Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Idiot's Lantern

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Idiot's Lantern 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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• How does the Wire have The ability to change into colour Television on a black and white screen? Can the Television project a colour Image?

• The Doctor and Tommy have their faces sucked into the TV along with the inspector when they search the TV store. Since the Doctor and Tommy looked at it for the same amount of time as the inspector, why do they survive and the inspector's face is gone?

The Doctor might have used his sonic screwdriver to get his and Tommy's face back, but not had time to rescue the inspector.

The Wire may only have been powerful enough to fully remove the inspector's face before moving on and was simply "holding on" to the Doctor and Tommy.

• The Doctor gives Rose a Betamax tape to record over. But how can she if she does not have a Betamax tape-recorder?

She might have picked one up before this event or might just pick one up in the future. Also, a mere magnetic field could be used to erase it.

Rose doesn't know its a Betamax tape, the Doctor never told her.

A short story set after the events of this reveals that the Doctor has a Betamax recorder in the TARDIS.

• What does the title of the episode have to do with the plot?

"The Idiot's Lantern" was a common term for television, the idea being that idiots are led along by it, like moths being drawn into a lantern. In this peoples' faces were drawn into the television.

• Though her surname is not given in dialogue, Grandma Connolly is identified as a Connolly in the credits and on her Character Options action figure. However, she is Rita Connolly's mother. Since Rita Connolly is married to Eddie Connolly the implication is that "Connolly" is Rita's married name. Grandma's surname should then be Rita's maiden name rather than "Connolly."

The simplest explanation would be that Rita's maiden name is also "Connolly," and she simply married a man who happened to share her birth surname. Unusual, but not impossible.

Also, the fact that the character is called "Grandma Connolly" in credits and an action figure hardly means that's her real name! It could just as easily be a reference to the fact that we see her in the story associated with the Connolly family. Characters can be credited as "Old Man" or "Grumpy Woman" or "American Newscaster" without those being their actual names. For example, it's highly unlikely that her first name is actually Grandma. The character designation in that case is more a description than anything else.

• Rose in this episode displays knowledge of the difference between a Union Jack and a Union Flag, and yet she calls her T-shirt's pattern a Union Jack in the episode The Empty Child.

She may have just forgotten. In this episode, she was trying to prove Eddie to be stupid, so she would have felt the need to recall past information. In The Empty Child, she said it simply in passing.

Rose may have learnt a few things about flags since the earlier episode.

• Rose suggests, incorrectly, that the Union Jack is only referred to as such when flown at sea and is referred to as the Union Flag when on land. Both terms are correct for the flag, no matter the location the flag is flown.

She may have been just in error. Characters are allowed to be wrong. Perhaps she was just thinking of something extra to needle Mr Connolly with, having taken the Doctor's lead in chastising the bully.

Perhaps in the Doctor Who universe the flag is only referred to as the "Union Flag" when not flown at sea.