I take it the SG-verse starts doing a lot of timetravel, then? I recall a bit of parallel-universe hopping but no actual time-altering in the early seasons of SG-1, but have read summaries suggesting there's more later...anyway, yeah, the multiple distinct universes is one way to handle it (and provides for a lot of dramatic tragedy, because someone's screwed over no matter what, even if not the people of your own timeline.)
What confuses me about Who is that when they go to the Cybermen AU, they explain the alt unis by saying they're made by one's choices making branches, despite that being counter to what we see otherwise. I suspect the writer was just pulling the definition out of the standard scifi cliche hat and not thinking about it.
Ah, but I'm trying to remember, is the 3rd season finale the only time we see the past definitely being changed? Because they have a huuuuuge 'deus ex' there - the aptly named "paradox machine" which they very cleverly do not describe the operation of, but which allows the humans of the future to go back in time and destroy their own ancestors. I had the impression that the paradox machine was what allowed them to so easily rewrite the Master's history of world domination as well. If that's the only exception to the rule, then it makes some sense.
...well, at least in New Who. In Oldschool Who in one ep we saw ("Pyramids of Mars" if I recall correctly) when the companion asks the old, "why do we have to stop this alien from taking over Earth in the past, I know he didn't win, I'm living in the future where he didn't!" the Doctor takes her to the future where he's won, and it's a desolate apocalypse, etc. So...yeah, I think they're just using whatever timetravel rules make the best sense dramatically!
(and this doesn't explain the damage of the Time War, in which Gallifrey doesn't seem to exist anywhere in time, and yet Jack has heard legends about it, so people still remember it...maybe it's just that the Doctor can't cross over his own timeline to go back to it? but one would think he could visit a historical time from before himself...one gets the feeling it's totally gone from history. Ack, so confusing!)
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What confuses me about Who is that when they go to the Cybermen AU, they explain the alt unis by saying they're made by one's choices making branches, despite that being counter to what we see otherwise. I suspect the writer was just pulling the definition out of the standard scifi cliche hat and not thinking about it.
Ah, but I'm trying to remember, is the 3rd season finale the only time we see the past definitely being changed? Because they have a huuuuuge 'deus ex' there - the aptly named "paradox machine" which they very cleverly do not describe the operation of, but which allows the humans of the future to go back in time and destroy their own ancestors. I had the impression that the paradox machine was what allowed them to so easily rewrite the Master's history of world domination as well. If that's the only exception to the rule, then it makes some sense.
...well, at least in New Who. In Oldschool Who in one ep we saw ("Pyramids of Mars" if I recall correctly) when the companion asks the old, "why do we have to stop this alien from taking over Earth in the past, I know he didn't win, I'm living in the future where he didn't!" the Doctor takes her to the future where he's won, and it's a desolate apocalypse, etc. So...yeah, I think they're just using whatever timetravel rules make the best sense dramatically!
(and this doesn't explain the damage of the Time War, in which Gallifrey doesn't seem to exist anywhere in time, and yet Jack has heard legends about it, so people still remember it...maybe it's just that the Doctor can't cross over his own timeline to go back to it? but one would think he could visit a historical time from before himself...one gets the feeling it's totally gone from history. Ack, so confusing!)