Continuity Error in Blink?

[Crewman47]

It just occured to me the other day that the final scene in Blink was set a year after the events with the Angels meaning that it was set in 2009, I'm assuming. I was wondering if this is in contradiction to future episodes as we later find out that Martha leaves the Doctor in around 2008 and then joins Torchwood/UNIT. Can we assume that the adventure the Doctor and Martha were on, going into something with bows and arrows, was in there future or there present, if the latter then this would be the contradiction or if the first one then we could assume that this took place sometime between episodes? Also isn't 2009 the setting for the Year that never happened?

Any thoughts?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

It just occured to me the other day that the final scene in Blink was set a year after the events with the Angels meaning that it was set in 2009, I'm assuming. I was wondering if this is in contradiction to future episodes as we later find out that Martha leaves the Doctor in around 2008 and then joins Torchwood/UNIT. Can we assume that the adventure the Doctor and Martha were on, going into something with bows and arrows, was in there future or there present, if the latter then this would be the contradiction or if the first one then we could assume that this took place sometime between episodes? Also isn't 2009 the setting for the Year that never happened?

Any thoughts?

It was the "past" Doctor and Martha... remember this encounter was "before" the rest of the episode.

 

[Professor Zoom]

It just occured to me the other day that the final scene in Blink was set a year after the events with the Angels meaning that it was set in 2009, I'm assuming. I was wondering if this is in contradiction to future episodes as we later find out that Martha leaves the Doctor in around 2008 and then joins Torchwood/UNIT. Can we assume that the adventure the Doctor and Martha were on, going into something with bows and arrows, was in there future or there present, if the latter then this would be the contradiction or if the first one then we could assume that this took place sometime between episodes? Also isn't 2009 the setting for the Year that never happened?

Any thoughts?

The Doctor and Martha travel in a time machine...there's no reason why they couldn't have been in 2009. And then Martha leaves the Doctor in 2008. So their moment with bows and arrows was in between episodes...we didn't see this particular adventure.

And 2009 happened. Perhaps twice...once one way, and then once the other way. It didn't just get skipped over.

Though, I think, trying to keep calendar years for Doctor Who is just madness. It just doesn't have the continuity "ideals" of say a Star Trek.

 

[Demonland]

^ what he said plus wibbly wobbly timey whimey ..... You know the drill.

 

[Jim Steele]

*shudder*

 

[The Nth Doctor]

*shudder*

Oh, come on. This is the one time where it's perfectly appropriate!

 

[Stevil2001]

In any case, the majority of "Blink" actually occurs in 2007, with the "One Year Later" coda happening in 2008.

 

[Crewman47]

I wasn't sure of the exact year. As a poster said above it is actually quite difficult sometimes keeping up with what year it is becuase of all the obvious time travelling back and forward the Doctor does within the years following his first encounter with Rose.

 

[Stevil2001]

Oh, I know. The fact that the modern-day episodes are set a year after broadcast (except, of course, when they aren't) doesn't help things either. That's why I keep a timeline!:


1999
December
-- "Fragments" (Captain Jack flashback)
-- The Movie

2004
-- "Fragments" (Toshiko flashback)

2005
March
-- "The End of the World" (phone scene)
-- "Rose"
uncertain month
-- "Fragments" (Owen flashback)

2006
March
-- "Aliens of London"
-- "World War Three"
September
-- "Boom Town"
uncertain month
-- "The Parting of the Ways"
December
-- "The Christmas Invasion"
-- "New Earth" (opening scene)

2007
January
-- "School Reunion"
February
-- "Rise of the Cybermen"
-- "The Age of Steel"
March
-- "Love & Monsters"
May
-- "Human Nature" (teaser)
June (probably-- at least two months since the end of "L&M")
-- "Army of Ghosts"
-- "Doomsday"
-- "Turn Left" (Donna's choice)
July
-- "Fragments" (Ianto flashback)
uncertain month
-- "Blink"
September - October
-- "Everything Changes"
-- "Day One"
-- "Ghost Machine"
-- "Cyberwoman"
-- "Small Worlds"
-- "Countrycide"
-- "Greeks Bearings Gifts"
November
-- "They Keep Killing Suzie"
-- "Random Shoes"
December
-- "Out of Time"
-- "The Runaway Bride"

2008
January
-- "Combat"
February
-- "Captain Jack Harkness"
-- "End of Days"
-- "Utopia" (opening scene)
uncertain month
-- "Blink" (coda)
June
-- "Invasion of the Bane"
-- "Smith and Jones"
-- "The Lazarus Experiment"
-- "42" (present day scenes)
-- "The Sound of Drums"
-- "Last of the Time Lords"
July
-- "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"
-- "Music of the Spheres"
August
-- "Sleeper"
-- "To the Last Man"
September
-- "Revenge of the Slitheen"
-- "Meat"
October
-- "Eye of the Gorgon"
-- "Adam"
November
-- "Warriors of Kudlak"
-- "Reset"
-- "Dead Man Walking"
-- "A Day in the Death"
-- "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?"
December
-- "Something Borrowed"
-- "The Lost Boy"
-- "Voyage of the Damned"

2009
January - February
-- "From Out of the Rain"
-- "Adrift"
March
-- "Partners in Crime"
-- "The Sontaran Stratagem"
-- "The Poison Sky"
April
-- "Fragments" (frame story)
-- "Exit Wounds"
-- "The Stolen Earth"
-- "Journey's End"

2012
uncertain month
-- "Dalek"
July
-- "Fear Her"

 

[Professor Zoom]

I also feel that if you're trying to put all of the stories into one whole, it's going to fall apart.

It's a time and space travel show...but that's just a way to get to a place to tell a story, a unique story...the story ISN'T about the time and space travel.

 

[Sci]

It just occured to me the other day that the final scene in Blink was set a year after the events with the Angels meaning that it was set in 2009, I'm assuming. I was wondering if this is in contradiction to future episodes as we later find out that Martha leaves the Doctor in around 2008 and then joins Torchwood/UNIT. Can we assume that the adventure the Doctor and Martha were on, going into something with bows and arrows, was in there future or there present, if the latter then this would be the contradiction or if the first one then we could assume that this took place sometime between episodes? Also isn't 2009 the setting for the Year that never happened?

Any thoughts?

Well, I don't think there's any way of knowing for sure when most of "Blink" takes place. But remember, "Rose" took place in March 2005, then the Doctor and Rose jumped ahead a year in "Aliens of London," meaning that the Slitheen incident took place in March 2006. "The Christmas Invasion" therefore took place on 24-25 December 2006, putting the present-day stories in Series Two in 2007, meaning that the Doctor met Donna and thwarted the Racnoss on Christmas 2007 before metting Martha and traveling with her in 2008. (In other words, every season takes place one year after it aired.)

So I would presume that most of "Blink" took place in 2007 and that Sally met the Doctor and Martha in 2008.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

Oh, I know. The fact that the modern-day episodes are set a year after broadcast (except, of course, when they aren't) doesn't help things either. That's why I keep a timeline!:
2005
-- "Fragments" (Owen flashback)

2006
March
-- "Aliens of London"
-- "World War Three"

But that can't work - in Exit Wounds, Owen and Tosh explicitly said the events of Aliens of London (specifically the pig alien) occurred not long after Owen joined Torchwood. I really don't think there can be any large amount of time between the two.

I honestly think the whole continuity got ruined because the production team either forgot about the year-jump in AoL or ignored it. Torchwood, SJA and Doctor Who itself have all had statements that make reconciling the timeline with the year-jump nigh-on impossible.

For me personally, the simplest way to do the present-day timeline is to actually ignore the reference in End of the World that Rose was set in 2005, and instead assume it was 2004. That way the year-jump takes the Ninth Doctor and Rose to 2005, not 2006, and thus all the subsequent stories are set in the year they aired (and Music of the Spheres is after Journey's End).

 

[Stevil2001]

My assumption is that the Owen flashback actually covers a span of time, and that the opening scene is the one that occurs "four years ago", with his actual recruitment coming shortly before "Aliens of London".

And yeah, it feels like the TV show has ignored the one-year-out dating a lot. Even though the behind-the-scenes stuff is always reinforcing it-- Martha's MySpace clearly mentioned that she came from 2008 on a number of occasions, for example.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

Hmmm... I suppose that scene at his fiance's grave could very well have been a little while after the actual death and his leaving the hospital.

But even then, what about the dating in Exit Wounds? IIRC, when Jack tells 1901 Torchwood to freeze him, he states he should be unfrozen in 107 years, putting it in 2008. Or do you assume that to be the mistake in dating like I do with Rose?

 

[Stevil2001]

Yeah, I assume it's a mistake (like most of "Exit Wounds"). Or it's very late in 1901 and since he's going to be unfrozen in March 2009, it's actually closer to 107 years than 108.

Regardless, my general dating stands on relative terms at least-- most things are dated relatively, not absolutely, in the present-day Whoniverse. (Indeed, the Owen error remains whether you assume a contemporary dating or a one-year-out one.)

 

[captcalhoun]

SJA should be in 2009 because Sarah-Jane herself says 18 months have past since School Reunion, but then Turn Left implies they should be in 2008...and i've gone cross-eyed...

 

[HappyDayRiot]

Yeah, I assume it's a mistake (like most of "Exit Wounds"). Or it's very late in 1901 and since he's going to be unfrozen in March 2009, it's actually closer to 107 years than 108.

Regardless, my general dating stands on relative terms at least-- most things are dated relatively, not absolutely, in the present-day Whoniverse.

Yes I do like your timeline - the whole year-jump sticks out to me every time but the rest of it is very good. Do you base your selection of specfic months on anything in particular? (other than the 4 Christmas episodes of course)

 

[The Wormhole]

^^The only times I remember the month being revealed (aside from Christmas episodes):

-Aliens of London. Rose's missing poster says she was last seen March 2005, meaning that's when the episode Rose takes place, and Aliens of London is in March 2006.
-Rise of the Cyberman. Mickey looks at a newspaper in the alternate reality and says it's "February of this year."

 

[HappyDayRiot]

^^Rose's missing poster says she was last seen March 2005, meaning that's when the episode Rose takes place,

Ah. Well that's my theory ditched then. All hail Steve Mollmann and his timeline!

 

[Demonland]

*shudder*

I knew that would get a response from you