Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Kerblam!

You are exploring the Discontinuity Index, a place where any details or rumours about unreleased stories are forbidden.
Please discuss only those whole stories which have already been released, and obey our spoiler policy.

This page is for discussing the ways in which Kerblam! doesn't fit well with other DWU narratives. You can also talk about the plot holes that render its own, internal narrative confusing.

Remember, this is a forum, so civil discussion is encouraged. However, please do not sign your posts. Also, keep all posts about the same continuity error under the same bullet point. You can add a new point by typing:

* This is point one.
::This is a counter-argument to point one.
:::This is a counter-argument to the counter-argument above
* This is point two.
::Explanation of point two.
::Further discussion and query of point two.

... and so on. 

• Runaway Bride established that entering the TARDIS is impossible unless connected to the TARDIS (like those particles in Donna) or the Doctor materialises around the object (as showcased in The Parting of the Ways,). So how does the 'Kerblam!' postman teleport aboard?

A junk mail robot does it in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Runway bride broke continuity, not this. And perhaps the shields were up.

That doesn't really explain how though? And Runaway Bride justified it as she had pariticles in her connecting them.

Maybe after the Doctor recognised it as a teleport pulse, remembered she ordered something and temporally let the shields down to allow the Kerb!am Man to teleport in.

The TARDIS let her shields down herself perhaps? The TARDIS knew it was someone asking for help rather than a threat.

Since the Doctor ordered the fez herself, she would have organised for the TARDIS to allow the package to come through.

The Doctor ordered the fez for himself, it was herself that received the fez. Things done while the Doctor was male is still fine to represent as him/he, and the things the Doctor done as a female as her/she. What she is now doesn't define her whole self. What he was then didn't define his whole self. Wibbly wobbly timey whimey gender fluid stuff.

• Ryan popped the bubble wrap when they got the package in the beginning. Why didn't it blow up & if it wasn't a bomb what was the problem at the end to pop it?

It was likley dispatched a while ago as suggested by it being a Fez (worn by the eleventh doctor), before the bubble wrap was dangerous. And, it is only about to be dispatched at the end.

Even if it was dispatched a while ago, due to the concept of time travel, the Eleventh Doctor probably ordered it when he was passing through the galaxy, so for the Kerb!am people, the average time between parcel order and delivery had passed. And personally, I think it HAD the bomb, due to the fact that for the Kerb!lam people, the order was recent, while for the Doctor, 900 plus years had passed, it did contain the bomb, as we see Graham handling it, and Ryan tells him not to chance it, since Charlie might have done something to it too, which I think he had. Otherwise, if you're wondering why it didn't explode when the Doctor received it, I think it is just because the Doctor did not pop the bubble wrap.

• In the episode every report of a package is either between kandoka or the factory. There is no report that the Kerblam industry is an intergalactic company,however a kerblam man manages to deliver into the Tardis. How?

The Doctor said that Kerb!am is the largest retailer in the galaxy. It is not delivering just to Kandoka, it is an intergalactic retailer.

• I can understand how Charlie had the opportunity to do this, but how did he get all those bombs, and how did he have a motive for all this. I get that he feels strongly about job security and all that, but that ought to have been emphasised more earlier in the episode. It would have been more likely for Slade to have done it, even if we were suspecting him from the start. He had the opportunity to do it, he's the head of the warehouse, had the means, since he can reach all the resources required for the plan, since he is the warehouse head, and the motive could've been tweaked a bit for him, but all in all, he fits into the role of the villain better than Charlie.
  • Hence why he wasn't, classic red herring, not the most obvious person.

• In this episode, the Doctor repeatedly says that she doesn't like conspiracies, yet in Arachnids in the UK she claimed to love conspiracies!
  • Well...she was still figuring out her personality. Regeneration stuff. Weirdness. Still trying to discover what she liked. Maybe.