Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/The Seeds of Death

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This page is for discussing the ways in which The Seeds of Death 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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::This is a counter-argument to point one.
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... and so on.
  • When Zoe turns up the heating, an Ice Warrior falls down dead right in front of her. When it does this, the front and rear sections of the shell costume just slightly break apart.
Thermal dynamics. Drastically changing the temperature of a hard substance, ie. the Ice Warriors' armor, can cause it to shatter or split.
Budget restraints.
  • Zoe calls Slaar by his name, despite no one else but the Grand Marshall calling Slaar that (she says it first, as well).
It is mentioned off screen at some point, or else the Ice Warriors use the base's PA system to talk to one another and she simply overhears it.
  • The museum the Doctor lands in includes the astral map that he used in The Web Planet, which is visible on the left as they exit the TARDIS.
It is a common piece of equipment and the Doctor merely has one to which he has made his own adjustments, not unlike his sonic screwdriver.
  • The basic premise is that all T-mat operations are sent through the moon and only through the moon. Apart from the silliness of sending matter half a million miles out of its way, this would mean that at least half the globe would be unable to use T-mat at any one time.
The technology requires a large number of microwave channels which physics dictates need to have uninterrupted line of sight between the source and destination. Distance is not much of an obstacle for focused microwave beams, but objects in the path are, and using Moon as a repeater point instead of thousands of satellites was probably much more economical.
  • When the rocket lands on the moon, the smoke from the rockets goes upward -- something smoke only does in an atmosphere.
Smoke does do this reliably in Earth's atmosphere, but there's no reason that smoke necessarily wouldn't do this on the moon.
It could be caused by electrostatic repulsion between the smoke particles and lunar dust, pushing them upwards and outwards.
  • When Kelley confirms that the time switch is out of order, the Doctor says that Fewsham said that he was going to repair it. Actually, Fewsham said that they had already repaired it.
The Doctor misheard him.
  • When the Ice Warrior T-matted down, it smashed the doors off the T-mat cubicle. When the Doctor and his companions T-mat down not much later, the cubicle is intact.
Earth Control of course has a repair crew, which clearly works very quickly, much like a pit crew.
  • Why only send one Ice Warrior to take control of one weather control bureau if you don't want it to rain anywhere, unless of course, one bureau controls the weather for the entire planet? But then, are we to believe that only the one control panel, with its tiny array of levers would be enough to control all complex, highly nuanced aspects of the Earth's diverse weather systems?
It was enough to prevent anyone from easily causing it to rain in the time allowed.
  • There are boom mike shadows several times in the museum in the first two episodes.
There are things overhead on the ceilings, as is common in museums.
  • In episode four, why does Slaar insist on killing the Doctor by T-matting him into space, even though this will take ages to do?
He is bored and has a sadistic desire to experiment with a variety of different methods for dispatching humans.
  • His Ice Warrior helper does a bizarre dance when leaving the T-mat on Earth.
His mind could have been affected by being T-matted. Either that or he is unsure of where the exit is.
  • We see Ice Warriors fainting at heat between 40-50° Centigrade, which would also have made the humans present faint or at least sweat.
We don't know its centigrade it could be some future temperature measurement.
It is probably a safe assumption to assume that it was centigrade, seeing as it was labelled centigrade.
If 40°C were enough to make humans faint, everyone in places like Las Vegas and Phoenix would be unconscious for many days of the summer.
A recurring element in science fiction is armor or shielding that stops fast moving objects like bullets, but not slow moving objects like a sword. There's more to physics than velocity.
Similarly, a bullet-proof vest is much better at stopping bullets than it is at stopping swords. Guns are popular because they have range advantage and a low entry barrier to effective use. This doesn't mean they always trump swords. Swords are heavier and usually have a much smaller point; the metal is probably also quite a bit harder. These are all properties that make swords better at piercing armour (or tough Ice Warrior skin).
  • Why doesn't The Doctor just use the TARDIS to get to the moonbase instead of taking the rocket?
Jamie suggested the same thing to the Doctor, but was reminded that the Doctor couldn't control the TARDIS very well, and they couldn't be sure that they would end up at the right place, or the right time.
The Doctor says they can't use the TARDIS to transport to the moon because the TARDIS cannot be used for short-range travel. Firstly, what's stopping them from travelling VERY far to some random place in space and time and then just transport to the moon from there? Also, in countless episodes of Doctor Who, the TARDIS has transported short distances; Example, in The Runaway Bride the TARDIS manages to transport a few yards from it's current spot.
Firstly, that would be a discontinuity against the later episodes, if anything... The Doctor has difficulty controlling the TARDIS for any trip, no matter what the length. It is designed to traverse vast areas of Space and Time, hence it would be all the more difficult to accurately land it for such relatively short trips. Taking it "very far to some random place" and back again wouldn't help with the precision. The Doctor does state in TV:Full Circle that the TARDIS is getting better at doing short hops.
In fact, it varies wildly over the course of the show; in some eras the Doctor can control it very precisely, and in others, not at all. This isn't a discontinuity, but an intentional plot point that characters talk about, at least later in the series. If you really wanted to, you could argue that it wasn't intentional in earlier stories, so it's a retcon, but even then, you've got an official retroactive explanation, so there's no mystery.
As stated above, it does vary considerably. However there's generally a degree of progression in that as the Doctor becomes more experienced with the TARDIS (and perhaps even fixes it up a little) he develops better control of it. Returning his first companions to Earth in their time proved a significant undertaking for the first Doctor, but the fourth could almost go where he pleased. The eleventh can pretty much fly it upside down into his favourite cave in the middle of Africa. The fifth had a bit more trouble than the fourth (though certainly less than the first) but this was addressed in dialogue, and it's only natural that different Doctors with different skills would have a different ability to handle the TARDIS. In any case, it's not a discontinuity because with the second Doctor's experience level and TARDIS operating skills, taking the TARDIS to the moon was not something he could do (and nor did he ever show an ability to do so in any other episode).
  • Just How many Ice Warriors are there? Initially we see The Commander and two Others. One is then killed in the solar energy room - and yet two are still seen in with the commander. Another is killed by Jamie in the solar room - and two are still seen with the commander. One is then sent to Earth - and there's still two with the commander. Two are then knocked out by the heating - and THREE are then seen with the commander. Finally, the Doctor kills one with the mobile solar power, uses a second to kill the commander, then kills him with the mobile solar device - and that's all the ice warriors killed.
There are obviously many of them around the station as part of the invasion force.
1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 3 + The Commander = 9?
Or 7 as two would have recovered from being knocked out by the heat??
  • Why isn't Gia Kelly suspicious of Fewsham's claim that Osgood killed Locke, given that Locke was the one who contacted Earth to tell them Osgood was dead?
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