Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Terror of the Autons

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Terror of the Autons 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.
::Explanation of point two.
::Further discussion and query of point two.

... and so on. 

• Why do the Time Lords confine themselves to simply warning the Doctor about the Master's arrival rather than arresting and trying him? Surely his actions are no less criminal in their eyes than the Doctor's.

The Time Lords often have ulterior motives, which involve letting events play out with minimal interference on their part.

Also, keep in mind that The Time Lords weren't able to track down The Doctor till he called them to deal with the War Lords. It could be they have no way of knowing The Master's whereabouts, just that he's headed for Earth. They may have been planning to arrest him, but he keeps escaping before they can get there.

Bear in mind that, at the time, the Time Lords had a strict image of non-interference, being simply observers. The shooting script of Episode 1 of Terror of the Autons overran by several minutes, and the episode was edited for broadcast. In the Target novelisation, Terrance Dicks reinstates the relevant material in Chapter 2. Basically... the Time Lords have a strict observation policy, the Doctor and the Master are renegades, but in different ways. The Master had taken thousands of soldiers from the planet Earth, and hypnotised them to take part in war games. The Doctor(in his second incarnation), stumbled upon it, and summoned the Time Lords. The Master's accomplices were erased from history, but The Master himself was able to escape. Despite being the one who ended the Master's evil plot, The Doctor had his appearance changed and was exiled to Earth. The Time Lords then offered the Doctor a deal...take care of their "dirty business"(ie. The Master), and it will go a long way towards having his exile lifted. That way the problem could be taken care of, without them being seen to get involved in any way.

Remember that it's clearly established in "The War Games" that the whole point of exiling the Doctor to Earth in the first place was to get him to sort out these kinds of problems himself. They'll let him know one's coming, but other than that, it's his job to deal with.

• In episode one the Doctor could have got to the volatizer by hopping in through the open window (which is how the Master must have got out having set the trap).

"The Third Doctor always likes to do it the most 'Secret Agent' way."

Alternatively he might have suspected there was another trap on the window (the master isn't known for half measures) just one not as serious as the one for the door, and the doctor didn't want to risk springing one that he didn't know about.

• Regarding the volatizer trap: Are we really to believe that in between the initial report of the incident at the radio telescope and the two scientists going missing, nobody (including Captain Yates) has gone up to the the dish cabin to look inside - if only to see if the two scientist are up there hiding or unconscious? Given that that is where one of them was last scheduled to be working, wouldn't this be the first place anyone would check for him, so setting the volatizer off before the Doctor arrived?

Given the Master's penchant for hypnosis and disguise, and that he's very deliberately setting this as a trap, it's quite possible he used one means or the other to convince the director of the institute that the room had already been searched, or, indeed, lurked around in disguise until after it had been searched, and then planted the bomb, knowing that the room would then be left undisturbed until the UNIT investigators arrived.

• The Doctor intuitively leaps to the conclusion that Jo is opening a bomb at the end of episode one.

Based on her behavior and his knowledge of the Master's tactics, it's a fairly reasonable conclusion.

• At the start of episode three, neither Auton policeman is killed, but only one returns to the Master and Farrell. What happened to the other one?

The fact that we only see one on screen doesn't mean that the other isn't elsewhere nearby.

• Why does the Master try to blow up the radio telescope anyway? He needs it in order to carry out his invasion plans.

He claims that he didn't expect it to actually kill the Doctor, and refers to it as a "calling card" of sorts. Had it actually worked, he would've undoubtedly been delighted at the death of the Doctor and happily found a similar facility to carry out that part of his plan.

To be fair, the comment about the "greetings card; a small ... gallantry on the eve of battle" actually refers to the bomb sent to UNIT, but the point still stands; the Master at this point in his twisted way sees this as a contest of skill between himself and the Doctor- his goal is to win, to prove himself the superior, and it's still something of a game to him, and these little enterprises are in a sense a form of lethal joke to him, a sideline from his main objective. Thus, yes, it's entirely possible that, if the Doctor had set off the bomb, he would have inconvenienced the Master's plan- that's likely the whole point. The Master is, in his odd way, playfully offering the Doctor an easy win- the Doctor could have accidentally defeated the Master without even knowing he was there- albeit at the cost of his own life, if he hadn't been clever enough to suspect and defuse the trap.

Added to which, the Master only wanted to wipe out humanity to spite the Doctor, given his enemy's known fondness for humans. If the bomb had killed the Doctor in the radio tower, he might well have decided that humanity had had a lucky escape, and gone to seek his fun elsewhere.

There is more than one radio telescope on the planet. Has the Master destroyed used that one to destroy the Doctor and still wanted his Auton plan to go ahead, he would have simply found another one that was suitable for his purposes.

• The Doctor tells Yates to stand back while he defuses the volatizer. He might have clarified just how far back to stand. He says later that the volatizer had the destructive capability of a 15-megaton bomb.

In human technology at least, some larger explosives contain a smaller detonator charge. Even if the larger explosive is neutralised, the smaller detonator could still go off and hurt someone standing nearby.

"Keep back" isn't so much "Keep back so you'll survive the explosion", it's more "Keep back, if you block out the light while I'm working on this, or blunder into me at the wrong moment, we're all toast."

• Jo can't remember where she heard the voice that told her to set off the bomb. The Master only told her to forget meeting him. She was supposed to remember meeting Mr. Farrell and to return with a negative report, that everything was in order.

This is consistent. She remembers meeting Farrell, but it doesn't stand out from all the other plastic facilities she visited that day. She doesn't know which one she met the Master at.

• The Doctor discovers that carbon dioxide from the lungs dissolves the film that the daffodils shoot at people's faces, ostensibly explaining why the film was not found on any of the victims. If that's true, why didn't the victims' own breath dissolve it in time to let them breathe again? If it's a delayed reaction, then the victims would already have suffocated and not have had any breath left to dissolve the film.

The stuff probably absorbs the carbon dioxide then after a while it dissolves.

"Not having breath" is perhaps a bit of a misnomer. There are 2 aspects to breathing: First, the actual act of inhaling and exhaling gases. But the more important part of breathing is the process in the lungs where oxygen is absorbed, and carbon dioxide is given off. A person doesn't even really start to die until the oxygen level of the air trapped in the lungs drops too low to feed the body. Even then, while the heart is pumping blood, more carbon dioxide is being released into the lungs. A person in that situation doesn't die because they "don't have breath". Their lungs are full of air, but they don't have oxygen. Given enough time, the film would probably dissolve anyway due to normal CO2 levels in the air, but the higher concentration drifting around in the victim's lungs, throat and mouth no doubt speeds the process.

Also, just the simple fact that the victim is more plastic sent into their lungs than their breath is able to dissolve at once. Sort of like the difference between swallowing a glass of water versus having your head immersed into a bathtub; both the same liquid, but in different volumes one is a refreshing drink while the other is a drowning risk.

• How does the Master disguise himself as someone of a different height? And, indeed, why disguise himself at all?

Disguising himself is prudent. He can't be sure how much UNIT knows, and therefore if someone there might be able to recognize him. His hypnotic ability is one method at his disposal to have also appeared taller to those he met.

Also, a true master of disguise can appear to be a different height, at least to some extent, and of course it's easier to appear taller than shorter.

• In TV:Spearhead from Space, all the Nestene energy units are accounted for. So where did the one stolen from the museum by the Master and Rossini come from?

The doctor explains that they found one that had survived their attack on them in that story. But as it seemingly posed no threat, The Doctor couldn't bring himself to destroy it. Most likely, he felt it would be safer for it, if it were kept in a museum where it would be seen; rather than in a military safe, in case they decided it was to risky.

• The story is somewhat discontinuous with later anniversary stories. Since The Five Doctors establishes that the Second Doctor clearly remembers the events of The Three Doctors, then he should also remember Jo Grant. Thus, the Third Doctor should already know who Jo is, making a nonsense of their first scenes together in this story. Three shouldn't be surprised or opposed to Jo's employment, since he already knows she will be his companion.

It is strongly suggested that Rassilon wipes the memories of all those not in their own timestreams at the end of The Five Doctors (and confirmed in School Reunion. Rassilon must also have wiped the First and Second Doctor's memories of The Three Doctors at the same stage. It is also possible that the Time Lords wiped the Second Doctor's memories before his forced regeneration and exile. The Third Doctor is suffering from memory problems in Spearhead from Space, and only at the end of The Three Doctors do the Time Lords restore his memories.

Yet the first three Doctors in this story clearly know each other, and each seems to remember the previous adventure, particularly Two.

Don't see your point. After The Three Doctors. the First and Second Doctors are returned to their own timestreams with their memories of The Three Doctors intact. Later, the First, Second and Third Doctors are timescooped for The Five Doctors. It's clear that the First and Second Doctors still remember the events of The Three Doctors in The Five Doctors. However, at the end of The Five Doctors, when they are returned to their proper timestreams, Rassilon wipes not only their memories of The Five Doctors, but of The Three Doctors as well. (Except for Three, who will remember The Three Doctors, but not The Five Doctors).)

It's also possible that the Doctor's memories of the Three Doctors were wiped by the Time Lords at the end of the War Games (or at least when his exile properly began, vis a vis Season 6B)

It is long established (and a common-sense reading) that past Doctors forget multi-Doctor encounters after they happen and only the current Doctor retains a complete memory of what occurred. In any case, this is more of a discontinuity issue with "The Three Doctors" rather than this episode.

• How did the Master know that Lew Russell was Luigi Rossini's original name?

Rossini and Tony's behaviour makes it clear that they - and probably the rest of their troupe, given the ease with which Rossini is able to encourage them to murderous assault the Doctor and Jo - are no strangers to violent or petty crime. "Lew Russell" is probably a fairly commonly appearing name in published court reports around the country where "Luigi Rossini - Internationally" travels, and the Master could have found it out with some very basic research before selecting his tools for this plan.