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.

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.
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::Further discussion and query of point two.

... and so on. 

• 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 is nothing wrong with the Doctor feeling uneasy about 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.

• This story is an egregious example of the Doctor and his companion wearing suitable footwear for trudging through a swamp—despite there being no indication of such damp conditions when they first step out of the TARDIS.

Perhaps the Doctor assumed they would land in a swampy area of Metebelis III, and so advised Jo to be prepared.

Alternatively, perhaps the TARDIS sensed the future location they would encounter, and subliminally suggested to both that they should wear suitable footwear before they stepped outside.

The Third Doctor is notoriously a clothes-horse. He felt like wearing boots for once. And Jo, not wanting to be shown up, followed suit.

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

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

The Whoniverse's calendar is different from ours as evidenced in many stories.

• 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.

He was just confirming/restating.

The Doctor is being pompous.

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

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

Alternatively, being "showman's dialect" as you say, perhaps it simply isn't proper language and therefore couldn't be properly translated.

Despite the name, "showman's language" isn't really a different language in the same way that, say, English and French are different languages; it's an underground slang form of an existing language which plays on secret meanings. Vorg is still speaking in English (or "English", assuming translation convention) as the TARDIS would recognise it; it's just that the intended meanings of the words Vorg is using are different to the commonly recognised meanings of those words, which is what the TARDIS likely draws upon. Similarly, the TARDIS would likely not translate Cockney rhyming slang because it would not recognise the words as different from common English, even though the meanings are not strictly the same.

Alternatively, the TARDIS translation systems are simply being a bit “eccentric”.

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

Their minds are different.

Apparently Plesiosaurs are more intelligent than Drashigs.

• 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.

Given the level of technology in the scope - evidently including time scoop capability - it could well be of Gallifreyan origin, in which case the Time Lords would certainly have had the ability to recall every one of them and erase their effects on time ... or so they thought, at any rate. Perhaps a renegade sold one on, having deleted its registration from Gallifreyan records.

• The Drashigs are introduced twice in episode two.

This was in an inadvertently 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.

• 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 TARDIS doors open & close automatically all the time.

• 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 sunk immediately upon its return to its time (what with the Drashigs having punched gigantic holes in the hull).

Time, of course, can also be re-written.

It was missing, until the Doctor returned it.

From the Doctors point of view, it went missing. Then, he changed time, by returning 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.

As the machine is designed for entertainment purposes only, it would be both uninteresting and unsound to turn them all homicidal (doing so would quickly get dull and most likely lead to the majority of them dying); it is much more interesting (and safer) to see one experience a massive change in personality and other reactions.

In the same way that medication can have different effects on different people, perhaps Andrews is more susceptible than the others.

• The Doctor escapes the miniscope by emerging from one of the panels at the bottom of the miniscope. He was being pursued by the Drashigs, who are following his scent. Yet when the Inter Minors are plotting, one points out that while the Drashigs are trying to get out, that they'll "never break through those plates. They're molectic bonded disillum." So How did the Doctor, unaided and weary (given that he collapses on exiting) manage to break through the plate, but the Drashigs, following in the Doctor's literal footsteps, who have been seen to break through steel bulkheads with ease, not have the ability to do so? Either the Drashigs should have broken out much sooner, and without needing any help, or the Doctor shouldn't have been able to get out.

The Doctor didn't break through per se, he found an extractor, as mentioned.