Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Before the Flood

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Before the Flood 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. 

• Who is the Doctor talking to narrative wise in the pre credit scenes and looking at in the last shot?

Probably just him thinking out loud.

• In the previous episode, the Doctor is shown opening up the power cell container. But in this episode, he leaves it open before he climbs in the pod.

• Shouldn't the O'Donnell ghost fade away? The Doctor and crew leave Prentis, Fisher king kills Prentis, chases them and kills O'Donnell, Doctor and Bennett go back and the Doctor encounters FK at exactly the point he was supposed to start chasing them?

The Doctor had to have taken the power pack and left it to detonate at the dam before he confronted the Fisher King. It seems like quite a walk. The events of O'Donnell's death played out while he was walking to the dam and back.

• Why is the TARDIS not allowing the Doctor to leave the past and actually forces the Doctor to travel back to the place where he already is part of the events ?

Because of the Doctor's stated intent to change history by simply leaving and not encountering the Fisher King. To do so would cause an unacceptable paradox. Remember the TARDIS is alive and aware of these things. This is also likely why in the later TV: "Hell Bent" the Doctor doesn't use a TARDIS to prevent Clara from entering the trap street in the first place. No TARDIS would allow this.

• If the Doctor's ghost was only a hologram, how could it use the control panel?

Multi-functional hologram most possibly... The Shakri did the same in The Power of Three.

Seeing as the panel doesn't actually have a physical keyboard, just a touchscreen, it makes sense that a hologram could interact with it by using energy (remembering of course this is a hologram programmed by the Doctor).

• Why does O'Donnell cite Harold Saxon as a significant figure? The year after he used the Toclafane to invade was undone, so nobody should remember it. Yes, he was still Prime Minister, but not for a very long time.

His presence was possibly amplified by the subtle waves he sent to the people that made him like them more, making it so that his short-lived time as Prime Minister is more well-received and remembered/passed down. Additionally, he did involve himself with several aliens before and during his tenure as Prime Minister, and was claimed to have "gone mad" after having supposedly disappeared shortly after the assassination of President Winters at the hands of his Toclafane. Certainly something to remember.

O'Donnell states she read military intelligence material related to the Doctor; it could well have included information about the Toclafane incident or some other activities connected to Saxon, such as the events of The Christmas Invasion and The End of Time. She also cites events that have yet to happen to the Doctor, so maybe there is an unchronicled incident involving Saxon she is referring to.

• O'Donnell name-drops several of the Doctor's companions by first name, yet omits Clara (this ties in with a discontinuity item for the previous episode in which she all but ignores Clara). To be fair, she only lists recent companions (as opposed to including, say, Sarah-Jane) but Clara's omission is glaring especially as she's the current companion.