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In the world of science fiction, science fiction does not exist?

In the world of science fiction, science fiction does not exist.

It's an interesting concept to fathom isn't it? Think about it. It's especially prevalent in the story of Doctor Who, a time traveler who is inextricably linked to London, and England as a sort-of massive hero who shows up from time to time. In London, Doctor Who is a phenomenon that exists as a television show that started in 1963, that still airs today. Although it's gone into hiatus on occasion, to be brought back better than ever each time, it's a story and a character who has saved the British countryside from attack after attack, then bops off into the future or the past, and does it all over again. Here's the thing. It's a cultural experience that has been with Britain, and the world for decades. It's a piece of pop-culture. There it's bigger than star trek, and possibly bigger than Star Wars. Everybody has a plastic sonic screwdriver, with it's little black light on the end, and yet on the show, no one knows about Doctor Who. He's a big secret. In the world of the show, the television story does not exist. Since it happens in real time, now, we can't even pretend that, like Star Trek, it's all way in the future.

So, we have to come up with a reason why no one in England knows about this story. What else does that mean, not just in the world of science fiction, but even if you keep it tied to British science fiction, you have a real problem. In the Doctor Who special Christmas Invasion, the doctor mentions the character Arthur Dent, from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a series that was widely popular in Britain and in the world. He says that something is "very Arthur Dent", and calls him a nice chap. Does this, clearly a nod to Douglas Adams, and the influence that Douglas had on not only British science fiction, but Doctor Who itself as a writer and script editor in it's earlier years, turn into an acknowledgement of Arthur Dent as a good character in British science fiction that the Doctor enjoys, and he's chuckling about it, or is he acknowledging that the entire world of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide series exists within the world of Doctor Who? Complicated sentence right? I think I've got my message across.

In a world where the Battlestar Galactica shows up on Earth in the seventies, finally having made it, and finds us unaware of the existence of ships that can travel in space that our brothers from across the stars seem to have created, what does that leave us with? I remember watching the original version of Battlestar Glactica on television, and there, when they arrive on Earth, the arrive to an Earth that hasn't just watched them on air, and to make a point that I think everyone agrees on, without the shape of Darth Vader's helmet, I don't think the Silons can exist. And at that point... in a strange sort of logic, does it mean that somewhere in the world of the original Battlestar Galactica, the world of Star Wars exists somewhere a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away to inspire the other?

I know what you're thinking out there. Where's my suspension of disbelief?

It's wondering why Queen Elizabeth II, who I've heard takes the series DVDs of the new Doctor Who show with her on vacation, is suddenly running through Buckingham Palace, escaping with the Corgis after the Doctor calls her to warn her he's about to hit the palace with the Starship Titanic (another reference, a kiss back to Douglas Adams). In the show, though you never see her face, just her rushing feet, and a shot behind her as she waves the savior of Britain on, she's someone, a Queen Elizabeth that does not know about the television show, but instead knows the Doctor himself!

It's... A conundrum. 

I have always liked the way that the comic book series Watchmen handled their own existence in conjunction with other comic books. New York is the home of a large number of super heroes (Spider-Man included) who fight crime there. In the world that the Watchmen inhabit, comic books are all centered on pirates. It becomes a splinter, or a separate world, a parallel.

So does this mean that in a parallel universe Doctor Who actually exists? I don't know, but what I do know is that science fiction, as much as I love it, leaves this question open. Maybe there's something to be said for omitting the earth all together. Star Wars is the only one that seems to co-habit without causing a lot of trouble. Being in a galaxy far far away, there's no real continuity to break.