Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Massacre

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Massacre 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 story suggests that Dodo might be a descendant of Anne Chaplet; however, it has often been pointed out that this would only be possible if Anne married someone who shared her surname or if she had a male illegitimate child.

Or perhaps her time with The Doctor and Steven fostered a progressive attitude in her, and she kept her name when she got married. Of course, the fact Anne and Dodo look identical is certainly cause for much raising of eyebrows.

Although there is similarity in appearance, Anne and Dodo are not "identical". They are played by different actresses. We also do not know definitively that Dodo is truly a descendant of Anne, although as stated, the story does suggest that to be the case.

In other words: something that is only suggested (not stated as fact), has a two possible explanations - if it were fact. How is that a discontinuity?

It is Steven who comes to this conclusion so that he can believe Anne wasn't killed during the massacre. In other words it seems nothing more than psychological crutch to deal with trauma.

After their night together in Preslin's empty shop, perhaps Steven has good reason to think Anne might have had an illegitimate son...

• The actual massacre occurred on St Bartholomew's Day, not St Bartholomew's Eve.

Events in the Whoniverse are different than our world and maybe the date of the massacre is not a fixed point in time.

The story chronicles events that took place on the eve of the St Bartholomew's Day massacre. That is, what happened the day before the massacre.

In spite of the title, the story does depict the massacre as taking place on St Bartholomew's Day.

The actual title presented to the viewer is/are "War of God"/"The Sea Beggar"/"Priest of Death"/"Bell of Doom". Even those are all presentational, rather than narrative, so wouldn't count as continuity errors, but "The Massacre" or "The Massacre of St.Bartholomew's Eve" were never intended to be more than reference titles for BBC paperwork or at the most as a bit of promotion for sales overseas; not as part of the story.

• Dodo doesn't think that it is in anyway odd that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than on the outside? She doesn't even seem to realise that it isn't a police box until they dematerialise.

She had apparently just witnessed an accident. She could understandably be in a state of shock.