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


 * As Tegan notes, the Doctor seems to forget the reason that they went to the town in the first place.
 * Quite a lot happens to distract him.


 * Why did the Malus not finish the job it was sent to do back during the real civil war? Why did it become dormant if it had the power to heighten aggressive behaviour and perpetuate the conflict?
 * Its sentience is in some doubt. Possibly its Hakolian masters / controllers suffered a decline of fortunes, and lost interest in their reconnaissance probes. The Malus just seems to be running "on automatic", taking advantage of aggressive circumstances (real wars or war games) to build up its power reserves, and blowing itself up when it is exposed, vulnerable, and at risk of capture.


 * One can assume from the scattered lumps of tinclavic that it landed quite badly. Possibly it has been in auto-repair mode for quite some time, just taking advantage of passing hostility in order to boost its energy reserves.


 * The entrance to the underground passageway in the church operates by simply pressing the face of the Malus down. Surely not the best method of concealment for a secret door in the form of a floor slab. Anyone might step on it!
 * We are not able to see that it actually requires a precise placement of fingertips to trigger the mechanism.


 * The production team did not research the English Civil War very thoroughly. The Roundheads and Cavaliers were Victorian romanticisms perpetuated in the 19th Century, and the terms were used as insults between the two sides!
 * The re-enactors got it wrong, though since Ben Wolsey is supposed to be an expert on the period, he ought to have set them right (but then again, Sir George Hutchinson is calling all the shots).


 * Sadly, nothing excuses Will Chandler (who is actually from the time period) from using the anachronistic terms.