Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Planet of the Dead

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Planet of the Dead 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. 

• At the beginning of the story the wormhole is in the centre of the tunnel but by the time the bus driver dies it is at the entrance.

The wormhole increases in radius, as the UNIT Captain says. It's not illogical to then assume the entrance and exit are further apart when they return.

• Why do the International Gallery guards really not look at the item they're guarding?

They were expecting intruders to enter from the sides, not from above or below, and therefore were keeping a lookout to the sides.

• Would the security lasers around the relic in the museum not have a roof of some kind? Haven't they worked out that thieves can enter the museum from above?

Perhaps they felt it wasn't needed, as they had four guards at the scene. Plus, seeing as this takes place in 2010, the recession may have caused the museum to cut down on the budget for security. Or, better -- no, they haven't worked out that theives are likely to enter from above. Moreover, they are correct. Thieves are not likely to enter from above. Christina is not your average thief (and if they did have lasers or a barricade above, Lady Christina wouldn't have been robbing that particular display anyway).

• Why does Christina put the toy cat in place of the relic, when it would clearly draw attention to the fact that it had been stolen, and give her less time to escape?

She doesn't put it there for practical reasons, more as a sort of calling card.

Its possible that the stand that the cup was on had a weight sensor alarm, so to stop it from alarming she had to keep weight on the stand, so she swapped the two so suspician wasn't aroused.

• Why do none of the passengers on the 200 question why there are many Police Cars following them?

The police cars were quite a distance away. Some of them might not have heard or seen them.

• The Doctor claims that it will take the Swarm 20 minutes to reach them 100 miles away. So therefore they were moving at 300mph. However, when Christina was being chased by one it could not catch up despite her moving at a much slower speed.

The one that chases Christina had only just got going. The ones creating the wormhole had been circling for days suggesting they have had time to build up speed. Also, the one that chased Christina was waking from hibernation and so may still have been dazed. It may have also been slowed down by the narrow passage. Furthermore, Christina was being pulled up by an electronically-powered winch that the Doctor obviously had on the fastest setting, which would have been fairly fast.

• How exactly does Nathan phone the Doctor? the Doctor has only given free roaming to Barclay's phone.

In Journey's End all the phones in England call the Doctor with only a few of them having free roaming capabilities. Obviously, if the Doctor enhances a phone, it can be contacted anywhere in the universe from any phone. A similar situation occurred in DW: The Sontaran Stratagem, when Martha calls her old mobile phone on the TARDIS from a different phone on Earth.

Thats not the case, in the Stolen Earth, the only way they could contact the Doctor was boosting all the phones through the Cardiff rift.

• Why wasn't the Tritovore's language translated into English by the TARDIS?

The TARDIS was back on Earth, whereas the Tritovore were in an entirely different galaxy on the planet of San Helios. The Tritovore's language was translated. That is why the Doctor can understand them, and can speak there language. The audience sees it from Christina's point of view, and she has never been in the TARDIS, so it is not translated for her.

• The rays were traveling in a swarm; how did only three manage to get through when they were all going through together?

In the scene where the Doctor looks at the swarm in the side view mirror, there are three rays in front of the rest of the swarm. It was mentioned that the Tritovores hit the swarm, before crash-landing and they picked up several rays at that time (not just the hibernating ray Christina encounters in the shaft). These are the three rays that arrived ahead of the swarm.

• The bus is seen to take on damage as it travels through the worm hole, but on its way back to Earth, no more damage to the bus is sustained.

On the way the wormhole was very small. When they return it was much bigger. The bus was obviously affected on the way there due to the size of the wormhole.

• There are tyre tracks behind the bus, proving it drove to its location.

Or skidded as it exited from the wormhole to its resting place mired in the sand, thus making tracks. The area around the bus was cleaned of all footprints, tyre tracks and vegetation prior to the commencement of filming. Therefore any tyre tracks were added in by the art department.

• When Christina escaped the police car at the end, why didn't all the hundreds of heavily armed UNIT troops not try to stop her when she just ran past them?

Why would they? UNIT made it clear from the time they first arrived on the scene that they were concerned about the alien threat, not local police matters.

• After seeing its fellow eaten why didn't the other Tritovore just shoot the stingray with its weapon.

It panicked. It looked like it tried to but was too scared or slow on the draw and got eaten before it could act.

• The cannon the UNIT troops are using is seen being fired several times out of four nozzles but only one of the rockets seems to hit the Stingrays each time.

Not every rocket fired necessarily hits its target...

• Police cars can't be opened at the back from the inside, so how did Christina escape?

The handcuffs may not have been the only thing the Doctor unlocked with his screwdriver.

• Why didn't the Doctor just ask UNIT to send an all terrain vehicle or helicopter through the wormhole to pick up the survivors? Or other supplies for that matter?

A hellicopter's blades could get damaged on the way.

• Why is this the first episode to mention the recession, the episode is set in 2010, the recession should have been mentioned on the episodes DW: Voyage of the Damned, Partners in Crime and the two parters The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky and The Stolen Earth / Journey's End, which were set in 2009 (except for Voyage of the Damned, which was set in 2008)?

How many movies made during the Great Depression make direct reference to it, especially when it isn't relevant ot the plot? People in these other episodes likely had something else on their mind (like the whole world being choking to death in noxious smoke or being invaded by muderous robots) than overshadowed their concerns about the recession. And anyways, Planet of the Dead was written when the recession was imminent, the aforementioned episodes were written when the recession hadn't even began. The Doctor Who team couldn't have possibly foreseen the economic crisis'

• Early in the episode, it was shown that the wormhole was very close behind the bus in the desert. When the Docter flies the bus back in to the worm hole, he had to travel considerable distance before reaching it.

The bus "launches" upward, then has to make a wide turn and fly back to the wormhole.

• In the beginning when the bus entered the wormhole at ground level, it seems like it exited at or close to ground level on the other planet. When the bus flew back into the worm hole high above the ground, it ended up exiting at Earth very close to the ground when it should be much higher.

The Doctor knew he was exiting through a tunnel with a confined overhead clearance on the Earth side of the wormhole, so he likely entered the wormhole with a downward angle of attack.

• The bus entered the worm hole from inside the tunnel and exited on the planet, yet reversing direction from the planet into the worm hole from the same side results in the bus (and other objects) exiting on Earth at the opposite side of the worm hole outside the tunnel when they should be exiting on the original side, inside the tunnel.

The physics surrounding wormholes is more complex than that.

• The chances of creating a wormhole with an exit on a planet are so improbable as to be virtually impossible.

The Doctor did mention that the Rays go from one planet to another, so their wormholes would have to be "aimed" for planets in a way.

• The Tritovores can be heard emitting a number of very fast clicks and chirps when their mouth appendages aren't even moving.

Crickets and other insects make chirps and clicks without using their mouths.

• This story is set after the events of Children of Earth, so why doesn't Captain Magambo enquire to where the Doctor was during the 456's arrival?

It had nothing to do with her current mission, and Planet of the Dead was April 2009 and Chilredn of Earth was September 2009. She probably just came to the obvious conclusion that the Doctor was not on 21st century Earth during the invasion. UNIT knows that the Doctor doesn't always show up when aliens invade, that is why UNIT exists.

• The Doctor said that the stingrays are protected by their metal shells, but not all the stingrays body is covered in metal, and thier tails have segmented shells. Therefore, when travelling through a wormhole, their skin should have burned away and their tails fall off.

The bus wasn't airtight; small gaps clearly make no difference.

• If the technology to close a wormhole exist on Earth in 2010, then why not on a planet that is far more advanced?

Because the stingrays consume the planet's resources before the indigenous species have a chance to retaliate.

• With The End of Time and The Sarah Jane Adventures series 3 by default taking place in September to December 2009, Planet of the Dead cannot take place after them; with this, if the events of The Stolen Earth / Journey's End occurred in May 2009 and this episode episode is set in April 2009, how could the passengers on the bus been able to reference the events of The Stolen Earth / Journey's End?

The May 2009 date was given by a novel, and therefore cannot be taken 100%. Similarly, The Waters of Mars cited The Stolen Earth/Journey's End as 2008. It is only a minor dating conflict concerning April and May, Russel T Davies was probably unaware of the supposed May date.

• Shouldn't the bus have sustained further damage on the return trip?

No the only reason it got dammaged was the wormhole was small at that point, in comarsient, so it had to squeez through and thats what broke it, while on it's return trip the wormhole had got a lot bigger, so it easily fitted through.

• How come the people could reference the Daleks if they got absorbed by the cracks?

Only the Dalek invasion that occured in 2008/9 was erased, not the Daleks themselves. Also, the cracks were not created until after The End of Time and thus the invasion might have not been erased yet.