Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Planet of Fire

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Planet of Fire 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 detour to Lanzarote and the finding of the Trion signal device seem to be entirely extraneous to the Master's plan to re-establish psychic control of Kamelion and bring him to Sarn, and to the plot of the story in general.
• The Doctor asks Amyand and Sorasta about Logar, despite having never heard the name before.

This is incorrect. Logar is mentioned, albeit briefly, in the section of the scene directly proceeding the Doctor asking about him.

• Peri can override the Master's control of Kamelion, but the Doctor can't.

The Master's mental powers have been greatly diminished as a result of his accident. It is also suggested that the numismaton residue shields Kamelion from the Doctor's brainwaves.

The Master is intimately familiar with the Doctor's mind and mental powers, and indeed had the opportunity of their prior 'duel' over control of Kamelion in the The King's Demons (TV story) to be prepared to counter any move the Doctor might make to free Kamelion from his, the Master's influence. Although Peri's human mind is vastly inferior to a Gallifreyan's in terms of telepathic potential, it is also an unknown wild card which the Master, who tends toward pre-prepared traps and fallback plans rather than on-the-spot improvisation in this incarnation, is not quite as prepared to counter.

• Why is there a hollow turtle shell on the wall of the Master's miniaturised control room?

Why not? The Doctor and the Master have both collected and stored in their TARDISes various "souvenirs" from their travels.

• Where did the Master get the miniaturised equipment for his control room.

He either built it (he's quite good at that sort of thing), or perhaps reduced the size of an pre-existing control room within his TARDIS (possibly using the dimensional stabiliser).

• If the Master's gun is a Tissue Compression Eliminator, why does it compress Kamelion and the radiation suits?

This was the very advancement the Master was trying to achieve when he had his accident - i.e. a TCE that works on inanimate matter as well.

Peri seems to be able to out-run its blast in episode three.

The TCE was only ever meant as a short-range weapon.

• Why doesn't the TCE kill the Master, as it does his victims?

Because what happened was the result with him experimenting with the power of the TCE, not merely shooting himself with it.

• We see the Master get all burned up in regular fire at the end of the adventure. Yet there he is again, right as rain in DW: The Mark of the Rani. So how did he survive the complete destruction of his body?

The Masters a psychopathic super genius, who comes up with doomsday plans by the minute, and loves over the top theatrics, is it really that unreasonable he would put on a good death scene to fool his greatest foe?

Death by regular fire would have looked a lot more gruesome that what we see ... though that is admittedly probably more to do with family-friendly editing than any attempt to suggest a cunning exit strategy.

He didn't. He died, and all that remained of him was the complete copy of his mind and memories in the Matrix, the Time Lords' bespoke electronic afterlife- he is, after all, in possession of a TARDIS which is a later model, and would be equipped with all the appropriate surveillance equipment. However the Master is an exceptionally useful catalyst, so the Time Lords resurrected him- hence him appearing to come to life from an inanimate scarecrow - an oblique connection to The Night Walkers (comic story), knowing that throwing him into the path of the Rani's schemes in Mark of the Rani (TV story) was the most effective anonymous way for them to get the Doctor dragged in and cause the Rani's plans to fall apart. The Master is probably aware of the circumstances of his resurrection, and no doubt somewhat resentful, hence his unwillingness to elaborate on "I am indestructible; the whole universe knows that! The Master in Season 23 who never leaves the Matrix may very well be the same digital copy.