Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Ambassadors of Death

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Ambassadors of Death 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:

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::This is a counter-argument to point one.
:::This is a counter-argument to the counter-argument above
* This is point two.
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... and so on. 

• Why would the aliens send information to Earth on how to construct a device that would enable them to take control of their ambassadors when they are supposed to be on a purely diplomatic mission?

The device does not take control of them it just translates human speech. The enemies threaten to take away their radioactive material, which to them is vital, if they don't obey.

• In Episode One, when the video screen retracts, the CSO image stays for several seconds.

Yes, it does, why shouldn't it? Surely the picture can linger even though the screen is being put into storage.

• When the spacecraft rotates, the image from the cockpit camera rotates with it (it should be fixed on one point).

Perhaps it isn't fixed and instead was just floating, so either it was bumped and spun, or when the spacecraft rotated, its inertia kept it from rotating with the craft.

• The UNIT soldier who is killed by touching the same barrier as an alien in Episode Four, is alive and well and back at work in Episode Six.

It might be a totally different solider, some people do look the same,like identical twins etc.

• Radioactivity is depicted as being conductable like electricity.

This is an alien form of radiation.

• From this story onwards no military personnel ever moves between 'attention' and 'at ease' properly.

This could be the intentional stamp of the Brig on his troops, a way to differentiate them from the British Army that they were mostly drawn from, deliberate rebelliousness that the Brig lets them get away with, or the subtle influence of the Doctor.

• 'Variant' is spelt 'varient' on location props.

People make spelling mistakes.

And in particular, if TV writers, set dressers, and prop makers can make spelling mistakes, how is it implausible that rocket engineers can as well?

• Taltalian's accent is French in the studio and English on location.

He might be putting on an accent in certain parts of the story.

• Recovery Seven's nose cone changes colour between prop and model shots.

• Quinlan's office safe slips about as the alien tries to open the door.

• And how does the Doctor manage to get the TARDIS console through the doors?

He dematerializes it, as demonstrated in Inferno and mekes the short, purely spatial jump to rematerialize it outside in the lab. There are doors large enough for the console to go through on the "fourth wall" of the set.

• The screen that the Doctor and Brigadier use to triangulate the signal wobbles when it is touched.

• When the capsule is landing it is moving across the map of the Atlantic far faster than the announcements indicate.

• The Ambassadors' touch is established as fatal, yet one assaults Reegan twice and he is unharmed.

The Ambassadors' radiation would be low, so no harm done.

• Why would the UNIT guard at the gate open fire on someone that he has no reason to believe hostile just because they didn't halt the first time he said to?

As demonstrated in Spearhead from Space, UNIT soldiers are very non tolerant; one of them shot the doctor just because he didn't speak as he came from the bushes.

He may know what to look out for and have been told to be very wary.

• The Doctor tells Cornish that the extra G-force from a higher proportion of M3 Variant will not bother him and Cornish suggests that that would blow up the rocket. Then Reegan adds the extra M3. The extra G-force does seem to bother the Doctor but the rocket still does not blow up.

The Doctor doesn't say it wouldn't bother him but that it wouldn't harm him. Plus, we can infer from the dialogue that had Stage 1 not been jettisoned early it would have blown up, taking Recovery 7 and the Doctor with it.

• When Reegan is sabotaging the rocket, M3 Variant is mis-spelled M3 Varient.

This one is already dealt with above.

• Lennox would not be killed so quickly by a radioactive isotope -- no matter how radioactive it was. And why didn't he scream for help or just chuck the thing out the window? And, who can the unseen person who gives it to him possibly be?

• The Doctor suggests to Cornish that he can use pure M3 Variant to send the Ambassadors back to space since they will not be affected by the extra G-force. Neither he nor Cornish seem too concerned that this might blow these friendly aliens up or send them into orbit around the sun. Also, the G-Force would effect our astronauts on their return journey!

We could assume that the problem was caused by the sabotage Reegan did; we do not know the full extent of this and he may have sabotaged some other part of the rocket as well. Also, the aliens might be able to refuel Recovery 7.