Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Victory of the Daleks


 * the zeppelins seen in this episode look nothing like those seen in the Empty child/The Doctor dances.


 * Different type/model? Different area of London?


 * The barrage balloons seemed to be tethered at the wrong height as well - the point was to force aircraft to fly high over them rather than risk knocking a wing off on the supporting wires. Having them flying lower than the tower of Big Ben makes no sense unless they had been reeled in for some reason.


 * How did the spitfires survive in space? surley the glass would have smashed.
 * The planes are seen with a bluish field around them, presumably an effect of the "gravity bubble" or some other piece of Dalek technology. It may have something to do with the glowing yellow spheres seen inside the cockpit. Such technology would also help explain how they can still fly, since their engines and propellers would normally be useless without air. At any rate, it's clear a good deal of alien tech has been applied to them, further supported by the presence of some sort of laser weapon system. And don't call me Shirley.
 * Perhaps more to the point, how did they have time to modify three Spitfires in what appears to be mere minutes of in-story time from "It could work in theory" to "pew-pew-pew".


 * if the daleks led Bracewell to believe he created the daleks and they planted him in gthis location then at what point was he meant to have created the daleks? did Bracewell apparently come to Churchill with the "ironsides" or did they appear one day and Bracewell claimhe had been working on them?
 * The Daleks appeared and Bracewell had the memory of creating them.
 * Ultimately, it doesn't necessarily matter for the story what the exact chronology was.


 * why did the daleks give Bracewell the idea for anti-gravity technology? did it help them at all?
 * The Daleks were not selective in what ideas they gave him. (Or the anti-gravity technology is used for Dalek flight, so it was part-and-parcel of the how to build a Dalek idea.)


 * The author took no pains to explain how an android's memories and emotions prevent a bomb from exploding. It was the most severe plot hole in this episode. While I'm sure any number of fans can come up with their own explanations, really, it is the job of the episode writer to make these things clear.


 * We are repeatedly shown a uniformed woman who has "significant moments" in the story line, such as sharing eye contact with Amy and who apparently loses a fighter pilot boyfriend. What was her "narrative" purpose in the story? It felt like the writer created this interesting character but then couldn't think of anything interesting to do with her.
 * When counter-threatening the Doctor about 18.5 minutes in, why (and for that matter, how) do the Daleks go to the bother of turning all the lights in London on? As a means of destroying a city, this is ridiculously elaborate, yet given the limitations of World War II bombers, extremely unreliable. If they want to (threaten to) destroy a city from orbit, all they have to do is (threaten to) drop a decent-sized rock on it, which is surely far easier. Not as big a science fail as "Edwin"'s memories saving the day, but sufficient for a facepalm.
 * The "why" is a little bit tricky, but perhaps they somehow actually don't have any other means of attack, since the ship is stated to be in such disrepair (and big-rock-dropping-hatches probably aren't standard Dalek weaponry anyway. That part's a little sketchy, granted. But it might be a bit of a reach to question "how" the Dalek-lights-on-beam works as a matter of a plot hole, since we don't know how the show's alien technology works. Might as well list the sonic screwdriver's capabilities as a plot hole every time a door's unlocked. As for why the Daleks would have so specific a weapon, it's possible the dish is designed to be used to control electronics in general remotely, which would be a practical weapon to have.