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

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Next Doctor 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.
  • The Cybermen are too weak to kill a single Dalek with an army. So how did they steal their technology?
It was never said that it was taken through combat. The Cybermen are known to use infiltration, as when they set up a base in Torchwood 1 without detection. Considering it was the events in journeys end that allowed them to escape the void. Its possible the same reverse of machinery that killed the Dalek's in the Crucible expanded into other universes including the void. So the cybermen simply salvaged the machinery from destroyed Daleks
Deconstructed Daleks and Cybermen, or more likely from the Genesis Ark which was sucked into the Void as well.
  • How did the infostamps have images from times when the Daleks were not present? The Daleks may have used methods as yet unrevealed; there is precedent for "time scanners" to view people without their knowledge from afar, such as seen in DW: The Chase.
Subsequently, it is shown that info stamps are connected to the dimention vault, implying that it is gathering the information throught time and space.
  • Everyone in London saw a giant CyberKing walking through the city. Would this not have re-written history?
Time is in Flux, and some events are able to change - nothing major was changed as the attack didn't last long. And those that were there could have always thought of it as some special effects or something.
RTD offers the possibility in the podcast that after Torchwood was established, it cleaned up all reference.
This fact is brought up by the Doctor in DW: Flesh and Stone, so might better be considered an element of foreshadowing rather than a continuity error.
Adding to the above, the 'crack' mentioned throughout the fifth series, seems like it may have something to do with it.
  • When Jackson Lake asks the Doctor why he no longer travels with companions, the Doctor mentions that they wind up breaking his heart. Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to refer to broken hearts, as The Master did in The Sound of Drums?
It's a figure of speech, not literal.
  • In Age of Steel, behind the Cybus badge was the heart of steel, no infostamp port.
They could have had them added after falling to London.
  • How could a Cybershade, a part Cyberman, part animal drag two men up the side of a building?
It's likely that the Cybershades are cybernetically enhanced; the cloak they wear could conceal a lighter and more agile exoskeleton than that of the Cybermen.
  • Surely it would have made sense to use the Cyber King during the battle of Canary Wharf?
It was far less likely for the development of a CyberKing to go unnoticed in the 21st century.
  • Why are people having a Christmas feast in the middle of the night on Christmas morning, especially considering the city is still recovering from the CyberKing's assault?
Because it's Christmas and because they're celebrating the CyberKing's defeat.
  • Why would the Cybermen want to convert the brain of an animal to make a Cybershade when the thought process behind a Cyberman is to make everything exactly the same as them?
The Cybermen do not want to make everything exactly the same as them. They want to upgrade humanity to Cybermen, but perhaps found a need to diversify with a different type of lifeform.
  • What did Jackson Lake's Doctor think he could do to the Cybershade at the beginning of the episode, with his 'Sonic screwdriver'?
He thought he was the Doctor. So he thought his 'Sonic Screwdriver' would be able to do something. Evidently not, but Lake was very confused.
  • In Doomsday the Cybermen were shown to have updated themselves with wrist-mounted lasers, yet they only resort to electrocuting the participants of the funeral with their hands.
The lasers may take a lot more energy than the electricity needed to kill a human, and the Cybermen are low on energy
The Doctor states that CyberKings were the front line of Cybermen (Mondasian) invasions, so the Doctor connected the dots and made an assumption
  • Why do the Cybermen want to delete the workforce after they have done their work when they are not hostile and can be sent to be upgraded.
They may have viewed children as weak and incompatible for upgrading. The upgrading equipment may only have been designed for adults.
  • How did the CyberKing rise up from/get built in The Thames? It is enormous, far higher than any of the buildings anywhere nearby, and the river isn't even close to being that deep. Somehow the Cybermen and their children slaves dug a CyberKing sized hole and built a massive lift for it too? Wouldn't that have taken a really long time and been very hard to hide?
The hole may have been bigger on the inside. If the Daleks stole Time Lord technology for the Genesis Ark, then who says the cybermen didn't. Also they may have found the Genesis Ark in the void and copied its technology.
  • Before the opening credits the Jackson Lake Doctor says of the Cybershade "That's New" suggesting he has never seen one before but straight after them he says he has been hunting it for 2 weeks.
Lake might've meant its abilities eg. strength as it managed to break through a strong metal door (Which to Lake) was impervious to many forms of attack.
  • Why is there a Cyber Leader with the classic black head, and yet the Cyber Leader from the Battle of Canary Wharf sported no such colour scheme?
  • ::The Cyberleader in Doomsday had only just been upgraded, and upgrading the headpiece was hardly a priority.
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