Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Three Doctors

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Three Doctors 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.
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* This is point two.
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... and so on. 

• The fact that he has been brought into his own future and telepathically linked with the Third Doctor leads to questions of the Second Doctor learning of his eventual capture, trial, and exile by the Time Lords.

Season 6B is an attempt to reconcile the issues arising from this plot hole.

In TV: The Five Doctors and TV: The Two Doctors, the Doctor appears not to remember meeting himself; in TV: Time Crash, however, he does remember--but not immediately. It's unclear what exactly the situations are in which the Doctor can remember such meetings.

• How come the Brigadier mentions to the Second Doctor both the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness when the Second doesn't remember these events?

The Brigadier doesn't know that - he's trying to get his head round the sudden reappearance of the old Doctor and is confused about the face changing.

• In episode 4, the two Doctors take less time to get to UNIT than the others did in Bessie.

They remember the way better.

• If the organism was to find the Doctor why send the monsters as well?

In case he put up a struggle or could somehow defeat the organism.

• The explanation of why Ollis is taken doesn't really hold up, and it is painfully obvious that they just needed a good way to start the story.

The explanation was not really an explanation, it was merely the Doctor hypothesising.

It seems reasonable. The organism arrived somewhat disoriented in this universe and was looking for the Doctor. To the organism one humanoid must have looked very much like another. It eventually became better acclimated.

• In the end the Third Doctor says he will need to build a new forcefield circuit before he can travel again, so how does he materialise in Carnival of Monsters?

The forcefield circuit is probably less complex than the materialisation circuit. There is clearly at least a small amount of time that passes and the Doctor obviously rebuilt the forcefield circuit in that time.

Or to be put another way: Very simply, he builds one. Then Carnival of Monsters occurs after that.

• There are shots that make it quite obvious that there is no interior to the TARDIS prop.

That's not a plot hole, it's a production error.

The actual functioning of the TARDIS' disguise is still somewhat unclear. When viewed from the outside, it presumably is supposed to look like a police box, which could easily extend to when the door is open as well. This isn't always the case (the newer episodes show this), but we know that nothing in the TARDIS works exactly like it's supposed to all the time.

• The Brigadier says UNIT HQ is "a Top Secret establishment". It's therefore a surprise to see a large sign outside informing the world not only of its function, but also the name of the commanding officer.

"Top Secret" usually refers to the work going on inside the facility, not to the location of the facility itself.

• The footsteps of those returning to Earth via the singularity can be heard as they walk down the steps after they've disappeared.

The sound waves from their footsteps can still pass over the bridge of the singularity.

• How does the First Doctor know that the blob is a bridge?

He worked it out for the other incarnations.

Simply by reasoning. (Things touch it and they disappear, it was sent a long way, there's energy being drained into a black hole,...)

• The view from the TARDIS scanner is from the far side of the lab and includes the TARDIS itself.

The TARDIS scanner can show pretty much any angle from the vicinity around it. (c.f. Logopolis)

As the Doctor was exiled to Earth, yet had his TARDIS, he might have linked the scanner up to UNIT's security camera, like he made modifications to Bessie.

• When the gel creature is chasing Tyler it bumps into a wall right before the cut to the next scene.

Some species have bad sight.

• The Chancellor tells the First Doctor that "all three are needed to defeat Omega". But how does he know who the enemy is?

Just as the Time Lords monitored different points in time, they may have been able to see what happened in Omega's universe and the Doctors' confrontation with him.

• Although it is later revealed that Omega has no physical shape, the actor's mouth can be seen on several occasions, notably when he is working out who the Second Doctor is.

A residual effect of Omega willing himself to exist. Think of it as a part of the mask.

• Everyone is supposed to be returned to where they were when they were taken. But the Third Doctor was outside the TARDIS when he was taken and is returned inside it, while the Brigadier and Sgt Benton were inside the TARDIS when they were taken and are returned outside of it.

They were taken back to where they were supposed to be, not from where they were taken.

• Why can't the Third Doctor remember what happened, seeing as (for him) it's already happened twice before?

Maybe when the Time Lords erased his memory at the end of The War Games they also removed his memories his own future. The Second Doctor would have the First Doctor's memories of the episode, but the First Doctor was in the TV the whole time anyway, so he didn't know much of what was going on.