another thread so apologies in advance.

BUT I didn't hear how the trees (In The Forest of the Night) got to modern day Earth.

Heard something about coming from 1749 (or whenever) but didn't get the gist of who was responsible for sending them through time.

Was this (in my view) a major plot oversight and never got solved or just something to explain away the trees and move on quickly and hope nobody asks about them type of thing?

Comments

  • Dave-HDave-H Posts: 9,939
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    Surely they were always here, as an inbuilt planetary self-defence system?
    That's how I read it anyway.
    The reference to 1749 was just a previous occasion when it was supposedly used.
    :)
  • DavidusDavidus Posts: 201
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    Ok - Thanks for clarifying that I hadn't totally lost all my marbles :)
  • CorwinCorwin Posts: 16,602
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    The trees just grew overnight.


    This was shown when they looked at a cut branch and there were no rings (indicating the tree was less than a year old).


    The Doctor referenced 1795 but that was when he was working on the (incorrect) theory that someone had gone back in time and planted the trees in 1795 resulting in a world wide forest in 2016.
  • Dave-HDave-H Posts: 9,939
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    Ah, right, I thought 1749 might have been one of the occasions when he said the trees had been used by the planet as a defence before, which humanity had forgotten about!
    :)
  • Jules_ThornleyJules_Thornley Posts: 2,997
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    Might just be me, but I thought at the end, the older sister who was missing - seemed to be hiding behind the last tree but had control over the tree? Maybe the reason she went missing was because she new something was going to happen and she had the mystical power connected to an in-built planetary defence system? She certainly seemed to be able to control the last tree, hiding behind it and letting it go/disappear when she was spotted?

    I get the feeling we will be seeing those sisters again...
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 166
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    I get the feeling we will be seeing those sisters again...

    Oh god I hope not.........

    The trees came from the ickle glowing things who decided to protect humanity from the solar flare (not sure how they dealt with the radiation but I'm sure it made about as much sense as the rest of the plot) that the whole world had seriously failed to spot coming. Not sure why as we have been cutting down trees, slashing and burning our way through the forests of the world and basically treating it like crap for centuries. They magically appeared and then magically disappeared (possibly leaving behind total devastation, ruined national monuments, hundreds of escaped wild and dangerous animals and lots of dead people who had been climbing them at the point they disappeared) and then we forgot about them (except those tourists who were wondering where Nelsons Coulmn went, those eaten by tigers and those whose kids are dead after falling from disappearing trees). As Paul Daniels once said "It's Magic!" and "You'll like it. Not a lot but you'll like it". Though he was wrong on the last one. I didn't like it.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 32
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    It seemed like a ham-fisted attempt to push a green agenda. I'm all for the green agenda, but surely it could have been done with a little more sophistication. A message that boils down "the trees knew we were in trouble so they grew to protect us! Stop destroying them!" is kinda cute but ultimately pretty dissatisfying in a TV sci-fi drama.
  • Jules_ThornleyJules_Thornley Posts: 2,997
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    As Paul Daniels once said "It's Magic!" and "You'll like it. Not a lot but you'll like it". Though he was wrong on the last one. I didn't like it.

    I thought it was fun so won't be too critical and I was quite intruigued by the older sister at the end... thought she looked an interesting character.

    I think the whole episode was more revealing with regard to Clara's clinical approach to things.. which we will find out more about soon. As well as Danny's reluctance to being involved and ahem 'keeping tabs' on Clara.
  • ThrombinThrombin Posts: 9,416
    Forum Member
    Oh god I hope not.........

    The trees came from the ickle glowing things who decided to protect humanity from the solar flare (not sure how they dealt with the radiation but I'm sure it made about as much sense as the rest of the plot) that the whole world had seriously failed to spot coming. Not sure why as we have been cutting down trees, slashing and burning our way through the forests of the world and basically treating it like crap for centuries. They magically appeared and then magically disappeared (possibly leaving behind total devastation, ruined national monuments, hundreds of escaped wild and dangerous animals and lots of dead people who had been climbing them at the point they disappeared) and then we forgot about them (except those tourists who were wondering where Nelsons Coulmn went, those eaten by tigers and those whose kids are dead after falling from disappearing trees). As Paul Daniels once said "It's Magic!" and "You'll like it. Not a lot but you'll like it". Though he was wrong on the last one. I didn't like it.

    Yes, the radiation thing occurred to me too. Also the fact that trees couldn't possibly generate enough oxygen to make a difference in such a short space of time, surely?

    Even if they could, wouldn't everyone have died of oxygen toxicity and lack of Carbon Dioxide? Too much Carbon Dioxide can kill you but too little can kill you too. At the very least they'd all be high as a kite :o
  • ThrombinThrombin Posts: 9,416
    Forum Member
    It seemed like a ham-fisted attempt to push a green agenda. I'm all for the green agenda, but surely it could have been done with a little more sophistication. A message that boils down "the trees knew we were in trouble so they grew to protect us! Stop destroying them!" is kinda cute but ultimately pretty dissatisfying in a TV sci-fi drama.

    If anything I would have thought it would have generated a lot of antipathy towards trees and plant life in general. They just destroyed Nelson's Column and caused huge disruption and damage on a global scale.

    Trees are now the enemy of mankind. They deserve to die >:(

    :D
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