Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe 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. 

• The Doctor arrived at Amy's house in 2013, two years late, yet managed to get the date exactly correct. If the year was not right, why would the date be?

Why shouldn't it be? Maybe the date is easier to get right than the year, maybe he hit a wrong button, maybe the TARDIS just felt like taking him to Christmas, or maybe he remembered that Amy and Rory were somewhere in the early 21st century, but he couldn't remember the exact year.

Also the Doctor has a terrible history with any attempt at accuracy (see Tooth and Claw, The Empty Child and The Eleventh Hour why should this be an exception

An alternative is that the Doctor could not remember what year he left Amy in following The God Complex and stuck on a few years to avoid contaminating the timeline (he does mention he does not know how long he has been "dead").

We know the TARDIS often takes the doctor where he needs to be, not where he wants to go.

• When the Doctor and the Wooden King argue about whether things can be foretold is that the end of the argument? Unless I missed something that's a plot point that either will come back later or just was dropped and they missed it in editing.

• What gives with the tree harvesters from Androzani Major? It seems as if some are confusing this planet with the Davison years episode "The Caves of Androzani" which was Androzani Minor. While both are mentioned in "Caves" as being in the Sirius System it makes sense that they would be sister planets but not the same planet. We know from that episode that there was mining going on in the caves and a madman with his androids as well as the ultimate poison, Spectrox, that causes the regeneration from Davidson to Colin Baker. Enquiring minds want to know because even the official BBC website mentions that we first heard of this planet in "Caves".

What's wrong with having harvesters from Androzani Major? They could have them too.

• If the TARDIS was in London, then how did the Doctor get on board the invading alien ship?

As shown in Voyage of the Damned, the TARDIS locks on to the nearest source of gravity, maybe when the ship exploded, it fell to Earth.

Which is what it's supposed to do, unless he messes with things and makes it end up at the wrong pole...

• What about Madge's wish caused the Doctor to modify Uncle Digby’s house into a Wonka-fied world of pure imagination? It is obvious by the look on the Doctor’s face that he was not aware of Reg’s disappearance until questioned by Madge, so... lucky guess? Mad whim? Plot hole?

Madge's wish was for her family to have the best Christmas ever or something along those lines, so the Doctor made the house fun to help with her wish.

• Once he does know of Reg’s disappearance, why doesn’t the The Doctor just go and rescue the pilot and his crew?

The Doctor can't intervene in established events of a person's timeline. He thought that Reg was dead, and to alter time would be to remove a (supposedly) established event.

• Where is Uncle Digby’s caretaker, Mr. Cardew?

Probably he won the lottery.

Actually, isn't there a line of dialogue in the episode that says exactly that?

• Where does Amy know from, that the Doctor who is actually visiting her is already "after Lake Silencio"? When they met the last time Doctor still had almost 200 years of life before him. From her point of view only 2 years passed. There is absolutely no way for her to know, that these 200 years already passed for Doctor.

She's his mother-in-law. She knows. Plus he seems older.

• Lily is supposed to be 13. Real 13 year olds look closer to children but Lily looks like she has already progressed past the verge of young womanhood.

Firstly, girls mature faster than boys. Secondly, Lily actually looks younger than any of the 12 year old girls I know in our universe.

• I'm surprised that no one has commented that the Doctor somehow propels himself in space with his arms to "catch up" to the spacesuit, survives in vacuum long enough to completely dress himself in it, and then survives a fall to Earth that has enough force to open a hole about 5 feet deep! You can't change direction in space with your arms. And even assuming 'super lungs' there are other factors in space that will kill in moments. Also, even if you have a spacesuit that acts as an auto-doc (repairing injury), the Doctor would have hit the planet with the speed of at LEAST 54m/s, the speed of a falling skydiver. With no cushion or other means of breaking his fall his insides would be "jellified" from the impact. Cute sequence, but totally nonsensical (more so than usual, that is).

He calls it an "impact suit" and that it is fixing him. It could have some kind of protective systems given that it was made for such conditions.