RTD Gently Pokes Fun At Steven Moffat's Most Famous Doctor Who Line

Doctor Who has finally returned with “The Robot Revolution,” the first episode in the show’s fifteenth season. The story sees the introduction of Varada Sethu’s character Belinda Chandra, who will replace Ruby Sunday as the Doctor’s full-time companion in the upcoming episodes. She’s an excellent addition to Doctor Who’s cast, and one of her lines in this week’s episode has already made her a fan favorite.

Doctor Who’s new premiere had a very complex timeline and plenty of time-travel twists that certainly felt like “classic” Doctor Who in many ways, and the script even featured an obvious reference to Russell T. Davies’ previous era as showrunner. However, the line may actually have been poking fun at his long-time collaborator and fellow Doctor Who writer, Steven Moffat. The pair have worked on this show since it was brought back in 2005, and Moffat was a frequent guest writer during David Tennant’s era.

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The phrase “Timey-Wimey” was first coined by Stephen Moffatt in “Blink”, one of the writer’s earliest Doctor Who credits, before he took over as showrunner in 2010. The term was used by the Doctor to describe the effects of time-travel to Sally Sparrow, the one-off protagonist played by Carey Mulligan. Since then, the phrase has lived on as a running joke to poke fun at the show’s flexible time-travel laws.

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In “The Robot Revolution”, the Doctor uses the phrase again to explain the time fracture that caused Belinda to arrive on the alien planet long after the Doctor. However, she’s much less accepting of the juvenile phrase than Sally Sparrow was, repeating it back to him and adding sarcastically, “Am I six?” This subtle dig could have been Russell T. Davies’ way of playfully mocking Moffat’s line, as it’s one of the few iconic catchphrases from the David Tennant era that RTD didn’t come up with himself.

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The Line Has Clearly Lived On Despite The Mockery

Although it’s undeniably childish (as Belinda points out), there’s something about the term “timey-wimey” that perfectly explains the laws of the Doctor Who universe. There are no clear time-travel laws, with certain moments serving as “fixed points” that can’t be changed while the rest of the universe’s timeline can famously be rewritten. The laws often bend to serve the story that’s being told, and explaining this all as “timey-wimey” is a fun way of dismissing any plot holes and criticisms that audiences may have.