Doctor Who

Destiny of the Daleks - S17-E1

Factual error: Davros comments that, between them, The Daleks are carrying half a megaton of explosives - in other words, roughly twenty-five times more explosive force than the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs. An explosion of that size should cause enormous destruction (vaporizing everything within roughly two kilometers), yet when the Doctor detonates them they explode with about as much power as a small stick of dynamite each.

DaveJB

Nightmare of Eden - S17-E4

Plot hole: When the Doctor goes into the CET projection of Eden, to fight the Mandrells, he disappears into the bushes on the left-hand side of the screen. Cue much shaking of foliage, and Tom Baker's cries of 'ooh', 'aargh' and 'ouch'. The Doctor then reappears with his clothes all tattered and torn, due to his 'fight' with the Mandrells...but the the fact that there is not a mark (not even a scratch) on Tom Baker is something of a giveaway that all Tom Baker did was disappear behind some bushes and do a quick change into a tattered version of his costume.

City of Death - S17-E2

Plot hole: In episode 4, watch what Romana does to Professor Kerensky's time machine in order to make it work. It is surprising that the time machine works at all, considering she is supposed to be in Paris at the time. Romana wires up the time machine to a British (i.e. 3-pin 240 volts) electric plug instead of a "continental" 3-pin 110 volt plug.

Doctor Who mistake picture

Destiny of the Daleks - S17-E1

Revealing mistake: When the Doctor and his companion are running past explosions in the sand, you can see the scrape marks from where the effects team covered up the holes containing the charges. (00:13:00)

Daz

Nightmare of Eden - S17-E4

Revealing mistake: Watch the Mandrells closely, especially in the later parts of the story: one of them seems, at one point, to have forgotten to zip up the back of his costume.

The Creature from the Pit - S17-E3

Revealing mistake: Torvin, stunned by K9, turns before falling, as if looking for somewhere comfortable to land; and the guard who goes to attack K9 and Romana acts very strangely: he stops and curls up before K9's blast hits him, almost as if he knows what is going to happen next.

Destiny of the Daleks - S17-E1

Deliberate mistake: The shot of the alien spacecraft flying in the sky is the same in episode 4 as in episode 1, only it's reversed. The taking off and landing are the same too, except smoke and rubble have been added.

Daz

City of Death - S17-E2

Plot hole: The sketch of Romana is different when it's seen outside the café from the one seen inside the café (and just who's doing the sketch, and why?).

City of Death - S17-E2

Revealing mistake: In episode 2, when Scaroth locks the Doctor, Romana and Duggan in the basement dungeon, and Duggan lights the lamp, notice that Tom Baker is standing between that lamp and the actual stage light used to brighten the scene. So, as the lamp is lit in front of him, Tom Baker's BACK (and not his front) glows bright under the increased illumination.

City of Death - S17-E2

Continuity mistake: When the Count's henchmen come into the café to get the Doctor, Romana and Duggan, they usher them all out at gunpoint. When you see them in the location filming in Paris, Duggan's not there...but back at the Count's place (in the studio in London) he's reappeared.

City of Death - S17-E2

Revealing mistake: In episode one, Scaroth's 'Jagaroth skin' on his wrist flaps about. Either that's a badly fitting piece of costume...or he's suffering from severely peeling skin.

City of Death - S17-E2

Plot hole: The Atlantic Ocean didn't exist in Early Devonian times (c.400 million years ago), so Scaroth's ship could not have been where the Doctor claimed. The Atlantic was formed when Europe and Africa separated from North America around 160 million years ago and is still growing. What is now the sea-bed was once covered up by several miles of Continental Shelf. The Early Devonian landscape would have been far from barren as plantlife was well established by then. So, either the Doctor's theory that Scaroth's exploding ship caused the creation of life on Earth is wrong, or it was much earlier than he said.

The Creature from the Pit - S17-E3

Revealing mistake: Just as the Doctor asks where the TARDIS has materialised, watch the control console wobble. However, isn't it strange that the hat-stand in the TARDIS console room remains upright thoughout...so why does the console wobble, and the hat stand not move in the slightest?

The Horns of Nimon - S17-E5

Continuity mistake: In this episode part of the TARDIS set was erected incorrectly, resulting in some of the roundels emerging from the wall rather than being indented into it. This is very visible in all the TARDIS 'console room' shots.

Terror of the Zygons - S13-E1

The Doctor: You can't rule the world in hiding. You've got to come out on the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle, if you pardon the expression.

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The Chase - S2-E8

Trivia: Such was the popularity of Doctor Who in Britain in the mid-1960s that even the Beatles wanted to make an appearance in the show. So a scene was written into "The Chase" to allow them to appear. The idea had been devised of including a scene on the Time and Space Visualiser depicting a Beatles fiftieth-anniversary concert in 2015, with the Fab Four dressed up as old men. John, Paul, George, and Ringo themselves were interested in the proposition, but it was vetoed by their manager, Brian Epstein. It was then thought that an appearance by the Beatles on Top of the Pops might be used instead, but no such footage was available. Fortunately, the Beatles were scheduled to perform "Ticket to Ride" at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on April 10th, 1965, and that footage was used instead.

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Show generally

Question: In which season and episode is Gallifrey destroyed, or is it just a shocking new plot development for the new series?

Answer: It was never destroyed on-screen; it was intact at the end of the TV movie, and destroyed by the start of the 2005 series. It was destroyed in the novel "The Ancestor Cell," but in a completely different manner to what happened in the series.

DaveJB

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