Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Armageddon Factor

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Armageddon Factor 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:

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• Romana forgets that she's already been told (in The Stones of Blood) that it wasn't the President who sent her on the mission.

There's no indication she forgot.

• The time loop of 3 seconds is said to be increasing at 0.3 milliseconds per second - thus it would take over 6 hours to stretch out to 10 seconds. Does the action of episodes 5 and 6 really take that long? and if so - exactly what are people doing off screen that could bring it up to 6 hours?

The increase may change as the substitute sixth piece deteriorates. Presumably, the rate of increase of the time loop gets longer the less stable the substitute becomes. K9 stated his estimates were not perfect in this scene anyway, the increase may have been longer than he said as well.

• The shots of the ship about the fire in episode 6 show the missiles coming out - however they were already out before this.

• The Doctor says he's never seen K9 spin around before, so he's forgotten about The Pirate Planet.

He may have been referring to K-9's behaviour in this particular context, including K-9 unusually imperious dialogue in this scene.

• Astra says that she is the sixth princess of the sixth dynasty of the sixth royal house of Atrios.

It should be sixth house of the sixth dynasty or it could be a different system to the earth tradition.

• In episode four Merak expounds on how only the Doctor and Romana can get into the TARDIS, despite the fact that he shouldn't even know what it is. His insight continues in episode six, where he talks knowledgeably of the sixth segment, having been told nothing about it.

On screen. The scene cuts away during his and Romana's search for the Transmat in episode 3, in which she had plenty of time to explain what they were looking for and why.

• In episode six Shapp acquires the same ability, somehow understanding the functions of the time loop.

They have the ability to observe the Marshall's ship and have been trying to contact him for some time. While they might not know the specifics they can easily reason that a ship moving in such an oddly irregular and consistent pattern is in some kind of time loop and reason holds the mysterious and intelligent Doctor is likely behind it.

• Drax repeatedly mispronounces Gallifrey as 'Gallifree'.

Perhaps that's how Drax pronouces Gallifrey. Note also that this seems to be Tom Baker's preferred pronunciation: see, for example, The Invasion of Time.

• Why doesn't the Black Guardian appear to the Doctor in the guise of the White Guardian, instead of arousing suspicion by appearing as the Lord President?

He doesn't. He is trying to pass himself off as the white guardian. However, this makes little sense either as he does not remotely resemble the White Guardian the Doctor encountered at the beginning of the season. Someone as powerful as a Guardian could appear in whatever form they wished.

He does, however, very likely resemble the White Guardian as he appeared to Romana. Both the Doctor and Romana are aware that the White Guardian disguised himself as the Lord President to assign Romana to the Doctor in the first place.

• If the sixth segment returns to its original location and form when the Doctor splits the Key up, does that mean the original segments simply returned to their original locations on Tara, etc.

Its segments probably took different forms.

• The Shadow explains that the Atrios-Zeos war was only intended to be a practice run for the universal war the Black Guardian was intending to start once he had control of the Key to Time. Firstly, would a war between two small planets really be a good model for such a vast conflict, and secondly, would a being such as the Black Guardian really require any preparation for causing chaos, given that it is the essence of what he is?

The true purpose of the Atrios-Zeos war was to wear down Princess Astra's personal security and get the Marshal to hand her over. The Shadow is getting above himself, supposing that he is of more value to the Black Guardian than a mere errand boy. His death scene ("whimpering wraith" etc.) proves him mistaken.

• The doctor states that Astra is a human being when talking to the black gardian, but surely she's an atrosian?

They're not that atrocious; they're called Atrions. Anyway, we don't actually know that they're not human; they could be a future human colony that's been separated from whatever Empire is around at the time (or even a remnant of an Empire that no longer exists). Especially since according to K9 there was no carbon-based life there at all in 2050, and it takes a lot less time for a planet to be colonized than to evolve up a near-human species from amino acids.

Both the Doctor and others have sometimes used the term 'human being' in the general sense of 'sentient, sapient entity with inalienable rights' rather than the specific sense of our species. And, since we don't really have a convenient term in our language for the general sense (probably because so far we're the only such species we know of), it's not that unreasonable of them.

• We learn that for the last five years Zeos has been uninhabited. It was never explained, or even remarked upon, what might have happened to a planet full of people, and how that many could disappear without Atrios knowing or even suspecting it.

Its implied the Shadow wiped them out, so he could set up the war.

• It's said or described that the Shadow operates on an artificial planet, yet the establishing shots showing where the characters are, and in the end what gets blown up is a space station. Further, it's never explained how either a space station or a planet to completely 'block' communication, radar and visual sighting of Zeos as the Doctor explains by 'something's in the middle'.

• The actual swap of the faux segment with the real segment is never shown. One scene the faux segment is smoking and the next the real sixth segment is magically in place.