 |
The Forbidden Time
(David Lock) |
|
 Name: The Vist
Format:
Audio
Time of Origin: Appeared on Earth in the present; long-term history unclear.
Appearances: "The Forbidden Time"
Doctors: Second Doctor
Companions: Ben Jackson, Polly Wright and Jamie McCrimmon
History:
While The Doctor has fought races with time-travelling capabilities before, the Vist are an interesting case in that they had natural time-travel abilities but a fundamentally limited understanding of time travel as a science. The Doctor defined their limitations by using the analogy of seagulls; while seagulls could fly, they had no concept of the science of aerodynamics, just as the Vist lacked a proper understanding of the science of time travel even if they could move through time themselves.
A species of Time Walkers, the Vist were able to freely move around time and feed on energy. Their bodies were superficially similar to greyhounds, with tall, giraffe-like legs, small arms, and wizened monkey-faces with two pupils in each eye. Since they could naturally travel in time, they could not understand the concept of a time machine as an example of 'time travelling technology', even if they could smell time energy. The Vist were somehow able to construct ‘walls’ around particular parts of the Time Vortex, which inspired them to consider what could happen if they were able to fend off sections of time in which they could feed. Not only would this allow the Vist to essentially ‘farm’ their food source, but they could charge other ‘time-locked’ species to enter their time, essentially meaning that anyone entering these time zones would age at an accelerated rate as their life energy was taken to ‘pay the bill’.
The Vist operated their plan from a Shadow Earth that existed sideways in time from the original Earth, so called because it was grey and colourless, with nothing inside it but fragile buildings that would fall apart when touched (The Doctor compared the Shadow Earth to a shadow of reality cast by the life on Earth). The Vist were able to take control of everything in the universe from 2011 to 2019, delivering a telepathic message requiring anything that entered that time to ‘pay’ them for passing through that time. However, their plans were interrupted when the Second Doctor’s TARDIS was knocked off-course and materialised on Earth just as the Vist took action, resulting in The Doctor, Ben Jackson, Polly Wright and Jamie McCrimmon being caught up the Vist’s plan. Having established what the Vist were doing, The Doctor’s companions tried to explain to the Vist that other species didn’t share their ability to walk through time, but the Vist were so focused on their goal they didn’t care to listen to how so many other species would die if they completed their plans.
Although the Vist seemingly killed Ben and Jamie by disintegrating them with a touch, The Doctor assured Polly that since they were all currently outside Time, it should be theoretically possible to restore the two to reality by providing them with a suitable anchor. He then informed the Vist that his people would oppose the Vist’s efforts, declaring that his people had a greater claim to Time than the Vist. This ‘threat’ seemingly backfired when the Vist vowed to go back in time to a point where they could make a ‘claim’ to Time before The Doctor’s people.
However, once the Vist had disappeared The Doctor revealed that he’d actually done that on purpose. Due to the Vists’ flawed understanding of Time, by travelling back to a point before the Big Bang, they had essentially trapped themselves in a moment where there was no Time, preventing them from being able to escape and continue their plan. When he and Polly returned to the TARDIS as the Shadow Earth collapsed, they confirmed that Ben and Jamie had returned to the ship after the Vists’ defeat. Decades after her own travels with The Doctor had ended ("The Faceless Ones"), Polly would organise a conference when the Vist telepathic message was ‘broadcast’ on automatic record, explaining the situation to some key people to assure them that there was nothing to fear from the Vist as they had already been defeated.
|
|
