Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Partners in Crime

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Partners in Crime 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. 

• How did Silvia get the keys back if Rose disappeared?

She didn't.

• If the Adipose are made out of living fat how can they have teeth/a tooth?

As Miss Foster states, the Adipose can convert bone, hair and organs.

Yes... into fat. Thus leaving the question unanswered.

Fat is the basis for an Adipose; it is converted into all parts of the Adipose, including their own organs and, presumably, teeth.

• Why didn't Miss Foster just use her sonic pen on the door instead of having the guards shoot it down?

• The building Miss Foster stands in front of when she is giving the speech is the same building Jack Harkness got pushed off by John Hart in the Torchwood episode Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Partners in Crime occurs in London, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang in Cardiff.

They just happen to be a similar shape. The outside scenes of new Who are largely filmed in and around Cardiff. So yes this is the same building but it's appearance here is a production continuity - not Who continuity.

• In the scene where Stacy is sprouting multiple Adiposes in the bathroom, the staircase wall is covered in empty picture frames, and the mirror in the hallway has no glass either.

It's actually fairly common to use empty frames as decoration.

• If this episode is set in 2009, how come Sylvia Noble says 'no one's unemployed these days'?

The Whoniverse is different to our universe, there may be some similarities but its not the same. That sort of discontinuity opens the floodgates for others such as "Why haven't the alien invasions started?"

It is likely that Sylvia only said that to remark on Donna's lifestyle, instead of using actual facts.

It is likely that she is remarking that it is unusual, rather than impossible.

• How do we know this episode is set in 2009? As of series 2 we got no indication of the date.

In Christmas 2006 (The Christmas Invasion) the Sycorax arrive above Earth, a year later in 2007 it is the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride), and a further year later in 2008 the Titanic almost crashes (Voyage of the Damned). Therefore, since this episode takes place the year after Voyage of the Damned, it is in 2009.

• Miss Fosters guards shoot down the door, however when the Doctor returns to save Donna the door is still on.

The door we see him push open is the door from the staircase. He runs straight through from the corridor to the room.

• Why would the Doctor dispose of the Sonic Pen? He should know by now that having an extra sonic device around would be handy.

It's possible that the pen was damaged when the two sonic devices were used together. Pens are, after all, more delicate than screwdrivers.

It's unlikely he'd dispose of a working sonic device in London - so the former point stands to reason.

• The fat comes out of people's bodies in unlikely ways. The skin is stretched then seems to just turn into fat which would not work.

The technology and biological processes involved are outside human knowledge, and may be more complex than they appear.

• If Miss Foster needed a high obesity scale then why didn't she go to America or one of the other countries with a bigger weight issue than Britain.

There may have been other factors leading to her choice of location. Regardless, there is no indication that the obesity rates of countries in the Whoniverse are the same as in reality.

The Adipose do choose America in another universe - as seen in 'Turn Left'.

This is likely a symptom of being a British Tv show. That said - London has a large population in a small area, thus making it a highly convenient location, as opposed to multiple American cities.

• Surely someone would have been suspicious that Donna just walked into Adipose Industries and went into the toilet and never came out all day.

Everyone may well have been too focused on their work to notice Donna's arrival, especially since Miss Foster has demanded a dramatic increase in sales.

• Either Penny or Donna could have heard the other move in the cubicle and unite against Miss Foster.

Neither did however, so they didn't know each other was there. They were, after all, hiding.

So why didn't Penny hear Donna's phone ring?

It's likely that neither of them would've wanted to draw attention to themselves.

An interesting point, but I think it's like the prisoner's dilemma. If Penny knows Donna is there, she still doesn't know Donna won't give her up. It's in her interest to stay quiet in case Donna is just shirking work or something - she doesn't know Donna is also a spy. So Penny doesn't have any reason to reveal herself to Donna. Then, once Miss Foster has her, she has no reason to give Donna up either. If she could frame Donna as the spy, maybe there would be a reason. But as it is, Penny gains nothing from revealing herself or Donna at any point.

• Shouldn't Miss Foster have checked all the cubicles after Penny was found, just to be on the safe side?

She had no reason to believe there was more than one intruder.

• When Miss Foster activates the inducer, she remarks that a million Adipose are going to be born. However, when a person is totally converted into Adipose, they form several of the young ones, and Miss Foster was planning to convert a million people, which meant there would have a lot more then a mere million baby Adipose.

She may have been estimating.

It's a stretch, but what Foster said was "happy birthday, one million birthdays" after saying that one million people were in clients in the greater London area. So there's a tiny chance what she was referring to was the parents' (i.e. dieters') and not the babies. As in "one million people are giving birth."

Or she meant "at least" as in, without being able to know how many adipose babies there are per person there are at least one million (one per person) and "at least one million birthdays."

It's just a figure of speech, like "I've told you a million times not to use your phone at the dinner table."

The plan was not originally to convert all of each person into several Adipose, that was an exit strategy to be implemented in case they were discovered (which they were). If they could secretly produce Adipose they would never have to stop, so Sol 3 could become the next Adipose nursery world.

But she had just decided to initiate wide-scale full parthenogenesis. And the bad math doesn't stop there. If only ten thousand Adipose were born before the Doctor shut the inducer down, then at least 99% of people on the pill didn't actually give birth to any Adipose during that time.

The real question is: Why is 10,000 enough? They planned to fully convert 100 million people, right? That should've been over a billion Adiposians. Also, how did the "mother"ship get there so fast?

Where was it stated that they never planned to fully convert people into Adipose? She says she's advancing the plan, not modifying the plan. So it would seem that they always intended to fully convert people, they just wanted to do it to more.

• If Rose is able to cross to this universe in this episode, why didn't she warn the Doctor about the darkness? Why did she have to wait to meet Donna in another universe in Turn Left?

The way Rose disappeared implied she wasn't truly there, just an imprint, incapable of speaking.

It may be possible that Rose can only cross universes for a few hours/days which is not enough time to find the Doctor since he could be anywhere.

• Why did Rose not appear during Last of the Time Lords? If she had been appearing for a year on Earth she should have been around during the year that never was. Wouldn't she have helped the Doctor and Martha and Jack against the Master.

Maybe she did, however due to the state the Earth was in, she wasn't able to find the Doctor as he was imprisoned on the Valiant. She may have been found by the Toclafane who thought she was part of a resistance and killed.

If any of the Doctor's actions of series 4 indirectly affected the reality bomb, it may not have been created, therefore Rose would have no need to appear.

Additionally - the fact that The Year That Never Was was powered by a Paradox Machine could have made the reality impenetrable or unlocatable to those on Pete's World.

• Why did the TARDIS not automatically translate the Adipose language when the nursery ship arrived?

This is a confusing moment, but the Doctor can clearly still read the script. Likely, the script isn't changed for us and us alone. Remember, theta sigma also isn't translated even though Greek should be - but it's more recognizable for the viewer untranslated.

• How come when the TARDIS lands behind Donna's car, moments after she has parked up, does she not hear the unique sound of the engines? Micky hears the TARDIS landing from streets away in 'Parting of the Ways', Jackie hears it in her flat, and Micky even hears it over banging and the sound of a radio in The Christmas Invasion. Therefore being approximately 20-30 meters away Donna by all rights should have heard the TARDIS Landing.

It was crashing in the latter, and didn't appear till much later so maybe it was audible to the pair as it travelled around be materialising. Also, Donna might not have as good hearing as the Ood episode implies.

Donna is notoriously oblivious. She was once off the few characters we meet who has never directly observed alien stuff by 2007. I think we can chalk this up tp just another "Donna missed it again" moment.

• How is it the Doctor knew the exact spot where Miss Foster's guards were at that exact second so he could electrocute that one part of the corridor and knock them out?

• After the Doctor shuts down the inducer, why is it all the people who had taken the adipose pills have the same frame as they did before Miss Foster turned the inducer on? Surely with 4 or 5 adipose just being created from them they should have lost a significant amount of weight.

11 pounds/5 kg isn't too much weight. And with clothes on, it's a small enough difference to not be too easily noticed.