Who is Time Turner?

[Mysterycat 27]

So, basically, I've heard there's an Earth stallion with an hourglass for his cutie mark named Time Turner. Some people think that his name and cutie mark mean he's a time traveller and write fanfics about him being a pony Doctor who goes by the alias "Doctor Whooves".

And, as an extension to that, some people ship him with Derpy or believe they are related because they believe his last name is actually "Whooves" and Derpy's last name is Hooves, which sound alike.

So, I have a few questions.

1. Is Time Turner ever seen actually travelling in time?
2. Is his name really Doctor Whooves in anything that could be called canon and if not, who was the first person to call him "Doctor Whooves"?

3. Has there been any canon evidence that he's married/related to Derpy?

[TBD 17,254]

• Dr. whoove is just a pun for who. clever right?
• which happen to have fans plug the last name for Derby which never indicated her last name in the canon, for shipping purpose.
• Last ,in slice of life, it just crossover between mlp and Dr.Who. for fun.  Thus derby plus rose assumed to be his companions. 
• In general time turner is just a Dr. who cameo  just  like 

this and this and more. Just for the fans.

[Fhaolan 4,483]

There is a brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie-mark who is a background character in the show. Actually, there are several ponies with hourglass cutie-marks, but we'll get to that in a second. This particular one, due to his mane-style and time-related cutie-mark, was thought to have a vague resemblance to David Tennant as he appeared as the character 'The Doctor' in the long-running British Sci-Fi series 'Doctor Who'. The Doctor being an alien time-traveler who changes appearance (and actors) whenever the character 'dies' (the particular actor decides to leave the show). Mr. Tennant was at the time the 10th actor to play the character. So since there are a large number of Whoovians (Doctor Who fans) who are also Bronies, they thought it was funny and built up a little fannon around the idea that this brown earth pony is either the pony equivalent to the Doctor, is what happens when the character travels to another dimension (a la the Mirror portal that changed Twilight from pony to human), or is simply what happens when the Doctor regenerates in Equestria taking on a pony form instead of a human-like one.

 

The other background characters with hourglass cutie-marks either other incarnations of the Doctor, or similar characters from the Doctor Who series like Romana, the Master, the Meddling Monk, the Rani, etc. All characters from the same alien race as the Doctor.

 

Now, here's the fun thing. The writers and artists of MLP actually pay attention to the fandom, as much as they're not supposed to by contract. They might not agree with fannon, but they are generally aware of it and were aware of this 'Doctor Whooves' fan concept and thought it was funny. So they started to drop hints. In the comics where they would dress the character up like the various outfits the Doctor character would wear, and more subtle hints and background jokes in the show itself. However, they could not call the character Doctor Whooves as that would be far too blatant and would possibly get Hasbro Studios in conflict with the BBC (the owners of the Doctor Who trademarks.) So when it came time to issue official merchandise with the character, they called him 'Time Turner' instead. Also some licensed merch, Hot Topic stuff, actually used the name 'Doctor Whooves' before Hasbro managed to scramble and get a proper pony name on the character.

 

Which just made the Whoovian/Bronies giggle, as the character of the Doctor is prone to using pseudonyms when he's trying to go incognito, and his standard name of 'John Smith' would make no sense in Equestria. So the fannon was amended so that 'Time Turner' is the pony name the Doctor uses in Equestria.

 

The other thing that the character of the Doctor does is that he always travels with a companion or two. In-show it's someone to scream at the monster of the week, get kidnapped, or ask the question 'But what is that, Doctor?' So the fans have allocated various ponies as being that companion, Roseluck (because one of the Doctor's companions was Rose, and that was one of the background jokes the artists/writers threw into the Breezie episode), Trixie (why not?), Twilight (rarely now), but most commonly Derpy.

 

So time passed (ha!), the 100th episode rolled around and since that entire episode was a big in-joke for the fans various fanon bits and pieces made it into the episode, including Time Turner's more 'Doctor'-ish characteristics, and friendship with Derpy. They can't actually have him travel through time and the like, for fear of treading on BBC trademarks, but it's about as close as we can get.

 

Amusingly, the BBC and the makers of the Doctor Who series are also aware of the Doctor Whooves fanon, and have included pictures of the brown earth pony in some media releases of fan art for Doctor Who, in a way legitimizing this whole mess.

[The Nth Doctor 662]

The comics went the extra mile and flat-out have Time Turner be the Doctor, with the TARDIS and everything

 

They can probably get away with it because IDW also does Doctor Who comics

 

I also imagine a few background ponies are in fact the Doctor's various companions

 

Roseluck is Rose Tyler

Minuette is Martha Jones

Derpy is Donna Noble

 

Dunno about Amy and Roy or Clara though

Perhaps Eleven and Twelve have never visited Equestria, while Ten adores the place since he can forget his worries and hide in plain sight

[Widdershins 9,959]

   So! Let us proverbially crack our collected knuckles & get down to brass tacks!

To answer your questions dear Cat of Mystery:

   1. No, of course not. Not just because it would risk breaching fandoms & copyrights but for one simple reason. If he could, that would rewrite the entire show. Are you going to be satisfied with an episode of Applejack & Rarity fixing up the local spa, when you can still remember a side character going back in time & fighting living gargoyles? Something as impressive as time travel (which is also space travel too, since its less interesting if its the same exact spot, just different times, but I'm harping on semantics here!) kind of HAS to be the focus. Sure Twilight has time traveled, but that was only minor. Sure she's gotten in a gorge-carving lazer fight with Tirek, but it's a cinch that eventually life will return to normal. The Doctor's saving the world, kinda has bigger stakes that change the show pretty much every time.

 

   2. Noooo.... Well...

  In light of the hundredth episode we have actual cannonical moments of Ditzy Doo calling him "the Doctor." And that's where my headcannon kicks in.

 

    See, that's what I pick up from that. His name isn't Doctor Who, (which isn't even what the actual Doctor is called, its more of a title AND a name) or The Doctor, no, its just simply the Doctor. His name is literally, just Doctor. He isn't A doctor, or specifically this other character referred to as The Doctor. No, just simply Doctor. And its just his name. Not a description of what he does or what he's good at, just a name.

   Still with me? Good!

    I headcannon, that like how most ponies have related names to their talent, his parents were very hopeful & albeit a tad pushy and wanted him to grow up to be a rich, well-off doctor. So they simply named him that in an effort to force his talent. His talent & passion turned out to be invention (since we see his place littered with Leonardo DiVinci-esque inventions & even bragging about his emotion-triggered explosives) and he does not gad about finagling the time lines or being an actual Time Lord. He just has the name, and acts similar to another personality from another dimension. Such are the ins & outs to interdimensional travel!

   I feel it a tad hasty to imply that one's cutie mark is their defining trait. Like, I believe we have Minuette (the mare with a matching cutie mark) saying that it simply just means she's punctual. Nor do I see that hair confirming David Tennant, as I'm pretty sure that's a common manestyle for background stallions that I see often.

  So, that is to say, It's just the Doctor. There's never been a "Whooves" part, except for cute fan names & "Time Turner" is the secondary name almost every pony gets in the moderately faulty toy merchandising. Time Turner still counts, we just have him being literally called "Doctor" in the actual show. So I feel that holds precedence.

 

   3. Weeeeell... that depends on how you define "related." I mean, we've seen Ditzy "Derpy" "Muffins" Doo Hooves talk freely to him, even go out to eat together so they're clearly as close as any of the Main Six are. How deep that relationship goes... weeeeell... the fandom does like to ponder about even the main characters "friendships."

   But think we can safely rule out marriage. Ponyville is a small town, after all. We have SEEN the blatant chaos that happens when even two mules decided to tie the colloquial knot. I feel certain that if any pony who gets married that wasn't already before the show's timeline started did, then it would be a big enough show to make an episode out of. Especially if Pinkie Pie has anything to say about it!

[cmarston1 5,959]

Well it all came about because of his hourglass cutie mark, and having a design that reminded people of David Tennant's doctor.

But nothing in show really had anything besides that.

Except for how long after it became popular, there was a reference in the Breezies episode with him wearing 3d glasses and standing next to a background character named Rose, both of which are supposedly Doctor Who things, that I am only mildly aware of because of the fandom.

[sweetolebob18 728]

Apple Bloom tried to sell him apples in Call of the Cutie​ (now she's not allowed to sell apples anymore) & some other cameos. Closest thing was him & Derpy in episode100.