Time vortex (Doctor Who)

In the science fiction television series "Doctor Who", the time vortex (sometimes called the space-time vortex) is the medium that the TARDIS and other time machines travel through.

In the classic series, the "howlaround" or "slit-scan" tunnel seen in most versions of the series' title sequence is supposed to be a representation of the time vortex (first implied in the pilot episode "An Unearthly Child"), although it is sometimes also shown as nothingness. The original effect was created by 'video feedback' and can be reproduced by pointing a camcorder at a screen displaying the camcorder's output. This is the video equivalent of the whistling noise heard when a microphone 'feeds back' when too close to a speaker.

In the new series (revived in 2005), the direction of the TARDIS's time travel through the vortex can be discerned from the surrounding colours: blue for travelling into the past and red for travelling into the future, most likely inspired by the Doppler effect. While this high-speed vortex effect is used for the opening titles and TARDIS travel, a less kinetic visualisation underlays the credits, and has been used on occasion within the programme to represent the vortex without TARDIS travel ("The Sound of Drums").

The new series vortex graphics are produced by The Mill.

Physics

The vortex is outside normal spacetime, and therefore normal rules of physics do not apply. For instance, in the vortex the equation for the relationship between energy and matter is "E = mc³" ("The Time Monster"). In the Virgin New Adventures novel "Just War" by Lance Parkin, it was stated that the vortex was built by the Time Lords as a transdimensional spiral that connected all points in space and time. The canonicity of the non-television stories is open to interpretation.

The vortex is an extremely hostile environment. In the serial "Planet of Giants", opening the TARDIS doors in-flight caused the First Doctor and his companions to shrink to doll-size. Also, in the Second Doctor serial "The Enemy of the World", the TARDIS doors open in-flight, pulling Salamander into the space-time vortex, and in "Warriors' Gate" exposed the interior of the ship to the time winds, which age whatever they come into contact with. Time Lords appear to have some resistance to this, although unprotected travel within the vortex is still extremely dangerous and often considered fatal ("Shada"). In "Utopia", Captain Jack survives for a time in the vortex as he clings to the TARDIS whilst it is in flight; but afterwards he is judged to be dead by Martha Jones, only to revive due to his personal immortality.

In "Day of the Daleks" a person travelling through the vortex could be drawn to a specific location by the use of a device called a "vortex magnetron". Stated in "Human Nature" Time ships can also be tracked through the vortex using a vortex manipulator.

Inhabitants

Beings that dwell in the vortex include the Chronovores ("The Time Monster", although in the novel "The Quantum Archangel", they are said to live beyond the vortex, in Calabi-Yau space), the Vortex Wraiths (the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels "The Slow Empire" and "Timeless"), clockwork creatures (the Eighth Doctor Adventure "Anachrophobia"), the Vortisaurs (the Big Finish audio play "Storm Warning"), the Tar-Modowk ("No More Lies") and the Reapers ("Father's Day"). It is unknown if any of them are related to each other. In the Eighth Doctor Adventures, Sabbath's employers set up their headquarters in the vortex, casting many of the natives out into the linear universe.

Appearances

In the Virgin Missing Adventures novel "The Well-Mannered War", the TARDIS accidentally wanders into the time spiral, which exists at the perimeter of the time vortex; its forces are strong enough to destroy even the TARDIS. The TARDIS is equipped with a device that forces materialisation in the event it enters the spiral, but the Doctor stated that for this to happen, "there would have to be erosion in the systems circuitry on a massive scale". Like all spin-off media, the canonicity of the novel is open to interpretation, but the spiral is briefly mentioned in Episode One of "The Sun Makers".

At the climax of the "Doctor Who Magazine" comic strip story "The Flood" (DWM #346-#353), the Eighth Doctor hurls himself into the vortex, partially merging with it and gaining tremendous power which he uses to destroy the Cybermen invading Earth. He is almost content to merge fully with the vortex until he is persuaded to return by his companion Destrii.

In the 2005 series episode "The Parting of the Ways", Rose Tyler inadvertently exposes herself to the energies of the vortex while attempting to activate the Ninth Doctor's TARDIS. The exposure gives her absolute power over time and space, allowing her to destroy the Daleks and resurrect fellow companion Jack Harkness (which explains Jack's immortality), but the energies overwhelm her and she collapses. The Doctor is able to save her life by absorbing the vortex energies at the cost of damaging his cells and forcing a regeneration.

In "Utopia" (2007), the Tenth Doctor says that if a Time Lord were to absorb the time vortex, they would become a "vengeful god". While the Ninth Doctor displayed no such tendencies when taking the power from Rose (although he expelled most of it back to its source), the Eighth did during "The Flood" before he emerged from the vortex. The Tenth Doctor describes Rose's revival of Jack as being "so human", but does not elaborate on why there would be such a difference.

"Doomsday" and "Invasion of the Bane" clarified that time travellers in the vortex, such as Rose Tyler and Sarah Jane Smith absorb background radiation called "artron energy" which some creatures such as Daleks can use as an alternative energy source. Other races such as the Bane can use other energy that is absorbed through travel in the time vortex to identify time travellers.

In "The Sound of Drums" the Doctor tells his companions that there was a portal on Gallifrey called the Untempered Schism, a gap in the fabric of reality where one could look directly into the vortex. 8 year old Gallifreyans were taken there as part of their initiation into the Time Lord Academy. "Some are inspired, some run away (as the Doctor says he did), and some (such as the Master) go mad."