Like most sci-fi types out there, I’ve been deriving quite a bit of enjoyment out of the new season of Doctor Who with Doctor number eleven, Matt Smith. And now that the States have caught up with the UK and the premeire episode, “The Eleventh Hour,” has officially aired over here, we can talk about it.

Probably some vague spoilers here…proceed with due caution:

As for the new Doctor and his companion, Amy Pond, I like them. Quite a bit, actually. He’s got a proper Whovian eccentricity about him (“…definitely a madman with a box”), and his chemistry with Karen Gillan is quite good. While the relationship is still obviously developing, I’m not getting the mooney-eyed “Doctor’s my boyfriend” vibe, which is, to be honest, nice (I liked Rose/Billie Piper, really, I just wish she’d GO AWAY).

…And yeah, she’s cute:

But that’s not important here.

Plotwise, the episodes have been consistently good (though I don’t think we’ve gotten a great one yet), but the more interesting stuff is going on in the background; seems like there’s more groundwork laid down beyond the RTD practice of wedging a word or phrase (“Bad Wolf”, “Saxon”, etc) into every episode; the underlying arc (and it could be described quite literally as an arc of sorts) is laying some serious and subtle backstory.

However, the biggest mystery to me comes back to Amy once again; specifically, where, or, actually WHEN is she from? It’s not entirely clear, and difficult to extrapolate, given that all the markers and trappings don’t line up.

When we first see Smith’s Doctor, he’s hovering over London (where we get a pointed view of the London Eye, placing him no earlier than 2000); “End of Time Part II” ended, presumably, in Winter 2005 when Tennant was stalking saying goodbye to Rose before regenerating, and wrecking the TARDIS. I’m guessing this is where things initially pick up in “Eleventh Hour.”

Then perspective switches to young (roughly 7-10 years old) Amelia, and it’s Easter. So, some sort of time jump happened, though the duration (months? years?) and direction isn’t known. After the shenanigans of cooking all that food and “fixing” cracks, the Doctor heads out for a quick five minute trip, and returns “12 years later.”

The bulk of the episode happens here; time markers include mostly modern (if late model) cars, camera smart phones (a Blackberry Storm is featured prominently), laptop computers with wifi, browsers, and web cams, and call-outs to twitter, facebook, bebo, and all that other social networking rabble.

So, “modern day,” right? Not necessarily.

During one of the “notice everything” sequences (which seems to be a recurring theme under The Moff) in “The Eleventh Hour”,the camera lingers a bit on the ID badge of nurse Rory Williams, contemporary and childhood friend of Amy. Note the issue date (click to embiggen):

“Issued: 30/11/1990”, with a current-looking photo. Assuming is age is within a couple of years of Amy (21 or so at this point in the episode), and that it takes three to five years of training to become a nurse in the UK, this badge can’t be more than five years old. Definite evidence of this episode taking place at some point in the 1990s (and finally wrapping up two years later, launching the rest of the series).

Still this doesn’t account for all the technology inconsistencies. And, the fact that in episode 3, Amy doesn’t recognize a Dalek; she’s never seen them. It’s been established quite explicitly that in the “prime” Doctor Who timeline, the Daleks are common knowledge to the public (given the events of “Stolen Earth/Journey’s End”), and this awareness played a significant role in the backstory of one of the characters in “Waters of Mars.” Amy is simply not from 21st century earth, at least not the version we’ve seen thus far in the revamped series.

I guess the most plausible explanation is “alternate timeline/universe”; that’s kind of what I’m expecting. We’ll see how it plays out. The whole “crack in the universe” motif/device seems to support it. In any case, I like when serial entertainment gives us all these little inconsistencies and breadcrumbs to follow; it keeps me watching. After all, I always wanted to get an honest-to-goodness No-Prize from Marvel comics, but could never find an inconsistency that was clearly not an error.

Oh well – for futher reading, the guy over at bleeding cool has all kinds of other stuff on this as well; as more episodes roll out both in the UK and abroad, we’ll see more speculation (especially when River Song and the Weeping Angels come back this weekend), as if there isn’t enough already.

The question nobody’s asking, though, is why aren’t there any ducks in the duck pond?