Doctor Who

Doctor Who (1963)

13 mistakes in season 5 - chronological order

(3 votes)

The Tomb of the Cybermen - S5-E1

Factual error: When the group divide up into parties, the leader says they need to be at the rocket at 1630, so meet here at 1625. He then goes on to say that will give them an hour to look for anyone that's missing. The other actors seem to notice his mistake because they either look puzzled or look off camera, probably seeing if anyone would shout "Cut."

Matty W

The Tomb of the Cybermen - S5-E1

Revealing mistake: During the fight scene between Toberman and the Cybercontroller, the Cybercontroller uses a very visible harness to lift Toberman over his head, and the wires attached to the harness Toberman is wearing are also very visible. When Toberman, in return, lifts the Cybercontroller above HIS head, it is obvious that what Toberman is lifting is an empty costume, with no-one inside it.

The Ice Warriors - S5-E3

Continuity mistake: At the start of the story (the beginning of episode 1) the TARDIS materialises on its side, but at the end of the story (the end of episode 6) the TARDIS dematerialises right side up.

The Ice Warriors - S5-E3

Plot hole: We twice see a map of how far the ice is away from the house, once in the first episode, and later in episode five. The ice has moved most of the way across the map in this time, and the distance it has moved is stated to be a 100 metres. This would place it only 20 metres from the base. The problem with the distance is that it takes Penley quite a while to get the injured Jamie to the base, including a stretch across open ground. Also, The Ice Warriors weapon targeter suggests the base is as much as two kilometres away. So just how far away is the ice; 20 metres, 2 kilometers...or somewhere in between?

The Ice Warriors - S5-E3

Factual error: It is stated that removing all the plants caused carbon dioxide levels to drop. But plants absorb carbon dioxide, so removing them would create an increase.

Josman

The Enemy of the World - S5-E4

Audio problem: In episode 3 of this story it is noticeable that practically every sound in this episode has been re-dubbed and as a result is out of synch - sometimes quite badly. An example is when Milton Johns has his thugs break into Giles Kent's trailer - there's a three-second lag between the breaking of the plates and the sounds they make. (This may be simply due to the only surviving copies in the BBC Archives being these "badly dubbed" ones, recovered from obscure sources).

The Wheel in Space - S5-E7

Factual error: It is claimed that a meteor shower has been diverted towards the Wheel by a star in M13 (the Hercules Cluster) going nova. As M13 is a globular cluster in the galactic halo, some 34,000 light years away from Earth, it would have to be one almighty nova to affect the course of a meteor shower in our solar system - due to the countless gravitational forces between M13 and the plane of the Milky Way - and been caused at least 34,000 years before the time of the story.

The Wheel in Space - S5-E7

Plot hole: When the airlock door is opening at the end of the final episode, the Cyberman is the only one who appears to be affected by the air rushing out. Although 'rushing out' is probably overstating the speed of the 'explosive decompression'. It's not so much an explosion as a gentle breeze...

The Doctor: This is a situation that requires tact and finesse. Fortunately, I am blessed with both.

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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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Earthshock - S19-E6

Question: In Earthshock, season 19, at the end of episode 3, the Cyber Leader views his troops marching down the corridor. Each column is headed by a Cyber Leader. Is this a mistake, or is there more than one Cyber Leader allowed per army?

Answer: In 'The Five Doctors', three separate Cyberleaders are definitely used. So it's likely that Cyberleaders are like unit commanders, of which a fair-sized army might have several.

Daria Sigma

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