The crazy thing about this is that, according to a post on Instagram, Richard E. Grant actually dropped by the studio to have his face photographed for this sequence, meaning it isn't even an archive clip from some of his previous work.
He did indeed! So even if it proves this theory wrong I'm actually hoping he wasn't just there to take photos and his appearance somehow fits into the finale!
@@CaptainJimiPie My favorite cliffhanger would be one where Richard E. Grant and Rowan Atkinson suddenly appear from the Time Window (which is confirmed to appear in the finale) and set up the start of the Doctor Who multiverse.
That narrative has sort of already been explored as in the novel The Tomorrow Windows, The Eighth Doctor sees Eccleston, Atkinson & Grant incarnations as all possible futures for himself, and the show itself is no strange to the idea of alternate timelines and multiverses.
Sadly it's unlikely to happen for Atkinson's Doctor due to COFD being a charity sketch I believe it's applications in future media are EXTREMELY limited. I believe it's why it's never been released on DVD, although given that's it's been released for digital purchase before with proceeds going towards Comic Relief.
I did consider that as part of or as a seperate idea but even then it just felt a bit too "loose" of an explanation especially given that previously The Shalka Doctor has been established as a whole separate timeline, so it logically he'd never be a part of the same jigsaw in the first place. And even if The Toymaker did include other Doctor's from other universes it means there's ALOT more others that should have been seen too.
I would love to see him expanded that instagram post into a full story of it's own. Even if it didn't feature 15, just about what caused them to cross over! Even if it disproves my theory!
Oooo, I've still got Shalka in The Main Doctor's continuity after doing a few admittedly doing a few gymnastics to throw him in there, but if we're going to go for the alternative universe stance, it's definitely the best pitch I've heard so far (Also a whole theory spanning off a "Withnail and I" reference is just perfect to me ☠)
I did try to fit him into the main universe line up but as I said whichever way I tried to fit it, it either didn't work or I had to make some pretty wild assumptions with very little basis to work it. The "alternate universe" stance is pretty much where he was to begin with too anyway so it stand to more reason that would still be the case, again atleast for me.
Technically (and debatably) he's not a separate incarnation of The Doctor, instead being an entirely separate entity. Therefore if it was only showing sepecific incarnations of The Doctor it would make sense for him not to be there. That being said however, it is a debated point and personally I think it would have made more sense to include The Valeyard instead of The Shalka Doctor, as at the very least they are historically part of the same universe, not to mention it would have been a lovely tribute to the late great Michael Jayston.
Like this theory, and I love how they’ve done this, this kind of crazy canon bending stuff is the lifeblood of fans! Imagine if they’d included the Cushing Doctor too! The Shalka Doctor may not have been part of the Doctor’s life until the bi generation…the retcon affecting the Eighth’s regeneration into the War Doctor as it took place during the Time War, creating not only a renewed Eight and a war Doctor but a totally separate independent incarnation - who lived and died and rejoined the timeline. This would mean the Shalka Doctor can be part of the main universe. And the fact that REG specially sat for the photos means there could be more on this. Like the Morbius Doctors we may not get an explanation for 40 years!
The Cushing Doctor very much faces the same problems as The Shalka Doctor in that he's almost impossible to fit in without rewriting established canon and/or creating huge fan assumptions to make it work. Personally I've always preferred Cushing's own theory that he's a future incarnation made to relive his early adventures by The Toymaker. And as I say the problem with the bi-generation and event Time War retconning is that it's just too "loose" as an explanation because essentially it's "why did this happen...because Time War". I certainly do hope there is more to this though as I'm always happy for an fan theory to be proved wrong if it means we get a proper explanation, and I certainly hope this may play into the final two episode of Series 14 some how!
My personal theory is that he is a Pre Hartnel Doctor we know that there’s loads of them at least 16 by my count Richard E Grant is more than likely the 17th I am in including The Timeless Child Incarcerations, The Fugitive Doctor and The Morbius Doctors and Richard E Grant is in there somewhere
The main problem with him being Pre-Hartnell is presence of The Master as his companion, as going by previous narrative evidence The Master was unaware of The Doctor's existence before The First Doctor. Whilst you COULD explain this away as The TimeLord's/The Division also wiped The Master's memory too, it just feels too "flimsy" as an explanation, especially when you consider The Shalka Doctor's intended backstory too, and his own admission that by the time he has become The Shalka Doctor there have only been nine incarnations before him. The earliest realistically you COULD put The Shalka Doctor in the main timeline is Season 6B but even then you'd still be re-writing a whole timeline that never happened in order to reset the timeline to the TV Show one.
Is it possible that when the Doctor let the Toymaker in to the universe the barriers from other reality were also weak so now unbound Doctor’s are seeping through and the scanner can’t recognise which is the Doctor from here as there are multiple Doctor’s in the universe at one time (or the Toymaker did say I made a puzzle of your past And it’s just a cosmic God messing around with the Doctor so he can’t tell what is real and what isn’t)
It's not impossible, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's the route they went down for an official explanation, but as I said that does leave alot more questions than it answers, for me at least. Plus what I like about this theory is that it does create a whole new potential story out of Paul's instagram post, giving it (albeit only a little) more credence than just another "fan-fiction".
Ever since the Great Intelligence in the form of Dr Simeon entered the Doctor's timestream at the end of The Name of the Doctor, I've retroactively placed the Shalka Doctor as a G.I. incarnation. Since Rogue, I've slightly fudged the concept by believing that the regeneration between the War Doctor and the Ninth Doctor was interrupted by the Great Intelligence inserting itself in the Doctor's timeline. After all, we never see the completion of Hurt to Eccleston, and as the Grant version wasn't an actual regeneration, the regeneration limit still stands. I don't know if I've explained that very well, but I do think it makes sense.
The biggest problem with him coming between The War & Ninth Doctor's is that The Shalka Doctor exists in a universe where The Last Great Time War never took place, and coupling that with his comments about having had 8 previous incarnations it means The War Doctor also never existed in the Shalka timeline.
In a 2004 short trips anthology, McGann is going grey and believes he’ll soon regenerate. There’s then a gap before we pick up with Blood of the Daleks. It’s the perfect place to drop a bonus incarnation, Mid-Eighth Doctor so the Shalka Doctor succeeds McGann, but later following a degeneration so does Hurt and Eccleston.
If memory serves you're referring to the short story The End. in which The Eighth Doctor questions if his end is coming because his lack of memories at times but later finds out this isn't the case. Whilst you COULD potentially put an incarnation between McGann & Hurt, personally I just don't think it works because it's far too "convenient" just have The Doctor degenerate to retcon that timeline, it doesn't really serve any real purpose to the continuing narrative.
@@CaptainJimiPiethe degeneration would be to undo interference by the great intelligence stepping into his timeline, which is how this face came about.
The problem there though is by creating a whole new incarnation between War & McGann it would mean The Tenth Doctor would be the last incarnation, therefore never becoming The Eleventh and the events on Trenzalore and the creation of The Doctor's Timestream/grave would never happen. As such it means that The Great Intelligence would never have stepped in it in the first place so they would effectively erase their own future and thereby their past. You COULD argue that the Trenzalore events still happened but with The Tenth Doctor in the place of The Eleventh, but as I said in the video at that point you're having to create alot of non-canon/fan assumptions that there's no real basis for.
@@CaptainJimiPie there’s a lot of evidence within the show that the writers intended for Tom baker to be number 13 at the time. They invented the limit in The Deadly Assassin and bumped the numbers up in The Brain of Morbius. Professor Chronotis surpassed the limit in Shada. Suppose he, Romana and the Doctor found a way to reproduce the event. As he regenerates for the thirteenth time, the Doctor admits “it’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for”. He had spent all 12 regenerations, but was able to circumvent the limit with The Watcher (portrayed by Adrian Gibbs). Now, with the addition of Richard E Grant and why not let’s have another Tennant regeneration in Evolution of the Daleks atop the empire state building, Smith is again number 13 and out of lives. 1. William Hartnell (an unearthly child) 2. Patrick Troughton (the power of the daleks) 3. George Gallaccio (the brain of morbius) 4. Robert Holmes 5. Graeme Harper 6. Douglas Camfield 7. Philip Hinchcliffe 8. Christopher Baker 9. Robert Banks Stewart 10. Christopher Barry 11. Jo Martin (fugitive of the judoon) 12. Jon Pertwee (spearhead from space) 13. Tom Baker (robot) 1. Adrian Gibbs (logopolis) 2. Peter Davison (castrovalva) 3. Colin Baker (the twin dilemma) 4. Sylvester McCoy (time and the rani) 5. Paul McGann (doctor who) 6. Richard E. Grant (scream of the shalka) 7. Paul McGann (blood of the daleks) 8. John Hurt (the day of the doctor) 9. Christopher Eccleston (rose) 10. David Tennant (the christmas invasion) 11. David Tennant (evolution of the daleks) 12. David Tennant (journey’s end) 13. Matt Smith (the eleventh hour)
But this is exactly my point, I'm not saying that people can't have their own head canons, that's why my fan theories are after all, but by doing things like saying "suppose this happened" or "let's just add another regeneration/incarnation in here" it's not building on existing plot points, it's simply adding it random things which have no real basis JUST to make it work. The extra Evolution regeneration for example doesn't stand up because he wouldn't have stayed looking like The Tenth Doctor. The only reason he did that in Stolen Earth/Journey's End was because he had a receptacle in the form of his severed hand to channel off the excess energy and regenerate without changing. He didn't have anything like that in Evolution, so it doesn't stand up without inventing some kind of "deus ex machina"
Is Shalka from a parallel universe or a parallel/alternative timeline? If if he's a possible future incarnation of the 8th Doctor from the main universe, I'd recon 9!Shalka is a parallel timeline. It's been shown in the show that the future is never set, always malleable to some extent. We've also seen the Doctor integrating some beings into themselves (The Watcher inside 4), as well as copies of themselves (the three 13th Doctors) so I am wondering if 9!Shalka could have, at some point after crossing with his own parallel timeline, could have, in a way, been absorbed or fused with another incarnation? Like, the Time (the being seen in Flux) or the universe feeling someone who didn't belong here, and tried to "loom" those two threads together in coherent thread. Or the Toymaker's shenanigans making a mess with the Doctor's different threads of a timeline, to make a new tapestry, maybe incoherent, but making him having now experienced and lived all his parallel selves lives (including 9!Curse, and, like, the Lenny Henry 7th Doctor or smt) Anyway, I really like your take on the subject, and absolutely loved seeing REG in those faces. Always a pleasure when DW does something a bit crazy and acknowledging some seemingly contradictory stories! :D
It's generally been accepted that The Shalka Doctor is from a whole separate timeline where he regenerated from The Eighth Doctor, with such an idea even being referenced in various media, most notably the novel The Tomorrow Windows, where The Eighth Doctor sees, various potential future incarnations including The "Main" Ninth Doctor he would later go onto become, alongside The "Curse" Ninth Doctor and The "Shalka" Ninth Doctor. Alot of the time many people explain these differing timelines away by what I call "retcon by Time War". Whilst I have used that explanation myself in the past, I've never been a huge fan of it, simply because it's often used to "ignore" difficult plot discrepancies with a cover all explanation of "Why? Because Time War". Ultimately it's one of these things that's likely never going to have a definitive explanation (although I hope I'm wrong) and is going to divide opinion on how it works, but I'm glad that people seem to be liking this theory!
Legend glad to see people acknowledging the stuff from lockdown. Crazy to believe that was 4 years ago. Do you have a favourite piece of media from it?
I don't really have any particular favourite as I didn't really get into the whole Lockdown Who! thing at the time as my main concern was looking after my mum and dad who were both in full isolation so we were each others "support bubbles"
To be fair Doctor Who has never had an established canon, alot of people say the TV show IS the only established canon but that in itself has often referenced much of the expanded media, meaning therefore that expanded media is also canon. Being an alternate timeline doesn't mean it's not canon overall, it's just not canon to that particular timeline. The show has delved into the concept of alternate timelines enough for them to generally be accepted within the shows narrative existence.
The crazy thing about this is that, according to a post on Instagram, Richard E. Grant actually dropped by the studio to have his face photographed for this sequence, meaning it isn't even an archive clip from some of his previous work.
He did indeed! So even if it proves this theory wrong I'm actually hoping he wasn't just there to take photos and his appearance somehow fits into the finale!
@@CaptainJimiPie My favorite cliffhanger would be one where Richard E. Grant and Rowan Atkinson suddenly appear from the Time Window (which is confirmed to appear in the finale) and set up the start of the Doctor Who multiverse.
That narrative has sort of already been explored as in the novel The Tomorrow Windows, The Eighth Doctor sees Eccleston, Atkinson & Grant incarnations as all possible futures for himself, and the show itself is no strange to the idea of alternate timelines and multiverses.
@@CaptainJimiPie Yes, I've heard about that, which is why it would be cool to see them both reprise the characters on the main show.
Sadly it's unlikely to happen for Atkinson's Doctor due to COFD being a charity sketch I believe it's applications in future media are EXTREMELY limited.
I believe it's why it's never been released on DVD, although given that's it's been released for digital purchase before with proceeds going towards Comic Relief.
“I made a jigsaw out of your history, did you like it” is all the explanation I need lol
I did consider that as part of or as a seperate idea but even then it just felt a bit too "loose" of an explanation especially given that previously The Shalka Doctor has been established as a whole separate timeline, so it logically he'd never be a part of the same jigsaw in the first place.
And even if The Toymaker did include other Doctor's from other universes it means there's ALOT more others that should have been seen too.
Now I want Cornell to write a crossover story featuring 15 and the Shalka Doctor.
I would love to see him expanded that instagram post into a full story of it's own. Even if it didn't feature 15, just about what caused them to cross over! Even if it disproves my theory!
Oooo, I've still got Shalka in The Main Doctor's continuity after doing a few admittedly doing a few gymnastics to throw him in there, but if we're going to go for the alternative universe stance, it's definitely the best pitch I've heard so far (Also a whole theory spanning off a "Withnail and I" reference is just perfect to me ☠)
I did try to fit him into the main universe line up but as I said whichever way I tried to fit it, it either didn't work or I had to make some pretty wild assumptions with very little basis to work it.
The "alternate universe" stance is pretty much where he was to begin with too anyway so it stand to more reason that would still be the case, again atleast for me.
I just wonder why the Valeyard incarnation wasn't included...
Technically (and debatably) he's not a separate incarnation of The Doctor, instead being an entirely separate entity. Therefore if it was only showing sepecific incarnations of The Doctor it would make sense for him not to be there.
That being said however, it is a debated point and personally I think it would have made more sense to include The Valeyard instead of The Shalka Doctor, as at the very least they are historically part of the same universe, not to mention it would have been a lovely tribute to the late great Michael Jayston.
Like this theory, and I love how they’ve done this, this kind of crazy canon bending stuff is the lifeblood of fans! Imagine if they’d included the Cushing Doctor too! The Shalka Doctor may not have been part of the Doctor’s life until the bi generation…the retcon affecting the Eighth’s regeneration into the War Doctor as it took place during the Time War, creating not only a renewed Eight and a war Doctor but a totally separate independent incarnation - who lived and died and rejoined the timeline. This would mean the Shalka Doctor can be part of the main universe. And the fact that REG specially sat for the photos means there could be more on this. Like the Morbius Doctors we may not get an explanation for 40 years!
The Cushing Doctor very much faces the same problems as The Shalka Doctor in that he's almost impossible to fit in without rewriting established canon and/or creating huge fan assumptions to make it work.
Personally I've always preferred Cushing's own theory that he's a future incarnation made to relive his early adventures by The Toymaker.
And as I say the problem with the bi-generation and event Time War retconning is that it's just too "loose" as an explanation because essentially it's "why did this happen...because Time War".
I certainly do hope there is more to this though as I'm always happy for an fan theory to be proved wrong if it means we get a proper explanation, and I certainly hope this may play into the final two episode of Series 14 some how!
My personal theory is that he is a Pre Hartnel Doctor we know that there’s loads of them at least 16 by my count Richard E Grant is more than likely the 17th I am in including The Timeless Child Incarcerations, The Fugitive Doctor and The Morbius Doctors and Richard E Grant is in there somewhere
The main problem with him being Pre-Hartnell is presence of The Master as his companion, as going by previous narrative evidence The Master was unaware of The Doctor's existence before The First Doctor.
Whilst you COULD explain this away as The TimeLord's/The Division also wiped The Master's memory too, it just feels too "flimsy" as an explanation, especially when you consider The Shalka Doctor's intended backstory too, and his own admission that by the time he has become The Shalka Doctor there have only been nine incarnations before him.
The earliest realistically you COULD put The Shalka Doctor in the main timeline is Season 6B but even then you'd still be re-writing a whole timeline that never happened in order to reset the timeline to the TV Show one.
Is it possible that when the Doctor let the Toymaker in to the universe the barriers from other reality were also weak so now unbound Doctor’s are seeping through and the scanner can’t recognise which is the Doctor from here as there are multiple Doctor’s in the universe at one time (or the Toymaker did say I made a puzzle of your past And it’s just a cosmic God messing around with the Doctor so he can’t tell what is real and what isn’t)
It's not impossible, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's the route they went down for an official explanation, but as I said that does leave alot more questions than it answers, for me at least.
Plus what I like about this theory is that it does create a whole new potential story out of Paul's instagram post, giving it (albeit only a little) more credence than just another "fan-fiction".
Ever since the Great Intelligence in the form of Dr Simeon entered the Doctor's timestream at the end of The Name of the Doctor, I've retroactively placed the Shalka Doctor as a G.I. incarnation. Since Rogue, I've slightly fudged the concept by believing that the regeneration between the War Doctor and the Ninth Doctor was interrupted by the Great Intelligence inserting itself in the Doctor's timeline. After all, we never see the completion of Hurt to Eccleston, and as the Grant version wasn't an actual regeneration, the regeneration limit still stands. I don't know if I've explained that very well, but I do think it makes sense.
The biggest problem with him coming between The War & Ninth Doctor's is that The Shalka Doctor exists in a universe where The Last Great Time War never took place, and coupling that with his comments about having had 8 previous incarnations it means The War Doctor also never existed in the Shalka timeline.
In a 2004 short trips anthology, McGann is going grey and believes he’ll soon regenerate. There’s then a gap before we pick up with Blood of the Daleks. It’s the perfect place to drop a bonus incarnation, Mid-Eighth Doctor so the Shalka Doctor succeeds McGann, but later following a degeneration so does Hurt and Eccleston.
If memory serves you're referring to the short story The End. in which The Eighth Doctor questions if his end is coming because his lack of memories at times but later finds out this isn't the case.
Whilst you COULD potentially put an incarnation between McGann & Hurt, personally I just don't think it works because it's far too "convenient" just have The Doctor degenerate to retcon that timeline, it doesn't really serve any real purpose to the continuing narrative.
@@CaptainJimiPiethe degeneration would be to undo interference by the great intelligence stepping into his timeline, which is how this face came about.
The problem there though is by creating a whole new incarnation between War & McGann it would mean The Tenth Doctor would be the last incarnation, therefore never becoming The Eleventh and the events on Trenzalore and the creation of The Doctor's Timestream/grave would never happen.
As such it means that The Great Intelligence would never have stepped in it in the first place so they would effectively erase their own future and thereby their past.
You COULD argue that the Trenzalore events still happened but with The Tenth Doctor in the place of The Eleventh, but as I said in the video at that point you're having to create alot of non-canon/fan assumptions that there's no real basis for.
@@CaptainJimiPie there’s a lot of evidence within the show that the writers intended for Tom baker to be number 13 at the time. They invented the limit in The Deadly Assassin and bumped the numbers up in The Brain of Morbius. Professor Chronotis surpassed the limit in Shada. Suppose he, Romana and the Doctor found a way to reproduce the event. As he regenerates for the thirteenth time, the Doctor admits “it’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for”. He had spent all 12 regenerations, but was able to circumvent the limit with The Watcher (portrayed by Adrian Gibbs).
Now, with the addition of Richard E Grant and why not let’s have another Tennant regeneration in Evolution of the Daleks atop the empire state building, Smith is again number 13 and out of lives.
1. William Hartnell (an unearthly child)
2. Patrick Troughton (the power of the daleks)
3. George Gallaccio (the brain of morbius)
4. Robert Holmes
5. Graeme Harper
6. Douglas Camfield
7. Philip Hinchcliffe
8. Christopher Baker
9. Robert Banks Stewart
10. Christopher Barry
11. Jo Martin (fugitive of the judoon)
12. Jon Pertwee (spearhead from space)
13. Tom Baker (robot)
1. Adrian Gibbs (logopolis)
2. Peter Davison (castrovalva)
3. Colin Baker (the twin dilemma)
4. Sylvester McCoy (time and the rani)
5. Paul McGann (doctor who)
6. Richard E. Grant (scream of the shalka)
7. Paul McGann (blood of the daleks)
8. John Hurt (the day of the doctor)
9. Christopher Eccleston (rose)
10. David Tennant (the christmas invasion)
11. David Tennant (evolution of the daleks)
12. David Tennant (journey’s end)
13. Matt Smith (the eleventh hour)
But this is exactly my point, I'm not saying that people can't have their own head canons, that's why my fan theories are after all, but by doing things like saying "suppose this happened" or "let's just add another regeneration/incarnation in here" it's not building on existing plot points, it's simply adding it random things which have no real basis JUST to make it work.
The extra Evolution regeneration for example doesn't stand up because he wouldn't have stayed looking like The Tenth Doctor. The only reason he did that in Stolen Earth/Journey's End was because he had a receptacle in the form of his severed hand to channel off the excess energy and regenerate without changing. He didn't have anything like that in Evolution, so it doesn't stand up without inventing some kind of "deus ex machina"
Saw the title and went "what on earth does Daughter of Mine have to do with the ??? Doctor?"
Watch the video and find out!
Is Shalka from a parallel universe or a parallel/alternative timeline? If if he's a possible future incarnation of the 8th Doctor from the main universe, I'd recon 9!Shalka is a parallel timeline.
It's been shown in the show that the future is never set, always malleable to some extent. We've also seen the Doctor integrating some beings into themselves (The Watcher inside 4), as well as copies of themselves (the three 13th Doctors) so I am wondering if 9!Shalka could have, at some point after crossing with his own parallel timeline, could have, in a way, been absorbed or fused with another incarnation?
Like, the Time (the being seen in Flux) or the universe feeling someone who didn't belong here, and tried to "loom" those two threads together in coherent thread. Or the Toymaker's shenanigans making a mess with the Doctor's different threads of a timeline, to make a new tapestry, maybe incoherent, but making him having now experienced and lived all his parallel selves lives (including 9!Curse, and, like, the Lenny Henry 7th Doctor or smt)
Anyway, I really like your take on the subject, and absolutely loved seeing REG in those faces. Always a pleasure when DW does something a bit crazy and acknowledging some seemingly contradictory stories! :D
It's generally been accepted that The Shalka Doctor is from a whole separate timeline where he regenerated from The Eighth Doctor, with such an idea even being referenced in various media, most notably the novel The Tomorrow Windows, where The Eighth Doctor sees, various potential future incarnations including The "Main" Ninth Doctor he would later go onto become, alongside The "Curse" Ninth Doctor and The "Shalka" Ninth Doctor.
Alot of the time many people explain these differing timelines away by what I call "retcon by Time War". Whilst I have used that explanation myself in the past, I've never been a huge fan of it, simply because it's often used to "ignore" difficult plot discrepancies with a cover all explanation of "Why? Because Time War".
Ultimately it's one of these things that's likely never going to have a definitive explanation (although I hope I'm wrong) and is going to divide opinion on how it works, but I'm glad that people seem to be liking this theory!
Legend glad to see people acknowledging the stuff from lockdown. Crazy to believe that was 4 years ago. Do you have a favourite piece of media from it?
I don't really have any particular favourite as I didn't really get into the whole Lockdown Who! thing at the time as my main concern was looking after my mum and dad who were both in full isolation so we were each others "support bubbles"
@@CaptainJimiPie oh sorry to hear that.
It's all good, we all made it through :) and now I have the time to actually catch up on all the Lockdown stuff worry free!
Love the vids mate, keep it up 👍
Thanks!
Interesting theory.
Thanks, I've been working on this since the episode aired haha I really liked your video on him too!
@@CaptainJimiPie thanks
No worries :D
Now we need the cartoon reanimated, it's a hard watch.
It was remastered slightly for the DVD release I believe, but personally I've always liked the animation style of it
It’s not a doctor it’s the great intelligence from when he went into the timeline, good theory, but sadly shalka and COFD isn’t canon sadly
To be fair Doctor Who has never had an established canon, alot of people say the TV show IS the only established canon but that in itself has often referenced much of the expanded media, meaning therefore that expanded media is also canon.
Being an alternate timeline doesn't mean it's not canon overall, it's just not canon to that particular timeline.
The show has delved into the concept of alternate timelines enough for them to generally be accepted within the shows narrative existence.