Talk:The Shadow Passes (short story)

Placement

Sorry but where's the evidence this is after Timeless Children? I know what part of the story that continuity note is referring to but I think it's vague enough that it can be interpreted in a number of ways. Plus there's no indication that the Doctor is reuniting with the fam after being imprisoned.MystExplorer ☎ 02:11, April 16, 2020 (UTC)

It's quite clear: "I'm more than I knew about. Still processing all that." More than I knew about = past lives she's recently found out about. And all that indicates there's been quite a lot to process. (And importantly, she makes a definitive statement here, having learned about the Timeless Child incarnations and now dealing with that hard information, whereas she's just confused after, say, Fugitive, and hasn't learned anything she can put into context at all.)

Besides, it's just Occam's razor: Cornell wrote this well after the broadcast of The Timeless Children, when this was the revelation on everyone's minds. If he made a continuity error, neglected to take into account that they got separated at the end of the finale, or simply assumed that by the time of this story the group is reunited, it's not up to us to try to find alternative meanings to shoehorn this story elsewhere in the timeline.
× SOTO (☎/✍/↯) 02:27, April 16, 2020 (UTC)

Well, fair enough, but if something happens to the fam in <redacted by admin per Tardis:Spoiler policy/> that permanently disrupts them (i.e. death), then the placement of this story will become more complicated.MystExplorer ☎ 02:42, April 16, 2020 (UTC)

If you're wanting to theorise on the chronological placement of stories, can I suggest you browse Theory:Timey-wimey detector? We've got many pages dedicated to determining the timeline of Doctor Who characters. You may find it to be of interest. Danochy ☎ 03:34, April 16, 2020 (UTC)

While I do believe that this was intended to be referring to The Timeless Children, as explained by Soto, you could argue that it's a reference to Fugitive of the Judoon, given that we encounter The Doctor (Fugitive of the Judoon) there. In my OPINION, since I'm not an admin, I'd say just put in Fugitive as a reference as well as Children and leave it up to the individual to decide. Never Forget The Day The 456 Arrived ☎ 22:08, April 16, 2020 (UTC)

Unfortunately, and quite inevitably, the events of Resolution of the Daleks makes this potential placement much more problematic. WaltK ☎ 20:05, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

No, " I’m more than I knew about. Still processing all that." can easily be applied to post-learning about Ruth instead of post-Timeless Children. That is now the only place in the timeline it fits.--Editoronthewiki ☎ 18:27, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

I think it's a stretch. Everyone, please remember that we're not here to define a canon. When stories contradict themselves, they contradict themselves, and, outside of the Theory:Timeline namespace, it is not our job to try to fudge things to squeeze everything into a consistent timelines. Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 18:37, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

For what it’s worth, although as Scrooge quite correctly pointed out this sort of thing isn’t our job, our own Theory:Timeline - Team TARDIS page does indeed place this story between Praceus and Can Ypu Hesr Me? (or, to be specific, between ALittle Help From my Friends and Knock Knock Who’s There), the Eyespider timeline finds a loophole that DOES allow this line to be referring to the Timeless child rather than to just “Ruth”. Specifically, it’s sets this stotyDURING Revolution of the Daleks, just before t final scenes in the TARDIS. Not sure how well that works tho as I haven’t actually seen it. Sorry for any typos; my laptop is broken and this site is a nightmare of mobile!