A Time Field was a field of time energy that spilled from mysterious cracks in the fabric of time and space caused by an unidentified explosion that originates from 26th June, 2010.
Cracks
The cracks were described as "two parts of space and time that should never have touched". They were present in the very fabric of spacetime — a crack that appeared to be part of a wall would still be there if the wall were removed. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
According to Rosanna Calvierri, the cracks ranged in size from tiny to "big as the sky", and some connected to other worlds, while others only to "silence, and the end of all things". (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
Some cracks acted like wormholes, and could be opened to allow a passage between the places on either side. One device known to be able to open such a crack was a sonic screwdriver. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) Rosanna Calvierri and her family traveled through such a crack to Earth, as did Prisoner Zero.
Regardless of the size, and what was on the other side, all cracks appeared to be of the same shape and orientation.
Origin
After sealing the crack in the hull of the Byzantium, the Doctor traced the origin of the crack to a temporal explosion on 26th June, 2010. (DW: Flesh and Stone) This day was to be the wedding of Rory and Amy, but after the former's death and removal from existence by a crack, the wedding plans no longer existed.
When a crack appeared in 2020, underneath a small village in Wales, the Doctor was able to put his hand in it, and retrieved a piece of shrapnel from the explosion. This piece turned out to be a part of his TARDIS, which had been broken off and burned. (DW: Cold Blood)
Time Field
Some cracks released energy of pure time that could wipe individuals out of time itself and remove events from history, though time-travelers such as the Doctor still had the ability to remember them, at least so long as the removed event or person did not relate to the person's direct past. (DW: Flesh and Stone, Cold Blood) The Doctor guessed that such cracks had erased events such as the CyberKing walking over London in the Victorian era and the Dalek invasion of 2009, one of Earth's most publicly-visible invasions, explaining why Amy Pond did not know about those events.
The Doctor stated that the only way to close such a crack was for it to consume a complicated space-time event, such as himself or a large group of Weeping Angels (all of them together being equivalent to himself). River Song volunteered to let herself be consumed, but the Doctor laughed at her idea, and stated that she wasn't even as complicated as one Angel. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
This time field was visible as a glow of bright white light, which sometimes extended tendrils out from the crack toward nearby people and objects.
Chronons, the elementary particles of time energy, were responsible for erasing objects from the present that no longer had a past. (VG: City of the Daleks) Whether this is related to the time energy seeping from a crack erasing individuals out of time is unclear.
Notable cracks
In Easter of 1996, a crack in Amy Pond's bedroom connected to an Atraxi prison. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) Cracks also appeared on the side of Starship UK in the 33rd century (DW: The Beast Below) and in the Cabinet War Room in 1941. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
Another crack later opened to an incredibly large size aboard the Byzantium spaceship in the 51st century. It erased Crispin, Marco, Pedro, Phillip and many Weeping Angels from existence and subsequently closed. The Weeping Angels had feared it, and attempted to escape, only to be dropped into it after they absorbed all of the Byzantium's energy, disabling artificial gravity. The Angels, combined, were a sufficiently complex space-time event to seal it for a while. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
The crack was mentioned again in Venice, 1580, when Rosanna Calvierri claimed that she and the other vampires fled their planet because of the "silence" that they saw from some of the cracks. They passed through one of the cracks that led to "an ocean like ours", which turned out to be the Earth, after which the crack closed behind them. Just before the Doctor left, he noticed that silence fell over Venice. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
There was a crack beneath the Earth in 2020 that the Doctor, Amy and Rory found while leaving the Silurian base. Attempting to investigate the crack, the Doctor reached inside, searching for “shrapnel” from the original explosion, only to find a piece of the TARDIS door, burned and destroyed. Before leaving, Rory was shot by the Silurian, Restac, and came in contact with the light from the crack before the Doctor and Amy could rescue him. Despite Amy's efforts, the Doctor was forced to leave Rory behind, the crack erasing Rory from existence. Although the Doctor still remembers him, proven by the Doctor mentioning him in later episodes (DW: Vincent and the Doctor) and the engagement ring which he bought Amy is still visible in the TARDIS, Amy has lost all recollection of Rory due to the crack directly affecting her past. (DW: Cold Blood)
Chronological Appearances
- 1580 - Rosanna Calvierri and her people arrived on Earth through a crack, fleeing the silence they could see in other cracks on Saturnyne. (DW: The Vampires of Venice) (Did not appear but commented)
- 1941 - A crack appeared on the wall of Winston Churchill's Cabinet War Room when the TARDIS dematerialises. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
- 1996 - A crack appeared on young Amy Pond's bedroom wall, connecting it to an Atraxi prison. This was when the Doctor first noticed them appearing. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- 2010 - A crack appeared on a screen in the TARDIS before the Doctor turned it off.
- 2020 - A crack appeared in the rock of a Silurian base. After Rory Williams was shot, it consumed him, and so was erased from time. The consequence of this was that Amy Pond forgot about him, with only the Doctor remembering him. (DW: Cold Blood)
- 3295 - A crack appeared on the side of the Starship UK, just after the Doctor had left. (DW: The Beast Below)
- 51st century - Sometime in the 51st century, a crack appeared in the forest inside the Byzantium and consumed the Weeping Angels. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
Cracks gallery
The crack on Amelia's wall. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
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A Crack shape seen on the TARDIS's television. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
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The Starship UK crack. (DW: The Beast Below)
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The World War II crack in one of the Cabinet War Rooms. (DW: Victory of the Daleks).
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The Byzantium crack. (DW: Flesh and Stone).
A crack beneath the Earth. (DW: Cold Blood)
Behind the scenes
- The time crack was inspired by a crack Steven Moffatt saw in his son's bedroom, which resembled a smiling mouth.
- Moffat has confirmed that the crack will appear in most episodes.
- The Cracks arc is, like the previous series (excluding the Bad Wolf meme), foreshadowed in a previous series, in this case in DW: The Next Doctor (though, perhaps unintentionally).
- The cracks have caused much debate amongst fans, with many "supposed Cracks" that are actually just clouds and other items of scenery (e.g., small cracks in the walls under the Earth in Cold Blood and clouds and lighting giving the impression of a crack in the sky in The Vampires of Venice, although Doctor Who Adventures issue 169 pointed it out, saying "Did you spot this sneaky crack in the sky?"). It has also been conjectured that the TARDIS keyhole, shown to lead into the time field in The Vampires of Venice, resembles the shape of the crack turned 90 degrees to the left. http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/05/09/ten-thoughts-about-doctor-who-vampires-in-venice/
- It's not clear whether the "time energy" cracks are the same as the "wormhole" cracks but happen to lead to the temporal explosion, or whether they are qualitatively different.
- It's also not clear whether there is a single crack following Amy (or the TARDIS, or the Doctor) through the season, or whether these are separate cracks. If all instances on screen are the same crack, it's also not clear whether any other cracks leak time energy.