Doctor Who
Summary
The fact thatDoctor Whois still be given with its " mavity " joke is uproarious , but , to paraphrase the peachy Donna Noble herself , this obscures the true gravitational attraction of the situation . Doctor Who ’s second sixtieth anniversary special , " Wild Blue Yonder , " began with a cold outdoors where the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble crashed into Isaac Newton ’s garden just as the scientist was about to crock up gravity . Since Donna could n’t resist uttering the K - word in his presence , Newton ultimately picked the name " mavity " instead . After the instalment return to present - 24-hour interval , Donna then address of " mavity " as if the Earth ’s down strength had always been know by that name .
Doctor Whoseamlessly persist in that jest into 2023 Christmas special " The Church on Ruby Road . " Ncuti Gatwa ’s Fifteenth Doctor reveals a fancy new toy - aggregated - defying gloves - and , while explaining their purpose to Ruby Sunday , points out , " all the mass and denseness and mavity exists in the mitt . " The Doctor ’s effortless use of " mavity " confirm he is now accustomed to the Logos , despite knowing it should be " gravity , " while Ruby ’s lack of chemical reaction proves she , like Donna , has only ever known " mavity . “Doctor Whoseason 14is sticking to this quirky historic rewrite , and while Russell T Sir Humphrey Davy ' dedication to the joke makes it even funnier , there is a serious purpose behind it .
The cast of Doctor Who time of year 14 is filled with pop actor and actresses to push this classic sci - fi dramatic event into the next propagation .
“Mavity” Changes How Time Travel Works In Doctor Who
The rules of time traveling within fiction are famously nonsensical , but broadly churn down to three different system . One is the " whatever occur , happened " data format , whereby story is set in stone and any effort to change it via meter traveling will only result in bringing about whatever future tense the time - traveler derive from . The 2d system is where clip can be rewritten , à la Marty McFly unintentionally erasing himself from existence inBack To The Future . The third canonical system of rules of fictional time travel is branch timeline , where changing the past termination in two different histories live one by one . " Mavity " showsDoctor Whois now sign firmly to the second system .
Doctor Whohas antecedently flitted between the first and second variant of prison term travel at its convenience . The Doctor on a regular basis warns companion against influencing major result during their risky venture , which tacitly suggests time can be exchange . Indeed , the total premise of " generation of the Daleks " evidence time can be rewritten . On other occasions , Doctor Whohas tip more toward the " what happened , happened " fashion model . " The Shakespeare Code , " for example , showed Shakespeare getting his iconic line " all the world ’s a stage " from the Doctor .
The implication was that an exist part of Earth ’s chronicle - a Shakespeare quote in this case - was because of the Doctor all along . The Doctor went to the yesteryear , try out not to meddle , but unknowingly make the futurity he know . This is very different fromDoctor Who ’s somberness situation . Here , the Fourteenth Doctor alter the future he knows- the Scripture " gravitational attraction " gets replaced by " mavity . " If " The Shakespeare Code " come after the mavity example , the Doctor would never have heard of " all the world ’s a microscope stage " before saying it himself in front of Shakespeare . Upon returning to Earth ’s hereafter , he then would have found the quote had retroactively become notable throughout history .
Doctor Whohitting audiences repeatedly around the mind with " mavity " serves as a constant reminder that the dominion have change over , and the Doctor ’s actions will have visible consequences move forward . " The Church on Ruby Road " double down on this when the Goblins remove Ruby from chronicle in the sequence ’s final act . Just like the switch from gravitation to mavity , world changes in an blink of an eye . One second Ruby is there , the next she is n’t , and a ripple effect rewrites the past to make her adopted female parent misanthropic , low-down , and desperately lonely . Mavity sets a more definitive precedent for time travel inDoctor Who- one where time is far more pliable .
Doctor Who’s “Mavity” Joke Shows How The 60th Anniversary’s Lore Changes Work
Amusing it may be , butDoctor Who ’s mavity gag is in reality a cunning way of encapsulate how the Doctor ’s timeline works follow the wholesale lore changes made by the final sixtieth anniversary limited , " The Giggle . " The sequence admit a key panorama in which the Toymaker boasted " I made a reciprocating saw out of your story " before croak on to propose he was responsible for the Timeless Child . mouth on the BBC ’s prescribed instalment commentary , RTD elaborated , describing this personal line of credit as a " loosening of the rules " that can be used to account for anterior inconsistency such as theTimeless Child and the Eighth Doctor being half - human .
RTD also offered more insight into theDoctor ’s atomic number 83 - generation , revealing , " The whole timeline bi - return then … they[the past Doctors]all did . " This retroactively means all previous Dr. went on to have further dangerous undertaking after supposedly regenerating . Both the bismuth - generation and the Toymaker ’s jigsaw - fashioning had massive event for the entire timeline ofDoctor Who , which is a huge paradox for viewers to wrap their heads around .
The mavity prank is a simplified demonstration of how these freehanded changes operate . Just as one word from Donna retroactively altered every past and future enjoyment of " gravitational force " to " mavity , " one swish of the Toymaker ’s hand rewrite the Doctor ’s backstory , and one bismuth - generation added unnumerable chapters to the Doctor of the Church ’s lifetime . All three of these things may have been deviations from what the spectator - and the Doctor , sinceDoctor Whois told from the Time Lord ’s own perspective - antecedently knew , but all three modification are now deeply intertwine into the fabric ofDoctor Who , and not survive anywhere .
Doctor Whoreturns in springtime 2024 .
Cast
