Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Dæmons

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Dæmons 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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• Various pronunciations of 'Dæmons', 'Dæmos' (and all other permutations) are used throughout the story.

The characters could be unsure of how to pronounce it, or simply make errors in doing so.

The Doctor initially refers to them as "Day-mons" from the planet "Daymos", before adopting 'demon' in line with everyone else. 'Dæmon' may very well be a loan-word from Gallifreyan to the original Greek 'δαίμων' - the presence of Old High Gallifreyan characters in the Greek alphabet, not to mention the Atlanteans' possession of a crystal capable of entrapping a Chronovore suggests extensive contact. This word then passed down to Latin - 'Dæmon' and finally into modern English 'Demon'. Perhaps the Gallifreyan pronounciation of that word is 'day-mon' and, as otherwise excellent polylingual speakers often will, he still initially pronounced the loan word in his native accent.

• No explanation is offered for why Bok shares the superstitious credulity of the villagers when it comes to iron and "magic spells" / old Venusian lullabies. Furthermore, if he is so cripplingly frightened of iron-based metals, he ought to be terrified whenever he passes through the church gate (though he opens it with no apparent reluctance in episode 6).

As a gargoyle, he was built to represent the villagers' superstitions, so of course he would beleve in them. As for the gate, it is unknown if it is made of iron, or if it's the combination of iron and the Venusian lullaby - which sounds like a spell or hex - that scares him off.

Likewise as the point of the serial, is that what was mistaken for magic, is really Daemon science, Bok knows he's confronting the one he serves (whose by this point easily wielding that same power, even if he doesn't control it) equal and the doctors lullaby sound no less mystical, than the Master's cults chants. Its entirely possible he didn't want to risk finding out of he was bluffing or not.

Looking at this serial as part of the loose "trilogy" of Sloman / Letts spiritual-themed stories, one could well suppose that the Doctor is simply being arrogant and closed-minded, and either creating a genuine magical defense with the iron without meaning to, or at least convincing Bok that he could if he wanted to. Miss Hawthorne points out - not without justification - that the Doctor's insistence on redefining witchcraft as alien psionic science is rather pedantic, as he is no more capable (in fact, somewhat less) of mastering it effectively than she is.

• A signpost next to the heat barrier says: 'Devil's End 1'. However, in episode two, the barrier has a five mile radius, centered on the church.

Signposts usually list distance to the border point of a town. Depending on how large the township of Devil's End is within that border, this would not be an inconsistency.

• If the "breached" heat barrier is still hot enough to make the Brigadier's swagger stick smoulder so profusely, it ought to have some fairly unpleasant effects on human flesh (but the troops pass through entirely unscathed).

By the time they pass through, the barrier has been overcome in that section.

• In episode three, the energy exchanger interferes with radio communication, but by episode five it has lost this side effect.

UNIT was working to overcome the communication problem.

• Why does the Master look so annoyed in Episode One when he hears of the presence of the Doctor? Apart from the fact that his presence was almost inevitable (since UNIT were bound to take an interest in the Devil's End situation, sooner or later), the Master has been trying to kill him all season, and one would think would be pleased to have lured him (albeit inadvertently) into a place where he has several loyal lackeys, a homicidal gargoyle, and an arsenal of psychic powers at his disposal.

And yet, the Doctor always seems to thwart the Master's plans. Hence, why he was annoyed to find the Doctor was there.

Taking the series continuity as canon, the last encounter between them was particularly acrimonious, the Doctor flat-out rejecting the Master's apparently sincere offer of an alliance (using the doomsday weapon on Uxarieus), denouncing his former friend as a power-crazed homicidal narcissist (accurately), and making it clear that he would always oppose him (causing the Master to very nearly shoot him dead on the spot - an uncharacteristically simple killing, but one that suddenly seemed to be the sensible option). The Master is tiring of the game, and the stakes at Devil's End are too high to take stupid risks on: godlike power and immortality which, as we later learn, is an obsession to the Master, nearing the end of his natural regeneration cycle. He probably hoped that the occult "nonsense" would be of little interest to the Doctor who would thus turn up on the scene only when the heat barrier had been erected, thus held at bay until the Master could make his deal with Azal, then dispose of the Doctor at his leisure. He was very nearly right (until Cpt. Yates let slip the "Devil's End" line which somehow piqued his interest).

The Master was also probably planning to encounter the Doctor after managing to summon a powerful alien being capable of granting him godlike power and immortality, at which point the Doctor wouldn't be able to do much to stop him. The Doctor has essentially shown up ahead of schedule, making him a potential threat to the Master's schemes.

• Surely any alien race that has taken such a keen interest in the development of homo sapiens and their direct evolutionary predecessors over the last hundred thousand years, would be aware that altruism and the capacity for self sacrifice is a key human trait, and arguably is one of the major contributory factors in allowing them to survive and become Earth's dominant species. Would Azal then, really by so shocked by Jo's attempt to protect the Doctor to the extent that it leads to his own destruction?

Depends which humans he had met previously. Not many would really so readily sacrifice their lives for someone else.

The Doctor's explanation does imply there might be a little more to it than death by confusion. Since the psionics / "black magic" upon which Azal's technology is based seems to thrive upon the energy of negative human emotions (according to the Doctor's explanation of the purpose for the coven), Jo's altrusitically leaping into the path of Azal's psionic "death ray" sets up a force field of positive human emotions that deflects the energy back at its sender, fatally. This is further implied by the scene in Episode One in which the scientifically-ignorant Miss Hawthorne manages to deactivate a psionic force field and release the mind-controlled policeman simply through faith in her own spell. Azal regards human as mere "laboratory rats", and has neither credited them with possessing any higher emotions nor considered the potential psionic power (or the danger to himself) of such emotions.

It makes sense in context. The Daemons, completely unlike their "angelic" equivalent Light (from "Ghost Light"), are fascinated by evolution and what they can do to manipulate its outcomes. This has naturally involved them in giving aid and power to the more ruthless types of humans (with the implication that one of their earliest interventions was to help modern man exterminate the neanderthals). Indeed, the fact their their science has passed into mythology as black magic and Satanism reinforces that only particularly selfish and ambitious humans (or Time Lords) would take the trouble and risk of actually trying to summon a Daemon and willingly participate in its experiments. Altruism certainly does have its natural evolutionary value, but not one that Daemons would have been likely to have much encountered, as altruistic humans would be far less likely to take any interest in having evolution ruthlessly manipulated in their favour.

Bearing in mind that over the same period, humanity has had its "darker side" magnified though Daemon-style rituals by the Fendahl, it is small wonder the Daemons haven't seen humanity at its best. Though the fact that they didn't notice their carefully-controlled experiment being so blatantly messed about with doesn't say much for their scientific acumen. And that's before we even get started on the subject of Scaroth and Fenric having their fingers in the petri dish as well...

Its possible that the Fendahl (the opposite of life itself) and Fenric (one of the great old ones) were simply to big for the Daemons to want to risk having an all out assult, for fear they wouldn't come out victorious. As for Scaroth, if he kept his head mostly down they might have just dismissed him as a particularly bright set of humans.

• Azal continues to emit deadly quantities of heat whenever he reduces in mass, but the freezing equivalent when he grows is conveniently overlooked as soon as the plot demands having non-expendable characters in his vicinity.

• The Master's followers change Jo into her "sacrificial dress" in the cavern. The cavern and church are later destroyed, presumably along with her clothes - and yet when she changes out of the dress in the final scene, she is shown wearing the those same clothes.

By an extremely good stroke of luck, Jo's clothes were not destroyed. Most likely, they were removed by one of the Master's followers while she was being prepared for sacrifice.