Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Ultimate Foe

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Ultimate Foe 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. 

• Mel leaves with the Doctor at the end of this story, despite being from the Doctor's future.

This is extremely odd, since it dramatically increases the probability that this "older" Mel will encounter her younger self at some point, and fall victim to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. This possibility was neatly sidestepped by the following story, Time and the Rani. Since it immediately depicts the regeneration of the Sixth Doctor, there is presumably a wide gap between it and Foe. The arrival of the Seventh Doctor instantly mooted any televised treatment of the asynchronicity between the Sixth Doctor and Mel. Nevertheless, the issue has been addressed in other media. In the novelisation there is an epilogue in which the Doctor returns Mel to his own future self, who then embarks on the journey that leads to Lakertya. This assumption was followed in the MA: Time of Your Life, where writer Steve Lyons posited that the younger Sixth Doctor immediately took Mel back to his older self. The issue of the Doctor's knowledge of Mel prior to their first meeting is examined in PDA: Business Unusual, while the fact of there being a substantial interval between this story and Time and the Rani has been addressed through the myriad of novels and audio dramas featuring the Sixth Doctor, yet taking place between the trial and his official first meeting with Mel. An alternative assumption is made by The Universal Databank which speculates that the events of the Trial destroyed the future timeline Mel was from.

• Given that article 7 cannot be ignored, and the Doctor is definately guilty of it, the inquisitor is remakably quick to let the Doctor off.

He did just save her life, amongst others.

• Just why does the Valeyard dress up as Mr Popplewick?

As the Doctor said it was a part of the Valeyard's nature

• How does no-one notice the Valeyard switching places with the Keeper of the Matrix? .

You really have to be looking for it to be the Valeyard as it is not incredibly obvious. (Intriguingly, when the Valeyard talks to the Inquisitor immediately before the reveal, it sounds like James Bree rather than Michael Jayston.)

• No-one attempts to stop Mel entering the Matrix the second time.

Actually, the Keeper does by attempting to trip her again but was too early and Mel was expecting it. It can't be seen very well on camera.

• Why does the Doctor take Glitz into the Matrix with him?

Like the Doctor said, two people make the Valeyard's job harder.

• Why do they land at different times when they went through together?

There is a time difference between the real world and the Matrix as stated in DW: The Deadly Assassin when the Fourth Doctor has been in the Matrix for well over half an hour at least yet he is only in there for between 4-5 minutes as stated by Engin.

• How does Glitz and the Master manage to escape the Matrix?

The Time Lords release them as the Doctor said.

• Although Mel never directly heard the Doctor saying that the he opposed the evidence of the Matrix, the parts that she does here would be more than enough to give her that idea - so the doctor's logic doesn't really work.

Sure it does. She clearly doesn't know definitively, which is his point.

• The Valeyard should realise that if the Doctor dies, he will cease to exist.

The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the Doctor, not a definitive future.

Also depends how he plans to kill him. The Valeyard may have intended a "merging" after the fashion of the Master / Tremas, thus taking over the rest of the Doctor's unused regenerations for his own evil purposes (though that still raises issues of time paradoxes, probably of little concern to a corrupt and desperate High Council and even less to the fundamentally warped Valeyard).

• The Doctor says that he cant produce witnesses because they're scattered throughout time and space, but what about Leela?

There is no guarantee that Leela is still on Gallifrey, or even still alive, depending on the Time difference.

• Why does the Master use the bauble to attempt to hypnotise Glitz, rather then his usual method of looking him in the eyes?

Maybe it wouldn't work, because Glitz is such an accomplished fast-talker and bluffster. ("I am the Master, and you" "Yeah, and I am Sabalom Glitz, I already know that much. Did I ever tell you about...") If so, the Master might already know or suspect this, or might even have tried to Master-eye him earlier.

The Master also uses the bauble in "Mark of the Rani", and also steals the Rani's mind-controlling parasites for an even more effective method of hypnotism. He seems to have lost the intrinsic ability to hypnotise (possibly as a result of being stuck with Tremas' non-Time Lord body), and has to rely upon artificial methods (as in "Time Flight" as well), deception, and brute force.

• How is the valeyard in the sixth doctors time line, when he is an amalgamation of the evil from either the twelfth or last doctor?

The same could be asked about any multi-Doctor story (and, for that matter, the Watcher). It should also be mentioned that he is not the physical Doctor - but an amalgam - so different laws could apply to him.