Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Survivors of the Flux

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Survivors of the Flux 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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• When Yaz, Dan and Eustacius broke into the tomb where they discovered the pot, why and how were all the candles lit in the place?

• There is something of a contradiction here. In the story, Lethbridge-Stewart is referred to a corporal in 1967, which does not fit with him being a Colonel in that same year (The Web of Fear) neither would it be possible to rise in rank from Corporal - a junior non-commissioned officer - to Brigadier - a very senior army officer in just few short years. Also, it is very unlikely that an enlisted man - even if he gained a field commission - would ever rise to such a high rank in the British Army; without having attended the academy at Sandhurst.

This could be written off as part of the UNIT dating controversy.

The Web of Fear seems to have originally been meant to set in the mid-70s (40 years after The Abominable Snowmen, set in 1935). I choose to believe that the general mispoke, and Lethbridge-Stewart is actually a captain in this story, which would be a bit more consistent with his age and rank in The Web of Fear (especially if he’s a lieutenant-colonel, rather than a full colonel, in the latter).

Alternatively, the general could have meant to say “colonel”: Lethbridge-Stewart could have joined UNIT directly after The Web of Fear (if that took place in its year of broadcast), which iirc is suggested by The Invasion (and implied by the fact that L-S is not serving with UNIT during WoF).

• With the TARDIS owned by UNIT in 1967, it is kept out in the open and never brought up to the Third Doctor when he later joins? Or is this a case of they did and he told them not to worry about it, assuming it was part of his future?

• Why are Dan, Yaz, and Jericho trying to find the end date of the world? Not only does the Doctor never ask for it but it is never needed.
  • Yeah she did ask for it, as a hologram when Yaz and Co were on the boat.
    • I mean after, when they all regroup. She never asks about it (other than asking how they are and how long it was) and the information is never relevant.

• While it is plausible that people on Earth have been having visions of the Flux and the end of the world, why are there some people going to such lengths to stop them? And why do they have the Grand Serpent's tattoo? Are they working for him? And if so, why? He has nothing to gain from the information, that is already hard to find, being further hidden.

• What is the point of the message 'Fetch your dog,' and 'Fetch your Human'? It could be seen as worth leaving the message by the Great wall of China as in the future it might mean something to Karvanista, but they are creating a large message that is expected to last for 117 years and go unnoticed so neither Dan or Yaz have any knowledge of the message--that should have been noticed as a worldwide curiosity as it is a very large message written in English in China that makes little sense. This is made even stranger by the fact that even when he does get it, Karvanista is unable to do anything with this information, leaving me to wonder what the point of either messages was? The message was also seen by Karvanista's ship computer long after he had arrived on Earth, why would it only be seen then?
  • Because it hadn't appeared yet. Yaz and Dan had yet to go back in time and write the message. Wobbly wobbly. Also, Time was affected by the Flux so not hard to think something could slip through the net. Time was broken as such that when the message only appeared in the present after they went to the past.

• Joseph Williamson's tunnels never go fully explained. That he has been building tunnels to link holes in time--that require the instillation of a door, it seems--makes sense but why are the holes there in the first place and why in such density? He also says they all started shifting on Halloween--but he is in 1820 and the Halloween in question was in 2021?
  • We dont know for sure why he even built the tunnels in real life, so to not get a full explanation is fine, you wouldn't expect an episode about the Egyptians that answers everything we dont know about them. Why do all the holes start to shift on Halloween? Space and Time are in Flux, everything changing but still somehow connected

• The Grand Serpent is going to a lot of lengths to infiltrate UNIT, but for what, exactly? If it is just to shut down Earth's defences in 2021 then why does he go back to UNIT's founding to set himself up there and risk being discovered--which he is! If he has time travel abilities and alien technology then why not use them to turn off the defences?

• Yaz looked grand. Her best outfit. But why wear a skirt instead of trousers? And why wear tweed on warm parts?

• I thought it rock if Rose Tyler's team on Pete's World meet a version of Yaz who's an Edwardian explorer; and joins them. A capable scientist, and also grand with martial arts... and using a dao sword, a kukri knife and a blaster. How'd you think Rose react to such a heroine joining her team?