Alternate timeline ( Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS ) In an alternate timeline , the Doctor ' s TARDIS was caught in a magnetic hobble - field from a space salvage ship , operated by the Van Baalen Bros . The TARDIS was successfully captured by the Van Baalen Bros . , causing the TARDIS to leak the past and future . As such , several alternate timeline s were created . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " ) History . Original timeline . While teaching Clara Oswald how to fly the TARDIS , the Eleventh Doctor lowered the TARDIS ' shields , putting it into basic mode . Because of such , it was detectable to the Van Baalen Bro , who attempted to salvage it with a magno grab . The result of such severely damaged the TARDIS , causing an explosion . To save the Doctor and Clara , the TARDIS " wrapped her hands " around the heart of the blast , temporarily freezing it . In the confusion , the Doctor made it out of the TARDIS , while Clara was lost inside . The Doctor soon met the Van Baalen brothers , who were unable to enter the TARDIS , taking the remote control for the magno - grab out of Gregor ' s pocket . He then cunningly lured them into the TARDIS , promising " the salvage of a lifetime " . However , the Doctor forced the brothers , Gregor , Bram and Tricky , to help him find Clara by putting the TARDIS in lock - down and setting a non - existent self - destruct program , revealing the salvage he meant was not the ship but Clara . Eventually , they found Clara in another echo room . The Doctor pulled her to safety and revealed the apparent self - destruct program had been a ruse . However , he found the engines had become unstable due to time leakage triggered by the incident , requiring a trip to the engine room to fix the problem . While travelling through the Eye of Harmony , the quartet were trapped inside . They soon were burnt by the eye , transforming into molten time zombie s . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " ) Using the magno grab . In the next version of history , the time zombies the group had become leaked out into the past because of the TARDIS malfunctioning . This time , Gregor told Bram to dismantle the TARDIS console despite his protests . While doing so , his time zombie from the original timeline killed him . Clara was also chased around the TARDIS by her time zombie , incidentally finding a book about the history of the Last Great Time War , reading an extract from it , revealing the Doctor ' s name . Upon retrieving Clara in this timeline and making their way to the Eye of Harmony , having been chased by the time zombies , the Doctor revealed the zombies were echoes of himself and the others , burnt by the Eye . Gregor and Tricky ended up turning into them , and the Doctor and Clara were forced to run away from them , ending up in a chasm . Believing they were going to die , the Doctor admitted that he knew her two previous incarnations and demanded to know what she really was . Clara didn ' t understand anything , leading the Doctor to deduce to himself there couldn ' t be a connection . Realising the chasm wasn ' t really a chasm , but the TARDIS " snarling " , the duo jumped from the chasm , ending up in the engine room . Finding it frozen , the Doctor eventually realised they had to use the magno grab to change time . They returned to the main control room , where Clara revealed she knew the Doctor ' s name . The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to melt the words " BIG FRIENDLY BUTTON " onto the device , in the hope his past self would read them and use the button to stop the salvage . The Doctor then tossed the magno grab into the past through a leak in the room . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " ) Burning Clara ' s hand . In the third alternate timeline , the events played out as they did in the second , except Clara picked up the magno - grab remote , burning the words " BIG FRIENDLY BUTTON " onto her hand . Eventually , the Doctor discovered the burnt imprint in the engine room , realising he would have to take the magno grab back to the point of the disaster himself to ensure his past self obtained it before the explosion . After he promised Clara that she wouldn ' t remember any of the events that had happened , the Doctor passed through a time rift to give the device to his past self . After instructing his past self to use the device , the future Doctor disappeared back through the rift . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " ) Changing the past . Now having the magno - grab remote , the younger Doctor pressed the button , which shut down the Van Baalen Bros . magno - grab , allowing the TARDIS to dematerialise before it could suffer damage . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " ) The Doctor later displayed knowledge of all the alternate timelines . Clara also momentarily retained the knowledge , specifically about the Doctor confronting her about her identity . ( TV : " The Name of the Doctor " ) Despite the events occurring in the TARDIS , the altered timeline affected the relationship between the Van Baalen Bros . In this timeline , Gregor treated his little brother Tricky with more respect and their formerly damaged family photograph was intact . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " )