Doctor Who S34E10: "In the Forest of the Night" (Spoilers)

[Enigma]

Plus it can control it's exterior size. Though if that's tied a hundred percent into the chameleon circuit, it might not be fully able too anymore.

He can or else he would never have got that star for his Eye of Harmony duplicate.

[Parallax]

The TARDIS has the ability to not only tow planets around but also neutron stars (Creature from the Pit).
I have no idea how neutron stars compare to solar flares but...

[Eternal_Freedom]

The TARDIS has the ability to not only tow planets around but also neutron stars (Creature from the Pit).
I have no idea how neutron stars compare to solar flares but...

Neutron stars are fucking tiny compared to soar flares on this scale.

[Parallax]

Physically, obviously. But what about in terms of magnetic fields and sheer mass?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Are you suggesting the Doctor tows a neutron star into orbit of Sol to block a flare?

Thats...a bad idea.

[bobalot]

This was an awful episode. Is it me or is the writing getting progressively worse?

[InsaneTD]

It doesn't need to. All it has got to do is get close enough to the sun to deflect the flare around Earth.

Flares are big at source, too.

Say the forcefield can spread out one mile across. You'd not even see it as a pixel in this image.

The thing in Stargate was fucktarded too because it assumed solar flares are small enough to be easily deflected. They're not, they're vast. Let alone a Coronal Mass Ejection.

The idea isn't to fully deflect, merely to block enough that it misses the planet, or at least a good hunk of the planet do the biosphere can survive like in Stargate.

[Parallax]

Are you suggesting the Doctor tows a neutron star into orbit of Sol to block a flare?

Thats...a bad idea.

Haha, oh god no.
I'm wondering that if the TARDIS is powerful to tow around (not just affect the orbit/path) a neutron star which has incredible mass, then it should be able to do something towards a solar flare.
But I'm asking how the effective mass and magnetic fields of a solar flare compare to that of a neutron star. Sure, physical scale differs wildly but that isn't the be all and end all.

[Batman]

Flares are big at source, too.
Say the forcefield can spread out one mile across. You'd not even see it as a pixel in this image.
The thing in Stargate was fucktarded too because it assumed solar flares are small enough to be easily deflected. They're not, they're vast. Let alone a Coronal Mass Ejection.

The idea isn't to fully deflect, merely to block enough that it misses the planet, or at least a good hunk of the planet do the biosphere can survive like in Stargate.

Problem, as Necron noted and I stupidly overlooked, is that to block enough so it misses the planet, you have to block an area as wide as the planet/ the flare because the damn flare isn't a tightly confined beam. Anything smaller (especially as small as the actual external dimensions of the TARDIS as usually seen) and all you're doing is drilling a small tunnel through the flare.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Are you suggesting the Doctor tows a neutron star into orbit of Sol to block a flare?

Thats...a bad idea.

Haha, oh god no.
I'm wondering that if the TARDIS is powerful to tow around (not just affect the orbit/path) a neutron star which has incredible mass, then it should be able to do something towards a solar flare.
But I'm asking how the effective mass and magnetic fields of a solar flare compare to that of a neutron star. Sure, physical scale differs wildly but that isn't the be all and end all.

Well the mass will be a great deal less. The Sun has been kicking out flares like this it's whole life and it's still bloody massive. A neutron star is in the range of 1.4 solar masses (at absolute minimum) to about 3 solar masses. Even a big solar flare will not come close to a millionth of the mass.

As for the magnetic field, I am not sure exactly, but my instinct says that the flare's magnetic field (if it even has one) will be far weaker.

Of course, moving a neutron star doesn't mean the TARDIS can move a much lighter solar flare because a) the neutron star is concentrated in a lump a few tens of kilometers in diameter while the flare is scattered over billions of cubic km and b) the flare has a fuckton of momentum, it's moving relative tot he Sun and to Earth, not just spinning on it's access and orbiting the galactic centre like a neutron star.

[bilateralrope]

Though being able to move a neutron star does suggest it could also move the Earth out of the way, then back into place after the flare has passed. Unless there is some timey whimey bullshit preventing it.

[Batman]

While I suspect that might have some interesting effects on Earth (or not, Stolen Earth/Journey's End didn't seem to do the planet much in the way of harm) I bet it beats being cooked by a giant solar flare.

[DaveJB]

IIRC the TARDIS was only able to tow Earth in Journey's End by locking onto the Cardiff Rift - which, as established by Torchwood: Miracle Day, no longer exists.

[Parallax]

b) the flare has a fuckton of momentum, it's moving relative tot he Sun and to Earth, not just spinning on it's access and orbiting the galactic centre like a neutron star.

At this point I should clarify that the neutron star that features at the end of Creature From The Pit wasn't just calmly orbiting somewhere. Well, if you haven't seen that story yet... spoilers ahoy.

Basically a shit hole of a world captured a big green blob that could make metal, which they were short of. The big green blob was an alien attempting to make contact and become an ambassador (green blob people want plants, people want metal. It seemed like a good trade). Green Blob's home planet don't hear back from their wanna-be ambassador so assume that their citizen has become the victim of foul play. So this planet full of giant green blobs LAUNCHES the afore mentioned neutron star at the system's sun to wipe the savages all out.

Or, as the wiki entry says:
"The Doctor has rescued the Tythonian just in time – it seems Tythonus has declared war on Chloris over the missing ambassador, and has despatched a neutron star to collide with Chloris’ star and destroy the system. It is due to collide within the next twenty-four hours. Working against the odds, Erato, from his reconstituted spacecraft, weaves a metal covering around the star, enabling the Doctor, using the TARDIS gravity beam, to draw the star off course and neutralise the danger. "

Because not much says "Fuck you!" like a neutron star to the face.

[Hillary]

They say that London's a 24-hour city, but from personal experience the central areas are surprisingly quiet until around 7:30-8AM, and it was implied that the kids and teachers had gotten up early to get back to Coal Hill School in time for the normal school day. I could also imagine that people would stay indoors to keep from getting lost in the newly-grown forest. But yeah, it could have been established a little better in the episode itself.

The geography was fucked. The TARDIS was in Trafalgar Square and the kids were in South Kensington. These are decent distances apart - walking from one to the other would be, what, a good hour's yomp at a good pace even without the forest, especially if they went via Hyde/Green/ St James's parks which is how it looked with the lack of buildings. The timescales of the girl running off and finding the Doctor and then the teachers managing to drag their gaggle of bad actors to the same spot just aren't realistic.

Oh, and London Zoo is a good long way from either Trafalgar Square or South Kensington.

I wasn't bothered quite as much by the lack of people. On the basis that no one would be commuting into the centre, there would likely not be many people in South Ken/Trafalgar Square at that time. Most residents would probably have stayed indoors as advised.

Now the episode itself. More really, really stupid science. More dull Danny Pink stuff. And, yes, the authorities are definitely going to stop attacking the trees because a child's voice tells them something they have written themselves. I hated it. Again.

[DaveJB]

Oh, and London Zoo is a good long way from either Trafalgar Square or South Kensington.

A bigger problem is the fact that, near as I can tell, London Zoo hasn't kept wolves since around the 1950s. The nearest place which does keep them is Whipsnade Zoo... which is 40 miles away from Central London. I know Luton's kind of a craphole, but you'd think they'd be able to find something to eat there!

Then again, having the Doctor and Clara chased around by a roving pack of prairie dogs probably wouldn't have looked anywhere near as impressive, so I guess I can't entirely fault them for taking a little artistic licence.

[Hillary]

Oh, and London Zoo is a good long way from either Trafalgar Square or South Kensington.

A bigger problem is the fact that, near as I can tell, London Zoo hasn't kept wolves since around the 1950s. The nearest place which does keep them is Whipsnade Zoo... which is 40 miles away from Central London. I know Luton's kind of a craphole, but you'd think they'd be able to find something to eat there!

Then again, having the Doctor and Clara chased around by a roving pack of prairie dogs probably wouldn't have looked anywhere near as impressive, so I guess I can't entirely fault them for taking a little artistic licence.

Good point, well made. I haven't been there since I was a child and Guy the Gorilla was there, so I haven't really any idea of what animals are there these days.