Theory:Torchwood television discontinuity and plot holes/Cyberwoman

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Cyberwoman 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. 

• Why did Tosh not know what the device, to open the doors, was when she used it to extract information from books in TW: Everything Changes?

It is presumably intended to be a different device which simply looks similar.

Well none of you seem to remember that because of the Cyber woman back story, she cannot exist, narratively speaking.

Point One; Her unfinished upgrade began at Canary Wharf. We know that the Cyber men there , were Cybus Cyber men.

Point two; As well learned on Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel, the Cybus upgrade process is very specific. The head is removed from the body first . The body is discarded and the head is placed in a suit of armour.

Conclusion: The clear and massive plot hole, is that as outlined by the show and out of the mouth of the doctor, the cyber woman cannot exist, in the way that she was presented.

Given that she should never have taken it out of the Hub, it's likely she would feign ignorance.

Except we saw Jack see her turn it in, so why bother?

Given though, that Jack explains how it works, it would have been rather redundant if it were the same device she had turned in previously. Therefore leading back to the best explanation being a different, but similar looking, device.

• Dr Tanizaki's conversion makes no sense, parts of the Cyberman helmet were placed under his skin, if he were to be upgraded, the Cyber-Skin would be placed over his skin, like Lisa.

The conversion was a failure, and it isn't certain that the conversion unit was attempting to turn Tanizaki into a compromise Cyberman/human form like Lisa's.

• How is it, that when Jack gets shocked twice by Lisa, he dies, yet he was able to survive many other things, like stet radiation which would usually kill people. so how could he survive that, but not survive the electricity?

His immortality presumably exists at a cellular level, and so the stet radiation (which would destroy the cells) doesn't disable him, as the cells are regrowing as they are destroyed. This process causes him obvious pain. The electrocution, however, works on a higher level and damages body functions.

Death is a funny thing; it doesn't work like it does in an RPG - you don't have a certain amount of damage you can take. There are people who have survived massive bodily injuries due to accidents or electrocution, only to later die of a relatively minor injury (such as tripping and falling off a curb).

• When Cyberwoman shoots Jack's gun, wouldn't it explode? Like in Doomsday a single shot was enough to blow up a car or Made of Steel when their guns blew up the weapons.

Lisa is only partially converted, so her wrist-blaster could be weaker.

Blowing up a car is somewhat aided by a tank of combustion fuel. Similarly some weapons may be more susceptible to blowing up than others, depending on angle of impact, energy levels or any number of factors. But more importantly 'exploding targets' is simply a visual-aid special effect contributing to the story-telling. It can't really be considered a plot discontinuity unless it is somehow brought in as a particular plot element.

• How is it that Lisa removed her own brain and exchanged with the pizza delivery woman's? It wouldn't work because I'm sure when you disconnect the brain the nervous system then dies, which begs the second question how did pizza woman survive the operation?

Lisa used the Cyber-conversion unit to accomplish this, which presumably has some kind of life support.

Technically the nervous system doesn't "die". It's simply a transport system for electrical impulses. (Think: 'running around like a headless chicken'.) You could adjust the argument to: "How does she continue to control the operating equipment after her brain is removed?" However, the obvious explanation would still be that the equipment can be automated, and has appropriate life-support.

• How it's possible for Lisa - in pizza delivery woman body - to be still thinking like a Cyberman? It was said that what changed people way of thinking when transformed into Cyberman were implants, which deleted emotions from them - going this way of thinking Lisa should lose the Cyberman way of thinking when her brain was transplanted into human body.

The story strongly implies that Lisa retained her emotions, but was still brain-washed. Nevertheless, we cannot be certain: what implants might have been added to pizza-girl at the time of the brain transfer or what parts of Lisa's brain might have been removed or damaged.

• why does Lisa have a different costume when the other cyber costumes were identical for all genders?

It is most likely an endo-skeleton and it is stated in the episode that the conversion was only partially completed.

• How come when Suzie shot Jack in the head, the bullet healed almost instantly (in Everything Changes) but Ianto's punch left him visibly scarred (even if temporarily) on his lip?

• Jack Harkness's aggression towards killing Lisa seems similar to the 9th Doctor's to the Metaltron Dalek. And he claims to be sorry to Lsia, but it's obviously a lie. And he even threatened Ianto. I suspect Cybermen hurt him in some way such as killing a loved one. How'd you think the team react to this? And how'd you think the team react to Jack keeping the secret it was Torchwood which brought Cybermen and Daleks? And how'd you think Rose react if she saw Jack's aggression?