Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Inferno

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

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• On the Nuclear Output Gauge in the Doctor's workshop, Mega-volts is spelled 'Megga Volts'

Probably a rushed sign or the Doctor couldn't be bothered with changing the spelling.

• Bessie travels with the Doctor and the TARDIS console into the parallel universe, despite the fact that it is ten feet away from them

It seems that only those elements that don't already exist on the fascist Earth are transported. Does a police box turn up at the Brigade Leader's HQ at the same time? The Doctor was never exiled to Earth in this world - it would hardly become his favorite planet - or he was killed soon after arriving.

• If the Primords generate such intense heat, enough to scorch the painting off walls and make spanners too hot to touch, then why aren't their clothes burnt off them?

Since they possess the ability to infect others with the same toxin which has infected them simply by touch, it seems evident that they are somehow able to excrete it through their (now green tinged) skin. If so, maybe the toxin is absorbed into the cloths during the initial stages of mutation, like sweat, and hence provides a protective barrier from heat damage.

• Why didn't the Daleks, Robomen, and human slaves have trouble with Stahlman's Ooze when mining the core in TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth?

They did not hit a pocket of Stahlman's Gas.

• If a dimensional paradox would have resulted from the Doctor's bringing anyone from the parallel universe into this universe, why was travel between universes unlimited in TV : Army of Ghosts and TV : Doomsday? And, for that matter, why was the Doctor able to enter the parallel universe in the first place without such repercussions?

The most reasonable explanation is that the Doctor was simply lying to Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart about "dimensional paradoxes" in an attempt to keep him from trying to enter this universe. This theory is substantiated by the fact that the Tenth Doctor told Rose and Mickey that travel between universes was quite easy prior to the destruction of Gallifrey and the Time Lords.

It's possible that he was lying, but doing so did mean leaving all of them there to their deaths - not very "Doctor-like". We're almost certainly meant to believe that the Doctor is telling the truth. What he tells them is that they can't go to his universe because there are already versions of them there. Hence, he can travel between the universes himself without issue, so long as there is no version of the Doctor in that other universe. This obviously wasn't a concern for the later visits involving "Pete's World". That may well have been a different kind of "parallel universe", as we've seen that there are different varieties of them (other time streams, "bubble" universes, E-Space, etc).

Or maybe the Doctor was simply wrong? He hadn't had any prior experience with parallel universes.

• It is stated that the Doctor's help was invaluable to the project and that they wouldn't be as far along as they are without him. So why is the fascist universe, where the Doctor doesn't exist, even further along in the project?

• In episode 6, while Sutton is attempting to rig the coolant hose so as to keep the Primords at bay, there are several plainly visible Carbon Dioxide fire extinguishers on the walls of Main Control. Why does no one use them? There's even an additional one in clear view on the wall of the Brigade-Leader's office, before they start fighting their way in!