Alternate timeline: Difference between revisions
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|The [[Dark Matrix]] terrorised [[England]]||[[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]]||[[PROSE]]: ''[[Matrix (novel)|Matrix]]'' | |The [[Dark Matrix]] terrorised [[England]]||[[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]]||[[PROSE]]: ''[[Matrix (novel)|Matrix]]'' | ||
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|The [[Nazi]]s won [[World War II]] after a piece of laser technology was left at [[Colditz Castle]]||[[Johann Schmidt|Alternate Eighth Doctor]] and [[Elizabeth Klein]] ( | |The [[Nazi]]s won [[World War II]] after a piece of laser technology was left at [[Colditz Castle]]||[[Johann Schmidt|Alternate Eighth Doctor]] and [[Elizabeth Klein]] (inadvertently)||[[AUDIO]]: ''[[Colditz (audio story)|Colditz]]'', ''[[Klein's Story]]'' | ||
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|[[Vladimir Khrushgov]] succeeded [[Konstantin Chernenko]] as leader of the [[Soviet Union]], causing [[World War III]] to occur in [[1989]]||[[Seventh Doctor]]||[[AUDIO]]: ''[[Protect and Survive (audio story)|Protect and Survive]]'' | |[[Vladimir Khrushgov]] succeeded [[Konstantin Chernenko]] as leader of the [[Soviet Union]], causing [[World War III]] to occur in [[1989]]||[[Seventh Doctor]]||[[AUDIO]]: ''[[Protect and Survive (audio story)|Protect and Survive]]'' | ||
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|[[Edward Grove]] came to life||[[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Charley Pollard]]||[[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Chimes of Midnight]]'' | |[[Edward Grove]] came to life||[[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Charley Pollard]]||[[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Chimes of Midnight]]'' | ||
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|[[Sebastian Grayle]] became immortal and helped the [[Nimon]] conquer Earth||[[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Charley Pollard]]||[[AUDIO]]: ''[[Seasons of Fear]]'' | |||
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|Humans didn't evolve and Earth was a [[Tractis]] colony known as [[Paratractis]]||[[Eighth Doctor]], [[Sam Jones]], [[Jo Grant]]||[[PROSE]]: ''[[Genocide (novel)|Genocide]]'' | |Humans didn't evolve and Earth was a [[Tractis]] colony known as [[Paratractis]]||[[Eighth Doctor]], [[Sam Jones]], [[Jo Grant]]||[[PROSE]]: ''[[Genocide (novel)|Genocide]]'' | ||
Revision as of 01:11, 2 June 2013
An alternate timeline was a reality that diverged from the "true" timeline due to the actions of time travellers or other temporal phenomena. They were different from parallel universes in that they did not separate cleanly at the point of creation resulting in the new timeline destroying the old one. (PROSE: Imperial Moon) The phenomenon was also described as an "interstitial spillage of time." (AUDIO: Project: Lazarus)
Physics
Alternate timelines could be visited accidentally by contact with a time track (TV: The Space Museum, AUDIO: The Mutant Phase) or other anomalies (AUDIO: Colditz) in the Time Vortex. Deliberate travel to these timelines was possible if the traveller possessed something, such as the sigil ring, that allowed them to change time streams. (PROSE: Goth Opera)
They may have diverged from points in history when there was temporal fluctuation. The power required to adjust the timeflow and overcome temporal inertia on such a scale couldn't fit on a single planet, but beings with enough power were capable of doing so, such as Sutekh, the Guardians of Time, Rassilon, and the Chronovores. Even the Doctor or the Master could have the know-how or inclination to create them. Because the universe only had a finite amount of mass and energy to exist as one universe, the creation of an alternate timeline adversely affected the real timeline, causing chaos throughout the universe; releasing enough energy could destroy the timeline and set history back on its correct course. (PROSE: Blood Heat)
Though a timeline could be negated, memories of it could still be retained. (TV: The Big Bang, The Impossible Astronaut)
Metaphysics
From a metaphysical viewpoint, alternate timelines were always being extinguished as fewer and fewer choices became open. This was particularly affected by time travellers who changed the future whenever they arrived in a new time. This was the cosmic pain of the universe and in this manner Gabriel and Tanith were personifications of the timelines that never existed. (PROSE: Falls the Shadow)
Terminology
The phrase "alternate/alternative timeline/universe" was sometimes used interchangably with "parallel universe"; however, alternate timelines usually changed after a single moment in time, whereas parallel universes usually had more than one difference from the "normal" universe.
Timelines encountered by the Doctor
Timelines encountered by others
| Timeline | Negated By | Featured in |
| The Seventh Doctor defeated the Vardan invasion of Earth by leaving clues for his past self | The Monk | PROSE: No Future |
| Insects of the Mind evolved as the dominant life on Earth | The existence of time travel | PROSE: Falls the Shadow |
| Britain was a conformist republic | The existence of time travel | PROSE: Falls the Shadow |
| Andrea Yates' World | alternate Andrea Yates | TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? |
| The Trickster's World | Eddie and Barbara Smith | TV: The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith |
| Ship erased Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith and Clyde Langer | Adam Lloyd | TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic |
| Deindum from the future conquered the galaxy | Bernice Summerfield | PROSE: Present Danger, AUDIO: Escaping the Future |
