Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Battlefield

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Battlefield 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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• There are a number of fundamental continuity problems between this serial and the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who. Dating this story is extremely difficult. Certainly, it takes place "some time" after its broadcast year of 1989. It would appear to take place prior to 2009, because the Brigadier has been knighted by the time of TV:The Poison Sky, in which he is referred to as "Sir Alistair", or 2010, the approximate timeframe of the appearance by a much older Brigadier in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Books and audios published in the 1990s and early 2000s have attempted to place the year as early 1997. However, this is not entirely satisfactory, because Battlefield makes reference to there being a king on the throne, suggesting that Queen Elizabeth II has either died or abdicated by this time. Yet she is still on the throne in the Tenth Doctor's companions' home eras. (TV: The Christmas Invasion, Tooth and Claw, Voyage of the Damned, The End of Time)

An attempt to reconcile the ageing of the Brigadier was attempted years prior to BBC Wales era, when the Virgin New Adventures series established that at some point the Brigadier has his youth restored to him. It remains to be seen, however, if televised continuity will follow suit. As for the issue of who is on the throne, it's possible this story takes place in a timeline that was somehow negated by other events, similar to the shortening of Harriet Jones' political career by the Doctor in The Christmas Invasion or after-effects of the Time War. It is possible that Elizabeth II's reign is not necessarily a fixed point in time.

Another explanation is offered by The Poison Sky, in which the UNIT dating controversy is referenced in-narrative, and thus becomes a part of the narrative continuity of Doctor Who. The implication is that, because the Doctor can't make sense of the UNIT timeline, neither should we.

The Brigadier's reference to "the King" is probably just a figure of speech. After all, Lethbridge-Stewart is old enough to remember the last time there was a male monarch on the throne.

Incidentally, these perceived discontinuity problems should really be attributed to the later episodes, not this one. That being said... Since no date is really given on this story, the relative ageing of the Brigadier doesn't present a problem. Reference to "the King" is easily explained by either of the above scenarios (figure of speech, or time being altered).

In addition to being more a problem with the new series' continuity than the fault of this story, this is simply a result of the fact that few people expected Queen Elizabeth II to live to the age of 96 and not pass until 2022. At the time this story aired, she was already in her early 60s, a fairly advanced age by anyone's standards; anyone at that time setting a science fiction story in the near-future could be forgiven for expecting that she might possibly have passed away from old age by the late 1990s, never mind the 2000s or 2010s or 2020s. It might retroactively be considered a dating problem, but it's hardly fair to treat it as something the producers should have known at the time.

History has changed at some point- there seems to be a definite discontinuity between the semi-utopian classic future early 21st century envisaged by the Troughton era, and the far more dystopian early 21st century depicted from the Eccleston era onward, so the Last Great Time War may have rewritten the original 21st century, where we would have a United Zones authority and limited weather control by 2018, a colony on Vulcan by 2020, a king by the mid-nineties, and so on, with another timeline, a 21st century with fewer rockets but more smartphones, and a longer lived monarch. However, alternatively, it's entirely possible for "Doris, I don't care if it's the king" to be a deliberate figure of speech- the Brigadier is alluding to the idea of someone unlikely telephoning him, so the implication that "Not only is the sovereign phoning me, but he's also phoning to let me know that he is the sovereign because natural succession has just happened" makes complete sense in and of itself.

• Why would Bessie's licence plate read WHO7 if they don't know if the Doctor regenerated?

Obviously intended as an in-joke, as far as in-universe it's possible it was simply a coincidence that the update licence coincided with the then-present incarnation. Since the Virgin New Adventures establishes that the Brigadier actually met the Seventh Doctor prior to Battlefield but had his memory erased, it's possible some spark of recollection remained and he might have unconsciously chosen the licence number.

Bessie may simply have used her chameleon circuit to slightly alter the appearance of her outer plasmic shell in order to greet and acknowledge her owner's new regeneration, without any involvement from UNIT in the matter.

• The Brigadier mentions that UNIT has gold bullets for "you-know-what", which is implied to be Cybermen. However, when UNIT faced the Cybermen in TV: The Invasion, there was nothing to suggest that they had learned about the cyborgs' weakness.

The Doctor could have mentioned it during his years working for UNIT, there may have been an untelevised encounter, and at the very least UNIT would certainly have dissected the many Cyberman corpses left in the wake of "Invasion". As we find out in "Terror of the Autons", UNIT has an R&D department for investigating alien technology, and given the poor performance of UNIT weapons against Cybermen, they would have been interested in looking for more effective weapons in the event of a second encounter.

• How did the 7th Doctor knew about Brigadier's death? The informed 11th Doctor surely has enough tact to inform 7th about Brigadier's funeral only after 7th final meeting with Brigadier.

This is technically a discontinuity with the later episode, not this one; the writers can't reasonably have been expected to account for plot developments (and real-life ones, for that matter) occurring twenty-odd years after they were writing. However, the answer is fairly simple; the Seventh Doctor, like the Eleventh Doctor, is a time-traveller who has frequently travelled into the Brigadier's future. It is likely that he has somehow, either by accident or design, learned the details of the Brigadier's passing. The Eleventh Doctor was simply grieved to have personal confirmation of his friend's passing, and that their timelines had finally intersected to that point.

Alternatively, the Seventh Doctor might not actually know the specifics of the Brigadier's death, but was simply expressing what had been his desire -- as many of us would likely have for our close friends and loved ones -- that one of his oldest and closest friends would, when the time came, eventually pass away peacefully in bed surrounded by his loved ones instead of on a battlefield being killed by a horrible interdimensional monster.

As Clara Oswald will later realise "We're all just ghosts to you." From the Doctor's perspective during, say, The Ark (TV story) or Frontios (TV story) every single companion he's ever had with the possible exception of Leela would be as long dead as Adric. The Doctor has issues with the relative mortality of his companions, as heavily underlined during Series 2 (Doctor Who 2005) in particular, for example, so is very unlikely to have intentionally sought out information on the death of one of his closest friends- however the Brigadier, as a founder of UNIT who's personally thwarted a number of alien invasions and other threats, is a figure of historical significance. The Doctor could very easily have, at some point, encountered a future historical document covering UNIT and noting words to the effect of "Its founder, Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who ironically enough survived his years soldiering and died peacefully in bed-" but then actively avoided learning the actual date of this demise or any further details, until his Eleventh self inadvertantly walks straight into it.