Time (TV story)

Time (TV story)

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Time
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eleventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Amy Pond Rory Williams
Main setting:	The Doctor's TARDIS
Key crew
Writer:	Steven Moffat
Director:	Richard Senior
Producer:	Annabella Hurst-Brown
Release details
Release number:	Series 6
Premiere broadcast:	18 March 2011
Format:	1 x 4 minute episode
Confidential:	[[confidential::The Night's Tale|The Night's Tale]]

Time is a Doctor Who television story written by Steven Moffat for Comic Relief 2011. It is the second half of a two-part story that begins with DW: Space.

Synopsis

The Doctor, Amy, and Rory are stuck in a space loop, trapping them in the TARDIS forever. Only one person can save them: another Amy Pond?

Plot

Continuing from the end of DW: Space, the second Amy explains that she stepped into the "exterior" TARDIS, which is now slightly in the future and it sent her into the "interior" TARDIS, which is now slightly in the future. The first Amy is confused and is told it's only what the second Amy was told when she was in the first Amy's place. Future Amy tells past Amy that she enters the interior TARDIS after slapping Rory. Rory wonders why he must be slapped and the Doctor tells them this timeline must be maintained or they would end up stuck with two Amys forever. Rory begins thinking about it. Amy, catching on to his train of thought, slaps him for the idea.

The Doctor rushes Amy to the police box, but Amy stops to speak with her future self. The Doctor thinks they're doomed and says "Oh, this is how it ends: Pond flirting with herself. True love at last." He apologises to Rory in case he has hurt his feelings, but Rory has no problem with it as he was distracted by the two versions of his wife. The past Amy enters the box. Amy wonders if things are okay now, but the Doctor tells them that they are still trapped.

Another Amy appears through the regular TARDIS door again, with a second Rory in tow. The Doctor asks them why they entered and Rory tells him that they were told to do so by him and jumbles up his words explaining that he's about to tell the past Amy and Rory to enter the police box. Amy flirts with herself again, but the Doctor tells her to stop and forces Amy and Rory into the police box. Amy then wonders what they should do now, but the Doctor tells her and Rory to stay where they are to stave off further complication.

Rory asks the Doctor what he is doing and the Doctor explains that he is setting up a controlled temporal implosion to reset the TARDIS, but since he doesn't know which lever to pull, the entire TARDIS could explode. Amy then chastises him for not knowing what to do, but the Doctor tells her that though he doesn't know now, he will in a moment. A second Doctor walks through the doors and tells the first to pull the wibbly lever. The Doctor thanks himself and does so, entering the police box before it dematerializes.

The Doctor explains that everything is back to normal and there is no longer any danger of the localised time feild imploding and destroying all causality. He then says, "but just in case.. Pond, put some trousers on" before returning to work on the console. Amy glares at Rory, who can't find anything to say in his defense and walks off. Amy then smiles and walks off to comply with the Doctor's demand.

Cast

• Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith
• Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
• Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill

Crew

Credited on episode as broadcast

• Writer - Steven Moffat
• Producer - Annabella Hurst-Brown
• Director - Richard Senior

Uncredited

to be added

References

• Amy says "I'm just repeating this too...and this...and this.", referencing the Tenth Doctor's recording in Blink.

• The Doctor pulls the "wibbley lever", echoing the phrase "wibbley-wobbly timey-wimey" from Blink, which is used to describe the non-linear nature of time in the series. This phrase is also used in DW: Time Crash by the Fifth and Tenth Doctors.

Story notes

• This episode, along with Space, was written especially for Comic Relief 2011.
• This Episode is the fourth story to feature only the main cast (DW: The Edge of Destruction, Children in Need Special, Space)
• This story was the first multi-part charity episode since Dimensions in Time.
• Moffat, in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine, confirmed that the two-part mini-episode, just like recent Children in Need specials, is considered canonical.

Ratings

to be added

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

As the Doctor begins to tell Amy and Rory to enter the Police Box, Amy's hand can be seen on the TARDIS door handle as she smiles at her double. The scene cuts to a wide shot in the middle of the Doctor's line, and Amy's hand is suddenly at her side.

Continuity

• This story is set entirely in the TARDIS. (DW: The Edge of Destruction, Children in Need Special, Time Crash, Amy's Choice, SpaceSpace, Bad Night, Good Night, First Night, Last Night)
• This is the second time that a character has made a reference to having sex with duplicates. Captain Jack Harkness made a similar reference when the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor appears alongside his progenitor. (DW: Journey's End) In this episode, Rory gives Amy a meaningful look when the Doctor asks what he would do with two Amys, which leads Amy to slap Rory.
• Amy would once again meet a future version of herself in DW: The Girl Who Waited.
• A TARDIS within a TARDIS happens as well in Logolopolis, and the Doctor theorises that other space time anomalies could cause the TARDIS to appear within the TARDIS, though within the context of that story it was the Master's TARDIS within the Doctor's.

Home video releases

DVD releases

This episode was released in the Series 6 box set.

Blu-ray releases

to be added

This episode was released on iTunes in the Series 6 set (series only purchase).