Options
Why should our universes rules apply?
James Frederick
Posts: 53,184
Forum Member
✭
I have seen a few complaints that Doctor Who does not follow physics or real science or knowledge but why should it follow our universe?
One recently is the Dragon Moon Egg and how our moon is not a egg well for one how do we know that for 100% sure and for two maybe Doctor Who is set in different universe where it is.
It's kinda like the comic book universes both Marvel and DC have many different universes and it has been shown that the one they live in is not ours they have crossed over into ours only to find in this universe they are just comic book and TV/Movie characters.
One recently is the Dragon Moon Egg and how our moon is not a egg well for one how do we know that for 100% sure and for two maybe Doctor Who is set in different universe where it is.
It's kinda like the comic book universes both Marvel and DC have many different universes and it has been shown that the one they live in is not ours they have crossed over into ours only to find in this universe they are just comic book and TV/Movie characters.
0
Comments
Blimey, according to our current understanding of physics, the TARDIS shouldn't be able to do what it does.
Sometimes writers do get their science very wrong. But it's rarely as black-and-white as to say "that could *never* happen".
Not really take DC comics for example when The Flash leaves his universe and comes to ours or Marvel in a cross over he has no powers as the laws of physics are different in the DC universe as there is something called The Speed Force unique to that universe.
But as said even if it is out universe I have no problems with things like that as we don't know what is out there and as I and others have said in the past if we went by our laws then The TARDIS should be imposable.
I may not like some explanations but I accept that within The Doctor Who universe it's possible
If you accept this debasement into physics then you pretty much have to accept anything.
But they weren't. The stories (for the most par) are set in our universe, with our laws and rules. Early Hartnell stories even included educational titbits around magnetism and the like which were true (or school level science "true"). So if we suddenly veer off into a realm where anything can happen, well................ anything can happen. And once you do that then where is the suspense, the danger? To a certain extent this happens all the time on alien worlds, where the writer makes things up, because it doesn't actually exist. But any stories featuring Earth (especailly modern day Earth) should obey the laws we know becuase this is our world. We know it. We know that you can't bring people back to life about 3 hours later without them suffering irreversible brain damage. We know that a solar flare would sterilise the Earth with it's radiation and that no amount of trees will stop that. We know and understand the effects of gravity, the moon, the atmosphere. Sure, alien things can effect them but if it isn't tied into at least basis logic then whats the point? We can accept Superman catching Lois Lane without breaking her back because it is within the realms of the story, it's a minor quibble that can be ignored (people have survived parachutes not opening for example). Small scale has a certain artistic license. World wide issues which forms an important part of the story, no.
Not really. Is the Dr a human time travller? From modern Earth? He is an alien from an advanced culture who have found the key to time travel. Alien worlds and alien technology are fertile grounds for writers imagination with which we can create 'What if' stories. But when they end up on our planet then that is when you have to ensure the laws of science are at least basically correct.
How do we know it's set in our universe it may be a universe that is 99% the same as ours everyone thought or thinks Marvel is set in our universe and it wasn't until it has been going on for about 30+ years they said it wasn't.
That could explain why there has been different Prime Ministers and world leaders to what we have if it was our universe why not mention the real ones.
That's pretty much what I said. The Speed Force is basically just a way to say 'magic', that is, a power that allow you to break physics. The Doctor has lots of way to break known physics, mostly presented as more advanced physics. But that suggests the rest of physics applies otherwise.
The solar blast that covered the earth in 'Forest' , for example. I have no problem with that, just as I had no problem with the 'blast' that go rid of all that nasty 'Atmos' stuff in 'The Poison Sky'. Yet the difference in those two, in my eyes is one was a devastating solar blast the other a quick piff paff puff burning of excess gas type thingy ma jig...(to don my scientist hat for a second). What lets the first down is that were protected by magic trees what lets the latter down is that it was really close to earth and had no effect. (beyond it's purpose) Swings and roundabouts. One was an awful story one was a pretty decent story which goes along way in suspending believe in these sort of thing.
No problem with the moon being an egg, just as I have no problem with a Sun being a living thing in '42'. Would the moon being an egg have been more palatable for some viewers if it were no our own moon? I dare say it probably would have been.
That said I'm far more 'concerned' in characters behaving in a 'human' way, so in an episode like 'Forest' where everyone behaves as if their internet connection is down for a few hours rather than waking to a devastating global event. Then the bizarre Doctor Who things like magic trees protecting the earth from an equally devastating solar blast tend to jar a bit more.
"Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow"
Knee-jerk pedantry aside, I agree with bp2 above; the issue is that the real laws of the universe can be taken as a given and don't, generally, need to be explained. If laws are made up then that's fine if they're explained well in advance and whatever effect they end up playing is therefore a conclusion the viewer could have reached in isolation. When they're made up on the spot to justify what amounts to magic then that's problematic from a plotting viewpoint — the viewer is essentially cut out of the loop and much of the effort they put into thinking about what might happen is effectively invalidated because the rules spontaneously changed.
People don't like spontaneous rule changes.