Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Robot

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Robot 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. 

• K1's legs keep vanishing.

Perception as the living metal changes size.

They used chromakeying to record K1 against a yellow background, but because of the stage lights and the shiny costume the software sees parts of K1 as yellow making him invisible. So it comes from production errors.

• The SRS goes to great lengths to get the disintegrater gun, and then all they use it for is to blow open a safe door. Couldn't they have found an easier way into the safe?

It is implied that high explosives would be the only other thing capable of opening the safe, and would carry the risk of destroying its contents. Presumably the disintegrater gun can be controlled well enough to only destroy the door. It also makes a nice weapon for them to have for later, should they need it.

• Miss Winters' feminist views (her comments to Sarah in episode one) don't accord with SRS views on women.

In what way? All the SRS man at the meeting hall says to Sarah-Jane is that she should not be allowed to wear trousers. This could well be a private view and may not explicitly be about women. Secondly, all Miss Winters says in episode one is that she wouldn't expect Sarah Jane to make a stereotypical assumption about who was running the think-tank, not what her own views are on feminism. Besides, Miss Winters herself is never seen wearing trousers and does not call herself 'Ms Winters'.

Curiously, the trousers thing is Sarah's own assumption, and neither confirmed nor denied by the spokesman, though it is equally likely his disapproval was due to the generally hippie-ish nature of her outfit. The SRS may be somewhat invested in alternative technology development, but treehuggers they ain't...

• Kettlewell changes from a good boffin to the villain of the piece and back again, in a most unconvincing way just as Jellicoe can't decide if he's a squeamish villain or a maniac.

Kettlewell's motivations are explained - he is initially pretending to be unaware of ThinkTank's activities so that UNIT will trust him. For all his issues with human society however, Kettlewell isn't willing to see it totally destroyed, hence why he starts helping UNIT again later in the story. Jellicoe seems to be consistent throughout.

Kettlewell is already guilt-ridden by the time we encounter him, and trying to bury himself in the alternative energy work which he has put all his faith in / sold his soul for. Hence his rather batty, "mad boffin" demeanour. He has slightly hardened later in the story, probably (and ironically) thanks to the Doctor further convincing him of the vital importance of his environmental work. However, when it becomes quite clear that the SRS revolution will only result in the decimation of the environment, he understandably balks.

• The robot's motives change from scene to scene and show contradictory programming regarding obeying orders and striving for self preservation.

That is part of the inner conflict that the story is about.

Also see the above point regarding Kettlewell, who imprinted his own personality on the Robot. Since Kettlewell himself has fatal difficulties in distinguishing good from evil and means from ends, the Robot is very much its father's son...

• The Doctor chops a brick in half, but it's clearly a block of balsa wood. Listen for the noise when it hits the ground. What is a brick doing there in the lab anyway.

There are any number of possible reasons why the brick may be there. Since this is the Doctor's lab after all, the substance it is made of could be anything. What sound it should make is indeterminate.

• The height of the robot is inconsistent after it grows to a huge size.

An effect of the living metal.

• Why does all the robot's non-metallic circuit components (e.g. plastic wire coatings, transistors, resisters, diodes, eye lenses, flashing bulbs, etc) also grow with the robot when he is hit with the disintergrator gun?

It's never indicated what they are made of, but they obviously are somehow connected with the living metal.

• The plot contradicts itself when it is revealed that the SRS's plan of using the nuclear codes to blackmail the world can be cancelled with a simple fail-safe.

The 'simple' fail-safe would never have come into play had the plan gone accordingly.

• The linchpin of the plot makes no sense whatsoever. In an effort to defuse international tension, the superpowers would allow Britain (which was neutral in the Cold War) to publish the codes that would allow anyone in the world to launch their nuclear missiles?

The threat of which would deter them from launching in the first place. It makes about as much sense as the Cold War did itself.

If nothing else, it forces the superpowers to discuss with each other before they start pushing any big red buttons. The communist bloc probably got a bit nervous after the impromptu ICBM launch in "The Claws of Axos".

• The elite UNIT soldiers not only let a slow-moving 3-metre tall silver robot escape from them, at various points during the firefight, they are shooting at each other.

Shooting at each other is just a camera angle thing, and the top speed of the robot is unknown.

• The note the Doctor leaves on the TARDIS is very short when he posts it but much longer when Sarah reads it.

Writing it in short-hand (or any number of alien languages which Sarah would understand thanks to the TARDIS) would have produced such an effect.

• It is highly unlikely that the UK would be regarded as a 'neutral' country by Russia or China.

Most of Russia and China's quarrels are with the United States and in the Whoniverse the UK may have decided to have little to no presence in the Cold War.

Further to the above, this plot point could indeed be seen as a continuation of themes in the Pertwee era: the international tensions and peace conferences that formed the background to "The Mind of Evil" and "Day of the Daleks", in which Britain (thanks in part to the Doctor's success in charming the Chinese ambassador, not to mention in saving an entire delegation from being blown up by Daleks / anti-Dalek guerillas) assumed the role of a trusted arbitrator between the superpowers.

History in the Whoniverse is also not exactly the same as it is in the real world. Britain appears to be a bit more independent in this reality, has its own space program and a bit more international significance, and appears to be a lot more preoccupied with alien invasions in this reality rather than terrestrial geopolitics. We also hear rather less of NATO than might otherwise be expected for a show which has, for the last half-a-decade or so, revolved around a military unit. It is possible that in this version of reality the United Kingdom is part of the Non-Aligned Movement.

• Living metal is still matter. It's still made of atoms just like everything else. Therefor it should have disintegrated form the disintegrater gun just like everything else.

An interesting hypothesis, but it depends on how the gun disintegrates matter. The atomic structure of the living metal is also unknown, and it's quite possible that it is able to absorb energy which would normally disintegrate most solid material.

• Considering his important position at UNIT HQ as base medical officer, it's odd that Harry had never been seen nor referenced before this story (save for one line of dialogue in TV: Planet of the Spiders).

He's been seconded from the navy, and may be a recent replacement for a regular member of staff who is presently on leave (or dead from the last wave of random aliens to assault UNIT HQ).

UNIT must have more personnel than the 10 we see on screen in any given episode.

• Wouldn't Operation Golden Age be more Kettlewell's scene then the SRS?

Kettlewell wants to change society, but he's clearly horrified by the thought of destroying it. Since that's precisely what Golden Age entailed, he certainly wouldn't have supported it. (And the Golden Agers probably didn't tell him anything for that reason).

• Since Kettlewell's specialties are robotics and alternative energy, why is he the one who handles all the computer stuff in the bunker?

Kettlewell would have needed a good understanding of computing to design K1's circuits. He was probably the best qualified person there.

• The doctor has a pass for entry in the city of Skaro and a galactic passport, neither of which are used when he enters the city, and everyone refuses to believe his non-terrestrial status 3 stories later.

Both come from points in Skaro's history long after Genesis is set. They would have been meaningless to the Kaleds and Thals in that story.

• How does the doctor read and use the typewriter if he sees it in an alien language (gallifreyan), and yes I know the TARDIS can translate every language but it can't change the numbers of keys or shapes of keys on the typewriter?

The Tardis's translation mostly seems to be for his companion's benefit, while it probably wasn't like this originally, by this point the Doctor's clearly fluent and literal in thousands of languages.

• Despite being under heavy weapons fire, the robot is accompanied by an equally slow-moving man as he exits the bunker.

This appears to be a safety requirement as the person in the robot costume has limited visibility and mobility while making level changes. The man is a "minder" to prevent falls.

• How come the Brigadier was zero court martialed for how his reckless actions with the death ray caused the K1 Robot to go mad and grow? Any sane general mighta pun sihed him for endangering the planet.