History Recap / DoctorWho2011RedNoseDaySpecialSpaceAndTime

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Space_and_Time_6885.jpg]]

->''"This is how it all ends: Pond flirting with herself. [[ScrewYourself True love at last]]."''
-->-- '''The Doctor'''

-> Written by Creator/StevenMoffat

"Space" and "Time" are two mini-episodes, penned by Creator/StevenMoffat, for the [[UsefulNotes/ComicRelief Red Nose Day]] charity event.

----

'''Space'''

The episode opens up in the TARDIS, where the Doctor is busy working away at the console, when Amy comes to speak to him. When it's a choice between conversation and fixing his motor, the Doctor decides the latter is preferable and brushes Amy off. Not to be deterred, Amy continues to pester the poor Time Lord, saying she just needs to ask him [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon something important]]. He promptly begins to call for Rory.

Feeling frustrated, Amy is surprised to see Rory is ''right'' there -- underneath the console, fixing it along with the Doctor. A little miffed about being left out, she asks why ''he'' gets to help out. Rory points out that Amy is rubbish with machines: she can't even drive a car. (Point in fact, she can drive the car as long as there are no [[CarMeetsHouse unexpected houses to crash into]]).

"You're just jealous because I passed my test first time," Amy says smugly.

"You cheated," Rory asserts. How? She wore a short skirt. "Have you ever seen Amy drive, Doctor? Neither did her driving examiner."

What? Of course she didn't wear a skirt. Actually, it was a skirt but it was any old skirt. Oh, wait, no, "it was ''this'' skirt."

Suddenly, the ship is jolted and turns dark. When Rory was [[DistractedByTheSexy distracted]] by Amy's skirt through the glass floor above him, he accidentally dropped a [[TechnoBabble thermo-coupling]], which the Doctor specifically asked him not to do. Thankfully, everything should be fine. There was an emergency materialisation, so the ship should have safely landed wherever there was room --

Like inside itself.

Sitting proudly in the center of the TARDIS is a blue police box.

Rather unnerved, the Doctor goes to investigate the police box. He cautiously disappears through its doors -- only to re-appear through the inside of ''their'' TARDIS doors. He spends a few moments playing with the rather Creator/MCEscher-like dimensional paradox, which Rory admits is pretty cool. Good thing too, because they'll need something to entertain themselves now that they're trapped for all eternity in an infinite loop. Because now, nothing can ever enter or leave this ship again.

Cue a second Amy walking in through the ship's doors.

[[CallBack "Okay, kids,]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang this is where it gets complicated."]]

----

'''Time'''

Turns out that the police box has now drifted in time, so by going through it you can appear a few seconds in the past. This second Amy has come from the future because the Doctor just told -- [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble or will tell]] -- her to go back and explain what's happened. Amy doesn't really understand, and future-Amy says she still doesn't; she's just repeating what she remembered her future self said.

In fact, everything she says has to be like she remembers, in order to keep the time-line stable. As such, the Doctor asks when present-Amy goes into the box, which she says will be right after she slaps Rory. Rory is not particularly happy with the idea of being slapped without having done anything, but after he seems [[TwinThreesomeFantasy a little bit too pleased by there being two copies of his wife around]], present-Amy slaps him for ''that''. So into the box she goes.

Not before she gets to [[ScrewYourself flirt with herself]] first, of course.

Finally Present-Amy leaves, making Future-Amy Present-Amy. Which is all well and good, except they're still trapped...

And then Amy and Rory come running into the console room.

Once again, they came because the Doctor told -- will tell -- them to get into the police box. More confusion and flirting commences, the Doctor presses our present pair of companions into the blue box, leaving us with the normal set of companions. So, what now?

Well, the Doctor can get them out of this incredibly confusing loop, but only if he uses the right lever. If he uses the wrong one, the TARDIS will implode and they'll all die. "You don't know which lever," says Amy, disbelieving.

"No. But I'm about to find out."

And then ''another'' Doctor runs into the ship. "The wibbly lever!"

"The wibbly lever!"

He pulls the wibbly lever, and runs into the police box, just as it begins to dematerialize. Finally, it disappears, freed of its own infinite regression of time and space. There's no danger of accidentally dying, or blowing a hole in all causality. [[TheStinger "But just in case: Pond, put some trousers on."]]

Click [[http://youtu.be/5mPKEZJDcDM here]] for some clarity.

----
!!Tropes

* AllMenArePerverts: The episode has a lot of fun with this. Even the Doctor can be seen checking out "The Legs" for a brief moment the first time Amy's skirt comes up in the conversation.
* ArmorPiercingSlap: Amy delivers one to Rory after his apparent TwinThreesomeFantasy. Ironically, the Doctor himself gets one [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut the following episode.]]
* BiTheWay: Amy is apparently a little bit sweet on herself.
* BrickJoke: In "Space" there's the conversation about Amy getting her driving license without driving at all, because the examiner liked the skirt. Then, when Amy flirts with herself in "Time":
-->'''Present!Amy:''' Do I really look like that?\\
'''Future!Amy:''' Yeah! Yeah, you do.\\
'''Present!Amy:''' I'd give you a driving license.\\
'''Future!Amy:''' I bet you would.
* BuffySpeak: The wibbly lever.
* CallBack
** Amy's line "Okay, kids, this is where it gets complicated," is the same one she used in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]], in similar conjunction with confusing Time-Travel.
** Also, Classic-Who fans will remember an infinite loop of police boxes appearing in the TARDIS from Four's final episode, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis Logopolis]]".
** AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho has the Eighth Doctor story [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho029TheChimesOfMidnight "The Chimes of Midnight"]], where the ''outside'' of the TARDIS is in a space loop.
** The TARDIS's emergency-lock-onto-the-nearest-safe-space feature previously appeared in the Classic-Who episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E4Terminus "Terminus"]]. Whether it worked better on that occasion depends on whether you prefer being trapped in an infinite recursion or being surrounded by space lepers.
** Also, bananas.
** Future Amy's explanation of her need to maintain the StableTimeLoop ("I'm just repeating this, and this, and this") is quite reminiscent of the Doctor explaining the same thing in Moffat's own [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E10Blink "Blink"]].
** Also one to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E06TheVampiresofVenice "The Vampires of Venice"]] where an unnerved Rory talks to the Doctor working on the TARDIS in steampunk goggles. Since Rory TookALevelInBadass the Doctor now trusts him to wear the steampunk goggles and work on the TARDIS.
** The one and only time (so far) we've seen Amy behind the wheel of a vehicle was in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E07AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]], where there was a house involved.
** The [[TimeyWimeyBall wibbly lever]] is just blatant, though.
* CarMeetsHouse: Apparently, this happened to Amy the one known time that Rory let her drive to the end of the street. She ran into an "unexpected" house.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Rory becoming distracted by Amy's skirt causes him to drop a thermo-coupling... though it's not his fault the floor is made of ''glass''.
* DistractedByMyOwnSexy: Amy gets distracted checking her future/past self out. This episode even provides the page quote.
-->'''The Doctor''': Ohh, this is how it all ends. Pond flirting with herself. It's true love at last.
* [[DoIReallySoundLikeThat Do I Really Look Like That?]] Present!Amy asks Future!Amy.
* {{Foreshadowing}}
** WordOfGod says the question Amy wanted to ask the Doctor will be important in the next season. It may have something to do with Amy [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut}} being pregnant]].
** A much more subtle example is two Amys.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: [[Creator/StevenMoffat Moff]], you've outdone yourself!
* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Amy flirts with herself. Rory approves.
-->'''Doctor:''' So this is how it all ends. Pond flirting with herself. True love at last. ...oh, sorry, Rory.\\
'''Rory:''' (''staring'') Absolutely no problem whatsoever.
* HypocriticalHumor: Amy slaps Rory for his implied TwinThreesomeFantasy mere moments before flirting with herself.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: "We're just entering conceptual space. Imagine a banana. Or anything curved. Actually, don't, because it's not curved or like a banana -- FORGET THE BANANA!"
* MindScrew: It's Moffat's TimeyWimeyBall.
* PantyShot: Subverted since we don't see it, but presumably Rory did thanks to the aforementioned skirt and glass floor, [[VaporWear presuming she's wearing panties of course]].
* RuleOfFunny: Almost goes without saying.
* ScrewYourself: Amy seems rather flirtatious with her future self, as the Doctor -- and the fandom, no doubt -- notes.
* StableTimeLoop: "I'm just remembering what I heard myself saying when I was standing where you are now and repeating it. I'm just repeating this too. And this... and this..."
* SteamPunk: Rory was rocking some pretty steam-punkish goggles.
* TechnoBabble: Well, it is ''Series/DoctorWho''.
* TemporalParadox: So... how, exactly, did the Doctor know it was the wibbly lever? You ''could'' try to explain this by saying that any other one would have killed all of them, thus breaking the loop, so any loop that formed would have had to include that particular lever, but that would only make it ''less'' plausible. And [[TimeCrash major holes in all of causality]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E8FathersDay aren't]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens exactly]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong rare]] in the Whoniverse, so no time loop was really warranted, unless the timeline was fixed inside the TARDIS which would mean that they couldn't change it if they tried but then how could the inside drift from the outside or the characters enter the [[YourHeadAsplode AAARRRGGGHHH!!!]]
* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: Rory seems to get particularly confused by this trope.
* TimeyWimeyBall: Let's just say that this episode utilizes time-travel for [[MindScrew maximum confusion]]. After all, Moffat ''is'' the TropeNamer.
* TookALevelInBadass: Rory. The Doctor actually trusts him to do delicate TARDIS repair work. Takes a certain level of trust to let another man mess around with the engine of your motor, especially when said motor has [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens previously proven capable]] of ''[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt blowing up time]]''.
* TwinThreesomeFantasy: Amy's repeated flirting with her future-self gets the Doctor to snark that it's "true love at last" before apologising to Rory. Rory doesn't care, he seems to be ''very'' into the idea.
* WomenDrivers: Some jokes about Amy's driving come ''really'' close to this trope.

----

Rather unnerved, the Doctor goes to investigate the police box. He cautiously disappears through its doors -- only to re-appear through the inside of ''their'' TARDIS doors. He spends a few moments playing with the rather MCEscher-like dimensional paradox, which Rory admits is pretty cool. Good thing too, because they'll need something to entertain themselves now that they're trapped for all eternity in an infinite loop. Because now, nothing can ever enter or leave this ship again.

-->This is how it all ends: Pond flirting with herself. [[ScrewYourself True love at last]].
--> -- '''The Doctor'''

--> Written by Creator/StevenMoffat

-->'''Present!Amy''': Do I really look like that?
-->'''Future!Amy''': Yeah! Yeah, you do.
-->'''Present!Amy''': I'd give you a driving license.
-->'''Future!Amy''': I bet you would.

* CallBack: Amy's line "Okay, kids, this is where it gets complicated," is the same one she used in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]], in similar conjunction with confusing Time-Travel.

*** AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho has the Eighth Doctor story [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho029TheChimesOfMidnight "The Chimes of Midnight"]], where the ''outside'' of the TARDIS is in a space loop.
** The TARDIS's emergency-lock-onto-the-nearest-safe-space feature previously appeared in the Classic-Who episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E4Terminus Terminus]]". Whether it worked better on that occasion depends on whether you prefer being trapped in an infinite recursion or being surrounded by space lepers.

** Future Amy's explanation of her need to maintain the {{Stable Time Loop}} ("I'm just repeating this, and this, and this") is quite reminiscent of the Doctor explaining the same thing in Moffat's own "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E10Blink Blink]]".
** Also one to "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E06TheVampiresofVenice The Vampires of Venice]]" where an unnerved Rory talks to the Doctor working on the TARDIS in steampunk goggles. Since Rory TookALevelInBadass the Doctor now trusts him to wear the steampunk goggles and work on the TARDIS.
** The one and only time (so far) we've seen Amy behind the wheel of a vehicle was in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E07AmysChoice Amy's Choice]]", where there was a house involved.

* DistractedByTheSexy: Rory becoming distracted by Amy's skirt causes him to drop a thermo-coupling...though it's not his fault the floor is made of ''glass''.
** PantyShot: Subverted since we don't see it but presumably Rory did thanks to the aforementioned skirt and glass floor, [[VaporWear presuming she's wearing panties of course]].
* DistractedByMyOwnSexy: Amy gets distracted checking her future/past self out, this episode even provides the page quote.
--> '''The Doctor''': Ohh, this is how it all ends. Pond flirting with herself. It's true love at last.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: WordOfGod says the question Amy wanted to ask the Doctor will be important in the next season.
** It may have something to do with Amy [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut}} being pregnant]].
*** A much more subtle example is two Amys.

-->'''Doctor''': So this is how it all ends. Pond flirting with herself. True love at last. ...oh, sorry, Rory.\\
'''Rory''': *staring* Absolutely no problem whatsoever.

* {{Metaphorgotten}}: "We're just entering conceptual space. Imagine a banana. Or anything curved. Actually, don't, because it's not curved or like a banana- FORGET THE BANANA!"

* ScrewYourself: Amy seems rather flirtatious with her future self, as the Doctor--and the fandom, no doubt--notes.
* StableTimeLoop: "I'm just remembering what I heard myself saying when I was standing where you are now and repeating it. I'm just repeating this too. And this...and this..."

* TemporalParadox: So...how, exactly, did the Doctor know it was the wibbly lever?
** You ''could'' try to explain this by saying that any other one would have killed all of them, thus breaking the loop, so any loop that formed would have had to include that particular lever, but that would only make it ''less'' plausible. And [[TimeCrash major holes in all of causality]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E8FathersDay aren't]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens exactly]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong rare]] in the Whoniverse, so no time loop was really warranted, unless the timeline was fixed inside the TARDIS which would mean that they couldn't change it if they tried but then how could the inside drift from the outside or the characters enter the [[YourHeadASplode AAARRRGGGHHH!!!]]

* WatchingTheReflectionUndress: The reflective floor of the TARDIS lets Rory see up Amy's short skirt which causes pretty much all the problems in the episode.

** You ''could'' try to explain this by saying that any other one would have killed all of them, thus breaking the loop, so any loop that formed would have had to include that particular lever, but that would only make it ''less'' plausible. And [[TimeCrash major holes in all of causality]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E08FathersDay aren't]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens exactly]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong rare]] in the Whoniverse, so no time loop was really warranted, unless the timeline was fixed inside the TARDIS which would mean that they couldn't change it if they tried but then how could the inside drift from the outside or the characters enter the [[YourHeadASplode AAARRRGGGHHH!!!]]

* TemporalParadox: So...how, exactly, did the Doctor know it was the wibbly lever?

* TimeyWimeyBall: Let's just say that this episode utilizes time-travel for maximum confusion. After all, Moffat is the TropeNamer.
* TookALevelInBadass: Rory. The Doctor actually trusts him to do delicate TARDIS repair work. Takes a certain level of trust to let another man mess around with the engine of your motor.

The episode opens up in the TARDIS, where the Doctor is busy working away at the console, when Amy comes to speak to him. When it's a choice between conversation and fixing his motor, the Doctor decides the latter is preferable and brushes Amy off. Not to be deterred, Amy continues to pester the poor Time Lord, saying she just need to ask him [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon something important]]. He promptly begins to call for Rory.

** PantyShot: Subverted since we don't see it but presumably Rory did thanks to the aforementioned skirt and glass floor, [[VaporWear Presuming she's wearing panties of course]].

-->'''Doctor''': This is how it all ends: Pond flirting with herself. [[ScrewYourself True love at last]].

"Space" and "Time" are two mini-episodes, penned by StevenMoffat, for the [[UsefulNotes/ComicRelief Red Nose Day]] charity event.

*** AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho has the (incredibly well-loved) 8th Doctor story [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho029TheChimesOfMidnight "The Chimes of Midnight"]], where [[spoiler:the ''outside'' of the TARDIS is in a space loop]].

* FandomNod: Fans will get the distinct impression that this episode was written with all of Amy's "skirt haters" in mind.
** Not to mention all of the fans who have made "glass floor" jokes about said skirt.

** It may have something to do with Amy [[spoiler:[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut}} being pregnant]]]].
*** A much more subtle example is [[spoiler: two Amys]].
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: [[StevenMoffat Moff]], you've outdone yourself!

** [[StableTimeLoop The Doctor told him.]]

** Well, Rory ''is'' more than twice as old as the Doctor at this point.

*** BigFinishDoctorWho has the (incredibly well-loved) 8th Doctor story [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho029TheChimesOfMidnight "The Chimes of Midnight"]], where [[spoiler:the ''outside'' of the TARDIS is in a space loop]].

"Space" and "Time" are two mini-episodes, penned by StevenMoffat, for the [[ComicRelief Red Nose Day]] charity event.

-->'''Present!Amy''': ''Do I really look like that?''
-->'''Future!Amy''': ''Yeah! Yeah, you do.''
-->'''Present!Amy''': ''I'd give you a driving license.''
-->'''Future!Amy''': ''I bet you would.''

*** BigFinishDoctorWho has the (incredibly well-loved) 8th Doctor story [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho029TheChimesOfMidnight The Chimes of Midnight]] where [[spoiler:the ''outside'' of the TARDIS is in a space loop]].

*** Big Finish audio-Who fans might remember the 8th Doctor story [[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Chimes_of_Midnight The Chimes of Midnight]] (no, not [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E10Midnight that one]]), where [[spoiler:the ''outside'' of the TARDIS is in a space loop]].

"Space" and "Time" are two mini-episodes, penned by StevenMoffat, for the [[ComicRelief Red Nose Day]] charity event. It features general [[TimeyWimeyBall timey-wimey-ness]] which results in an infinite loop of [=TARDISes=], multiple copies of Doctor and co., and a good deal of flirting.

The episode opens up in the TARDIS, where the Doctor is busy working away at the console, when Amy comes to speak to him. Of course, when it's a choice between conversation and fixing his motor, the Doctor decides the latter is preferable and brushes Amy off. Not to be deterred, Amy continues to pester the poor Time Lord, saying she just need to ask him something; he promptly begins to call for Rory.

What? Of course she didn't wear a skirt. Actually, it was a skirt but it was any old skirt. Oh, wait, no, "It was THIS skirt."

Suddenly, the ship is jolted and turns dark -- very not good. When Rory was [[DistractedByTheSexy distracted]] by Amy's skirt above him, he accidentally dropped a [[TechnoBabble thermo-coupling]], which the Doctor specifically asked him not to do. Thankfully, everything should be fine. There was an emergency materialisation, so the ship should have safely landed wherever there was room--

[[OnTheNext DOCTOR WHO WILL RETURN IN "THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT" EASTER 2011.]]

The episode opens up in the TARDIS, where the Doctor is busy working away at the console, when Amy comes to speak to him. Of course, when it's a choice between conversation and fixing his motor, the Doctor decides the latter is preferable and brushes Amy off. Not to be deterred, Amy continues to pester the poor Time Lord, saying she just need to ask him something; he promptly begins to call for Rory (possibly so he can deal with his wife, instead, or the Doctor was afraid Amy was hitting on him again and he wanted Rory to distract her).

Feeling frustrated, Amy is surprised to see Rory is ''right'' there- underneath the console, fixing it along with the Doctor. A little miffed about being left out, she asks why ''he'' gets to help out. Rory points out that Amy is rubbish with machines- she can't even drive a car. (Point in fact, she can drive the car as long as there are no [[CarMeetsHouse unexpected houses to crash into]]).

Suddenly, the ship is jolted and turns dark- very extremely not good. When Rory was [[DistractedByTheSexy distracted]] by Amy above him, he accidentally dropped a [[TechnoBabble thermo-coupling]], which the Doctor specifically asked him not to do. Thankfully, everything should be fine- there was an emergency materialisation, so the ship should have safely landed wherever there was room-

Rather unnerved, the Doctor goes to investigate the police box. He cautiously disappears through its doors- only to re-appear through the inside of ''their'' TARDIS doors. He spends a few moments playing with the rather MCEscher-like dimensional paradox, which Rory admits is pretty cool. Good thing too, because they'll need something to entertain themselves now that they're trapped for all eternity in an infinite loop. Because now, nothing can ever enter or leave this ship again.

Does it ever! Turns out that the police box has now drifted in time, so by going through it you can appear a few seconds in the past. This second Amy has come from the future because the Doctor just told- [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble or will tell-]] her to go back and explain what's happened. Amy doesn't really understand, and future-Amy says she still doesn't; she's just repeating what she remembered her future self said.

Finally Amy leaves, making Future-Amy Present-Amy. Which is all well and good, except they're still trapped...

Once again, they came because the Doctor told- er, will tell- them to get into the police box. More confusion and flirting commences, the Doctor presses our present pair of companions into the blue box, leaving us with the normal set of companions. So, what now?

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: "Space" introduces a confusing space-loop. "Time" introduces several confusing time-loops.

* DistractedByMyOwnSexy: Amy gets distracted checking her future/past self out.