Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Carnival of Monsters

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Carnival of Monsters 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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• The Doctor's expression of his desire to leave the SS Bernice in episode one because he 'doesn't like it' is possibly the most out-of-character, un-Doctor-ish thing he could have said. The Doctor has always enjoyed a good mystery, and if there are other humans involved, wouldn't he want to stay and help?

He is still recovering from having all his memory blocks removed by the Time Lord's at the end of 'The Three Doctors' and this combined with his irritation at missing Metebelis III again, is making him feel greater anxiety than usual. He also is undoubtedly worried about Jo, with whom he has grown very close by this point. It's not unusual for him to show concern for himself or his companions when he senses something is wrong with a situation.

There are similar examples of the Doctor's "psychic intuition" leading him to suggest a strategic withdrawal: notably in "Terror of the Vervoids" when the Sixth Doctor is keen to leave the Hyperion's infested cargo hold ("There's evil in this place"), and in "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" when the Seventh Doctor is reluctant to investigate the hippie bus, presumably sensing the influence of the Gods of Ragnarok. While the Doctor is adventurous, he is not always keen on rushing into encounters with extreme, undefined evil without a pressing cause. Considering that the scope contains Cybermen, Ogrons, Drashigs, and probably many other evil and dangerous beings, the Doctor might be sensing far more hostility than he feels capable of dealing with.

• The 1926 calendar is wrong the date structure is that of 1925.

The newspaper says it is 1926 and the Doctor mentions it.

• In episode one the sound of a pencil dropping and rolling across the studio floor can be heard.

Someone off-screen could have dropped something.

• The Doctor is told that Vorg is in charge of the scope in episode four, but later he asks whether Vorg is in charge.

• The Doctor is unable to understand Vorg when he begins speaking in a showman's dialect, even though the TARDIS usually translates all langauges.

It doesn't always do so, like with the Judoon for example.

• Vorg claims he can't control the Drashigs (they're not intelligent) but he can control the Plesiosaur.

Their minds are different.

• When questioned by Jo about the banning of the miniscopes, the Doctor suggests that this one was missed, completely forgetting that they could be in a time before the ban.

Presumably, a ban imposed by the Time Lords would have taken the form of removing all of the miniscopes before they actually started to be used, and hence the only way they could be in one is that this one was missed in the temporal purge.

• The Drashigs are introduced twice in episode two.

This was in an inadvertantly sold extended version that was rejected when it repeated material seen in other episodes.

• Lots of wigs come unstuck.

Wigs are popularly worn in some cultures.

• When Shirna does her little dance, the wire leading to the Miniscope is visible.

• The TARDIS doors are open when the Doctor steps out but instantly close when the giant hand reaches for it.

It could be a part of a defense mechanism.

• The back of the Cyberman's head is loose

• After entering the Miniscope, the Doctor helps Jo over a piece of equipment. As they walk off, the shadow of the boom mike moves over a white piece of the set in the upper right part of the screen.

• Jo sinks waist-deep in the swamp, but by the time she reaches the cave, her trousers are dry.

• The table Vorg plays his shell game on is clearly made of spray painted cardboard.

• How can the SS Bernice have been missing if it returns to its time?

It went astray despite what the Doctor said. Or it materialised in a different time, or the ship could have been sunk.

• At 3 minutes 12 seconds, when the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS, you can clearly see they are just stepping out of a police box prop, as there is no TARDIS interior wall.

• As Jo and The Doctor investigate the chickens in the cargo hold, the camera pans to the right and we can glimpse the edge of the set and the supports behind it.
• The Miniscope's "Aggrometer" (to induce hostility among the human specimens) has a strangely inconsistent effect: most of the humans present seem to be barely affected, whereas Andrews becomes a homicidal maniac.