Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/A Town Called Mercy

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This page is for discussing the ways in which A Town Called Mercy 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:

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• The Gunslinger arrives a lot faster the first time someone crosses the barrier than he does the second time.

So? Does it take you the exact same time to go from your house to the shop every single time? No, he was just travelling at different speeds.

He also may have been further away the second time, or simply not paying attention.

• How did Jex build street lamps and working light bulbs with 1870 materials? His ship doesn't look big enough to hold them.

The Doctor states that they could build a spaceship from something and moss. So I'm sure he could create street lamps with metal scraps and wood.

• It's never explained why his ship has so much security.

Because he obviously doesn't want someone to be able to find out the true horrors of what he did.

• Why try and force Amy to go with him at gunpoint? If the gunslinger was already distracted by the Doctor, and she was already shown to be sympathetic to him, did he really believe she would disagree?

Because she could fight back? If he wasn't going along with the plan, then Amy would try to stop him.

• The Doctor says he speaks horse and that the horse wants to be called Susan, but then goes on to add "A HE wants you to respect HIS life choices" Is the Doctor misgendering a trans horse, or was this a joke?

There's no reason why, in a horse's mind, 'Susan' has to be a girl's name. He might just like the name. No-one else around him speaks horse, so it's not like he's going to get mean comments about it from the humans!

• The hole that the gunslinger shot in the Stetson looks like a regular bullet hole, but his gun fires incredibly powerful energy blasts; it should have incinerated the hat.

He might be able to shoot normal bullets as well.

• And if he's such a good shot, is it really likely he would hit Rory while trying to shoot the Marshal (thinking he's Jex), as there is a reasonably large distance between them?

It said on his screen '89% chance of hitting' or something, so he doesn't have perfect aim. Plus they were moving, and Rory was behind him, so he just shot too late.

• Throughout the story, the characters wield Colt Single Action Army Revolvers, but the story is set in 1870, and that revolver wasn't invented till 1872.

History in the Whoniverse didn't go the same way it did in the real universe, so that kind of revolver was probably just invented a few years early.

Also, Jex provided them with futuristic technology. He could have been responsible for their (barely) futuristic weapons.

• After Issac gets shot, nurse Rory does nothing. We've seen him helping casualties in the past, and just the other episode he said he'd been collecting pieces from across space and time for an emergency med-kit. But he stands back with Amy and does nothing to help the dying man.

There wasn't much he could do. Not a pocket first-aid kit in the world could help a point-blank, obviously lethal gunshot to a man that would die in seconds. And also, Rory would likely hesitate anyway due to the cyborg-terminator-murderer that was still standing there and would (from Rory's point of view) likely shoot him too, if he tried to help.