The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine has raised some eyebrows as it apparently confirms that the show since Wild Blue Yonder takes place in an alternate reality.
In its coverage of The Age of Sutekh from Big Finish, DWM asks how the titular alien, originally seen in Pyramids of Mars, can be in the audio when he’s supposed to be clinging onto the side of the TARDIS, as per The Legend of Ruby Sunday. DWM concludes:
“In an alternate timeline where gravity is known as ‘mavity,’ the Osiran time-space corridor between Sutekh’s tomb and the Old Priory was actually the time vortex itself. There, Sutekh attached himself to the TARDIS and travelled with the Doctor for hundreds of years, evolving into a Titan and dispatching his Angels of Death everywhere the TARDIS went (Tales of the TARDIS: Pyramids of Mars, 2014; The Legend of Ruby Sunday/ Empire of Death, 2024).”
The idea of “mavity” instead of “gravity” was introduced in the aforementioned 60th anniversary special, when Sir Isaac Newton misremembered or misheard Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) mentioning “gravity”; it makes no sense, but nonetheless, the word has replaced the real word in several episodes.
So this is really quite interesting and implies a number of potential things.
Firstly, that showrunner, Russell T Davies, messed up a bit with Sutekh.
Secondly, that the show, at least with David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor and Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, takes place in another alternate timeline.
Thirdly, that there might be a desire to see the most recent era siphoned off into another reality.
And fourthly, that since 2023, there’s been such a divergence from the previous era of the programme that a new timeline wouldn’t be much of a stretch.
But there are a few T&Cs to this. Primarily, DWM might be suggesting that the Big Finish audios take place in another timeline, which would make some sense given that the TV show retreads some ground sometimes, like the Doctor’s conflicting adventures with Mary Shelley, for example.
We’re not sure whether the “mavity” thing is the point of divergence either. Wild Blue Yonder is certainly important to the Who mythos as the Doctor introduced fantasy and luck to the universe, apparently by using a line of salt to hold mysterious creatures at the end of space-time at bay.
In conclusion: oh, who knows? At least this gives fans a good way of differentiating things in their heads if they so wish. And we reckon quite a few will wish exactly that…
(Thanks to Rick Lundeen.)
