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

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Daleks 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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• It is originally stated that the Thals have travelled for 4 years but this is later reduced to 1 year.
• Ganatus is aware of the cultural conventions existing in England in the 1960's "We won't use one of the customs of your planet: "ladies first".

• Despite having turned off the power, the Thals are able to leave through the electronic doors.

The doors run on independent power cells.

• The Dalek's plans don't seem to make sense. At first they want the Thals anti-radiation drugs because they believe it will enable them to abandon their casings and leave the city to reclaim the planet. However, after some of them have been exposed to the drug they discover that they are now adapted to require radiation in order to survive. But from this they conclude that they can never leave their city! Surely the whole point is that since the rest of the planet is still irradiated they don't need the drug to leave the city - they can proceed as they had originally intended. In which case, why do they need to detonate a second neutron bomb? It is clearly stated it is not just intended to kill the Thals.

It is stated that the radiation levels are dropping so eventually there won't be enough radiation left for the Daleks to survive. Hence, they need to increase the radiation levels again.

• Why do the Daleks use words like "I feel" and "please" when they are supposed to be ruthless, non-emotional killers?

They were established as ruthless in this story, but far from emotionless, fear being primary among their emotions (Fear of death, and of the unknown / unlike are their principal motivations at this stage). Although they were later characterised as near-emotionless and single-minded (and especially in the conjectured alternate Dalek timeline after "Genesis", in which Davros has made greater efforts to engineer their minds), nothing in this story suggests that they are incapable of feeling (or even feigning) a wide range of emotions.

• When the Doctor, Susan and Barbara escape wouldn't the Daleks notice that Ian wasn't there or if he was in the Dalek casing?

This wouldn't change the Daleks' behaviour, they would still pursue the three of them.

• When something was put under one of the electronic doors the door opened up again but when Barbara was trapped under a door the door kept closing.

The door behaves differently depending on what's under it.

The Daleks are locking the city down at the time and increase the power.

• When Ian, Barbara and the Thals come out into a building in the Dalek city, it's a little coincidental that the building they arrive in is the same one that The Doctor and Susan are in.

Not a plot hole, just a plot convenience. They didn't need to add an eighth episode so they could search for each other.

• The countdown to the bomb going off just stops with a few seconds to go.

So? It may be a cliche now, but it wasn't at the time, and that creates neither a continuity error nor a plot hole.

• Why don't the Daleks exterminate the Doctor and Susan instead of capturing them in episode 6?

They had no reason to do so, and keeping them alive allowed them to be potentially used later.

• When they are trapped by the Daleks and Susan mentions the vials she found, the Doctor says that he thinks they might have been anti-radiation gloves... drugs, where he was only supposed to say anti radiation drugs.

Like many people, the Doctor sometimes stumbles over his words. This error was later referenced in BFA: Flip-Flop where the Seventh Doctor mentions an invention by one of his earlier incarnations anti radiation gloves.

• When the Daleks were seemingly destroyed in 1963 (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks), does this mean that the events in all episodes taking place later in history, like The Daleks, are eradicated from history?

When the Daleks sent the Hand of Omega to their sun they sent it to the Skaro in their timeline so when Skaro was destroyed it was actually far into the future after the events of this story. A Dalek announces that the Hand is "Entering Skaro Time Zone" shortly before the detonation.

• The Dalek city is said to run on static electricity. This would mean that it is mostly metal, yet none of the Doctor's group, or the Thals, receive any kind of static shocks when they touch the walls and doors.

Davros's reference to electrical fields while describing the reality bomb suggests the possibility that the term "electricity" has some alternate meaning to non-Earth science

Alternately, it could mean that the Dalek casings produce the electricity they use to glide along the floor, and not vice versa.