Doctor Who

Doctor Who (1963)

31 mistakes in season 17 - chronological order

(3 votes)

Destiny of the Daleks - S17-E1

Revealing mistake: In episode one, when the Doctor and his companion hear rumbling and the ground moves beneath their feet, when they step away you can see that they are standing on different ground than before, and it's not shaking. (00:08:00)

Daz

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

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

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: 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.

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: 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.

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 Creature from the Pit - S17-E3

Plot hole: In part 2 it's brought up in conversation several times that all metal is rare on that planet. Handy exposition for the viewers, but it's in fact a really odd thing for the characters to say. The inhabitants aren't giving a tour of their planet (certainly not deliberately at any rate), so why would they state facts that have been well known to them all of their lives? It's a bit like meeting strangers and informing them that two thirds of the Earth are covered by oceans.

Spiny Norman

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.

More quotes from Doctor Who

Planet of Giants - S2-E1

Trivia: This Doctor Who story was originally scripted and produced as a four-episode story, but, just two weeks before transmission, upon viewing the story, co-creators Sydney Newman and Donald Wilson felt that the final two episodes (Episode 3, 'Crisis'; and Episode 4, 'The Urge to Live') should be combined into a single episode. The new 'condensed' episode incorporated the opening titles of 'Crisis' with the closing credits of 'The Urge to Live'.

More trivia for Doctor Who

Answer: TARDISes are generally available for properly authorised use on Gallifrey; they're not usually assigned to a particular Timelord on a long-term basis. The Doctor stole his when he left his homeworld.

Tailkinker

More questions & answers from Doctor Who

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.