Time Travel

[Steerpike]

Hmm yeah, it all gets sort of convoluted.  There's still a doctor in the temporal present, but I can never understand why they still can't go back and fix things even with that other doctor running around... paradoxes I suppose, inevitable.  Dr. Who is pretty fuzzy most of the time about that stuff, it's more about the rollicking story than realistic time-travel stuff.

[Elemental_Elf]

Hmm yeah, it all gets sort of convoluted.  There's still a doctor in the temporal present, but I can never understand why they still can't go back and fix things even with that other doctor running around... paradoxes I suppose, inevitable.  Dr. Who is pretty fuzzy most of the time about that stuff, it's more about the rollicking story than realistic time-travel stuff.

Agreed!

Wasn't there an issue of seeing your self in the past that causes a major paradox of some sorts? I remember this vaguely with Rose... At any rate its all about the story, not the mechanics :)

[Steerpike]

Probably.  That kind of paradox never made any sense to me.  I mean, what if you smell yourself?  Or hear yourself walking?  I don't see why seeing should be special... and any presence (even an unseen one) is going to have tons of small effects that would change how a person experienced things.  It's just one of those plot-device things, basically.  Dr. Who basically shrugs and gets on with the monsters and the epicness, which is of course what it should do.

[Elemental_Elf]

Probably.  That kind of paradox never made any sense to me.  I mean, what if you smell yourself?  Or hear yourself walking?  I don't see why seeing should be special... and any presence (even an unseen one) is going to have tons of small effects that would change how a person experienced things.  It's just one of those plot-device things, basically.  Dr. Who basically shrugs and gets on with the monsters and the epicness, which is of course what it should do.

Hermione from Harry Potter also had the same rule against her in the 3rd Book/Movie, however it only applied to the past her rather than the present her. I think its just a convenient plot device that adds an extra level of suspense to the movie, show and/or book. However, I will say that smelling yourself wouldn't be that big of a deal since most people don't have a distinctive odor (or at least a ranged odor). I can see hearing yourself speak as being about as bad as seeing yourself but, as in the odor, the other 2 senses are meaningless (I mean what would really happen if you tasted yourself? Nothing that's what!).

At any rate, the plot device on not seeing yourself also stops all the BS stuff you can do, such as warn your past self about future events or show yourself that you yourself were able to stay alive for an unknown amount of extra time (i.e. you don't die)... Just easier to say "Yeah don't let your past self see yourself or else an undisclosed amount of BS God-like stuff happens and it won't be good for you!!!"