Change Your Image
wambamsam
Reviews
Doctor Who: Last of the Time Lords (2007)
Scientific explanation of Psychic Power
Other reviewers have said that the way the doctor used peoples' belief in him to become all powerful makes no sense and is inconsistent with the show. I think not. First, in the Shakespeare episode ("The Shakespeare Code") we saw alien 'witches' use the power of words to a similar end. To be honest I thought that whole idea was rubbish, but this episode is consistent with that idea.
The whole countdown precognition can be explained either as time lord precognition (we have seen that like the TARDIS, time is woven into the fabric of his being) or as the deduction of a genius like the doctor knowing that the mad master would want to show off by broadcasting the precise moment that his plan would take effect (just as he did the first time in The Sound of Drums).
The way the doctor linked himself to the satellites is not explained but possible (since time lords are telepathic) as well as his ability to use peoples' thoughts as a power source.
Scientifically speaking, it is theoretically possible to channel and use the energy generated from brain waves on a specific wave length. Google the experiments on using brain waves to power light bulbs.
I'm no scientist, but I'll try to explain the scientific basis for you. All our thoughts are translated into brain waves- small charges of electricity- inside our brains. If everyone is thinking the same thought, all our brain waves will be generating the same wavelength or frequency. See the scientific research currently being done on mind reading (translating brain waves of specific thoughts) to understand this phenomenon.
The doctor had reprogrammed the satellites to collect that energy and direct it into himself. The satellites that originally sent out specific brain waves frequencies (the drum beat) were reversed (typical Dr Who) to instead receive specific brain waves (the doctor incantation). He then directed that energy at himself.
How he did this as a prisoner--well like he said, "I had a whole year," and he had help from friends using the hacking technology at the Torchwood institute.
Somehow, I guess by means of his alien physiology, he was able to absorb it and use it as a power source. We have seen him use and absorb other power sources that a human being could not: gamma radiation ("Evolution of the Daleks"), time tides (from Rose), etc. We have seen other creatures absorb human energy to regenerate ("The Lazarus Experiment"). Why can't the doctor use brain waves? After all, it is just the small electrical charge generated in our brains but magnified by a factor of billions since all those people generated the same charge at the same moment.
The brain waves did not have to be generated from people thinking his name; they could have all thought "I like ice cream" as long as they were all thinking the same thing, but that wouldn't be as mystical or as poetic! Think back to what the witches said to the doctor after he demystified their actions by explaining the science behind it.
The doctor has always had a flare for sentimental faith: he likes that humans do not break everything down into science and logic; that they have a "soul." I've tried to do that for those of you who need it.
I'm clearly no scientist, but I have seen enough sci-fi and read enough scientific research to at least give you a glimpse of the theory behind the science fiction. Please try and take the "science" part lightheartedly. The ideas may be pure fiction, but Dr Who is still very entertaining!
The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
Not the Book! Not even close...
Have all the important people and scenes Time Traveled out of the movie script? For anyone that has read the book, this film must certainly fail in many ways. Many characters were left out entirely. None were developed sufficiently, except perhaps Claire and Henry's GOOD side. The dark moments are gone. Time travel is not really explained.
I cannot imagine understanding the movie without reading the book. I'm sure it would have downright confused me. Yet it is impossible to do justice to a film after reading the novel, especially one as complex and intricate as this one. This should have been a mini-series, not a strict two-hour time limit Hollywood blockbuster. Nevertheless, I do not regret watching the film. I think anyone who read the book will want to see this, even if they will want to rip out its innards and stick their penis in it to paraphrase Henry (from the book, not the movie).