Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Sleep No More

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Sleep No More 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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• At the end of the episode it is revealed that the plan all along was to transmit the video, making Morpheous infect everyone who watched, and this is apparently successful. Wouldn't this dramatically effect human civilization, potentially causing it's extinction?

The entire episode was a fabrication. The Sandmen break the fourth wall by addressing us (the audience) directly. Therefore, when they say the video will cause those who watch it to become like them, they literally mean us. The found footage never actually occurred; it was all a fabrication by the Sandmen to infect all those who watch the Doctor's adventures.

• Episode never establishes that watching a video will infect viewers, also that the Sand people are created using the Mk2 Morpheus cabinets whilst everyone off station is using Mark 1 cabinets. This implies the station will simply crash into the gas giant Neptune and resolve the problem.

Unfortunately this story suffers from over-complications galore. It was hard to follow despite some tantalizingly wonderful moments. The premise that human eye dust is mutating into a monster that consumes its host is, quite frankly, silly and how the Doctor can infer that this is going on is bizarre. Especially as the Doctor himself says at the end that none of it makes any sense. Let's put it down to a bold experiment that had great potential but in the end failed.

I think it's more that we don't know what REALLY happened because as Rassmussen said in the beginning he was editing and it wasn't all in order, and some stuff had been left out. We don't know how much actually happened or if there was some more of an explanation that we never heard because Rassmussen wanted to keep the truth hidden.

• How was the Sandman that hadn't slept for five years created?
• Did the threat of the dust in Clara's eye get dealt with?

Perhaps it wasn't. She died in the following episode, before the dust had a chance to mutate. When she was brought back her bodily functions were time looped, which would also prevent the dust from mutating.

The dust had already mutated. That was how the monsters could see!

• The Doctor makes the discovery that Clara has a camera angle, but earlier the Doctor says that the Sandmen can't see!

This was explained in the episode. Rasmussen took control of their sense of sight to make his recording, so they couldn't access it.

Still leaves the question of how the Sandman couldn't kill the Doctor, Clara or the crew member when they were trapped. The Sandman would have seen what Clara saw, and still be able to hit a target.

Rasmussen could see what Clara saw, not the Sandmen.